Best Budget 9mm 1911?

I heartily agree! I wanted a Dan Wesson, but could not find one at the time. I did have a Springfield RO available to me but unfortunately decided on the Smith. I bought it in 2015 for $1220 and it was too much then considering it went back to S&W 3 times before it ran right. I actually haven't shot it since 2017, but for some unknown reason never thought of selling. I suppose I should take it to the range one of these days and see how it runs, I only shot about 150 rounds through it when it came back from the 3rd trip to S&W , cleaned it and put it in the safe.

I took mine with me to NY to shoot the Battle of Saratoga a Tier 3 IDPA Match. It jammed on a stage and then a few stages later jammed solid resulting in a trip to the safe table to try and get it unjammed. I never shot it in a big match again. It's been shot a fair amount after that but never in a big match. Pretty much been a safe queen since then end of 2018.
 
I took mine with me to NY to shoot the Battle of Saratoga a Tier 3 IDPA Match. It jammed on a stage and then a few stages later jammed solid resulting in a trip to the safe table to try and get it unjammed. I never shot it in a big match again. It's been shot a fair amount after that but never in a big match. Pretty much been a safe queen since then end of 2018.
I felt for you that day bruh.
 
Springfield Armory Garrison is what I ended up with. Love it. Well made and shoots like a dream. Only comes with 1 mag which is kind of lame but it’s priced reasonably so not that big a deal.
That's what I was about to say, bought one last year. Well-made and accurate, not that I've shot it a lot.
 
IMHO every 1911 under 1500 is just a base gun for custom work.
RIA's are surprisingly well put together, and I hear good thing about Rugers.
 
Springfield Armory Garrison is what I ended up with. Love it. Well made and shoots like a dream. Only comes with 1 mag which is kind of lame but it’s priced reasonably so not that big a deal.
I considered the Garrison ... but prefer adjustable sights.

Earlier this year I bought a full sized stainless steel target grade Kimber with fully adjustable rear sights, hammer-forged stainless barrel, etc. Def NOT a budget gun but Whoa Nellie .. it SHOOTS. Damned thing is far more accurate than me ... if I do my part .. I'm cutting 10-rings all day long at 30 feet. I'm certain the gun could easily do that at twice the distance . whether or not I can is a very very different discussion. Sucks having aging astigmatic eyes.
 
I picked mine up brand new in Feb 2017 straight from the S&W store at the Shooting Center in Springfield. I believe I paid around $1200 at the time. Like I said, never ran right from the start and went back twice. They didn't fix it either time. I ended up ripping it apart and polishing the feed ramp and everything else. I Reassembled and then shot the crap out of it at IDPA matches and practices using every different kind of magazine I could beg, borrow or steal. Most of the problem were on reload after running dry so I down loaded mags and did mag changes with the chamber loaded etc. We put 3500 rounds through it in 6 weeks and I had other shoot it etc. When I was done it was determined the only magazines that run reliably in it are Wilson Combat. So as long as you are using WC mags you are fine. To be honest an average shooter may never have a problem with other magazines but if you shoot IDPA/USPSA, Steel Challenge or something like that and run like 5k plus rounds in a summer you'll run into problems eventually with other magazines.
I bought a glock for 500... oiled it once... it ran for 2500 rounds before i cleaned it again...
 
No they won't the ejector is too wide,but they will fit on a 10 mm. I have an Advantage Arms conversion kit works on my S&W 1911 45 auto frame.
Some will, or you could just get a 40s&w/10mm/38 super ejector or even an extended 45acp ejector and it will work. Here is a video I made for conversion possibilities:

 
I took mine with me to NY to shoot the Battle of Saratoga a Tier 3 IDPA Match. It jammed on a stage and then a few stages later jammed solid resulting in a trip to the safe table to try and get it unjammed. I never shot it in a big match again. It's been shot a fair amount after that but never in a big match. Pretty much been a safe queen since then end of 2018.
Back when I was competing, I always brought a backup gun to each match. I tried not to change anything on the gun prior to a match unless I had time to put several hundred rounds through it first.

I remember a MA state IDPA match down at New Bedford. One of our squad mates brought a brand new Kimber to the match and no backup gun. His gun was jamming on every stage. It was painful to watch.
 
Back when I was competing, I always brought a backup gun to each match. I tried not to change anything on the gun prior to a match unless I had time to put several hundred rounds through it first.

I remember a MA state IDPA match down at New Bedford. One of our squad mates brought a brand new Kimber to the match and no backup gun. His gun was jamming on every stage. It was painful to watch.

The other thing people don't think about is bad guns can literally get you DQed. I saw some poor lady with a finicky, obviously wecsog'ed STI get DQed at a USPSA match because her gun was deciding whether or not it was going to fire, and it let a round downrange unprompted, that was the end of that. At least if you have a backup at the first sign of trouble you can ditch the gun and go to the backup. If this lady had gone to a backup she wouldn't have gotten DQed, the gun had f***ed up on her like 2 stages in a row before the one she got whacked on.

Even for pins I always brought a 2nd gun. There is literally nothing worse than losing because of an equipment failure. Its one thing if I just sucked that day, but having a gun knock you out is like losing a car race because you didn't fill the gas tank. [laugh]
 
Some will, or you could just get a 40s&w/10mm/38 super ejector or even an extended 45acp ejector and it will work. Here is a video I made for conversion possibilities:


The idea of removing the 9 mm ejector and replacing it with a 45 acp ejector had crossed my mind at one point but that idea passed as that's another part that could be easily lost when switching out ejectors ads in Murphy's Law.
 
Is it a written or unwritten rule someplace that pins require a 1911?
No, but it offers an easy learning curve, and you can get triggers that are good enough that will reinforce the "if you miss, it's definitely your fault" thing, lol. I usually ran a 1911, but I shot pins almost a whole season off the same G21SF, and one of the best pin guys i know was absolutely deadly with a Sig P220.
 
For new, my vote goes for RIA. Might want to consider a 2011 in the event you ever move to a free state, or some challenges passes SCOTUS you can just buy new mags and be at standard capacity.
 
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