What is the very best semi-auto pistol you've ever owned?

re: What is the very best semi-auto pistol you've ever owned

1911

It served the U.S. Military for about 75 years and they're considering going back to it (plus, the Army Special Forces and the Navy SEALs never quit using it).

If you've ever watched IPSC or other pistol competition, the 1911 totally dominates.

You can have it in .45 ACP, .40 S&W, .38 Super, 9x19, 45-38 Clarke, and who knows what else.

Personally, I've fired Ruger, S&W, Glock, and SIG pistols.. DA and DAO flavors. Some folks may find otherwise, but as far as I'm concerned, none of them measured up to the 1911.

What else is there to say?

re: What is the very best semi-auto pistol you've ever owned

The original 1911, both civilian and military, was manufactured by Colt. During WWII, there were about a half-dozen companies producing 1911 pistols.

What makes it a 1911 is the basic design - single action with a grip safety, a hammer block/slide lock safety, and a trigger/hammer interlock safety. Today, there are several manufacturers.... Rock Island, Springfield Armory, Colt, Kimber, Wilson Combat, etc. They can be finished in blued, stainless, parkerized, teflon, etc.

The 1911 comes in 3 basic flavors -
Government model - most common
Long slide - longer barrel, target model
Commander - shorter barrel, 1 shot less in mag (shorter grip)

The commander is reasonably well-suited to concealed carry, but is still kind of on the large size. For CC, my choice would be a small-frame revolver in .357 Mag.

An internet search on "1911 pistol" will keep you reading for a lifetime.... but here's a good place to start:

http://www.m1911.org/

re: What is the very best semi-auto pistol you've ever owned

My favorite is my Desert Eagle in .357 but it is not very practical.
My favorite all around gun is my SIG 226. If you do not have a Sig I highly recomend one. This is the gun I can give to any one and they can hit the target. One guy, who was practicing in preparation to qualify with his Smith and Wesson Semi-auto he intended to use as his police duty gun, asked me how long my buddy and I had been shooting, (we both were placing much tighter groups than him) I answered that I had been shooting about a year but my buddy had never picked up a gun prior 30min ago he just packed his stuff and walked off the range.

I have shot several thousand rounds through it with never a malfunction. I have shot plate with it and seen other guys slide a magazine in there Glock and seen the mag drop right back out. Never had that happen to me. It is easy to disassemble and clean, there are plenty of high cap mags available, and it is just a great all round shooter.

I would also like to try an H&K but they are not available to me in this state.

re: What is the very best semi-auto pistol you've ever owned

I have a S&W model 457S 45acp. For the quality and vaule this pistol is great. It has done what was expected of it and does it well.
S&W Model 457

The spirit of models 28 and 46 lives on at Smith & Wesson in the Value Series guns. These reached their position of "best buy" status with the 1996 introduction of the Model 457, a compact 7+1 shot .45 ACP with an aluminum-alloy frame. This series of pistols has plainer finishes and the edges are squarer and blunter to save machining of contours.

All Value Series versions of the conventional DA first-shot S&W autos are good buys. For example, the Model 908 at $466 is the Value Series treatment of the top-line Model 3913 in the same 9mm chainbering, which retails for $662 -- an almost 30 percent savings. The 457 carries a suggested retail of $515, compared to the stainless top-line Model 4516's $822 price tag. This is a whopping 37 percent savings.

It gets better. The 4516 is a chunky, all-steel pistol. The aluminum alloy-framed 457 is much lighter and more portable. The only counterpart in the S&W line is a very high-end pistol, custom made for a certain distributor and selling for roughly twice the price of a 457.

Very reliable and very accurate, the Model 457 is probably the best buy in the S&W catalog today.

re: What is the very best semi-auto pistol you've ever owned

That's an easy one for me, but I hesitate to mention it because, although it is still available in that it can be gotten from the Custom Shop, they are a bit tough to find otherwise.



It's a Browning High Power, 9 mm, Herstal Belgium

If that one doesn't qualify, here's my carry pistol.



It's a Para-Ordnance LDA CCO, .45ACP, single stack ... my second choice. It's still available.