Weight and length of the weapon along with caliber will affect recoil. There are several good 1911 models on the market now. Price may influence your decision in choosing a 1911. I shoot Kimber 1911's. Springfield, Colt, Sig among others all make excellent 1911's. If a composite non 1911 gun is on your mind, look at the Glock 30 or 36. They are both 45 acp shooters. The difference in the two is that the G30 holds more ammo than the G36. The G36 is a slimmer version of Glock's 45 acp's. Hope that I have given you a starting place.

How do you intend to use the weapon? Carry concealed, home protection, hunting, sport, etc.

Target/competion snooting mostly.
Not for carry - never carried and never felt the need to.
home protection? With small children in the house the guns have had locks on them for years wtih ammo in a different place..now I have a gun safe in the bedroom so at least it's more of a viable option, assuming the baddies come in during the night and wake me up...which isn't likely as I sleep like the dead. Up until last week home protection would have been a 22 and hopefully a well placed shot. I now have a 30-30...more deadly but a lot less handy.

Not to complicate things any, but my wife is interested in at least taking a pistol safety course. I have normal to large hands and she has smaller hands .. a large capacity 45 is probably not gonna work for her at all, but then it might depend on what for - to shoot alot? No, but to shoot an intruder, sure, that might work (assuming she'd even bother to get the gun which I doubt she would). She's not anti gun but suffers from a bit of the 'fear of the unknown' type of thing.

From what I've seen pretty much any 1911 carries a $200 ish premium over a non-1911 45. For sheer stopping power I prefer a 45 of course.

Now the local club has combat and target and IDPA competitions and I'd like to participate. From reading here and there a 9mm might be a good choice - cheaper to shoot which if you shoot 500-1000 rounds a year might make a difference...or is the difference small enough to not matter? I figure the diff on 1000 handloads to be $70ish (well, the 45 brass will cost a bit more upfront). Assuming my math of 17c per 9mm round and 24c per 45 round times 1000 is right. I figure a 9 might be smaller for my wife also, but that may depend more on a specific gun than the caliber.

Is 9mm easier to shoot than 45 on a full frame poly auto? As in less recoil, lighter gun (when loaded), etc? Or is it so close as to not matter?

I guess I'd prefer a 45 but for all practical reasons a 9mm sounds like a better choice. The 45 has the advantage of being a better defense round but as I've mentioned that's not the reason I'm getting a pistol.

GLOCK or M&P are good choices that will have you in "state of the art" status in IDPA or in USPSA production. I wouldn't try to compete with a lower end 1911, it's just not worth the aggravation. All of these Kimber guys who have never had a jam? Haven't tried to run them 'at speed'. Now, the new Springfield Range Officer is good to go, and at $800 it's not hideously over priced. For polymer guns, about the only caution I'd give you is to avoid the XD. Use stats showed that they started out strong and dropped off fast--they just aren't up to the task.

Originally Posted by HK Dan

GLOCK or M&P are good choices that will have you in "state of the art" status in IDPA or in USPSA production. I wouldn't try to compete with a lower end 1911, it's just not worth the aggravation. All of these Kimber guys who have never had a jam? Haven't tried to run them 'at speed'. Now, the new Springfield Range Officer is good to go, and at $800 it's not hideously over priced. For polymer guns, about the only caution I'd give you is to avoid the XD. Use stats showed that they started out strong and dropped off fast--they just aren't up to the task.

This Kimber guy has shot several combat courses and and being a Vet whose side arm was an M9 Baretta (9mm) I will take my Kimber covert anyday of the week on any course. I just don't understand the need some of you guys feel to take shots at Kimber whenever you can. I had a crappy Ford once but there are tons of them on the road with no problems.

Good to know about the XD...it seems to get high praise in reviews and are available used here for $500ish in 45. I've also seen a Para USA and Kahr in 45 (not 1911 models though). I plan to go looking a 9mm this week to see what's out there in the used market. A new Glock was cheaper than I'd thought they'd be and the M&P is another i've read good things about, but I've read almost as much anti S&W as anything else, not so much about quality as corporate policies and such.

To be honest I'd prefer an all steel gun, but it seems they're on the rare side these days.

For an entry level pistol the Glock is hard to beat. There's a world of aftermarket parts and 22 conversions for it too. It has a trigger like a staplegun but can be fixed if you want. Thirty dollars for a 3.5 pound connector and a ZEV spring kit fixes them. The Mil-Spec 1911's run pretty well especially the Springfields and Colts. You can find them in steel.

You might go with the M&P in .45 and later your wife can get a smaller 9mm with the same controls and size options or smaller for concealed carry and if she wants a safety on hers they are available ...no so with Glock....M&P also has different size backstraps to fit different size hands...S&W also gives a lifetime warranty and they have great customer service if you ever need it and they pay shipping both ways...If you can find a range that has both the S&W and Glock try them both to see which works best for you...JJ

And I like revolvers. The S & W 686 with a 4" barrel is a fine example. It is a 6 shot gun that will fire anything from light .38 target loads all the way up to the uber-potent .357 magnum.

