What do you think about 1911's with Tac Rails?

[RocketFoot]

What do you guys think about the new trend of 1911's built with Tac Rails?

[knight0334]

for home defense - the rails could provide a means to add a light(show the BG where to shoot light) or laser. for CCW duties - my personal opinion is they are worthless, just another thing to snag on draw.

To me, they look neat, but not practical..

[Lycanthrope]

They aren't for me but, they don't hurt anything. More options are always a good thing for most people.

I prefer a shotgun for home defense so I don't need a light on the 1911, but for those who do, it serves a purpose.

I think the trend cropped up when people thought it looked cool/tactical without any regard on how much weight it adds to the gun and how much it will slow you down in moving from target to target. It is, however, an easy way to tame some felt recoil.

Lycantoeachtheirownthrope

[XD45]

if your a LEO or something along those lines tactical rails are great. but i think they are pretty useless for the majority of us. a civilian generally isnt going to beable to add a light and still use it for CC. so unless you use it for home defense, and you should IMO be using a long gun for home defense theres no need for them.

[Rule10b5]

We hates them, Smeagol, we does.

With absolutely no offense intended towards those that like them, I think light rails on any handgun are, in my honest opinion, a complete and utter abomination.

1) I don't want to have to point my gun at something to see what it is;
2) I don't want to have to monkey with grip pressure switches, actual switches or another other nonsense like that. The last thing I need when I'm crawling around in the dark is to accidentally turn on my light and announce my presence because I gripped my gun too hard or bumped a pressure pad;
3) You can't really carrying them with the light attached in a holster (yeah, I know some people do, but my guns are heavy enough and bulky enough as is);
4) The lights fall off. It'll happen at the worst possible time;
5) If I'm in my house, I'm not going to be crawling around with a handgun looking for the bad guy. I'll be in my bedroom, with 911 on speakerphone, crouched behind cover with my shotgun. I don't need a light to hit whatever comes through that door;
6) Even if I were some sort of high speed low drag tactical uber ninja that did the whole jackboot kick down the door thing for a living, I'd be using a carbine, anyway, so what good does a handgun light do me;
7) Even the best rail creates drag during your draw; and
8) They're ugly, even on a Glock, which is pretty ugly to begin with.

[knight0334]

Its a sin...

The Holy Gospel of John(Moses Browning).

1 In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain."

2 "And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."

3 And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metal smiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.

4 Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it.

5 And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle. a

6 And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunctions to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.

7 Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men, the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.

8 And being a deceitful spirit the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did appear to function.

9 And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a "dingus" to make them appear safe.

10 But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and didst proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.

11 And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-Boom to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.

12 Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the prophet had intended.

13 And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil sprits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation b by the followers of John.

[Zef_66]

I don't really care since I don't own a 1911 (yet). And I probably wouldn't buy one with rails. But if other people are buying them, the gun makers are going to make them.

[Lycanthrope]

I don't really care since I don't own a 1911 (yet). And I probably wouldn't buy one with rails. But if other people are buying them, the gun makers are going to make them.

Your avatar has rails..........you have an XD?

[Zef_66]

Your avatar has rails..........you have an XD?

Yes, that is an XD40. That is my carry gun. I didn't buy it for the rails, I bought it because I like the way it shoots. I considered getting a light for it for home defense, but will be getting a shotty instead. Someday the XD may get a light.

But when I get a 1911, I do not want to put a light on it. I don't want to use it for tactical purposes, but more to have an accurate, nice shooting gun.

[RocketFoot]

I'm sure the tac rail has it's place with some users, but to me it just isn't a 1911 anymore with a tac rail! The 1911 is a time honored design and should be left alone...Now guns like the XD and Ruger's new gun look good with the rail. JMB would probably turn in his grave if saw the 1911 tac rails!