Challenge: review your 1911 model!

Folks,

I'm sure many of you have a 1911 modelgun or two in you collection ;-)
Let's celebrate 100th anniversary of this fine firearm by reviewing all the modelgun ones we can find :-)

Don't worry that another member will review the very same model - it's better to have 6 or 10 independent views on the same model, than none or just one!

Do not get misled by a model being "just an MGC 1911" - there were dozens of variants and variations, and your effort could bring us close to cataloguing them. Photos and comparisons will help to made others aware of construction or detail differences. Without having luxury of easy access to many modelguns by one person, maybe this collective work will help there.

LET'S GO!


THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR A LIST OF 1911 MODELGUN REVIEWS

Wow! enthusiasm nice to see i will see what i can do to oblige doubt it will be as detailed as your reviews though

Your reviews are as good as mines, even if you think otherwise :-)
Just go ahead without looking at others

Great idea smootik, it'd be interesting to see how many variants there are in our collections too

I'd better start writing

I will start to contribute sometime during the Chinese New Year Holidays... ...let me see what I have...

Any progress anyone? Hopefully I can start this off with all of my 1911 put together in one photo (a 1911 collage) ...

I must confess to being slow starting off my own planned reviews of 2 different MGC Colt 1911s I have.

The first is this hybrid model built from ABS GM2 type Frame and HW slide.

The model was bought as a non firing piece, came supplied with a worn out magazine and the incorrest type cartridges. Assistance from members here helped identify the parts used to build the model, find correct cartridges, and finally make a magazine and Detonator Pin to fit.
It fires really well now.
Once I clear my bench of all the other projects I'm trying to get done I'll sort something out with both my 1911s ... I promise

Thanks for a start!
I have two reviews almost completed, with most of the text written down. Photos are not taken yet, but sun looks out more and more often, so this should make taking them easier :-) No promises, but these should be up sooner than later.

Here's a review of Tanio Koba GM-7, which is a modelgun of Colt 1911:
https://mp40modelguns.forumotion.net/t2960-tanio-koba-gm7-colt-1911-hw

and MGC Colt 1911 MEU:
https://mp40modelguns.forumotion.net/t2961-mgc-colt-1911-meu-hw

Well a PFC Colt.45 is on my wish list still! ''

But I do have a GBB version and Blank firer.

So will put posts soon under those headings to honour the real weapon! ''


Kiwigunner

Well I am new to the forum and new to the world of PFC/Modelguns

My first PFC gun is a Marushin Government M1911A1

On the whole I am impressed with the build quality and the look, the weight feels nice (could be a little heavier for more realsim) but it's pretty good and feels nice and solid in your hand. The cycling out of the box was little tight, but a quick strip down & lube soon sorted that out. The description it was sold under as "...strips exactly like the real thing..." was somewhat misleading as there is one key difference between a real 1911 and the Modelgun, but that is not necedssarily the guns fault and more likely the sellers.

the only problems I am experiencing with the gun is it doesn't fire every time, but I believe this in part to user error (like I said I am new to this!), and possible faulty cartridges, but I am working through it.

On the whole I am impressed with the gun and would recommend it.

I hope I can find the time to contribute to this great idea.

Although the 1911 is a great and well known handgun, it took me a long time until I could add one to my collection. I had a Marushin ABS Colt Commander kit that sadly had to go, but I also have a MGC HW 1991A1 model series 80. I really enjoy this model, and I like the series 80 which is not a beautiy due to its big rollmark markings, but it is also not very common.

CARBr6, MadMike - thanks for standing up to task :-)

What key difference in disassembly hit you so much?

Modelguns are capricious, they do not fire 100% perfect... I hope that you will be able to enjoy the model anyway

Smootik....I've not forgotten your challenge ....just been wanting for a 1911 Modelgun to come my way.

Well a Marushin 1911 Kit-set has just been released from NZ Customs this morning!.
As soon as it's built I'll write a modelgun review - along with a comparison with my Kimar BFONG & WE Airsoft models .... in terms of honoring the 100 years of the real Colt 1911.


Assuming it arrives safely tomorrow it should be built by the weekend!

Kiwigunner

I'm keeping fingers crossed for fast arrival, and awaiting your reviews! :-)

Well the Marushin 1911 arrived, built and posted - as you know Smootik!
https://mp40modelguns.forumotion.net/t3203-marushin-1911-colt-kitset-build
So now I keep my promise below.
Cheers for the great idea that started this thread! It forced me to buy another modelgun.
But the truth is it gave me an EXCUSE to buy another Modelgun!


A review of this historical firearm would be incomplete without a brief note about its historical inventor – John Moses Browning (January 1855 – November 1926).

Sure his 1911 pistol design has only changed cosmetically over the past 100 years, but many of JMB’s other guns have been made for over 70 – 80 years by Remington, Savage, Colt and FN (Belgium) – AND he held 128 gun patents and designed and built 80 separate firearms — 44 of them manufactured by Winchester.

