Pistol Discussion

[COLT 1911A1]

Come on guys, no one considered the very collectable, hard hitting, trustworthy, plainjane M1911A1...
Two WWs plus numerous conflicts were fought with the M1911...
In US you can easily (if your budget permits) own one (or more ) of these legends...
Regards, Thanos.

[samnev]

My choice would be the HP or the CZ 75B which is my go too wonder nine.

[Stinkpotpete]

yup, the 1911 is an awesome pistol. In my area, the cost is prohibitive, a ww2 model runs for around $2k with ww1 models pushing $3k. It's insane, especially considering how many were made. At that price I wouldn't consider buying one specifically for personal defense, when you consider that if you ever have to use it, the police will take the pistol as part of the investigation. You're supposed to get it back when the whole thing is finished, but you usually end up having to get a lawyer just to get your property back. And you know how affordable lawyers are lol

[ObKrieger]

You need to give us some more info.

Are you cleared for CC?

If yes, you'll soon tire of carrying a generic 'Grande Puissance' (be it vintage WWII or a more modern version).
Its a relatively big gun and keep in mind, that although a super nice gun and one of my favourites, the GP has a double stack magazine and I believe few would carry less than a full mag in a gun for SD.
As full sized guns go, the GP is a slim well rounded gun - not least due to the excellent design work of Dieudonne Saive, who as a firearms genius in his own right did much of the desing work on the GP. Amongst other features, he designed the very nice and slim pistol grip on the gun. Its relatively slim for so many rounds, but we are still talking about a big gun (relatively, that is).

Further more some/most WWII guns are not ideal for CC as is.

The Grande Puissance has certain features, which makes it less than ideal for self defence.

Up to 1962 the GP had a too small fragile extractor, which was prone to breakage under certain circumstances (after '62, the extractors on the GPs were beefed up).

NEVER lock the slide back on a WWII GP, pop a round in the chamber and slam the slide.

ALWAYS chamber a round from the magazine.

Puny thumb safety not optimal for self defence. Difficult to manipulate for some owners (this was changed in the 80s and onward).

Most GPs were manufactured for military hard- ball. The pointy nose rounds fed reliably, but hollowpoints are a different story.

You MUST get the GP throated for self defence! Throated it'll feed JHP rounds out of the box all day long and twice on Sundays.

Regular iron sight are puny, as many from that era and the tangent sight is a joke (also or rather especially for SD. Not for collectors of course).

Sights should be changed for Nowaks or the like.

(trigger is creepy. Can be improved. Some remove the mag safety to improve the trigger, but that is not recommended in the US, as thats not lawyer-proof).

Ideally, you send the gun to a 'Cylinder & Slide-type' custom shop and have them modify as per the above points.
They do excellent work.
It'll cost, but you dont have to go all out as on the beautyful example attached below - you just need to get the points mentioned fixed.
Even though we like our WWII relics original (be they uniforms, decorations or what ever), you can easily find a well worn example of a GP to modify. Dont be squirmish about customizing; its your life at stake, as you mentioned it was for self defence. Further more, there are plenty of generic GPs about, so it shouldnt bother you to pep your GP up.

Alloy Frame FN 9mm Hi Power Grade 4 Short Slide

Completed Custom Handguns

IMPORTANT: Do not fire modern NATO 9mm (meant to cycle subguns as well) or +P in a WWII Browning GP.
Its a slim gun and fragile in that respect - especially the slim slide.

If you want to go Browning and GP - go .40. It has a beefed up slide.

But back to the WWII GP at hand:

As mentioned, even lightly modified with a few necesarry modifications its still a relatively big gun.

Here my recommendation: By all means buy the GP for the bedstand and for plinking, but get another type of gun for carry.

If you do have a CWP, buy a Kel-Tec .380, a Ruger LCP or a small frame revolver. Fire a couple of hundred rounds through that thing, so you KNOW it'll feed reliably - I cant stress this enough.
Check it for pocket lint on a regular basis (some get small compact pocket holsters for this type of SD piece) and also clean and fire it on a regular basis, so you know it works and the drawing and firing of it comes natural to you.


Three important Things:
1. Train.
2. Train.
3. Train.

Yes, I know its not a very romantic gun for us relic and historical freaks, but after the romance of your first gun wears off, you'll tire of luggin' it around.
If not for carry, but purely for on the bedstand and for plinking, a HP sized gun will be fine.
Dont rely on 9mm hardball for SD though - find a proper SD projectile and insure, that it'll feed reliably in the old warhorse.
(goes for the .380 as well).

Three important things to remember with the 9mm WWII guns also:
1. Train.
2. Train.
3. Train.

I know you most likely will get the GP and thats fine - seems you settled on that.

If you reconsider and heed my words, but still find a .380 too small, you should look at a Kahr or similar sized Kimber or the like in 9mm.
They are nice guns.

No matter which guns you choose, we want pics and a range report ;-)

Ohhh, and one more thing: Train, train, train.

Thanks man, very good info!

And thanks to all for your input. I have been reading up on Hi-Powers. I definitely want a Pistole 640 (b)

The Browning Firearms Museum down the road from me has Hi-Power #1. Maybe I should go make an offer... lol

[ObKrieger]

The Hi-Power prototypes and whatnot:

[KriegMann]

I would try to look for a a Browning HP chambered in .45, they're a bit uncommon, but I'm a .45 kind of guy myself.

[Wagriff]

The Browning HP in 45 Is a nice hard hitting pistol! Extremely well made, but then again, it's a Browning, so this is no surprise! The old Army Colt 1911A1, though....while they Did shoot great and rarely jammed, if you Shake one, it sounds like it's full of BB's! If you Must go with the 45 sledgehammers, I'd still lean towards the good old Brownings! I once had a Superb 45 made by Star of Spain that was a magnificent automatic too-never Once had a single misfire or jam in it and it was as tight as a locked down casket lid! The Model B, if I remember right.