Made the mistake of cruising the local pawnshop and stolen goods "fence" operation.Gotta bit of cash burning a hole in my jeans from a project.. RE: mitchell arms gold series SS .45, $495 didn't look too close at it until I get some more info : Saw a couple of bad writeups (personal reviews)neatly countered by couple of "wish I hadn't sold it" typereviews. Mitchell arms site list a sky high msrp of $2500???? but one of the other references said something around $400? web said"possibly made for mitchell arms by dw?" Worth looking into ???
Tango3 Yep polishing the feed ramp will cure alot of problems. Also check for any burrs or ridges that might go from the ramp into the barrel. At around 400 you aren't going to get hurt. I'd say pick it up and have fun. Take care Be safe Poacher.
Tango: I did a search for the Mitchels on the two 1911 forums I frequent and it appears that DW made them towards the end of the companies life "around 2000 or so" . I found more bad reviews than good and when it was bad it was a horror story . For near $500 I would get a new Taurus PT 1911 if I had an itch , it seems like the stainless versions are starting to hit the streets and the Commander version shouldn't be far behind .
Thanks, since leaving industry I don't see $500 in "fun" money too often anymore....I just want to be careful,I'm certainly gonna sleep on it and check another shop 20mi out,perhaps they'll have pt1911 or a nice used 4" 686...they're affordable....
It's not a bad deal at 495 esp for SS. Done right 1911's will feed anything and function reliably. Be careful of the taurus. Talk to your smith first. Many smiths won't work on taurus. Every smith will work on a 1911.
You have no idea the rant I got from my smith the second I mentioned taurus. I extrapolated from that conversation that 1911 is the universal tinker gun. That was a few years back but I imagine much the same today. Kinda like muscle cars. I could have sworn he said something about disowning me if I bought a taurus.
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=93530 yup looks grand; imagine "it feels grand functions worse than any pot metal lorcin".think I'll pass with out a screamingly good guarantee from ahe link: I absolutely cannot believe that a gun could have been this bad. For those of you who may consider a used 1995 Mitchel let me sum it up. First, I get the gun home a couple weeks ago and try to shoot it with hardball ammo and it's a single shot. The notch on the ambi safety was drilled off at the factory and the safety went half on after each shot. Next couple days took it to the gun smith and the shop paid for it. Shop satisfaction A; gun satisfaction C (because it still looked like a well made gun). After 2 weeks I get my newly purchased Mitchell back and head out to shoot. I had 3 lonely hard ball shells and those managed to feed. Switched to HP silver bear and couldn't even chamber the first shell. FINALLY got it to load and shot 5 rounds with much trouble and realized the safety for some reason was still trying to work on although not as bad. Tried: 185gr silver tip, 230 hydra shock, 230 +P Ranger all with unbelievably bad results. Not one shell would even chamber the first round without multiple attempts. Would have been horible even for a $85.00 lorcin, no kidding. Along the way I had multiple times where I'd pull the trigger and the hammer would fall only halfway. Also, slide quit staying back after the last shot. Needless to say it could be confusing if the gun was empty or not. All in all shot maybe 30 rounds with who knows how many malfunctions. 10 to 30 I'd say depending on how you'd count. Gun satisfaction F! No maybe make that a Z-. For me a weapon of mass frustration. If I had paid $50.00 for this gun it would have been a rip-off. Looks beautiful and felt wonderful in the hand, that's why I bought it but just goes to show. I'm so glad I sold my Colt Govt model to buy this lemon. Oh well at least it's still in the family (my Colt I mean). All ended well though, the gun shop took care of me so even thought now I have no .45 (which I said would never happen) at least I'm not out the money for a useless junker. Bottom line, if you have a chance to buy one DON'T! I only wished the Taliban was armed with this gun and this gun only. Run from this gun, bury this gun, get a good .45 and shoot the mitchel with a silver bullet and bury it in Garlic! Maybe the newer versions are better than this pre-bankrupcy version. I would have never believed this gun if I hadn't been there to experience it myself. I just hope the gun shop believes me and doesn't try to unload this Yugo with a clip so some other unfortunate pigeon. Sure they will though, the guys at my local shop are great and really took care of me thumbs up all the way. Bad thing is the gun was absolutely beautiful and had a wonderful feel. When I could get a bullet to actually come out of the barrell it seemed fairly accurate although I was far to frustrated to test for real accuracy. Thanks for all the advise. <!-- / message --> Tim <!-- edit note --> <hr style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" size="1"> Last edited by Tim T : 10-06-2004 at 11:59 PM. <!-- / edit note --> <!-- controls --> <!-- / controls --> <!-- message, attachments, sig --><!-- post 825671 popup menu --> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1"> <tbody><tr> <td class="thead">Tim T </td> </tr> <tr><td class="vbmenu_option">View Public Profile </td></tr> <tr><td class="vbmenu_option">Find all posts by Tim T </td></tr> </tbody></table> <!-- / post 825671 popup menu --><!-- / close content container --> <!-- / post #825671 --> <!-- start content table --><!-- open content container --><!-- / start content table --> <!-- controls below postbits --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr valign="top"> <td class="smallfont"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <!-- / controls below postbits --> « Previous Thread | Next Thread » <!-- currently active users --><!-- end currently active users --><!-- popup menu contents -->
Tango, just look over the gun yourself. See if the slide is tight. Look into the barrel and see if the rifleing is nice and sharp. It will wear faster closer to the chamber. If the rifleing looks sharp and even from chamber to crown then likely low wear. Look at the crown make sure there are no nicks or dings on it. Feel the action, see if the trigger pull is smooth, trigger break is crisp. Worn guns feel sloppy and you can see signs easily. Having hands on will give you a good idea of it's condition. I just read your post add above. Ouch, I own a colt and have experience with colt 1911 only. So the info I'm giving you is without knowing a reputation of mitchell and assuming it is like every other 1911 colt.
