Adding Another Gun To My Collection; Suggestions?

So, during the last year or so I've owned many different guns. I traded/sold a lot so I could have as much experience with as many guns as possible, and also because I get sick of things easily. Anyways, right now I currently have a Gen 3 and Gen 4 Glock 22, Sig Sauer SP2022 (in .40S&W), Mossberg 500ATP, Windham Weaponry AR-15. I'm content with what I have, but...

I will be getting a refund check from my college in September. Because I think saving money is stupid, I'd like to buy a new gun! I'm looking at the following firearms, and would love some input. Whether it be a suggestion from the list, or telling me all my choices are stupid and offering a new idea, I'll take it!

A good amount will go towards ammo for my existing guns, and I'm not really looking for anymore long guns. (Besides the .22 I have listed)

These are kind of in my "want" order. Some I have experience with, some I don't. A lot have ambi controls which is a HUGE plus for my as a lefty.

-FN FNX(P) .45 Tactical
-Walther PPQ (9mm)
-S&W MP9
-Walther P99C AS
-Glock 26
-Springfield XDM 9mm 4.5"
-H&K USP .45 V2
-H&K MP5-SD .22LR (Made by Umarex)
-1911 (Need to do more research)
- .40-to-9mm threaded conversion barrel+suppressor for my Glock

Thanks in advance!

well,,,

I will recomend the gun I will buy next.

Tanfoglio EAA Witness CZ-75 clone,,, DA/SA, double stack of 10-mm goodness!

M&P might make you sell your Glocks. :lol:

I'd probably bump up the 1911 on that list since it's more "interesting" than various other guns. ...though I don't consider them very practical nowadays.

+1 for a 1911. No gun collection is complete without one, pride of ownership is through the roof. Not to mention, the vast aftermarket for custom parts. Customizing one's 1911 is just as much fun as buying one. Although be warned, you could end up spending even more in parts than what you originally paid for the gun.

Any suggestions for 1911's? I know Kimber, Springfield, Colt, and Sig make good ones. A WWII-era 1911 was the first gun I ever shot, but I only put about 3 mags through it.

Anyone have experience with building an SVI 1911?

It looks like you have a pretty solid list as-is.

1911's are one of those "you get what you pay for" things. Yes, you can get one for $400 but quality will be hit or miss. You may get a cherry, you may end up drowning in lemonade. The same goes for models up into the $1000 range. Expect to pay $1300+ for a quality, off-the-shelf, semi-hand built piece. Expect to pay more upgrading an entry-level model to your personal specs. Some people swear by brand X and have never had a problem, others claim to have nothing but problems with brand X and swear by brand Y. Personally, my dream 1911 would be a Springfield Professional. It's hand-built in the Custom Shop by a master gunsmith who doesn't know if they're building it for you or an FBI SWAT/HRT Operator. But that's $2400 and a 15+ month wait. My best advice would be to shoot the EXACT pistol as much as you can get away with before you buy it. While 1911's are generally considered to require a 500rnd. break-in, a "jam-o-matic" should make itself fairly evident early on.

Look for the FBI 1911 test. Each entrant entered 5 guns. Two pistols from each entrant had to shoot three 10rnd. groups of Rem. Golden Sabers in a <1.5" group, then fire 20,000 with no malfunctions, then fire another 3 groups of 10rnds. with <15% decrease in accuracy. The other three guns had to endure a 65,000 round torture test, as well as other abuse testing, with no malfunctions. They were of course allowed periodic cleaning and replacement of wear parts. SA beat out Colt, Kimber, Wilson Combat, Les Baer and 2 other smaller custom shops. Keep in mind, however, these were top-shelf offerings from each manufacturer and not necessarily representative of their entire product lines.

I tried to link the article I had saved but the link doesn't seem to be working.

DangerClose said:

M&P might make you sell your Glocks. :lol:

I'd probably bump up the 1911 on that list since it's more "interesting" than various other guns. ...though I don't consider them very practical nowadays.

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He has a point, I used too be a huge glock fan and then my fiancee bought an M&P 9 fs and after shooting that it was all over for the glocks, now I own and M&P 40c and 9mm pro L were added to round out my smith collection, So if you already have polymer wonder pistols get a 1911, remington R1 is a nice gun for around 600 to 650 bucks.

In the family we have or have had the following 1911's, 1 Kimber (back when Kimber's didn't have QC issues they do now) 1 SA, 1 Taurus and 3 RIA's. I'd trust any of them with my life, even the new compact RIA I recently purchased. The quality of all of them were superb for the desired task. None of these guns were purchased for any kind of competition. They have all been SD/informal target shooting guns. I do not claim any of these would equal the high end guns but to claim that they are unsuitable for SD is an elitist attitude that is deplorable. You feel free to spend as much money as you wish on your firearms, and I will do the same. If I had any doubts of the reliability of any of my firearms I would replace them before they cost anyone their lives.

