The 1911 (original) was designed to do one thing and to do it well. And it did. Punching paper was not it's place in life.
The last one I had was "on loan" so to speak from the US Gov. I bought it from a guy returning from 'Nam who needed some cash for $15. I didn't ask any questions, he didn't offer any stories. He contacted me 2-3 yrs later and asked if I still had it. I knew when I bought it he would regret selling it and sure enough, he wanted to buy it back. I'm sure he would have paid anything for it but I felt like it was his, and had always been his. I asked him for the $15 dollars back. I would have gave it to him but I didn't want to insult him.
I liked your comments
bm bradley, that's it's function. Close range and bullets that start to tumble if they touch a spider web. If the penetration path doesn't kill the shock from the ft/lbs of energy released will. It's a man stopper that you can use in a crowd of 100 without endangering the other 99.