Ed Brown 1911

[JEBar]

I've have mentioned several times that while I've owned 1911's, I'm not a fan .... consequently, my knowledge of them is limited .... I'd appreciate hearing comments from our folks who have knowledge of Ed Brown 1911 handguns ===> https://www.edbrown.com/about/ ....

[ESquared]

I owned an Ed Brown Special Forces Carry (45ACP) during my "1911 Phase," and also had a Sig Sauer in 357Sig and picked up a Dan Wesson V-Bob in 9mm.
The Brown and DW are clearly a level (or two or three) above the Sig in terms of workmanship, fit, finish and parts selection. What was interesting was to compare the Brown and DW with one another, as there is a pretty significant cost difference.

Bottom line was I couldn't justify keeping both, and the Brown was more expendable and easy to sell, so I did. Just could never tell that much of a difference. I know it's been written on this forum by owners of the Dan Wesson's and I echo the sentiment that it's just the best value for the money in the upper end of the semi-custom 1911 spectrum.

Of course, there's a whole other stratosphere above these two in terms of cost and lead time and customization, but that's another thread...

[BigAl52]

Im sure NCG will chime in on this one. But Ive shot Ed Browns, Dan Wessons, Sigs, Kimbers, Colts, Springfields, and Rugers. Close friend has a Dan Wesson and it is one heck of a nice shooting 1911. 4 inch barrel. Browns and Dan Wessons are like Evan says a step above the others. But I do have a Sig Spartan 4 inch that is an exceptional 1911 as it shoots as good as my close friends Dan Wesson. It is very accurate.

[dddrees]

I currently own a Dan Wesson V-Bob and two Wilson Combat 1911's. I'm far from the expert but will parrot a few things most will say. Dan Wesson is the best mass production 1911 you can buy with regards to parts used fit and finish. Also keep in mind that a Dan Wesson has a 5 year warranty only. They have had some galling issues with their Stainless Steel 1911s but I got a Duty Finish 1911. I'm not even sure if this is still an issue or not. They have also recently discontinued their Top of their Line or Valor line. From what most say it's because they were simply unable to make the profit on this line that they should have been making. Either way they were very nice for what you were paying.

Ed Brown being a semi custom 1911 is considered a step above a Dan Wesson and in most peoples eye's on the same level as a Wilson Combat. Frankly I find Wilson Combat tends to make a better looking 1911 for the most part and is renowned for their customer support, however some have told me Ed Browns Customer service has recently gotten better.

I recommend you check out the following forum:

https://forums.1911forum.com

I actually started a thread recently that you may or may not find helpful were users speak about various strengths and weaknesses of some of the 1911 manufactures. Mostly about Semi Custom and above however.

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=995688

I think the following group of three illustrates some of the differences between a Dan Wesson and two Wilson Combats fairly well.

[JEBar]

info appreciated .... as noted, my interest isn't personal .... when we get back home in mid August a fellow I shoot with will have an Ed Brown and I thought it might be good for me to know a little bit about them .... he's one who does his research and I mean serious research prior to buying .... so, I have no doubt that he is convinced they are worth what seems to me to be high price

[dddrees]

info appreciated .... as noted, my interest isn't personal .... when we get back home in mid August a fellow I shoot with will have an Ed Brown and I thought it might be good for me to know a little bit about them .... he's one who does his research and I mean serious research prior to buying .... so, I have no doubt that he is convinced they are worth what seems to me to be high price

No problem, and instead of rambling on like I said the thread I referred you to above might be a good start.

[JEBar]

10-4

[North Country Gal]

My understanding is that the difference between a DW and a custom or a semi-custom 1911 is their approach to production. The traditional way to fit a custom 1911 is with a lot of hand fitting and polishing of parts. Grab two parts and make them fit by polishing and filing as needed. DW takes a different approach and selectively mates parts for a good fit from a bin of parts, taking the time and effort to find two parts that match up best without a lot of hand fitting. Still takes time and effort, compared to just grabbing two parts at random and sending the gun down the line, the way standard production guns are now produced. The quality of parts is the same, all tool grade parts - DW uses no MIM parts - just different in the way the parts are fitted. The DW approach is feasible, now that we have the precision of CNC cut parts. Prior to CNC and back in the day when parts had a lot of variation in tolerances, it would probably not have been cost effective.

Which is better? I seriously doubt you could range test any of these top shelf 1911s and see a difference. A 1911 with quality parts, properly fitted is a 1911 with quality parts, properly fitted, no matter how you got it done. This has been tested, by the way, with no statistical difference between the DW approach and the custom jobs.

It then boils down to how much value you place on doing it the old way with a lot of hand-fitted parts. Some folks place a lot of value on that. I get it. I understand that. Then, too, there is the snob appeal of the custom labels. I'm not putting this name thing, down, not at all. Pride of ownership is always a valid factor in buying a gun. All of us tend to be label conscious.

Lastly, keep in mind that the 1911 platform is almost bomb proof as far as making an accurate gun. You just need a few parts to fit, properly, and you can get that on even a budget 1911 if you take the time to weed out the poor ones. I know, because I have such a 1911 and a lot of other folks have one, too.

[ESquared]

Just to be clear, both my DW and my EB were "off the shelf," with virtually no customization involved. Heck, I got my DW from Bud's.

The EB came out of a specialty shop here in KC that was getting out of the upper end 1911 business, but it was a "gun case" sample that had upgraded night sights, but that was about it.

