next 1911 in 9mm

I am going for my next 1911 and it will be in 9mm. I have a dan wesson heritage, 2 sig c-3's and a full size sig. So I'm looking for a fun kick around 1911. I considered a gsg .22 1911 but had a chiappa and the thing put empty casings down my neck and all over my arms. Shooting is to be fun not burn marks all over you! I have narrower my search to these 2 guns a rock island and a sti spartin both 9mm. I have read they both are good guns any opinions? I'm leaning to the sti for its a USA made gun and has adjustable sights. Is it worth the $200 more?

Check out a Springfirld EMP. 1911 totally designed for 9mm.
Easy to carry, pleasant to shoot. I have had one since they first came out and really like all aspects of it.

Thanks vulcan, but was really looking for a full size 1911 in 9mm and don't want to spend over $600.00 If I need to carry small I have a cz rami in 9. I do have a springfield on my wish list though!

I have a ROCK ISLAND 1911 in 9MM that I bought new last year. I like it except that it will not reliably feed hollow points, even after they polished and tuned it for them. If it would, I would carry it every day. Since it doesn't, I carry an EMP 9MM or Colt CO in 45. I demand 100% reliability for CCW since I'm betting my life on it.

Back to that full size 9, I shoot it better than all my other 1911s and like it. They have excellent customer service. I've sent it back twice (not that I'm bragging about having to send it back, even once, but when I asked about problems, they asked me to send it back) I've shot it a couple thou now and really like it.

Forgot to say that it cost me $379 at a gun show, NEW.

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Originally Posted by tom1911sigfreak

Thanks vulcan, but was really looking for a full size 1911 in 9mm and don't want to spend over $600.00 If I need to carry small I have a cz rami in 9. I do have a springfield on my wish list though!

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Thanks for the input. What did you send the gun back for? And whats there return policy? I had to send a taurus .22 back 2 times and was a bit stressing, but all in all the gun is fixed. As far as hollow points thats no big deal I am just gonna punch paper with the gun. I watched a ton of you-tube on this gun and was impessed! Buds has them for $385 delivered, The only bad thing is they got a sweet looking 38 super in crome for just a bit more. ahhhh wish I could do both right now lol. Thanks for the info everyone raves about all the RIA products so I guess I'll get one.

Tom
Initially, I bought the gun new to take with me to the 4 day Defensive Handgun Course at Front Sight. (good course to take, I might suggest). I shot about 800 rounds at the course with no malfunctions. After that I decided to use it as a carry weapon so I loaded it up with hollow points. NONE of them would feed. I called ROCK and was told that the gun was not designed to feed HPs but they could "tune and polish" it so it would. So I sent it back. They returned it about 2 weeks later and while it would feed HPs much of the time, I need a weapon that will feed 100% of the time if I'm going to BET MY LIFE ON IT so I bought a Springfield EMP. It DOES feed HPs all the time.
But now I found a new problem - failure to extract - the ROCK was not extracting all the time. I found that the xtractor was only gripping about .005 of the rim, which is about .024. When they polished the gun, they also polished off a BUNCH of the extractor. I complained about the FTX so they said to return it. Not only did they replace the extractor, they also replaced the barrel, which seems to have introduced another problem. Now I'm finding a few percent of my (reloaded) cases splitting. I shoot mild target loads so that's not the cause. It only started after they replaced the barrel. I measured the chamber which is within spec so I don't know what the cause is now. I'll play with it for a while and talk with them about it.
All in all, I Like the gun and I Like their responses for customer service. THE MAIN reason I bought the gun after seeing the price of it was the fact that it has a lifetime warranty. That told me that they have good metallurgy or they would not stand behind it like they do. I had to pay the shipping (USPS, disassembled and then declared as machine parts) out both times but they paid to return it.

Wow that kinda sucks that you had to pay to get it to them. The first trip out for my 990 taurus I paid to get it there, stupid me I could have told them to send a prepaid fed-ex being the gun was less than a year old. The second time out they picked it up there and back. I'm having second thoughts on a 9mm 1911 now I've read good and bad about even kimber 9mm having problems. I found a umarex 1911 in .45 from cdnnsportsinc for $349.00 there made in turkey and gunblast gave them a 100% review. I am new into reloading so i'm set up for .45 already and it would give my dan a break from trying all my test loads LOL. I just hate to have any problems with guns. Do you load any .45 loads?