Hear ya, feeding issues aren't gonna show up until I run some rounds through it. I've bought and sold way too many handguns in fact had a series70 commander I foolishly let go when I had my issue .45 bad tango no biscuit. We'll see...
I owned a Mitchell 1911 for several years and never had any problems with it. I didn't like it as much as some of my other ones but that was probably just a personal preference.
Well that sounds pretty good,Sea thanks for the input... Guess you pays yo money and you takes yo chances...
Well that sounds pretty good,Sea thanks for the input... Guess you pays yo money and you takes yo chances...
Hartage for your information a "few years ago" the Taurus PT 1911 wasn't even available despite being advertised rather heavily in Gun Magazines for about two years or so . As a matter of fact it didn't start showing up until about 1 year ago . Considering the fact that many of the Taurus designs have unique features I wouldn't let any smith who didn't work for them work on a gun IF it ever needed it which my PT 940 and Model 669 357 magnum haven't needed anything but cleaning and lubricating as any gun does . The Taurus PT 1911 have hammer forged slides , frames and barrels , something that must be very desirable on the list of the Big name 1911 smiths as Wilson Combat won't work on any 1911 without them and they work on Chinese made Norinco 1911's . My first handguns were the made in the USA jobs , a new S&W 586 and used Colt Combat Commander the Commander had apparently been owned by or worked on by someone who didn't know what the hell they were doing as they sanded or polished the feed ramp and did so in the wrong direction leaving scratches that ran across the ramp side to side . The gun wouldn't even make it through a magazine of hardball without jamming . The 586 wouldn't extract casings if I used 357 magnum ammo without pushing the ejector rod against a hard surface like a table . A trip to the warranty station for the 586 and a quality 1911 smith for the Colt and $150 in repairs fixed all problems . Some people would rant on and on how these guns and their makers were a POS , me I simply consider them guns that slipped by QC in the case of the Smith and one that had been badly modified by an amateur , the Colt . Taurus has sold millions of guns and is subject to having either of the above problems happen once in awhile , even Colt has had periods where their QC and manufacturing practices have been the subject of ridicule for years among shooters which attributed to the founding of Kimber . Anyone as close minded as your Gunsmith and doesn't think a company can improve based on hearsay or even a few bad examples is someone I wouldn't do business with . While the above may seem contradictory considering the advice I gave Tango on the Mitchell 1911 , fact of the matter is the Company no longer exists nor has for almost a decade and Taurus is still going quite strong .
I do know own a Taurus but I have friends that really like them. One of them shoots a PT1911 in competition and he loves it's accuracy and reliability. I shot it when he first bought it, and it was accurate and I had no problems with the reliability either. While I do not like the stock Taurus grips, that is easily fixed. I also do not care for the aesthetics of TAURUS in large letters on the slide either, but that is just my personal preference. If I had $500 to spend and wanted a 1911, I would be buying the Taurus. It comes with all the bells and whistles for that price.
I'm not talking about the taurus 1911. A few years ago means just that. Back then the only auto taurus was 9mm. I asked my smith what he thought of taurus as a company and he told me. I made no mention of a taurus 1911.
Some good handgun experiences and advice in this thread, 1911's have been apart of my life for almost thirty years, and I have never looked back until I found the XD line of handguns.
