I have a Dan Wesson ECO purchased used. It might as well have been new for the condition. So perfect that I have not disassembled the lower. 9mm. Feeds anything. No complaints.

The field strip of the upper uses a paper clip. Necessary evil I think owing to the short barrel length. Light. Easily carried.

 

Depends how small you want to go. I am working out a SIG p365 with a manual safety. It makes things convoluted but is surprisingly more usable than I had expected. Reminded me again not to come to conclusions without investing some effort. Folks who run 365XL have had decent experiences since it is easier to get a grip.
The one that I found useless was safety on M&P Shield.

Obviously, none of the above is 1911 but still gets you a decent trigger, manual safety and small size.

 

The one that I found useless was safety on M&P Shield.

I agree, I have the M&P 9mm single stack. The gun is fine, shoots great, reliable, concealable… but that safety is difficult to operate (small)…I can imagine fumbling for it in a stressful situation…IMHO…only. Otherwise I like the piece…

 

I believe the closest thing to a micro 1911 would be the Sig P938. I have shot one a couple of times. It's too small for me to shoot well. I have heard that they are picky about ammo. See if you can rent or borrow one to shoot.

 

I just checked. Colt has the Defender in 9mm. I haven’t tried it in 9mm. I did go through a .45 Defender for a friend. Nice gun. No bobbing whatsoever. Surprisingly accurate. He had all of $250 in it. Series 80 if that matters to you. Trigger pull cleaned easily with a bit of work.

 

I have a Colt Defender in 9 mm.Pretty nice gun , Colt did a nice job with the blueing on the slide. Weighs 25 ounces and the officers size is nice to carry and conceals great in a pancake style holster . It is indeed surprisingly accurate with that 3 inch barrel. Trigger pull is 4lbs 13 ounces according to my Lyman trigger pull scale with no creep or grittiness. I like it . HOWEVER it is ammo sensitive. It doesn’t like most flat point bullets, but runs okay with my 135 grain X-tream 135 grain RNFP hand loads which are a narrow FP. It definitely does not like SPEER Gold Dot H.P. Lots of failures to feed those. But it runs totally reliably with Remington Golden Sabers. I use Wilson Combat mags when I carry it .

So it’s a good possible selection NailCreek1 , but test it with the mags and the H.P. ammo you wish to run to confirm it is reliable.
I don’t have any personal experience with 1911 like micro pistols like the Sig 938 , but I have read numerous reports that they can be unreliable.. So be sure to test thoroughly …

 

I have never been a big fan of Kimbers. But I was checking out their Micro nines the other day in the store just because. I liked the size, and it seemed to be made well and set up right. I think that you could do a lot worse.

 

For a while I was considering a Springfield 911. Can't seem to find them in 9mm anymore though. Kind of in the same vein as the Sig P938 and the Kimber variant.

 

I tried a 938, didn’t shoot well with it. Bought a DW ECO and owe my! Mine is in 9mm and I think it’s as good as it gets for 9mm 1911 for concealed carry. Recoil is nothing bad at all, 938 was snappy. The ECO also shoots just as well as my commander length DW Guardian. The Shield safety is not useable in my opinion no matter how much I want it to be. The Sig p365 has a more functional safety but not nearly as good as the ECO.


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I've had my 938 for over 3 years now and am quite happy with it. My hands are on the larger side and with the 7 round magazine I get my full grip on it. I have more than enough rounds thru it to be able to speak to it's reliability and accuracy. As for recoil it's a little snappy but find it way better than a small revolver shooting 38 special defensive loads.

 

I went from an officer size 45 to a subcompact Sig 320 and finally settled on a Sig 938. Been carrying it in a DeSantis belt holster and have found it to be very easy to conceal. Yes, the recoil is sharp, but with the extended mag it is easily controllable. Found it to be very reliable.

 

My SIG P938 was perfect for 1000 rounds, but from there to 3500 was a bit of an adventure, with hammer follow, a couple of failures to extract, mags dropping mid-string, crappy 7rd mag pad design. But since addressing all of that, no issues in the last 500 rounds.

 

You know I hesitate to post about my experience but it was similar to yours. It was a super reliable gun for quite a few hundred rounds and then all of a sudden it was like the gun was beating itself to death. I changed the magazine release several times because it was dropping mags. I started getting FTF and FTE and I was changing recoil springs often like I should. I think it's meant as a "shoot a little, carry a lot" gun. I really liked it but I sold it and moved on. Couldn't trust it.

 

I have a Kimber Micro 9 that has become my EDC. I was disappointed with it at first because if flat out didn't work! Fail to feed, extract, fire. I couldn't get through a mag, period. I called Kimber and sent it back on their dime. Six days later it came back with a properly tensioned extractor, new springs and feed ramp polish. I've got 800 rounds through it now and it runs fine. Check out the Kimber forum for an entire section on issues with them.

 

Sounds exactly like my Micro 9. I didn't even fire it once before I had to re-finish and polish the feed ramp. It looked like Kimber used a roughing mill to cut it and left it at that. Once I did hit the range it was FTF, FTE and light strikes. Light strikes after firing 40 to 50 rounds were caused by the FP hole in the breech being sharp and shaving primers. Feed issues I corrected by working over the extractor which helped some with the extraction problem, but I ended up having to run a finish reamer through the chamber along with a good polishing. Now it runs flawlessly and I'm finally confident enough to trust my life carrying it.

