Internals and Fit on Springfield Loaded

[Hutch477]

I am about to purchase my first 1911 and one of the guns I am considering is the Springfield 1911 Loaded. The two concerns with them that I have heard about are 1) loose fit and 2) internals are not the best. So my question is, if I buy one would it be possible to upgrade the internals in the future and perhaps get the gun to fit tighter? How hard or expensive would that be to do? I intend for whatever I buy to be reliable enough for home defense and I don't mind upgrading. The other gun I am considering is the STI Spartan, and from what I hear about it, it has good internals but the frame and slide are not as nice. So obviously its kinda hard to upgrade the frame and slide so if I get that gun there won't be much to upgrade on it.

Thanks

[garrettwc]

I am about to purchase my first 1911 and one of the guns I am considering is the Springfield 1911 Loaded. The two concerns with them that I have heard about are 1) loose fit
I have not experienced any extraordinary looseness with these guns. I had the chance to shoot one recently and it was a tack driver.

2) internals are not the best.So my question is, if I buy one would it be possible to upgrade the internals in the future?
You can do that. Parts are relatively inexpensive to replace, the biggest cost is having a good 1911smith fit them. If you can learn to do it yourself, you can save some money there as well. Again however, I have not found the Springfields I have looked at to give up quality for cost. Are they Wilson Combat level parts? No, but they aren't junk either.

I intend for whatever I buy to be reliable enough for home defense and I don't mind upgrading.
There is a tradeoff between tight fit, and reliability. They are opposite ends of a sliding scale for the most part. As you move more towards tight fit, you take away some reliability.

[Tom]

I have not experienced any extraordinary looseness with these guns. I had the chance to shoot one recently and it was a tack driver.

That's my general impression, too, of the Loaded models and up. The G.I. and Mil-Spec models are, by design, looser fitting, but even then I wouldn't say they are sloppy or poorly fitted.