His final design at the time of his death — the Browning Hi-Power pistol — would become a precedent for today's high-cap 9mm pistols.



There is plenty to find about him on the internet and I recommend one site in particular:
http://lewrockwell.com/shirtz/shirtz15.html
From which he following extract is taken:
“The M1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, and recoil-operated handgun chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. John M. Browning designed the firearm which was the standard-issue side arm for the United States armed forces from 1911 to 1985. The M1911 is still carried by some U.S. forces. It was widely used in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Its formal designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Calibre .45, M1911 for the original Model of 1911 or Automatic Pistol, Calibre .45, M1911A1 for the M1911A1, adopted in 1924. The designation changed to Pistol, Calibre .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam era.[1] In total, the United States procured around 2.7 million M1911 and M1911A1 pistols in military contracts during its service life. The M1911 was replaced by the M9 Beretta pistol as the standard U.S. sidearm in the early 1990s.”

In 1914, in appreciation for help making FN a world-class arms manufacturer, he was knighted to the order of Leopold by King Albert of Belgium.
Something that he found embarrassing when his American friends started calling him “Sir”.

My 1911 Colt replica collection started with a WE Airsoft model bb gun. No markings but fun to shoot in the basement indoor range.
Then about a year later a BFONG Kimar model was offered to me by a local importer. How could I say no? It is fun to shoot outdoors on private farm land - and makes a hell of a bang! Nice recoil and a good weight.

Now having a new Marushin cap gun kinda pales in comparison with weight and caps. But I can shoot PFC Modelguns in my living room (provided my pets are outside of course!).

Here's a chart I made to compare these fine replicas.

Please note that as the replica increases in power, more safety awareness and gun care knowledge is obviously required. That's why I make the case for Modelgun replicas being ultimately the very best introduction to firearms - and if you can't (or won't) be safe in gun handling practice with a Modelgun, then you shouldn't be allowed near a real firearm until you change. I've seen such people in the local film & theatre business!
Modelguns allow for a wide margin of safety! thank goodness!

The Marushin 1911 Colt Model has become a fine addition to my ever-growing armory! During it's construction I learned much about Browning's design genius. A man who definitely could think "outside the square" of his contemporaries.

Kiwigunner

Nice comparison chart John but a political message: WE is made from Taiwan instead of China (especially Taiwanese people: they're very sensitive on this issue) ...

Btw I'd just got myself a WE 1911A1 as well (reinvented as T51K1 - see the GBB airsoft section) - I hate the shape of the ejection port: too "squarish"...and now the weather's too cold for GBB so I haven't test-fire it yet...

Thanks for the heads up Jim.
I've corrected the chart now. I should have done my homework better!

I tried to locate your post on the WE T51K1 without success.
Can you post a link please?

Thanks.

Kiwigunner

kiwigunner wrote:

Thanks for the heads up Jim.
I've corrected the chart now. I should have done my homework better!

I tried to locate your post on the WE T51K1 without success.
Can you post a link please?

Thanks.

Kiwigunner

Here you go John https://mp40modelguns.forumotion.net/t3216-unique-taiwanese-gbb-pistols

Might sound like a rebel betraying fellow Chinese but when Taiwan have its own army / constitution / legal system etc...they deserve to be a truly independent country...anyway enough of all these - apart from its rarity these GBB pistols symbolises modern Taiwanese small arms development (copycats though )

Hi Jim,

On a philosophical note:
As a re-enactor I study Ancient Roman history. As far as I can tell, the bio-software programming of the human brain regarding territorialism is still over-operating in the human brain.

While parading under different guises (homeland, motherland, fatherland, or historical attachment etc.) and "sold" by politicians for their own agendas, we all sometimes forget that we are ALL brothers and sisters. As the French say "Vive la difference!"

On this Forum we are all exposed to the weird and not-so-wonderful gun laws foisted on us under the guise of "security" - the "controllers" at their very worst!

Seems to me to be that is what it's all about - control vs. freedom!

I believe the sooner we delete or modify the bio-program the better - or history will go on repeating itself! - globally we never seem to learn from history as much as we could!


Cheers.
Kiwigunner

Many thanks John for the input...now this forum is getting academic

In short regarding the Chi-Tai relationship...I reckon if UK is ruled by people with "Communist Chinese" ideology (more of a capitalist now than Communist but total dictatorship remains) then there won't be any New Zealand / Australia / Canada as well as other colonies...all will be part of a "Pan-China" under one flag...Com China is actually pushing back fellow Chinese's civilisation as well as slowly changing the world in not so positive way but it seems nothing much can be done...

Anyway... I'll try to post pictures of some of my 1911s (such as the Norinco / Argentine Army version) this weekend or sometime before the year end to draw a close for this 100th year celebration...