My Ruger SR1911 is up to about 1K through it with no problems. Even with some ancient GI mags I use for the range. I paid about $700 for it.
I bought an Armscor Citadel cheapie for under $500. It had to go back to Nevada since they screwed up the fit on the slide release, causing the gun to lock back with one round left in the mag. Common 1911 problem. They fixed it and now it runs 100%.

I've got a couple early model Rock Island 1911s, one 45 one in 9mm. Both were like $350 or so at the time. Thousand of rounds, probably cleaned 5 times. They eat everything, commercial plinker, hollow points, various hand loads, random rocks I found on the ground.

These were designed with loose tolerances, so they might not be the most accurate ever, but they've been absolutely reliable. The tighter the tolerance, that seems to me to be where you'd run into reliability issues.

From your criteria, Ruger SR1911. Accurate & they run..

My Kimber Custom II has been great so far.

I think that 1911's do require a bit more of fitting to function right (from the factory) than your everyday Sig, Glock, S+W. However, I think 2 things really gave the 1911's a bad rap on the internet forums.

1. Shooting hollowpoints early on out of a gun that never was designed to shoot hollowpoints. Other guns from this era do have issues with them too such as the Sig P6.

2. The other was home gunsmithing. A majority of the threads with a new 1911 not functioning was usually after someone bought one and immediately tried a home trigger job, or swapped out several parts that probably required minor fitting and then the gun hiccuped.

You usually don't hear of too many 1911's nowadays not running right, right out of the box from a normal manufacturer. Having a 1911 come with all of the bells and whistles and less things for someone to home gunsmith probably helps quite a bit.

ALSO- break them in the first 3-500 rounds very WET with oil, like dripping wet almost.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimmy123x,

Years ago I bought a used Kimber TLE II for around $600. It had been someone's go fast gun and had a bunch of other peoples parts in it. It ran flawlessely until I turned it into a bullseye gun. A few years ago I got a Springfield Range Officer. Great gun that needed nothing and runs 100% with everything I load through any magazine I have.

A Springfield Armory Range Officer should fit your requirements very well. Out of the box, it has been a great 1911 for me. This one is in the range bag every time I go.

Any current production name brand 1911 should run without tweaking. Use high quality magazines (I use Wilson 47D's), and steer away from some of the cheap imports, especially Tisas. Also avoid the tiny ones, that is, Officer'a Model sizes. I've seen lots of trouble with the shorties. Stick with Commander sized or larger. They did used to require lots of hand fitting, but CNC machining nearly eliminated that.

All the Kimbers that I have owned have functioned well except with JHPs which had issues in all of them except the 9mm (ramped barrel). I shot a Raptor in USPSA for years, an Eclipse with the external extractor was great until some asshole stole it.

Both Sig 1911's have been flawless out of the box with all ammo and a joy to shoot. They have been compared to higher priced guns by better shooters than me.

A Dan Wesson Bobtail Commander has also been great out of the box and to my eyes appears to be the best made 1911.

I bought a Kimber Stainless Lightweight for $600 plus tax. Only a few hundred rounds through it so far, but not a single malfunction with ball, my 200 grain lead semi wadcutters, or Critical Duty defense ammo. I did replace the plastic mainspring housing just because and put some TruGlow night sights on it. I have a couple of Colt Commanders, a SA IPSC limited gun, and a 1918 vintage Colt 1911. All have been reliable but the 1918 gets only ball ammo and not a lot of it.

Rock Island makes some good ones at very reasonable prices. Springfield Armory, while some have been bad-mouthing them, make very good 1911s (my own RO Elite Operator has been flawless from day 1). Dan Wesson is, IMO, the grail gun for those who can't justify the price of a Les Baer or Ed Brown custom job, but you likely won't find a DW in the $800 range.

I'll second the statement that quality magazines are critical. Wilson, Chip McCormick, Checkmate, are all excellent. Pass on the GI surplus mags and especially on the imported GI copies.

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like it's not as risky a buy as I thought. I appreciate the input.

I’ll chime in, apologies for any duplicates.

I own/owned the following without any issues, all factory, no mods, all Government models.

