Bags

Looking at 1911's today and I like the SA champion. It has a 4 inch barrel and I was told by 2 people inside of siad gun shop that the 4 inch 1911 is not as a good setup/design as the 5 inch barrel.

Is there any real difference? I understand that the longer barrel will aid in accuracy, but is there any other purpose?

Is there any downside or problems with the 1911 4 inch barrel over the 5 inch barrel?

I know there is a 1911 forum, I am looking over there, I just prefer to ask yall. There is less brand loyalty here than other forums I have seen.

Thanks for any help

Bud White

Usually anythign under 4" has more problems than anything above i prefer the orginal commander size 4 1/4 it has been proven to work but seems the 4" springer works well to

In general most problems i have read though all brands are again under 4"

I like springfields but dont like a bull barrel its a personal preferance thing i think i have 4 springers at this time in 5"


Also what they are refering to is a lot of the angles change when you run a shorter barrel than 5" and sometimes it causes a ton of reliabilty issues

P95Carry

I am not the 1911 afficionado here at all but from choice would always go full size - or as Bud says, plus on 4".

Over time I see more and more shorties being way too unreliable by comparison.

It may be of interest to some - 1911 Tuner over on THR has been doing some experimenting and it is a work in progress I think - attempting to evaluate the factors behind less reliability on shorter platforms.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=199089

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Bags

You are 100% correct. He did say reliabilty issues... I could not remember exactly what he said.

Thanks for the info

And thanks for the link P95.. and I think you are correct, Full size is the way I will go

Rhome

I have a Springfield Champion 4" barrel, It has been every bit as reliable as my 5"- 100% reliable. I have an older Springer, the new ones have a fully supported bull barrel which is a nice feature and the recoil system is a captured system. if I weren't buying a Kimber I'd buy the newer Champion . thats my 2 cents worth.

Bud White

We try to help if your gonna go fullsize and want lighter weight check out the springfield loaded lightweight great gun weight of a commander with a 5" barrel

snowdoctor

For what it is worth, I own a 3'' baby kimber(ultra carry), a 4" colt commander, and two 5"one colt and one kimber.
I have seen no reliability issues with any. I carry the baby kimber everyday, and have 1000's of rounds through it.
Now as you can tell, I can not speak on the SA's, I do not own one. IMO, i do not think the smaller kimber's have a reliability problem. My brother, my brother in law and myself all own one, and really like them. We even stake our life on them. Also you have to be able to conceal and carry with comfort or it will probably get left home.
take it for what it is worth. and good luck, let us know your decision,

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rocky

For what its worth, I like my SA Champion LW. The OD and black 2 tone sets it off for me. Runs reliably and seems plenty accurate. Also ,I believe the 1" less helps me to conceal it with my body type.

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Brian45

My primary carry is a SA 5" 1911. I also have a 4" Lightweight Champion just like Rocky has. The 4" has only had one FTF and that was with less than 100 rounds through it, well within the breakin period. Now I have about 400 round through the Champion without any problems. It is a accurate and reliable gun.

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grnzbra

I can't address the reliability of the shorter guns, but I can say that with a good IWB holster, barrel length isn't the problem; it's grip size. I have been able to conceal a full size 1911 with a 10 round mag (read "extended mag") under a T shirt. (Well, as far as I know, there weren't any police around so the people who didn't see it probably didn't know what to look for. Perhaps a police officer would have spotted it.)

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