If you wish to degrade me for choosing lower costing firearms go right ahead, I do not care what the name on my tools say, just as long as they work flawlessly, all of them do.

moonie said:

In the family we have or have had the following 1911's, 1 Kimber (back when Kimber's didn't have QC issues they do now) 1 SA, 1 Taurus and 3 RIA's. I'd trust any of them with my life, even the new compact RIA I recently purchased. The quality of all of them were superb for the desired task. None of these guns were purchased for any kind of competition. They have all been SD/informal target shooting guns. I do not claim any of these would equal the high end guns but to claim that they are unsuitable for SD is an elitist attitude that is deplorable. You feel free to spend as much money as you wish on your firearms, and I will do the same. If I had any doubts of the reliability of any of my firearms I would replace them before they cost anyone their lives.

If you wish to degrade me for choosing lower costing firearms go right ahead, I do not care what the name on my tools say, just as long as they work flawlessly, all of them do.

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No need to be so confrontational. My statement was not meant to degrade anyone for their personal choice in firearms, but rather to provide my experience with the 1911 market. No where did I say you could not obtain a quality, low-cost 1911, only that doing so could be a roll of the dice as far as QC (supported by your own Kimber QC comment). On a personal note, I purchased a Taurus 1911 for $500 that functioned 100% reliably and did trust my life to it for many years. The only reason I stopped carrying it was because it became uncomfortable (for me) to CC a full-size, all steel 1911 in an IWB rig on a daily basis.

Personal firearm choice is a very personal matter. While I certainly have my preferences, I would never degrade someone for carrying what works for them.

AngryBodhi said:

No need to be so confrontational. My statement was not meant to degrade anyone for their personal choice in firearms, but rather to provide my experience with the 1911 market. No where did I say you could not obtain a quality, low-cost 1911, only that doing so could be a roll of the dice as far as QC (supported by your own Kimber QC comment). On a personal note, I purchased a Taurus 1911 for $500 that functioned 100% reliably and did trust my life to it for many years. The only reason I stopped carrying it was because it became uncomfortable (for me) to CC a full-size, all steel 1911 in an IWB rig on a daily basis.

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I don't know how you can say a 1911 "you get what you pay for" and that cheaper ones will be hit or miss and then follow that up with agreeing with the current QC of ("low-cost"?) Kimber and your $500 Taurus. If someone has to spend more than a Kimber to not have to worry about getting a hit-or-miss quality 1911, then the 1911 platform is even less practical than I thought and I need to start bashing them more.

If someone wants a decked-out and pretty 1911, yeah, it'll cost them. But there's a whole lot of people who will say how good Rock Island and Taurus 1911s are for overall reliability and use. I had to laugh in a previous 1911 thread where I said my brother said his Taurus 1911 is the most accurate gun he's ever shot, and then a few posts later someone says the same thing about their Taurus 1911.

1245A Defender said:

I will recomend the gun I will buy next.

Tanfoglio EAA Witness CZ-75 clone,,, DA/SA, double stack of 10-mm goodness!

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I wanted an EAA Witness until reading how terrible their customer service is. And for the 10mm, tales of people having their guns crack isn't very reassuring. Maybe EAA has fixed those problems now, or not.

1245A Defender said:

I will recomend the gun I will buy next.

Tanfoglio EAA Witness CZ-75 clone,,, DA/SA, double stack of 10-mm goodness!

Click to expand...

Never shot a 10mm... what is it similar to, if anything?

Also just wanted to say thanks for all of the input. I'll have more time to read/respond when I'm on my laptop, but I'm glad there's a lot of good advice about 1911's!

DangerClose said:

I don't know how you can say a 1911 "you get what you pay for" and that cheaper ones will be hit or miss and then follow that up with agreeing with the current QC of ("low-cost"?) Kimber and your $500 Taurus. If someone has to spend more than a Kimber to not have to worry about getting a hit-or-miss quality 1911, then the 1911 platform is even less practical than I thought and I need to start bashing them more.

If someone wants a decked-out and pretty 1911, yeah, it'll cost them. But there's a whole lot of people who will say how good Rock Island and Taurus 1911s are for overall reliability and use. I had to laugh in a previous 1911 thread where I said my brother said his Taurus 1911 is the most accurate gun he's ever shot, and then a few posts later someone says the same thing about their Taurus 1911.

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By "you get what you pay for" I mean you're much more likely to get a lemon when buying a low cost 1911, not that all low-cost 1911s are lemons. Perhaps I was not clear enough in my statement. If you want all the bells and whistles, including having a gunsmith fit the parts to each other, it's going to cost you. Most of what you're paying for in a custom/semi-custom gun is the labor involved in hand-fitting and polishing parts which has the natural effect reducing the likelyhood that specific gun will have reliability issues out of the box. The OP was not specific in his 1911 requirements so I offered my general experience. I offered my personal experience with my Taurus as a testament to the fact that you can get an quality 1911 without breaking the bank. As for QC, in regards to the Kimber example, it is regarded (at least among the people I have spoken to) in the 1911 community that Kimber has not kept up with QC and are letting more problem pistols out the door than they used to, usually in the lower price range models. Moonie said the same, "back when Kimber's didn't have QC issues they do now". None of what I initially said was meant to point fingers at any individual manufacturer (nor did I) but rather to enforce my final advice on the matter:

"My best advice would be to shoot the EXACT pistol as much as you can get away with before you buy it." That way you can be confident the specific gun you are interested in is going to work for you, whether it be a WWII hand-me-down or a $3000 Wilson Combat.