Ruger SR1911
SA MilSpec
SA Loaded

IMHO, as with any other product you mod (cars, computers, motorcyles, Glocks, whatever), that’s where many reports of problems come up. Especially 1911’s because some parts may need minor fitting to your gun. You sand 1/8” too much or too little and your gun starts acting up when it was working fine out of the box. They’re not all drop in place right out of the package and away you go for 10K flawless rounds.

YMMV but at this point everyone makes a pretty solid base model 1911 that will run fine right out of the box.

I've been through 4 1911s and I still have the last two.

First 1911 was a Colt XSE blued. As much as I would like to say it was flawless, it wasn't. I probably got a dud. First outing with it, plunger tube popped off after a couple of rounds. Boxed it back up and sent it back to Colt. Got it back. Second outing with it, rear sight popped off after a couple of rounds. Went to a local gunsmith, had them reinstall rear sight and sold it off. Just a bad experience.

Now the only AR I have is an LE6920 so I haven't written off Colt after that experience.

Second 1911 after selling the Colt was a Springfield Loaded 1911 stainless. Good pistol, never failed. Had to sell it from a move from State to State.

Third 1911 is a Dan Wesson Commander Bobtail (CBOB) stainless that I've replaced all parts (with exception to frame, barrel, and slide) with Ed Brown parts. It was even sent back to Dan Wesson for some trigger work and refinishing. Dan Wesson is really good with their customer service; had to send it back after inadvertent rapid fire issues. Now it spins like a top.

Fourth and last 1911 is a Remington R1 1911 blued that I bought when I lived in the калифорния републик (California Republik). I was able to grab this under the fabled Single Shot Exemption (SSE) at a premium due to it not being on the State's DoJ 'approved' list. Only thing I did to that was replace the factory grips with Hogue Wraparound Rubber Grips with Finger Grooves in OD and change out the mag release with an ambi mag release. It's been 100% reliable.

I would recommend a 5" Government model for your first 1911. The 4-1/4" Commander model has a snap when firing rounds, way different than the 5" Government models.

I got this last week for $400, though it's used.



I promptly took it to the range, ran 100 rds through it and it was every bit as nice as my Dan Wesson. So I went back to the store and bought the full size version too, also $400. The sale they were having was just ridiculous.

Save yourself a lot of money, effort and frustration. If you don't want to worry about the right springs, mags, extractor tension, loose plunger tubes, proper ejector length, etc.. do NOT buy a 1911. Price matters not at all. I have had $3,000.00 1911's that could not get thru a mag even after "the break in period".
If you have your heart set on one, get a Sig or Smith as they have external extractors which is a more reliable design.
If you want to shoot a pistol out of the box, hundreds of rounds, with a quick lube and clean, not spend hours and dollars trying to get it to "run right" then buy a Beretta or Glock, or HK, or CZ and enjoy your range time.
Before the 1911 aficionados jump all over me, I have had dozens of 1911's over the years. I will still buy a sharp looking one now and then. I still enjoy shooting one now and then. BUT, it's not even an issue that they are just a lot more work than the modern design pistols we now have available.
It's not even close to a dispute about this.

The Ruger SR1911 is good to go out of the box.

DSCN2293 by Dave Steier, on Flickr

I’m an admitted 1911 fanboi. I happen to like Glocks, too - am I in / from The Twilight Zone?! Haha...

Sometimes I carry a Glock Gen4 G 26. I’ve carried and sampled a fair number of Glocks (though not all of them), and the 26 is my favorite of the pack. I stay in good practice with it.

A full-size .45 1911 “feels” the best to me. I shoot those better than anything else I’ve tried so far. I carry one of those the most compared to other options I have. But I will agree that the 1911 does require more attention in terms of maintenance and the like - again, at least for me it does - than a Glock. It takes longer to clean, and I’m a bit OCD about cleaning, anyway.

That said - I like maintaining my guns - 1911s, Glocks, or otherwise. My 1911s take a bit more time to clean but I like putting the time in after a range session. I’ve not had to jump a lot of hoops in so doing - I haven’t had to do a bunch of spring changes (other than typical, like the recoil spring), extractor tension checks, or other such actions. By and large, my 1911s have run quite well.

So have my Glocks.

Clean ‘em, lube ‘em, shoot ‘em. Repeat. That’s what works...for me.

I had a Sig Nightmare carry. I believe it was flawless. Sold it to upgrade to a used Dan Wesson Guardian. Too good to pass up. Flawless.