What is the best 1911 GBB?
 

Im looking at buying a new 1911 in the near future, Im wondering what you think is the best 1911 gbb in its stock form?

I think it'd be TM, though the WE 1911 is a great upgradeable gun that fires 300 and comes with a metal slide and a full metal body (not like the TM's ABS that costs $50 more and will break) but it has some minor glitches (check my topic on this board).

I'd probably end up going with the TM though. BTW, RM is the 1911 king as far as I can tell, so he'd probably be able to tell you all the details and give you a better opinion than mine.

TM MEU

So far my #1 choice,

I Always heard good things about TM pistols, most of my teammates have TM pistols.

Well you do own a TM 4.3 so you should know.
Quality, and very accurate. :)

Actually, i dont lol, because i bought it used this summer but it has not worked once since getting it. Thats why im doing my research before jumping on the TM wagon again lol.

Can you please let me know how this gun works out for you? Is the slide ABS or metal? Also, if it's not metal, how much would it cost to get a metal one?

Have you upgraded it or modified/repaired it in any way? How long have you had it and has it's performance been dwindling? I wouldn't mind getting rid of the old WE and forking up the extra cash for a TM pistol as long as I don't have to end up upgrading the slide or internals.

I've held and fired both the TM and the WE. I prefer the WE personally, and it hasn't let me down yet. I'd say WE but everyone here will disagree with me most likely. If the TM 1911 was full metal, I'd take it over the WE in a heartbeat.

WE 1911's are garbage, I've yet to see one that didnt bust the spring cap out and bend the barrel bushing. They're a great price for a full metal gun, but it leaves a sour taste in your mouth when it busts after a game or two. Some people seem to get away with them, but I've personally seen at least 5 or 6 go tits up in a matter of weeks.

I've owned an MEU, and they are a nail driver. They come ABS, same as the TM 1911A1 and they shoot hard. The frame feels a little wider than the 1911, and the mags have the rubber bumper on them which I dont care for. Performance wise, they're awesome if the new look is your style, it wasn't mine.

I have a pair of TM 1911A1's that are great. I've put a few parts in them, but am keeping them cosmetically old school. I have friends who have run them for years on propane and stock slides without cracks.. so yes TM is your friend for 1911's.

Redwolf has the reviews.

The new WE Socom Gear Wilson Combat & the TM MEU.

Both guns are good, and both have pros and cons.

The TM MEU, where is metal internals, accurate.
The WE Socom Gear Wilson Combat, where it is full metal.

I am not sure if the Wilson Combat is TM friendly.

But, you can upgrade the WE Wilson Combat, but it won't be as accurate as the TM, where you can upgrade the TM MEU with metal kits.

The TM MEU comes with real NOVAK sights, where WE Wilson Combat comes with 99% copy of the real grips.

The WE Wilson Combat has rough finishes.

those WE seem like a TM copy so how come the mags aren't compatible?

It only "seem" like a copy, it's not a copy. WE1911 evolved from WE2011, rather than being a straight forward copy of the TM1911. As such, WE designed its own mag for the WE1911, though it does use the same valve as TM1911.

I pushed my WE1911 pretty hard. It was sensitive to cold weather, though that's as much as the single stack mag as anything else. She turned out to be a good work horse for me, but I also knew how to troubleshoot her properly.

Anyways, I wouldn't recommend a WE1911. In countries where you can get them closer to MSRP, they're pretty good. Here in Canada, for the same amount of money, you can probably do better. I'd recommend you to shoot for a KJW1911 or a CA1911 (both much less common than WE1911). Both are straight up TM clones.

Alternatively, I give KJW 6 months until they pop out a TM MEU clone.

Tokyo Marui all the way for GBBs in stock form.

I've been to games where brand new WE's just break down after getting a little sand in them, my TM runs flawlessly and I there's been mud/sand in it :P

Depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for heft in the hand, go WE. If you want outright reliability and shooting performance, TM bar none.

TM's hop up design is stellar. You can tell that they put in significant engineering when you shoot their GBBs out of the box. They're also tuned to work decently well with lower pressure HFC134a. That will extend your playing season significantly.

WE gloms on a heavy metal slide that can cycle in the best of conditions, but if things cool down you're stuck. Their heavy slides require lighter springs to cycle because it takes so much work to get the thing moving so they go light on the spring. I've got a WE 3.9" which is pretty much a copy of the Hicapa. The spring is so slack that you can do what I call a "whip cock". Punch forward aggressively and you can cock the slide with inertia. Just like real steel, if you use a light recoil spring and get a little grime or gun smegma and your gun may fail to return to battery. I also find a bunch of goofy little mistakes like springs that aren't quite the right stiffness which leads to fun troubleshooting adventures.

Finally, WE uses single port mag valves.

for an explanation of double and single port mag valves scroll down on this post:
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthr...&highlight=ksc

This leads to frequent short fills which would probably be really bad on a singlestacker mag with limited gas capacity. This is the shortfall of buying from clonemakers. You get a sort of parody of what was originally a beautifully engineered device. Some features get duplicated, some mimicked, and most subtleties outright missed.

Has anyone broken a stock TM slide recently? We're all blasting propane now. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of a slide broken by recoil force. I've seen a gun or two pwned by a fall onto concrete but post TM Hicapa slides seem to be propane tolerant now.

Five stars to this thread for the most amount of useful information on one page.

I've been running a TM 1911 in stock form (plastic slide) on propane for two years now.
No problems yet.

I've only seen 3 broken hicapa slides...but that is skewed because so many are swapped out for metal slides. One in the back rail section and two up by the rear sight (bomar 5.1...not the 4.3). All three were run hard with the intent of "shooting it until the slide breaks"...all three on propane.