On a related note, when you do decide to enter the 1911 community, keep in mind that 1911 owners tend to be very touchy when anything is said that can even remotely be construed as being disparaging against the 1911 or their preferred manufacturer and will quickly rise up in defense of such. I count myself amongst this group and have defended 1911s to the wonder-gun guys on more than one occasion so please do not construe this as a personal attack against anyone other than myself.

I apologize for hijacking this thread. So... how about that FN?

MainelyGlock said:

Never shot a 10mm... what is it similar to, if anything?

Also just wanted to say thanks for all of the input. I'll have more time to read/respond when I'm on my laptop, but I'm glad there's a lot of good advice about 1911's!

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.40 S&W is essentially a "10mm short" (same diameter, shorter case, less powder) if that helps at all.

AngryBodhi said:

.40 S&W is essentially a "10mm short" (same diameter, shorter case, less powder) if that helps at all.

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Very much so! .40S&W is my favorite pistol round to shoot.

Ria/armscore is a great choice. If you want American 1911s then springfeild and auto ord have some cheap good 1911s I have a auto ord and no real failures except with mags. Fixed that with a few snap cap runs.


Oops meant smith & Wesson not Springfield.

Springfield does have good cheap ones though.

If I were you I would go out and buy ARs, AKs, and STANDARD capacity magazines while you can. I just purchased 10 new P-mags for my ARs, and I have ordered 10 for my AKs. They are doing everything they can to try and push gun control above the Constitution, and we need to fight them to prohibit their success. The UN ATT prohibits firearms in the hands of "UNAUTHORIZED END USERS" or citizens. The parasites are out in full force trying to eat away at the Second amendment, and we must stop them.

KYGlockster said:

If I were you I would go out and buy ARs, AKs, and STANDARD capacity magazines while you can. I just purchased 10 new P-mags for my ARs, and I have ordered 10 for my AKs. They are doing everything they can to try and push gun control above the Constitution, and we need to fight them to prohibit their success. The UN ATT prohibits firearms in the hands of "UNAUTHORIZED END USERS" or citizens. The parasites are out in full force trying to eat away at the Second amendment, and we must stop them.

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Funny you mention that, I just cleared out the Cabelas PMAG stock. Not a fan of the windowed ones, but I got 12 more of them today. I was 5 years old when the Clinton ban happened, but I've heard enough about such things and learned enough to know that it is entirely possible for another version to pass. On that note, I spent a good amount of my evening looking at AK's as opposed to another handgun.

Oddly enough, I consider myself fairly to the left when it comes to politics. Pro choice, fully support same-sex marriage, etc, but as a gun owner I think that the impending restrictions are unjustified and scary to be completely honest. Does that make me confused, or a moderate?

MainelyGlock said:

Funny you mention that, I just cleared out the Cabelas PMAG stock. Not a fan of the windowed ones, but I got 12 more of them today. I was 5 years old when the Clinton ban happened, but I've heard enough about such things and learned enough to know that it is entirely possible for another version to pass. On that note, I spent a good amount of my evening looking at AK's as opposed to another handgun.

Oddly enough, I consider myself fairly to the left when it comes to politics. Pro choice, fully support same-sex marriage, etc, but as a gun owner I think that the impending restrictions are unjustified and scary to be completely honest. Does that make me confused, or a moderate?

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I guess that would make you a Libertarian. I don't agree with pro-choice, but it is a woman's body that is in charge of the situation, and she has a right to do with her body as she pleases; and if gay people want to get married have at it. I shouldn't force my opinion on someone else if that opinion would restrict their freedom. The majority of the laws on the books are unconstitutional burderns on Americans' liberty.

As for the AWB, I honestly believe if another ban is considered, it will be a permanent ban and not a ban for 10 years. Things have gotten too far out of hand in Washington, and if we don't do something about it we will all lose our freedoms. This is what most of the left-leaning individuals don't understand. Once we are turned into a Totalitarian Socialist state, all of our freedoms will be gone, not just certain ones they don't agree with.

Just wanted to say thanks for everyones input. I had the chance to shoot a 9mm PPQ a few days ago... and I think I'm in love! My buddy just bought a Colt 1911 (an anniversary model, really beautiful gun) which I got to use as well, but the PPQ just molded right into my hands. I think the 1911 will have to wait until Uncle Sam returns my borrowed money in April.