What Colt 1911?

[Golddollar]

I'm going to recommend a different path. Back many years ago I acquired a pair of Series 70 Colts that had been customized by John Giles, an old time pistolsmith, as "hard ball" guns for competition. They have adjustable sights and a nice crisp 4 pound trigger pull. I remember on a PPC course cutting the X-ring at 7 yards.

There were a number of famous pistolsmiths back in the 1940s-1970s, men like John Giles, Jim Clark, Austin Behlert and Bob Chow who supplied competition guns like this. As the bullseye shooters of those eras have retired or passed on, these guns are starting to come on the market at reasonable prices considering the amount of work done. One of these guns may be the ticket.

 

[03hemi]

I can attest for the Colt Wiley Clapp, great pistol, 70 series, NM Barrel, but I just wished he'd used nite sights on it instead of the plain notch and brass bead though. I have the LW Commander.

 

[GRT3031]

I've owned several Colts, and all have been disappointing.
Colt Combat Elite NIB....
Colt National Match Gold Cup reintroduction
Colt Series 70 Reintroduction NIB
Colt Classic Series 70 with 1950's era rollmark NIB.

Typical issues, slide lock not fitted correctly, tooling marks, boogered screws from the factory. Unreliable out of the box with factory ball, and supplied magazine. Overall poor quality control. I ran into the CEO at the AUSA convention in 2014, voiced my concerns, being a former Marine, his response was "We have union employees".

The one Colt that did run out of the box was the M1991A1 reintroduction. A buddy wanted it badly, so I sold it to him.

Another close friend recently purchased a NIB Springfield 1911 and it too has issues.

I would steer clear of the .45 ACP...ammunition is becoming unobtainable.

If you insist on getting a Colt, find a pre-series 70.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Cheapskate that I am, I rarely buy new, my Colt Mark IV, satin finish Combat Commander and AMT Hardballer (yes!) have served me well for over 40 years. I had MMC sights installed on the Combat Commander's slide-much easier to see, had high fixed sights installed on the Mark IV's slide when I shot IPSC-then I found another Mark IV slide.
I recommend a 22 conversion unit-I use the Cieners. Lots of cheap practice.

 

[03hemi]

I also have a Colt Officers Enhanced LW 80 series that runs flawlessly, in fact, it's my daily carry gun out of all the guns I have. Never had a single hiccup either. This particular guns only one weak spot is it's end plug which I eliminated by going with an EGW FLGR/full hat end plug system.
I've never had any issues finding ammo myself, maybe it's a "location" thing?

 

[crsides]

You should be really confused by now. So simplify things and get a Dan Wesson.

 

[Iron Brigade]

Take a look at the Colt Gunsite. It’s a 5 inch series 70 with nice features, including a dehorn and undercut front strap. Front night sight. I switched my sights out to a Harrison U notch rear and gold bead front.

 

[Bob L]

I have a few from a 1911, made into a hardball gun by a Military Armorer, a 1911A1 from WW2, a C-prefix Shockley (builder of a better mouse trap), a Jim Clark Series 70 Government, a Combat Commander and others. My favorite to shoot and carry is the Combat Commander and also use it for my night stand gun. Keep thinking about a Commander LW to add to the group but all are Colts. Can't go wrong with any of them.

 

[Ingramite]

I also have a Colt Officers Enhanced LW 80 series that runs flawlessly, in fact, it's my daily carry gun out of all the guns I have. Never had a single hiccup either. This particular guns only one weak spot is it's end plug which I eliminated by going with an EGW FLGR/full hat end plug system.
I've never had any issues finding ammo myself, maybe it's a "location" thing?

That's a beautiful pistol.
I like the Enhanced Colts myself.
Easily identified by a serial number that ends in E.

 

[03hemi]

That's a beautiful pistol.
I like the Enhanced Colts myself.
Easily identified by a serial number that ends in E.

Thank you very much, a lot of work and money has gone into it.
I love them too.
In reality, the only thing left Colt on this is the ignition system because the trigger couldn't get any better and the slide and frame. Everything else in or on the gun has been upgraded to Wilson Combat bullet proof and a couple of other components by EGW (FL guide rod & end plug), Clark (hand fit oversized bushing) and Stan Chen (SI Magwell).
I reversed crowned the barrel the other night and I'm having a stainless thumb safety (Wilson, of course) installed as we speak.
I'm trying to find somebody that can install my Wilson Trijicon Pyramids now and then this project will be completed.
Here are few more shots for you.

