From the November/December American Handgunner (paywall) Reader Speakout Column, p.18, titled “Military 1911 Shooting,” Robert Johnson discusses the 1911A1’s loose tolerances:
After I received my [Marine Corps] commission as an officer, this gave me the right to carry a sidearm. An old Gunny told me: “Get one that rattles, it’ll never jam on ‘ya.” Well, the Gunny was right. I wasn’t a great pistol shot, but the old 1911A1 never missed a beat. In my two tours in exotic Southeast Asia (’68 and ’69) I used the pistol on a couple of occasions, and true to form, it never missed a beat. When I got back to the land of the Big PX I went out to the firing range and got the same results Roy did: 3-3 1/2″ at 25 yards. I still have that old warhorse, and from time to time I touch it off on my backyard range.
The emotions keep flooding back overtime, then.
Mostly Cajun
That’s valid advice. In my days as instructor back at Fort Knox in the early 70’s, we trained young armor crewmen with the 1911. The pistols were racks of mixmaster guns, straight issue, not accurizing or fitting at all.
NEVER had a malfunction with these guns, shooting GI ball ammo.
Would they cut the mustard at a bullseye match with a master-class shooter? No. Would they hit an standard silhouette every time? Yes.
It was designed as a combat arm. The people who have problems with it want to turn it into a pampered poodle.
MC
DP
But do not count on it too much with jacketed hollow point.
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