Basic Newby Question

Well, there are whole sites dedicated to answering that question! 😄

It depends on a couple of things:

• Budget
• Nostalgia versus shootability
• How much work do you want to do

A 1911 can run $300-$3,000 x it just depends on what you want to spend. The pride of my collection is an original Navy Colt (manufactured in 1912) that my great uncle brought home after WW II. I’ll never sell it - but it’s not much “fun” to shoot.

There are plenty of “cheap” pistols in the $400 range - Tisas, Charles Daly, Rock Island. They can be decent but they will probably take so,e work to make them really good shooters.

The line of Springfield Armory pistols are decent for the money - you can get a Garrison for about $800. Bul Armory makes a reall nice pistol (if you can find one). The next “step up” puts you in the $1,500 range — or you can jump straight to the $3,000 custom guns. (Sig 1911’s are in the $1,000 - $1,

There are also 2011’s (double stack) you can consider…14 rds of .45 ACP in a 1911 platform is kind of fun!

So the sky is the limit. I started the year with just my Colt….now I’m up to 7 1911’s!!

hoekyb1 said:

NICE COLLECTION--I WOULD PREFER SIG ONLY

Click to expand...

Then you’re into the $1,000-$1,500 range. Sig is currently only making 4 versions but others are still available.

First, lower case is the accepted standard for posting. Im 69 if that means anything.

You chose a SIG 1911, the likelihood of it appreciating is far into the future. Right now the older P series in steel are the guns to collect - the German P's are all gone and much higher.

"To have in a collection" goes to what the focus of that collection is - rare models, a certain type of use, or even a color - stainless, blued, cerakote. What kinds of 1911's are in it now? Barrel length all the same or all different? That sort of thing.

Narrow down the exact features you prefer, peruse the SIG offerings now or even yesteryear, find that model and then search is your friend. SIG's don't just pop up in pawn shops etc as they are expensive enough for their owners to keep - not sell or need quick cash - few change hands over and over, unlike say a Taurus .38.

I've been in retail a long time and the one thing I learned when someone asked "whats the best?" is to point to what was the most expensive. So, I recommend a Sig Spartan II. GUNWATCHER.COM

Good luck, that might be the only one in stock - I've checked four so far. gun search engine at DuckDuckGo

The link is to a guns for sale seach engine, one of a dozen online which can find things in stock. Those are your friend when searching for an actual gun on the shelf, and pushing the buttons has got me two last year from stores just a few miles away - nobody knew they were in town and it saved me hitting half a dozen stores. Both were also priced normally at time when scalpers seemed to be the only ones who had any.

No idea if a Spartan is your cup of tea. Like the first suggestions, no, you won't find any Singers, they were so bad the Army only accepted a token 500 yet collector value is in the Rolex range. Stupid high. The Union Switch I think was not an A1 production item - it's rare and therefore Omega space watch price range.

Goes to the collection again - are these "authentic" models, or just any 1911? The A1 has some better features, the newer guns can have anything you want. Cabot makes some nice ones out of meteorite starting at $3,000 - SIG is in the shooter price range. And that is why they will only appreciate slowly. Non original 1911 makers have to have some special reason for them to go up - there are dozens of makers and unless one somehow becomes a historic event gun the others won't be.

Me, I avoided all that when the CMP priced themselves at the going market rates, and found a TX LEO SW 4566 TSW, which is what we all could have been using - the Army wanted to dump the 1911 in 1954 and had Pistol Trials based off the Walther P38. A short barreled 9mm DA/SA which Smith worked up and submitted. It became the gateway automatic to replace pistols in LEO holsters yet it seems only the Smith fans collect them. It's doubled but still lags behind some old mishmash of Remington/ Ithaca which was rebuilt three times.

Ok, if the US&S is not in your future maybe something like this is. This is an original Series 70 GCNM in .45 ACP. These classic Colts can still be bought for $1200-1600 for pristine examples. This one has been in my possession since 1977. One nice thing about these GCNM’s is, Colt made thousands of them so they’re not really that rare. Try to find one with the original box and papers, you’ll have yourself a fine old firearm that shoots awesome.

If you want a safe queen, then you might want to consider finding a WW2 era .45 but you won't want to mod it and I will guarantee it won't shoot that well. they were intentionally built with slop in the specs to account for dust dirt and crud. the guy who says he has signal or remington-rand (the typewriter guys not the firearms manufacturers, though they may have been the same company at some point) will never fire as well or as accurately as, say a Gold Cup or an Ed Brown, not without a lot of work, which will also destroy the value of the weapon. you also did not say what your budget is.

To me a pistol is like a classic car. yes they are nice to have, but are you gonna drive or are you going to let it sit in the garage and all you do is wipe it down with a diaper?

My advice is if you don't have 3-4 "working" pistols, I.E. range/Duty/carry ones, don't worry about the collector yet. get a stabel so when you get the urge for some aromatherapy, you are not putting wear on that collectible. I have a Sig C3 and an Remington R-1 govt size. I will pick up a couple more before I start looking for a WW2 specimen, unless one falls in my lap. now what I would LOVE to find is a navy model form the 1980s... hat what I had when i served. it would be a nice memento, and since it would not be of significant value, I would have no problems getting some basic work done.