The lack of a unique selling point for Ruger’s new old 1911 is leaving many a gun guru at a loss for words. “It’s a 1911” and “it works” seems to be the consensus. That said, Wild Bill has a failure to feed problem at 11:00, which he ascribes to a telescoped Federal round. I wonder how the SR1911 likes hollow points. (Side notes: using the slide stop as a slide release is not recommended practice for self-defense. Drives me friggin’ nuts. As for Hickok’s left thumb over the right grip, when I can shoot that well, I’ll complain.)
Showoff. 🙂
It is100% American Made
It is made by Ruger
It is inexpensive with respect to competition.
Unique means one. Choose one.
What does the SR1911 do better than anyone else, that sets it apart from the competition? What is its claim to fame?
It boasts an integral plunger tube. No one else’s 1911 features this.
And that’s important because . . . ?
. . . because no one else features this. C’mon, RF, get with the (marketing) program.
Nighthawk does but at a vastly higher price.
I’d guess that the SR1911’s claim to fame is all in the manufacturing process, not the product itself. My guess is that Ruger put a lot of work and money into the machines and workflows to make this thing. In Michael Bane’s podcast, he hinted that they had stuff that he wasn’t allowed to talk about. Even if some of that is exaggerated, anything that Ruger can do to get the cost of manufacturing a 1911 in the USA down will give them an advantage I suspect. If the product quality proves to be good, they’ll recoup their investment before the rest of the industry can adopt their machines and processes… At least that’s my guess.
All that manufacturing stuff means nothing to the consumer.
I assume what you’re saying is that the Ruger SR1911’s new manufacturing process ends-up giving the consumer excellent value-for-money (VFM). In other words, good quality at a good price. Or excellent quality at an excellent price.
No matter. That’s an extremely weak USP (Unique Selling Point). 1911 manufacturers with a rep for high quality (e.g., Ed Brown, Wilson Combat, Kimber, SIG) can reach down with a lower-priced product (Wilson already did this a bit with the X-TAC). Manufacturers with a rep for lower-prices can reach up with a new, higher-quality product (e.g., Springfield). Ruger gets squeezed from both ends.
Besides, VFM just isn’t that compelling. Ruger SR1911: the best 1911 money can buy at or around $800. Sure, some people will bite, but even then you have to define “best.” Best what? Best made? Most accurate? What?
Most gun buyers don’t have much mental bandwidth (i.e. they have a life). They rely on branding to inform their decisions. Glock = reliable. Wilson = 1911. Springfield = comfortable. Smith & Wesson = revolvers. Ruger = ?
For me, the Ruger brand is about durability. IMHO, the SP101 doesn’t have as good a trigger as an S&W J-Frame, but the Ruger is a tack driver. Literally. If I wanted to use a handgun to hammer nails into wood, I’d use the stainless SP101. Ruger = brick shithouse.
There’s a USP right there. A 1911 that can take anything you can throw at it. Solid. Tough. It kinda borders on reliable, but the marketing suggests itself. Which is how it is with strong brands. If you keep the faith with the consumer’s expectations (in whose mind the brand exists), everything is easy. Stray into novel territory and you eventually end up languishing on the shelf. If may take years, decades even. But that’s what happens. Every time.
Hickok45 is the man.
He, along with and Jeff Quinn are great reviewers. Practical, no BS, very little bias.
-D
Did you really put “Jeff Quinn” and “no BS” in the same sentence? Looky here, I really enjoy Jeff Quinn, I read his blog all the time, but has he ever reviewed a gun (or a gun maker) he didn’t like?
watching a Hickok45 video does a couple of things to the male psyche… not the least of which is to spark intense feelings of admiration… next would be jealousy…
i would say i am SUPER jealous of that shooting range he has, the animal shapes are my favorite targets in his videos. He has got a great sense of humor, displayed in his zombie hunting clips (my fav with the shotgun) One BadA$$ fella if you ask me.
“using the slide stop as a slide release is not recommended practice for self-defense.”
Since when? that’s what it’s there for. If it works 99% of the time and is designed to be pressed with a thumb (Glocks are not, 1911s and the like are) then why not use it when it’s faster and just as easy to do.
When you’re in adrenalin dump mode, your finger are like flippers. The slide stop—which isn’t called a “slide release”—requires fine motor coordination when gross motor skills are all you’re gonna get. Also, releasing the slide stop causes a momentary loss of muzzle control. And it’s not unknown for shooters to have their finger on the trigger when using the stop, causing an ND. Which can also happen during a weak hand release, but still.
I’m curious as to how having the trigger pressed upon release will cause the gun to fire, that’s what the disconnector is there for. Muzzle control is also lost when slingshotting the slide, and you also have to take more time to re-form your grip after a slingshot. For me, hitting the slide stop on the way back from a reload is just part of me reforming my grip, and it is muscle memory at this point.
I can’t speak to how I would perform under life-or-death stress, but when the shot clock is behind me causing stress I can still hit the slide stop, and it works for me the 99% of the time that a lot of people profess, but I can see your rationale behind slingshotting everything too. I guess we can agree to disagree on that point 🙂