re: New toy

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The most affordable American 1911s are the Ruger SR1911 (around $650-700ish) or the Remington R1 (around $650-$700ish). If you don't care about where it's built, you could check out Rock Island Armory. They have an officer or commander model on Bud's for a little over $400. That's a pretty cheap price for a .45 ACP 1911.

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There are 3 manufacturers of 1911s in the Philippines: SAM (American Tactical or ATI), Armscor (RIA and Citadel) and Metro Arms (American Classic). Don't know if it's still on sale or not as the Bud's website is down right now, but they had an ATI Commander on sale last week for about $390. From reading the 'net, Armscor probably has the best reputation of the three followed closely by Metro Arms, but ATI also does pretty good. All the Philippino 1911 seem to be pretty good bargains. No, they're not a Colt, Sig, Dan Wesson, etc., but they're a pretty solid gun for much less money.

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all that is good info, but i will disagree on the best Philippine 1911.

i have shot all of them and the metro arms is the best, with fit, finish, and feel

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Personally, I agree w/ your assessment of A/C vs Citadel. I have a Citadel compact and a American Classic Commander. The A/C has a much better blued finish than the Citadel's Parkerized finish. While the Citadel's trigger is acceptable, the A/C has a very nice trigger. I like the A/C 3 dot sights better than the Citadel's no dot sights. Fit is similar on both of mine. When outfitted w/ similar features, the A/C is usually a little less expensive than RIA and Citadel. On one of the 1911 forums, they seem to love the customer service of Armscor moreso than the other makers. My assessment may have been swayed to heavily by that. Thus far, I've not had any need for cs from either of my 1911's.

I don't have an ATI but am curious as to your opinion of them. Info I've read has varied a great deal, especially w/ customer service.

I wish one of the Philippino manufacturers would make an aluminum alloy 1911!

The ATI Commander is still on sale at Bud's for only $389.
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