“I often hear comments like ‘I only trust a full size 1911 because they are more reliable,'” Bill Wilson writes at wilsoncombat.com. “Well folks I’m here to tell you this statement isn’t necessarily true. While it is true some ultra compact 1911s with barrel lengths under 3.5” often have reliability issues, there are other important factors involved such as spring weights, firing pin stop dimensions, ammunition selection and whether or not the pistol will push feed.” In other words, it’s the same advice I give for how to train a dog: buy the right dog. Bill’s blog then goes on to tell readers/consumers how to buy the right compact 1911 . . .
The basic functional difference between a full size (as John Browning designed it) 1911 pistol and a compact version with a 4.25” or shorter barrel is slide mass and speed. Basically anytime you reduce mass and propel it with the same energy you will get faster cycle speed. Why does this matter? The pistol needs a certain amount of time to eject a fired case, allow the magazine to lift, position the next round for proper feeding and chamber the round. When slide mass is reduced and therefore slide cycle speed increased there may not be time for this to all happen properly.
So we must slow the slide cycle speed down and this is accomplished by a combination of the following:
And there you have it, with links to Wilson Combat products that can make it so. Or you could just buy a Wilson Combat compact 1911 instead of a new refrigerator or something else of equivalent value. And feed it self-defense ammo that costs nearasdammit $2 a round (currently out of stock). Perfection has its price. Oh wait . . .