Tom
In a way I agree that I might have been taken advantage of, re: postage twice. However I look at it this way - I only paid $400 for the gun. If I had bought a Colt/Springfield or some other decent gun, I'd still have more $$$ out of my pocket to begin with than with the ROCK. I knew what I would get when I paid that bargain-basement price for the POS (as my good friend, PTBarnum said - you get what you pay for. Or was that Mark Twain ? ). I got what I expected and am not the least disappointed. I didn't expect 100% flawless operation, but now I only use it now for punching holes in paper to keep my trigger finger smooth. However, their lifetime guarantee is some reassurance and I will always be able to recoup most of my money. PLUS, I've had plenty of fun with it in the meantime. The only exception was the ROCK Hi Cap, which I never did fire bcuz it was SO bad. I unloaded it and got my money back from it. So I'm not THAT upset about it.

You have to realize, which I am finally learning, that the 1911 was designed around the 38Super, which is the same length as the 45 ACP. The ARMY wanted something that would stop the Flips so JMB invented the 45 ACP and redesigned his 1905 into the 1911 that we now know. (all right, some of this might have some errors but it's generally correct)

Subsequently, the 1911 was bastardized to work with the 9MM, which is way shorter than the 45 so you're going to have some jams (typically, nose-diving) when it TRIES to feed. Even the Colt New Agent 9MM does not correctly address this problem. Springfield (and maybe others) redesigned the 1911 by shortening the magazine and grip assembly so the cart will feed without nose-diving. I bought Springfield's EMP specifically bcuz of this design/solution. It feeds hollow points all the time. And while SOME people claim that the 9 is not a reliable self defense round, if you HIT YOUR TARGET, you will stop him. But you DO have to AIM.

Like you, I'd heard good and bad about the Kimber which is why I went with the Springer. I don't look back, either. I also have a Colt Compact Office 45ACP that eats anything I put thru it. It's the same size as the EMP and has the same sight picture and feel so it doesn't matter which one I put in my belt.
Oh, yeah. They all fit the same holster. I can hit with either the 9 or the 45 so I know I can defend my loved ones and myself if necessary.

And one more thing -
If you are going to carry more than one gun (this gun Monday, THAT gun Tuesday, etc...), they ALL should be the same basic type, like all Glocks or 1911s or xxxxs. It is well known that when you're under stress, you tend not to be able to think rationally. In fact it's not tend to think. YOU WILL NOT EVEN BE ABLE TO THINK AT ALL. That is a known fact. So if you have two different types of gun, with different types of safeties, you WILL screw up. And it may just cost you your Life when, NOT IF, you fumble around trying to make the thing shoot.
Listen to pilots who fly for the airlines. SO MANY of them will tell you that they have flown this plane (say, a 757, DC9, or whatever else) for ALL their career. Sound boring ? Maybe so. But when you, the passenger have your life in his hands, you want him to be able to handle anything/EVERYTHING, emergency-wise without breaking a sweat. And how do you do that ? It's called practice. You do the same thing over and over; time after time, to the point that you can do it without even thinking about what you're doing, no matter who's banging you in the ear with a huge bell. Got someone/something distracting you ? Got somewhat of an EMERGENCY happening ? No big deal. You have had it INGRAINED to the point that it happens without you even thinking about what to do.

You get what you pay for,
or
you do what you've practiced....

I guess gun companys all have different policys. It's all live and learn, I'm gonna think it through as i have the chance to get a taurus pt-101 for a real good deal $359 new! I got my friends pt-92 this weekend and am very impessed with it. I agree that I am a 1911 type guy and most of my guns mimic that, So I try to carry a 1911 and when I need small its the cz-2075 rami in 9mm. I try to shoot every chance I get. I have 38 acres so I built a range behind my shop so after I get some reloads I try to shoot them and take notes.I will see how bad Mr. Obama hits me on the tax end next week LOL maybe I can swing that pt and a RIA in 9mm. Thanks for the input!

I am interested in the TCM model. Just not able to locate anyone in Houston Texas area that has them. May I ask where did you get your Rock Island pistol? Thanks.
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James

STI Trojan 1911 9mm I think thats a good one.

RCG