There are competition classes for revolvers. And a 4" S & W will undoubtedly prove to be very accurate.

The battery of arms is simple and it makes a fine weapon for teaching a newcomer. You can learn both the double action and single action modes and those skills translate well for semi-automatics too.

The people at S&W who set that corp. policy are long gone.....

I decided to sorta ignore my budget and get what I wanted - a new XDm 5.25 Competition in 9mm. Thanks for all the advice.

Kahr k series or mk series are all metal design. At least the mk9 and k9 are.

I believe the best way to decide on what is best for you is to get a pistol that will have a good feel in your hand. With that said, you will have to decide if the polymer frames are for you or the metal frames. From just reading your posts I get an indication that you may prefer the metal framed pistols, but still try one or two polymer framed ones before making your final choice. If i were you I would choose a pistol where I can convert it to shoot different calibers, like 9 mm and 40 caliber. All in all, take time, visit the range and gunstore often, and try the many pistols that are available. You will be the best person to decide what works for you, especially if you are not limited by finances.

The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of good guns out there and just a few bad ones. If you avoid the bad ones you generally will do fine.

And don't expect to stick with the first gun you get. You will try others.

I know I bought, sold and then bought again guns I've had in the past. (Sort of like a wife; you have to replace them once in a while.)

If read the posts you'd have seen I bought a gun, a Springfield Armory XDm Competition 5.25 in 9mm.
I talked with some local competitors, users of glocks, S&W revolvers, XD users (as well as others) and held several glocks, XDs and S&W M&P Pro.
I liked the feel of the S&W pro the best in my hand with the XD about 95% as good. The Glock wasn't bad and better looking than in the pics (17, 34, 19 were in stock) but the grip felt rather square. The XD in stock was the XDm 4.6" barrel non-competition model.

The local club is active - I'm gonna give the combat league (since i've done that) and IDPA (since it looks fun and challenging) a try and take a look at pistol bullseye.

Originally Posted by Prin_C

I believe the best way to decide on what is best for you is to get a pistol that will have a good feel in your hand. With that said, you will have to decide if the polymer frames are for you or the metal frames. From just reading your posts I get an indication that you may prefer the metal framed pistols, but still try one or two polymer framed ones before making your final choice. If i were you I would choose a pistol where I can convert it to shoot different calibers, like 9 mm and 40 caliber. All in all, take time, visit the range and gunstore often, and try the many pistols that are available. You will be the best person to decide what works for you, especially if you are not limited by finances.

Good luck and you made a very wise decision picking the gun you wanted. All the advice in the world is really just advice. Some good some not so much. Getting what you really want is very wise. You will now have a good base to decide on your next gun and a very good point of comparison. If this is a beginner target and competition gun, you should be very satisfied. The FO front sight and the longer barrel will be a big benefit to you in both persuits.

I would not have picked that gun but I am not you and I like a hammer. I hope you are very happy with your new weapon, have fun and be safe!!!!!!!!!

RCG

Originally Posted by prof_fate

I decided to sorta ignore my budget and get what I wanted - a new XDm 5.25 Competition in 9mm. Thanks for all the advice.

I'm sorry for your choice
good luck

Originally Posted by hideit

I'm sorry for your choice
good luck

Why would you say that? The XDm Competition is supposed to be a fine weapon.

Originally Posted by hideit

I'm sorry for your choice
good luck

I didn't you see make any recommendations or offer any advice - so now you pop in to second guess and say I made a mistake?

I read reviews in magazines and online. I talked with owners of XD and XDm guns. Never was a bad word read or heard at all in any way.

Different strokes is all. You can't let someone who doesn't have the same preferances as you worry you. I have learned over the course of time people even buy Kel Tecs so I wish them luck and thank God that I did not make the same choice they did. If this gun performs and serves you well, as I would expect it does you will be satisfied and hideit will probably still not be impressed with the 5.25.

Like I said before enjoy and be safe

RCG

Originally Posted by Raymond

I had a crappy Ford once but there are tons of them on the road with no problems.

It's more like you have an Edsel that hasn't broken down yet. I've shot 4 matches a month for 7 years. It isn't an "I saw a bad Kimber once" kind of deal, it's more of an "I haven't seen a good one yet" type deal. I've seen hundreds--maybe into the thousands--and they all puke at some point. The serious 1911 guys who don't have problems are shooting Wilsons, Nighthawk Customs, and Baers. The rest have problems (Springfields excepted--they seem to run well)

The internet can make small problems seem like the plague.

If I wanted to check this sort of thing out I would go to a website devoted exclusively to Kimber forums and read what they have to say. You will get a good feel for the amount of problems by reading those entries.

There is also a big difference between (any brand) owners who shoot sometimes and those who compete with one. What makes one happy is of little consequence to the other.

Coilguy

am 2 punches away from B Class. I've been shooting a DT10 that is a 90% fit (needs a tad more cast). I have a K80 ProSporter that is a 100%