LandCruiser
New member
1911s have been around for over a century, "modern" 1911s that have been mass produced didn't see a huge uptick until the 80s and 90s.
Sig has had a long and storied history with 1911s. They got into the game, thinking they could do everything better and just ignore everything that has been learned. The external extractor and the nonstandard slide profile are just an indication that they want to do things differently.
They have had several spectacular failures, including their first 1911s which were an utter disgrace (even though they had somehow managed to get Caspian to build the frames and slides), Commanders that disintegrated because Sig never learned you can't just cut down a 5" slide to make a 4.25" gun.
Sig makes what looks like a 1911 (sort of) if it had been retro-engineered by someone who didn't realize that the plans are public domain and everyone and their mother makes parts--parts they're not always willing to utilize, either out of arrogance or ignorance. So their 1911s don't always work... they're finicky and confirm the idiotic stereotype that 1911s aren't reliable--which is BS. If you go on the 1911 forums, you'll find that Sig makes A LOT of variants of their guns, so many it's hard to keep track of them all, but they have some pervasive QC issues, as follows:
-tight chamber fit, they can't seem to realize that a "tight match barrel" doesn't mean the gun fails to feed. I personally don't believe in "match barrels," but that's another story
-bad Cerakote jobs
-general FTF, FTRTB, FTE issues that stem from a variety of factors from how the feed ramps are machined, how the barrels are made, that damn external extractor, and that they use a flatwire recoil spring that strangely resembles the one Wilson puts in their guns, but doesn't work as well
For a grand you could have a Sig. Just don't. For a grand here is my advice, I have owned and shot 1911s for over 20 years now... jes sayin...
1991 Series 80 Colt (Commander is a grand, GI model runs 850)
Springer Range Officer 850
Springer Loaded 900-ish
STI Spartan (this is an Armscor Filipino gun made to STI's specs) 675
DW RZ45 1150
Series 80 and 70 are Colt specific, but they have been used to describe 1911s that either have the firing pin block (80) or don't (70). While most 70s do have better triggers, there's really no good reason that with some polishing an 80 can't, either.