 

Getting a Kimber Micro 9 to run we is like seeing Haley's comet, read the issues on KimberTalk, they are endless

 

I'm not sure how MICRO it is but I am very happy with my Springfield EMP.

 

It sounds like a Sig P938 might fit the bill. I just don't like that company anymore.

 

Not exactly a 1911 lookalike but the S&W EZ 9 is a good gun and has a manual safety plus a grip safety. It also has an internal hammer. It's not striker fired.

 

I'm a 1911 45 fan and I never thought I would change what I carry until I handled a Sig 365xl. I decide to buy one with the Manual safety to see what all the hype was about. Well that 365XL is now my carry weapon. Runs well, is accurate and eats what I feed it. I had to get use to the combat hold that Sig uses on their pistol sights but no big deal.
My wife Carries the Micro 9 and we have never had any issues with it. It eats anything and carrys well for her.

 

I love my Springfield Hellcat. I suppose it's the closest competitor to the Sig P365. But once you stuff 11, or 13, or now 15 rounds in it, you might as well be packing a Glock.

 

Been down this route before. Went from Colt Defender to Springfield XDs to Colt New Agent to S&W Shield to my current SIG 365. The XDs in 45 ACP was the best of them all, but has been discontinued. My favorite was the New Agent, but IMO the 365 has grown into its pre-production billing, and is an excellent choice for a micro 9, though it is not a traditional 1911 profile.

 

Great comments... I've kind of narrowed it down to either the Colt Defender, Springfield EMP or Sig 365 (with a safety) - in 9mm. I have a CZ 2075 Rami in 9mm, but as a double stack, it's thicker than I'd like - despite it being incredibly built and dead nuts accurate. Now it's a matter of trying to find examples!

I was kicking around the Kimber, but it sounds like it's really hit or miss whether you get a reliable one. The Sig 938, while interesting, doesn't seem to have the durability that you'd expect from a Sig - shoot little - carry often, before it shoots itself loose.

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The Sig 938, while interesting, doesn't seem to have the durability that you'd expect from a Sig...

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I hate to sound like a hater, but I wouldn't expect anything from Sig anymore. And I'll waste my Sunday telling you why:

Sig knew early on that their new plastic pistols had a safety problem. And they got to work fixing it...to save their precious government contract. Meanwhile, they kept selling faulty pistols to civilians AND COPS while they were working everything out for the military. I have a philosophical and fundamental problem with that.

Let's talk about the P365. Instead of testing and doing their own research, Sig chose to let their customers do their testing for them. How many striker and spring iterations have we been through now? I ran out of fingers.

 

Shoot a Micro before you buy one. I did and do not care for them. There is too big. And there is too small.

 

I've got two of the pistols mentioned here, a DW ECO in 9mm and a Kimber Micro 9. The ECO is a wonderful little pistol and I carried mine for a year or so. The barrel in mine is fitted perfectly, making it extremely accurate for having such a short barrel. I carried it until the Bul Armory SAS II FS hit the market, which gave me a slightly lighter pistol, in a slightly smaller package, but carrying 15+1 rounds of 9mm. It has been my carry pistols since I received it a little over a year ago.

About 2 years ago, I was attending a dress event and didn't want to carry my ECO because of its size. I purchased a Kimber Micro 9. As I remember, mine shot a little high and had a few failures to extract. It went back to Kimber and was reworked and back to me in about a week. The new taller front sight brought POI down to POA, and it fed and extracted 100%. I've won two BUG matches shooting that little Micro 9. It is amazing how well it shoots and how accurate it is for having such a short barrel. In fact, I like it so much, I bought another that stays in my laptop case that goes to work with me every day. I just don't think you'll find a better micro 1911 style pistol than the Kimber Micro 9/Sig 938 pistols.

 

Hello f1,

I just sent you a PM.

b-b

 

In the mid 1990's, I purchased a Star "Firestar 9mm" for concealed carry, It was so reliable, I purchased another Firestar in .40 cal. They were made by a company out of Spain, Star Bonifacio, which is no longer in business, but the gun was recognized in Guns & Ammo as their choice for "handgun of the year" in the mid 1990's. The 6.5" length is small for a pistol, and with the all steel frame it is somewhat heavy, this is actually a plus since recoil is much lighter when shooting combat loads due to the weight. I also like the ambidextrous thumb safety. They are still available since quite a few were produced, but I would definitely try to shoot the pistol before purchasing,.....to ensure it is still reliable. I purchased aftermarket mags for my 9mm Firestar, which holds 8+1 rounds in the gun.

 

+1 on the "Firestar" shooting characteristics.

If the Star magazines are available, I'd endorse them. It looks as though there may be a source: interarmstx.com has what appears to be the correct mag on offer.

 

I've got a 365xl but with out the manual safety and sometimes a little nervous so I carry either my Sig P220 or my Springfield XDE 35

 

They are certainly pricey, but my Wilson Combat EDC X9s outshoots anything that I have tried.

 

You might look at the Sig p365. One iteration comes with a thumb saftey each of my daughters cary one.