I've owned and handled 3 1911's (2 TM and one FMU TM conversion). They've all performed as well as a "single stack" thin mag can. The plastic ones are still going strong so far as I know (better shooters than myself have them now) and I'll probably end up with one of them again shortly.

However, I keep gravitating back to the HiCapa's for pure performance and efficiency.

From talks with a couple of guys, who work on pistols extensively, I've steered clear of the WE guns for now. Observations seem to generalize that the metals are too soft for the mass of the slide. So much gas is dumped to get the pistol functioning that it's not only inefficient, but it results in a lot of wear and tear (exacerbated by the heavy slide rocketing back and forth). Positive things were that they are not expensive and so they can be tossed after they break or gutted for parts. Another positive was that the frame seemed useful for retrofit projects, if some work was done. I don't want to toss $300+ just to tear it apart...but I might pick up a broken one to check out it's specs.

I'd go TM. A buddy of mine handled a CA and said the fit/finish was excellent. It was $50 overseas.

Stock TM MEU is what I would probably recommand to someone who wants to game it extensively without upgrades. The A1 sight is its weakest part, just because its historically accurate. If you are using it as a basegun for a project I think it doesn't matter much. But I think at the moment if you want a game gun you get the MEU if you want the single stacker. Hi-Capa is better for capacity and power, if you don't mind the double stack.

I am kinda interested in seeing how the new KSC-line will evolve. Their new 2011 line is out with the new system7 based gun, and from the last full metal 1911 that they've made the power is there. Just lacking as usual on the hop-up. You can find KSC makes full metal 2011 now with pot-metal midframe like Marui, with trades and metal slide as well...just not the aftermarket support of the TM...

Tm all the way.

I've had a 5.1, a 4.3, a 1911A1 and now an MEU. They all performed flawlessly!

Plus they are alot of upgrade parts, so you can't go wrong with a TM pistol

KJW TACTICAL 1911s.

Pawscal, if you want to get some trigger time on one, PM me.

Resurrection
 

I'm resurrecting this thread because I am looking at picking up a 1911. I should say "another 1911" since I already ordered a RWA Covert Ops...

I've read nothing but praise for the TM line, and I would be looking for something with a rail to mount a light on.

I poked around a bit and read some positive reviews for the Elite Force 1911 TAC and it looks like another great option.

Can I get some updated input on the 1911 scene since this thread is pretty old?

Thanks

1911s are generally more of a nuisance than Hi-Capas. If you don't mind the extra bulk of a Hi-Capa, that's the route you should take. They're more upgrade-able, have larger gas and ammo capacity, and if you manage to get a Gold Match, the internal architecture is moderately better than a standard 1911/hi-capa.

Otherwise, if you must get a single stack 1911, all the TM 1911s are pretty much the same internally (I think, you might want to get a second opinion on this), so choose the one with the externals you like the most; there's the Desert Warrior which is a tan 4.3 1911, Night Warrior which is a black 4.3 1911 with a strike face, standard MEU, list goes on.

Honestly, I can't really think of a reason NOT to get a TM when it comes to 1911s (yes, they're plastic, but you can always get a metal slide and frame for it if you like, and it's not as expensive and is more abundant than other for pistols). The internals are just much better than any other brand.

sold
 

Just ordered the hi-capa gold match from Trigger... curse you internet.

TM. The Elite Force is a KWC and you don't want that.

No, the Night Warrior is a standard length 1911 with rail and darker accents.

Oops, meant STRIKE warrior, my bad. Night Warrior is what Styrak said ^

He already ordered the RWA one, which is KWC. Rip


Ot. Gold match is nice. Sexy in fact.

$300+tax is ok... You could got it at pmall upstairs for 280-300 cash :P

But then I would have had to leave my house... and drive to the pmall... and that parking lot is such a treat...

1911s suck. Because single stack mags.

Is there big differences in terms of internal designs? Will I be able to put standard TM hi capa internal parts in the Gold Match when something fails? If so, might as well get one for myself too before the old lady gets back home...

To add, I'm torn between Gold Match and Hk45. Something Hk45 lacks is that way less aftermarket support and it doesn't seem to cycle as nice as hi capa given the size of that bigass slide..

the gold match is just a regular ass 5.1 hicapa with some fancy trim on it
they are the honda civics of pistols

Dam. I do dig that look meanwhile a honda civic hater lol

I'd recommend a TM. Never a WE...

Yea no one is going to get a WE here.

I'm pretty sure the gold match isn't just a 5.1 hi-capa. Reference here: http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=173924

I prefer the HK45 over the gold match, but that's my own personal preference. Choose what you like :)

GM is same as the 5.1. just some stock upgrades but you'll be replacing that stuff after some hundred rounds...

Yes I've read that post, but most of it is about slide/frame fitment and stuff. No internal parts are discussed. One things placing HK45 second on my list is that I find it has almost no aftermarket parts available except for slides...

Hk45, uspc not much support. M&P9 is a good choice from marui aswell

Thanks Biorage. It seems like standard hi capa has more love than GM. I'm leaning towards HK45, but standard hi capa in black looks nice too. Glad to know hk45 has parts support though I don't know where to get yet.

If you want something a little different than a hi-capa and less common than a glock, like Bio mentioned, the M&P9 is a platform lots of people are starting to get into. Lots of aftermarket parts, and it's a relatively new architecture with some older design bugs worked out. One of my friends uses a kitted out M&P9 and it's really nice. Sadly, the HK45 still doesn't see a lot of parts, although there are some apparently (no experience about this one firsthand unfortunately).

What's wrong with KWC 1911's?

Crap quality and proprietary magazines and parts.

well my tm 5.1 hicapa dates from 2005...still works always ran on propane.. original plastic slide..ya ok the slide lock is chewed....