Wilson Combat Colt 1911 Upgrade - Part 1
- Thread starter Amp Mangum
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Chuckman
Senior Member
One day, some day, I will have the coin for a Wilson 9mm. I shot one in one of LAV's classes, and to this day it was the bestest, funnest, smoothest 1911s I have ever shot. It made me into a damn good shot.
Im surprised no one has spoken up yet, so me liking to stir the pot, I'm gonna start it.
The originator of this video spent over $800 for a Wilson combat 1911 and then decided he needed to make it better. Ive been shooting 1911 in competitions for the past close to 40 years now and I have spent a lotta money on my gun over the years. Lets see what he decided to spend more of his money on the Wilson.
Sights agree. I like the Fiber optic.. Front and rear cost was $90
Beavertail grip safety, I put one on,, didn't notice a difference
Magazine machine work to allow faster magazine reload,, you can buy a slim mag well adapter for $25 and upwards. Much better then grinding on your frame.
Trigger, The lil shorty Wilson gives you sucks,, get an extended. Save your self the money for a trigger job. The stock trigger is about 5 lbs, unacceptable . Purchase the 19 lb hammer spring from Brownels for $6,. Now you have a 3.5 trigger pull.
Safety, as long as you click it off easy enough, no need to replace it.. But I like the Wilson extended.
Ft strap checkering, Im a big fan of to maintain grip and reduce muzzle flip. Instead of costly machining, skate board tape tucked under your grips. Mine has stayed stuck for 30 years now.
Grips,,Love my VZ's but costly at $70,. Amazon knock offs for $30
He forgot a lighter hammer,, The stock is slow to respond then lightened ones,, helps when your wanting the gun to fire right now..
After typing all nonsense out,, I gotta tell you, there is a better idea.
Rock Island Armory makes a GI spec 1911 that's virtually ready to roll with for just over $400. All I had to was add the better sights, some grip tape and the mag well. It functions flawlessly and its cost me a whole lot less them my first 1911 back in 1983
The originator of this video spent over $800 for a Wilson combat 1911 and then decided he needed to make it better. Ive been shooting 1911 in competitions for the past close to 40 years now and I have spent a lotta money on my gun over the years. Lets see what he decided to spend more of his money on the Wilson.
Sights agree. I like the Fiber optic.. Front and rear cost was $90
Beavertail grip safety, I put one on,, didn't notice a difference
Magazine machine work to allow faster magazine reload,, you can buy a slim mag well adapter for $25 and upwards. Much better then grinding on your frame.
Trigger, The lil shorty Wilson gives you sucks,, get an extended. Save your self the money for a trigger job. The stock trigger is about 5 lbs, unacceptable . Purchase the 19 lb hammer spring from Brownels for $6,. Now you have a 3.5 trigger pull.
Safety, as long as you click it off easy enough, no need to replace it.. But I like the Wilson extended.
Ft strap checkering, Im a big fan of to maintain grip and reduce muzzle flip. Instead of costly machining, skate board tape tucked under your grips. Mine has stayed stuck for 30 years now.
Grips,,Love my VZ's but costly at $70,. Amazon knock offs for $30
He forgot a lighter hammer,, The stock is slow to respond then lightened ones,, helps when your wanting the gun to fire right now..
After typing all nonsense out,, I gotta tell you, there is a better idea.
Rock Island Armory makes a GI spec 1911 that's virtually ready to roll with for just over $400. All I had to was add the better sights, some grip tape and the mag well. It functions flawlessly and its cost me a whole lot less them my first 1911 back in 1983
Well first of all LAV started with a Colt Classic which can be had for $650. Wilson does not sell $800 base guns. Maybe you didn't read the title or watch the video. The rest of the comments are completely subjective and if I am being honest not worth addressing. I would take a $650 Colt over any RIA every day of the week. I certainly would not put any money into a RIA becuase it is basically polishing a turd.
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Well Ive got to say, you are absolutely correct about one thing? They did start out with the Colt classic but he did say in the video at 2.4 minutes that the MSRP is $899.00, now you might find it cheaper then that.That wasn't the point of my post.. I was just saying that there was a cheaper alternative.. Ive a few 1911's over the many years and I still have my 1982 Springfield that's been heavily modified and spent a lot of money on.. I can only guess at its round count but its got to be in the 300 to 400 K range and its getting a lil bit sloppy in the slide to frame fit causing some malfunctions occasionally. So, It was time to retire the old girl and look for a replacement. Knowing that Im getting up there in age and money is getting tight I started looking into cheaper mil spec 1911's that had a good reputation and found the Rock Island and decided to give it a try.. I was thinking,,, its a mil spec steel 1911, anything can be fixed on it and if it doesn't feed right its usually the magazines. Come to find out? The Rock Island turd works flawlessly, 3500 rounds later it has yet to fail to fire or feed and I'm darn happy with it..
