Have double stack 1911's fallen out of favor?

Have double stack 1911's fallen out of favor?

Have double stack 1911's fallen out of favor?

sti double stack 1911 frame

The double stack 1911 was mostly an outgrowth of the IPSC competition market, as competitors sought ever greater capacity. There are a bunch of production 1911 houses that began as gunsmiths building competition guns, then started selling parts and accessories they developed (compensators, beavertails, triggers, magazines, etc.), and finally moved into selling entire pre-made “custom shop” guns. Eventually a few started making their own frames, becoming gun manufactures rather than just gunsmiths. Wilson is a perfect example of that.

I have a custom built “race gun” that was built on a Para-Ordnance frame. I don’t even know if Para was making completed firearms at that point, or just selling frames. I don’t recall anyone having a pure Para, they were all custom guns put together by a gunsmith from a Para frame. The grips on these things were way too big, so my gunsmith made super-thin (and amazing, in both feel and look) wood grips for it. I don’t remember exactly what year this is from, but about 1990. Later full 1911s from Para started really showing up, and soon others were jumping into the market.

Once polymer frames became a thing the grip size became less of a problem and there was an explosion in double stack 1911s. I have a Wilson KZ-45 that I bought around peak double stack 1911, but then things changed. Certainly in the competitive world Glocks and other non-1911s became more popular. The .40 S&W made it easy to make IPSC “major” in a 9mm sized frame, etc. IDPA as well as IPSC’s Limited and Production divisions moved the competitive focus to CCW and Duty-appropriate guns largely eliminating the penalty for using 9mm. And outside competition the .40 S&W gave “bigger bullet” + more capacity people a better compromise than double stack 1911s in .45 ACP or 10mm, certainly for CCW. This pushed the double stack 1911 more into the enthusiast category.

So yes they’ve “fallen out of favor”; but that doesn’t mean they aren’t available. Even though Para is more focused on single stack 1911s, they continue to offer a few double stack models such as the P14.45. Sadly the KZ-45 is long gone, and AFAIK the only double stack Wilson sells is a 9mm (and I’m not sure it is really even a 1911…I haven’t looked closely).

This post was last modified on November 29, 2024 12:51 pm