[aosthed]

I need some expert advice and hope that some of you might help me...

I am looking to buy either a Full-size or Compact Wilson Combat CQB! (I'm finishing my masters degree in 3 months and my wife wanted to give me a graduation present... first she was going to buy me a watch!)

I'm fairly familiar with pistols (I own a few 9mm & .40's, but have yet to get a .45) and shoot fairly regularly (1-2 times per month). I'm looking at getting into competitive shooting as a hobby (hence my selection of this forum) and I've coveted the CQB for years. It would be nice to have the compact as a possible CCW choice as well, but don't want to be disadvantaged if I get into IDPA shooting.

For those of you who compete regularly... are compact 1911's used regularly for IDPA CDP division competitions? or do most regulars tend to use the full-size?

Any other advice you might want to give me?

Thanks in advance.

 

[WESHOOT2]

ME vs MANY

In my personal world there are only 5" 1911's..............'cause I don't like the longer/shorter ones.

A 5" is 'correct'.

 

[Ricky T]

Welcome to the forum.
99% of shooters use full size 1911s. But a few hard cores use compact size 1911s. Bill Wilson himself used a CQB Compact at least at one of the IDPA Nationals.
Good luck.

 

[John Forsyth]

A friend of mine shot an all steel Commander one season. While he said it was a little quicker out of the holster, it was the shorter sight radius that made him go back to a full size for competition.

Personally, the only compact I would consider for carry would have to have an alloy frame. That's the reason I like my LW Commander so much. An all steel compact weighs essentually the same as a full size, and they are the same thickness. So, if I am going to carry an all steel gun, it's going to be a full size, not a compact, or commander for that matter either.

 

[aosthed]

Thanks for the responses

Full-size seems to be the consensus so far...

Any opposing views?

 

[Ankeny]

I usually shoot my Les Baer PII in IDPA matches. However, I carry a Kimber CDP Pro II, Kimber's answer to a light weight commander. I have shot the shorter pistol in matches just to see how well I do. In general, I will drop back a couple of places in the overall standings. Looks like you need to start work on your PhD so you can get one of each, lol.

 

[aosthed]

about my PhD

hehe... I was going to say that myself after the first 3 posts! Who says education doesn't pay?... ;^D

 

[gendarms2000]

Full size all the way. Especially in 45ACP. I shot a 3.5" barrel for a while and it just beat the crap out of my hand. Not a big deal in an IDPA match as the round count is low, but if you practice...

 

[Bubba]

One of the things you mentioned... "as a hobby"... the question is.. how serious do you want to be competing? If it is just for fun, the Compact will do you well. If you are going to try to shave every tenth of a second off your time.. go full size.

I shoot full size when I am working towards a big match. I want every advantage I can get. I also carry a full sized 1911 most of the time. That said, I have pulled up to the range wearing my compact CQB, removed the Gold Dots, and then shot the match just like I would have if I had been stopped with a problem 30 minutes earlier. Not 2 seconds worth of difference for me. Two seconds in a major is big.. in a local club match.. no big deal. The 7 round vs 8 round mags is a much bigger deal for time.

If you do decide to go compact, you may want to look at some of the 8 round mags with base plates that will let you use them in the smaller gun. 15 round stages or below... no biggie... 18 round stages... everyone still reloads twice.. the 16-17 round stages is where you get hit with the extra reload. Not that I see all that many of those types of stages... it's just something to think about. Personally... when I shoot the compact.. I just use the 7 rounders and deal with it. YMMV

 

[tsp45acp]

I gotta agree w/ Bubba! If you're going to shoot 1 match a month, go with the Compact and let it do double duty as a ccw gun and home defense gun ( When you get your ccw ). You'll already be comfortable with it and know exclusively the POA/POI. Secondary is you gotta start reloading, then you'll really get hooked on the shooting bug. Tracy

 

[Chris Wilson]

As others have said it is going to end up being a compromise as the ideal gun for carry won't be the ideal gun for competition. I carried the gun I competed with out of necessity for a short while until I acquired a lighter more compact gun to carry. I am much happier carrying it now than before with the full size. You can get by with a commander length gun and not give up a whole lot. There are a couple of people at our range that use them and one is pretty competitive. I carry a 3 inch Springfield Micro and compete with a Kimber Gold Match full size. The smaller gun has more muzzle jump, less sight radius and carries one less round. You do give up something going that route, but it all just depends on what you want.

Chris

 

[aosthed]

Thanks all

I appreciate the comments... I went with the full-size since I have other guns in other calibers I can carry easily if I decide I don't want to carry it.

Eventually, when I win the lotto, I'll buy that Wilson CQB compact...

 

[tenchijin]

My first .45 was a Springfield Micro. After gettting it running properly (which required a trip to springfield, but the problem was fixed perfectly) it shoots really well. I used it at a 1200 round shooting course in May, and found it quite comfortable and accurate for 'combat' style shooting.

I decided I wanted to shoot IDPA, so I bought a SA full size model. It's so accurate and comfortable that I've stopped carrying the micro and replaced it with the gun I bought to compete with! I've shot two IDPA matches now, and have had 0 malfunctions. Some of the courses definitely benefit from a longer sight radius (the State tournament had Pepper Poppers at 30 yds). So if you want to be competitive, buy the 5". If you just want to practice with a compact gun that you carry, don't expect to be terribly competitive, but you can still become quite good I'd imagine.