Willy - most jams or malfunctions I have experienced with any of my 1911s were ammo related - that is, my reloads. Whnever I play around experimenting with my reloads I expect jams and malfunctions until I get the load right. I don't count those jams or malfunctions as a fault of the quality of the handgun, I count them as my fault.
That being said I feel there are a couple of types of 1911s. The first type is the basic 1911A1 - these can be had from Colt, Springfield, RIA, Norinco, etc. These are the basic copies of the 1911A1 design that look just like the GI autos of WWI and WWII. Some of these may take a bit of breaking in, say about 2-300 rounds and they then run like they should. The breaking in is simply to get everything to properly seat and function together as it should as helps remove little burrs and machining that causes some roughness.
Then there are the others, the more expensive ones that run like a swiss watch right out of the box and never fail unless you try and either fix them or improve upon them (lololol): These are Kimbers, Colt Gold Cups, Springfield's Loaded Model, Les Baer, Ed Brown and a few others. Individually also are any of the 1911s that Broom Rider, SharonAnne or Lloyd Smale own.
It is not a fact of life that a 1911 will jam on you once every couple of hundred rounds, unless you have tried to fix something that ain't broke or improve on something that really doesn't need improving.
The make of the 1911A1 is not really important as all (I believe) are made to mil-spec at least and the modifications are subject to individual taste. I'm willin' to bet that if you're an average Joe just about any basic 1911A1 out of the box will suit you just fine without any need for modifications.
I really do not appreciate these Thunder Ranch or Kimber adds that give you the impression that YOU WILL DIE if you don't use one of their guns as they make it sound as though any other gun will fail on you. That's pure nonsense. Long before these 'experts' at building custom guns came into the fore most 45s people carried were basic GI models and they worked just fine.
Let's put it this way - I don't remember any guys named Clint Smith in Special Forces 40 years ago when I was running around S.E. Asia or South America and anyone then who couldn't use or hit with a 45 usually had their choice of various S&W M10s (38 Spl) or even a few Browning P-35s (9mm), bunches of Tokarevs (7.62) or anything else they could get out of the 'capture chest' if they could get their hands on them, but the idea of a really slicked up 1911A1 with enhanced sights, target trigger, lower and/or flared ejection port, Bar-Sto or Ed Brown or Ed Clark barrels never saw action in my swamps. And maybe old guys like me with equally old eyes and less steady hands need all that slick stuff now to stay on target, but in the day it was plain basics or you got yourself something you could handle. JMTCW. Mikey.
