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AFJailor wrote:How many of you have an extended magazine well? Also do you guys find it useful, or is it just an extra chunk of metal?

It's personal choice but all my current 1911's have extended magazine wells. The single-stacks all get S&A Mainspring/Magwell one-piece assemblies. I find the extra length on the backstrap gives me just a little more surface area with which to control the gun. The big bonus is the 200% increase in well area that makes it much easier to "find the hole" with the magazine. Good reloading technique will always provide the biggest benefit but, no one is perfect and sometimes you miss the well by just a fraction of an inch. With the standard magazine well, this means the magazine gets hung up on the frame, forcing you to retry the reload. The magazine well provides a significantly larger margin for error.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

Kalrog wrote:I would pick a $2000 1911 and spend the other $300 on something for the wife... so that she would let me do this again.

Now here's a veteran husband!

Chas.

See, I forgot to even comment on the wife input. But it depends on thw wife. In my case, I'd have to cut that $2300 budget in half, pretty much eliminating all the previously mentioned choices making only a Springfield Armory TRP or Kimber TLE a possibility. Then I'd be expected to take the remaining $1150 to buy some "small" token of love for my wife. And in the end, I still wouldn't be allowed to do it again. And that's why I maintain the super-secret, ninja-squirrel, slush fund for major purchases like guns or my new camera. Unfortunately, the fund is currently depleted and will remain so until after I've acquired three more lenses for the camera.

AFJailor wrote:So if someone gave you $2300 dollars (give or take) with the stipulation that it had to be spent on a gov't sized 1911 from Nighthawk, Ed Brown, Les Baer or Wilson, which company/model would you go with?

I just wanted to gather some people's opinions, I got authorized by the wife to just go ahead and get my dream gun in Feb. All my research on a 1911 under $1500 is now out the window and my head hurts with the possabilities. (Plus I am a little bored right now and thought this might entertain me.)

At the moment I am leaning towards either the Wilson CQB or the CQB Elite, depending on what price I can find for the Elite. However, the only weapon from all those manufacturers that I have fired is the Les Baer Concept II. The gun was very accurate and reliable but it just felt a little blocky and awkward in my hands.

It's hard to go wrong with any of the candidates you've mentioned but if I had my druthers, I'd go with Ed Brown. Why? I can't argue that the quality of any of the companies is superior these days. Still, I met Mr. Brown and his son at the SHOTshow a few years back and had a pleasant conversation with them. The Browns were very helpful even though I wasn't buying anything at the time. Les Baer's attitude seemed to be that even after you bought and paid for the gun, it was still HIS gun. Wilson, well I've seen better personalities, let just leave it at that but generally speaking, his company provides good service. As you may know, the guys who started Nighthawk used to work for Bill Wilson. The more recent work I've seen from them has been on par with all the other builders out there but, early examples were spotty.