Glad it works for you. They do for a lot of people. They also don't for a lot of people. The are IMHO not well made. They are made to a price point using manufacturing techniques which I personally find suspect. If you like it and it runs thats all that matters but you are not comparing apples to apples. The MSRP for the Colt Classic is $899 but they can be had for $650. They have been selling at that price point for a while now.
Also I respect Larry Vickers opinions on 1911s. He knows his stuff better than most. When I look at base guns or really guns in general I think way to many people focus on initial cost. If you actually shot the gun which it sounds like you do the initial cost of the gun pales in comparison to the cost of the ammo you will send through it. I personally like the video because it is illustrating a purpose driving mentality to modifications one might consider making to a base model 1911. It shows 2 different approaches based on a price point and why one might choose one way or the other.
Clearly you know better and don't need the guidance or advice but others might and the info coming from LAV is solid and comes from a source IMHO you can trust. Clearly YMMV
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Late to this game, and I too would like to see the 1911 with all those rounds. Not because I don't believe its possible, but because I love well loved 1911s.
And as far as the Rock Islands just being "turds"...I have two currently, one in 10mm and one in .45, and they have been flawless. Granted, I haven't shot the 10mm enough to really know if its going to crap out in another couple of hundred rounds, but the .45 has been amazing.
The bashing on Rock Island reminds me of those who call Anderson and PSA garbage or "Poverty Ponys". A firearm has two options, either it works, or it doesn't. If one works it isn't garbage. I have seen people put tons of money into making their high dollar shooters work, and I have seen people compete with Taurus pistols with no issues. I have watched BCM uppers get jammed up while MP Sports run like clockwork.
With that in mind, I will never say any of the above are "Just as good" as you do often get more bells and whistles and perks with spending more on certain things. But often it is just weenie wagging and vain attempts to make someone feel better about dropping twice as much money on something that puts holes in paper.
And as far as the Rock Islands just being "turds"...I have two currently, one in 10mm and one in .45, and they have been flawless. Granted, I haven't shot the 10mm enough to really know if its going to crap out in another couple of hundred rounds, but the .45 has been amazing.
The bashing on Rock Island reminds me of those who call Anderson and PSA garbage or "Poverty Ponys". A firearm has two options, either it works, or it doesn't. If one works it isn't garbage. I have seen people put tons of money into making their high dollar shooters work, and I have seen people compete with Taurus pistols with no issues. I have watched BCM uppers get jammed up while MP Sports run like clockwork.
With that in mind, I will never say any of the above are "Just as good" as you do often get more bells and whistles and perks with spending more on certain things. But often it is just weenie wagging and vain attempts to make someone feel better about dropping twice as much money on something that puts holes in paper.
My turd comment was not intended to say RIAs are terrible pistols. Turds can be useful for fuel or fertilizer LOL. I actually think for what they are they are pretty good. Most run well but if it doesn’t their CS is slow and most of the time can’t seem to actually fix the pistol. Their service is on par with their price point.
My statement sort of should be only taken in context of upgrading a 1911. For me if you are going to put any money into upgrading a gun there are better starting points than an RIA. IMHO It is not about weenie wagging or being boastful it’s more about starting with a good foundation. I personally wouldn’t put money into one in terms of customization beyond really basic stuff because the cost to benefit ratio doesn’t make sense for me. If I want something to build on I am going to use a SA or a Colt but that is just me.
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Gotcha, no real arguments with what you posted. I too probably wouldn't put money into a Rock, they are what they are. Functional entry level 1911s for casual shooters. I have no doubt that if I took it out and pumped 10k rounds per year through it it would fail far before a Colt or other big name. I haven't had to deal with their CS because mine have worked fine.
I often recommend them to people as a budget shooter for people who want a range 1911 for punching paper. They are great for that. Most people are never going to put enough rounds through one to shoot it to failure. If it runs out of the box and they don’t bugger it it should last them a lifetime.
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I think If I did this right, bear with me Im old. This is a pic of the 1911 I bought many many years ago back in 1982. Its a Springfield Armory and its had a lil bit of work done to it over the years. I never said its been flawless until recently, in fact this gun gave me all sorts of troubles right from the start and its been smithed more times then I can remember. Mostly due to me wanting to shoot 200 or 185 grain leads thru it reliably for IPSC competitions, It did well for a few years shooting well over a 1000 rounds per week until I was rated Semi pro status in IPSC and picked up as sponsors Al Zita guns and Safari leather gear. I couldn't quite make the cut into the pro ranks as I traveled all over the southeast every weekend for about 2 years. Finally I gave up trying to compete against the likes of Barnhardt and Leatham and went back to normal life shooting only on weekends, competing occasionally and now helping train new shooters. Back a few years ago, I decided to bling out the old girl with some hard chrome and regretted it ever since. just don't like the flash of chrome as Im shooting. It started giving me troubles cycling correctly so I enlisted the help of our 1911 Guru Travis and he told me that it was about time to finally retire the old gun unless I wanted invest into slide to frame clearance problems. That's when I started to investigate into another 1911, thus me buying the Citadel in 9 mm.Im darn happy with it, functions perfectly. That's my story and Im sticking with it..
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