Originally Posted by
BigIrish
true enough, most things discussed on these boards are more opinion than fact. but the question has nothing to do with whether or not someone has shot someone else with one. there is a persistent notion that compact 1911s with 3" barrels are unreliable. when i hear guys say this, it's almost always coming from a guy that doesn't own one and is just parroting what he's heard in some other corner of the internet. probably a glock owner. i own a defender and i've never had a single issue with it. guys that have never even handled one will say that they wouldn't own a compact 1911 because they're unreliable. go figure.
but the fact remains that generally speaking, compact 1911s built today are no more reliable or unreliable than any other semi-auto. buy a quality name like Colt, Springfield and you'll probably be fine. buy the cheapest one on the rack and you might have problems. but that's the case with any product one chooses to buy.
The notion that a commander or government model 1911 is unreliable or only shoots ball ammo? well, that's just bull*****.
is the defender your first semi-auto? there's certainly a difference between shooting a revolver and a semi auto, as i'm sure you're aware. i shoot mine at about 10 paces and it groups just fine. not very often i walk it out to 75 feet - that's quite a stretch for a defensive shoot.