1911's: the better choice?

[Zack The Ripper]

I know for most the end-all us Tokyo Marui for pistols. I'm looking for the next best thing. I have heard good things about KJW and KWA, however I want to know what the best second-best 1911 is to the TM. Loaded question, shoot away with the responses.

[redneck12]

I never had a problem with my KJW 1911's, my favorite was the Les Baer 1911 co2 and GG capability plus its plan sexy.

[K3vX]

The first question would be: Do you have any desire in altering the pistol, either performance-wise or visually.

KWA pistol usually run like a charm, but are proprietary and have very few mods possible, maybe a slide here or there but I don't particulary about the 1911 series. KWA also offer replacement stock parts, which is good if anything break. The downside is that you're stuck with stock parts and cannot upgrade if you want to.

KJW are good pistols, but reviews are more mixed. However, they are a clone of the Marui platform, with all the aftermarket support that comes with it. The tolerance arent exact, but a lot of people have fully decked KJW 1911's with TM parts. The 1911 also sports one of the biggest aftermarket support, behind the HiCapa series.

I don't know the other possibilities, maybe WE wouldn't be bad, but I personally would keep it between your two choices, because they both have replacements available.

Personally, if I buy a 1911 one day, I can't stand it stock, so KJW would be my pick.

[scottyfox]

I honestly have a tough time differentiating my KJW Les Baier from my custom full metal TM Kimber Warrrior that cost twice as much, but for the markings.

[Zack The Ripper]

Probably will upgrade a couple things internally. Hop rubber and inner barrel, maybe a new recoil spring, he-he, maybe some wood grips depending on the rest of the frame finish. I'm thinking KJW..

[Colin_S]

Why not just get a stock TM pistol? The 1911/MEU are very durable and can handle propane without any issues and you won't wear out the slide lock because with those guns the slide lock catches with a piece of metal on the inside of the slide.

Slightly more than a 2nd tier manufacturer but well worth it in the long run! I'm bias of course, I love my TMs.

[Drakker]

Avoid WE 1911s like the plague. They are not TM compatible and they use proprietary mags.

If you plan on doing upgrading and are hell bent on not getting a TM (even though they are available for only 280$ right now from an AV retailer, not much more than a 200-250$ KJW), you might want to consider the Army 1911 that just recently became available for really, really cheap (125$). They need some upgrading to be reliable, but they are so cheap it might be worth it for you, and even after the upgrades, they would still cheaper than a KJW or TM. Just don't expect them to be as durable as a full plastic TM.

[jordan7831]

TM 1911s are super nice if you are willing to dish out the cash for one. Add a metal body kit and some upgrades like a tightbore, hop up, and grips and other nice parts and your looking at over 500 easy. Although, you can find some really nice upgraded TM 1911s on the classifieds where people already spend all the money and are trying to recoup the cost.

Ive owned several KJWs and they deserve more credit then they get. I find the finish on them to be a bit shinney for my liking as the paint has a lot of gloss. But bar none, the paint is much much more durable that the WE guns. WE guns have a grey undercoat followed by a black top coat. When a WE gun has wear, it looks terrible because the top coat rubs off easily leaving an ugly grey basecoat. On the contrary, KJW guns have a pretty thick coat of paint and takes a fair bit of use to wear down to bare metal.

Another advantage of the KJW guns is that they do not have the little slide spacer that the TM and ARMY 1911s have. On the TM the frame rail is truncated and there is a spacer that fits on the left side of the slide. On KJWs this is not present. So you could stick hi capa slides on a KJW 1911 if you wanted to have greater choice in aftermarket slides. Likewise, KJW slides will work on hi capa frames too.

Quality wise, we guns are okay if it wasnt for the magazine. They are just terrible. The followers break so easily, and always break into the same three distinct pieces. Yes you can buy replacements, but they are a pain in the ass to always replace. The WE mags also have a pathetic 15 bb capacity compared to the 25-28max bb capacity of the KJW and TM mags.

Because of this I would stick with a KJW if you want a cheaper 1911 that is still pretty good. As already mentioned, they are compatible with TM parts, and TM mags.

[Stealth]

Anybody selling the Les Baer without the orange tip?

Retailers - come at me bro.

[chaz]

Originally Posted by Zack The Ripper

Probably will upgrade a couple things internally. Hop rubber and inner barrel, maybe a new recoil spring, he-he, maybe some wood grips depending on the rest of the frame finish. I'm thinking KJW..

My specialty! If you go this route lets talk. I make wood pistol grips.

[Zack The Ripper]

Good to know chaz, will do.

Thanks for the info guys.

Kinda related, what are light options for a 1911 that doesn't have any rail on the lower frame? I just ask as I have been schmoozing the classifieds and have found some lovely candidates however some of them lack a rail that can hold my M3 or an APL.

[Drakker]

Something like this:
http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/vfc-v1911...11-series.html

[Trev140_0]

Zack I am running a KJW 1911 Stock.

I upgraded the piston and it does shoot nice and straight.

The mags are a bit wonky. Some give me great gas management others are very short.

I use CO2 on them not the green gas so I can reload wherever.

Its a nice gun for sure, but I am not sure what you will think about the gas efficiency. Still trying to nail that one down myself.

[HackD]

I just picked up a KWA M1911 PTP mkIII in the past few days.. very nice and solid. Grip is more suitable to my small mitt than I thought it would be. No shooting or gas consumption report yet.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk 2

[ILLusion]

Originally Posted by Colin_S

The 1911/MEU are very durable and can handle propane without any issues and you won't wear out the slide lock because with those guns the slide lock catches with a piece of metal on the inside of the slide.

The Tokyo Marui 1911 and Hi-Capa series do not have a metal plate at the slide catch notch.