The cost differential, as I recall, was on the order of several hundred more for the EB, or about 40%+ more than the DW. Couldn't tell by looking at them and sure couldn't tell by shooting them side-by-side.

[dddrees]

Just to be clear, both my DW and my EB were "off the shelf," with virtually no customization involved. Heck, I got my DW from Bud's.

The EB came out of a specialty shop here in KC that was getting out of the upper end 1911 business, but it was a "gun case" sample that had upgraded night sights, but that was about it.

The cost differential, as I recall, was on the order of several hundred more for the EB, or about 40%+ more than the DW. Couldn't tell by looking at them and sure couldn't tell by shooting them side-by-side.

This is not the first I've heard something like this. In fact I've read were a number of people after getting something like an Ed Brown or another Semi Custom and then a Dan Wesson have decided the Dan Wesson and that price range is more in line with what they are looking for, more comfortable with, or can not see any justification for spending more when they don't 't believe the extra cost is justified. I think the thing I hear the most often is that a Dan Wesson really is a big bang for your buck.

Frankly this is why when looking for my first 1911 I went with a Dan Wesson. But I have to be honest even when getting the Dan Wesson I fully expected getting a Wilson Combat one day.

In the long run just with anything else it's all about what your expectations are and what you are willing to pay. Some are perfectly happy with an RIA and they will perform just fine and some will do with nothing less than a fully custom 1911. Do your research, know yourself, and check out all of your options. D***n but it's great that we have all of these options.


By the way after getting my Wilson Combat 1911s I'm very happy that I did. Personally I hate having buyers remorse and try my best not too.

[JEBar]

In the long run just with anything else it's all about what your expectations are and what you are willing to pay. Some are perfectly happy with an RIA and they will perform just fine and some will do with nothing less than a fully custom 1911. Do your research, know yourself, and check out all of your options. D***n but it's great that we have all of these options.

agree .... that's pretty much the case with most products .... some folks drive a Chevy others drive a Rolls-Royce .... both will usually get you to the grocery store and back .... it is indeed great to have different options

[Mistered]

Lastly, keep in mind that the 1911 platform is almost bomb proof as far as making an accurate gun. You just need a few parts to fit, properly, and you can get that on even a budget 1911

This is really the 'bottom line' with 1911s.
There is really nothing 'new' with 1911s just variations of the same.
There was no doubt a time when the 'last name' , custom 1911s were superior to the the few 'aftermarket' 1911s, and even Colt. Heck I have owned some 70's era Colts that were pretty bad when it came to fit and finish.
Probably no other gun in history has been duplicated as much and as manufacturing techniques modernized and improved it narrowed the gap between the 'custom' and production guns.
If the 'custom' guns are truly hand fitted that is great but its not like production guns are being slapped together by robots. Most still require a degree of hand fitting and assembly and some of this is probably not much different than with the customs.
The bottom line is we are fortunate to have a wide variety of 1911s to choose from with some of the higher end, 'production' ones having a level of fit and finish one would have a hard time exceeding with something costing twice as much - or more.

[dddrees]

Personally I rarely buy anything especially when it comes to something especially for the purposes for my enjoyment based just on function. So when I get that thing out and it makes me smile as well as it functions then and only then has it served it's purpose. It doesn't have to make anyone else smile, but it certainly should make me smile.

[JEBar]

earlier today I received a couple of pictures of the Ed Brown 1911 mentioned in my second post in this thread .... over 30 years ago, I actually helped teach the fellow who owns it to shoot and have shot with him many times since .... he has a large firearms collection that pretty well covers the spectrum of black powder, classic hunting and target long and short guns, shot guns and some specialty items that I haven't seen anywhere else .... he tells me it is a real shooter .... coming from him, that is high praise indeed

[North Country Gal]

Keep them ics coming on the Ed Brown. Would love to hear more.

Yeah, pretty amazing how the 1911 is still going strong after all these many years. I know it gets bad-mouthed for being "out of date" and "an antique" by some folks, but largely due to that great trigger, the 1911 still rules in the action shooting arena. That's pretty good for such an "antique".

[JEBar]

Keep them ics coming on the Ed Brown. Would love to hear more.

will do but no clue when .... I'm sure I'll get to see it sometime after we get back home

[JEBar]

Keep them ics coming on the Ed Brown. Would love to hear more.

Yeah, pretty amazing how the 1911 is still going strong after all these many years. I know it gets bad-mouthed for being "out of date" and "an antique" by some folks, but largely due to that great trigger, the 1911 still rules in the action shooting arena. That's pretty good for such an "antique".

had my hands on it this morning .... saying again, I'm not a 1911 fan but giving credit where its due, I was impressed .... don't know how many rounds it has had fired through it but that number has to be in the hundreds, if not thousands .... the best word I can use to describe it is solid .... absolutely no play in the slide .... I have never felt a smoother trigger pull .... I can now say for the very first time that I'm looking forward to firing a 1911

[BigAl52]

Careful Jim you might become addicted to one of those bottom feeders. But thats ok you can sit on the bottom feeding bench next to me as I still like shooting some autos once in a while.

[North Country Gal]

Yeah, as much as I love revolvers and always will, there's just something about a 1911 than makes it hard for me to put down. Works for me.

[Mags]

.
yes there is!

... there's just something about a 1911 ...