 

[Ingramite]

Thank you very much, a lot of work and money has gone into it.
I love them too.
In reality, the only thing left Colt on this is the ignition system because the trigger couldn't get any better and the slide and frame. Everything else in or on the gun has been upgraded to Wilson Combat bullet proof and a couple of other components by EGW (FL guide rod & end plug), Clark (hand fit oversized bushing) and Stan Chen (SI Magwell).
I reversed crowned the barrel the other night and I'm having a stainless thumb safety (Wilson, of course) installed as we speak.
I'm trying to find somebody that can install my Wilson Trijicon Pyramids now and then this project will be completed.
Here are few more shots for you.

Details everywhere you look on your pistol.
Well done.

 

[shottist]

My goodness! all of the overthinking. Commander, light weight. Series 80 is fine. Series 70 is not any better and lacks the extra safety the 80 modification supplies.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

What you want is a Stainless MkIV government model made in 1986 that comes with the two factory magazines and 5 additional magazines. I would spend no more than $1000 shipped. I know somebody that might part with mi..his.

 

[stansdds]

My goodness! all of the overthinking. Commander, light weight. Series 80 is fine. Series 70 is not any better and lacks the extra safety the 80 modification supplies.

The early versions of the Commander had issues with the aluminum receiver cracking. I don't think the Series 80 had those issues, I'm not sure what Colt did, but somewhere along the line something changed and the cracking issue was greatly reduced or eliminated. Cracks would form where the frame rail/recoil abutment met the dust cover, the ultimate result was the dust cover parting company with the rest of the receiver.

 

[oysterer]

I owned a series 70 Gold Cup back in the day. The accuracy certainly was NOT up to match standards. The roll pin holding the rear sight would work loose and the trigger pull was not great. The collet bushings also tended to break. The slide to frame fit wasn't up to to the standards of today's premium 1911's. If I were going to buy a Colt 1911 today, it would be a Colt Defender.

That has been my experience. My Colt 1911s were from the early 1970s. Those weren't good guns and certainly not up to what is today expected of a nice 1911. The current production...well I looked at these often, played with the triggers, fit etc..but come on...

I'd seriously go for option #8: Some other....

 

[BE Mike]

The early versions of the Commander had issues with the aluminum receiver cracking. I don't think the Series 80 had those issues, I'm not sure what Colt did, but somewhere along the line something changed and the cracking issue was greatly reduced or eliminated. Cracks would form where the frame rail/recoil abutment met the dust cover, the ultimate result was the dust cover parting company with the rest of the receiver.

I'm pretty sure that it was "Shooting Times" magazine that did a torture test on the lightweight Colt Commander back in the early 70's. They fired 10,000 rounds through one and the frame did crack. I'm one of those who believe that aluminum framed pistols are meant to carry a lot and not shoot them a ton (10,000 rounds).

 

[AJ]

After building my own and owning many of the other brand (including Colt), I recommend an original Colt Series 70 Gold Cup National Match. I have built and bought over 75 M1911's over the years and the Colt Series 70 Gold Cup National Match is the one that I still have.

 

[BE Mike]

After building my own and owning many of the other brand (including Colt), I recommend an original Colt Series 70 Gold Cup National Match. I have built and bought over 75 M1911's over the years and the Colt Series 70 Gold Cup National Match is the one that I still have.

So you've never had a problem with the roll pin holding the Eliason sight backing out? You like the little tiny spring which is supposed to keep the sear in the same position? You like the collet barrel bushing? My biggest gripe is that it is roll marked into the slide what I consider to be false. In my experience the pistol isn't capable of winning the Gold Cup Trophy at Camp Perry primarily due to its inability to shoot good groups at 50 yards.

 

[AJ]

So you've never had a problem with the roll pin holding the Eliason sight backing out? You like the little tiny spring which is supposed to keep the sear in the same position? You like the collet barrel bushing? My biggest gripe is that it is roll marked into the slide what I consider to be false. In my experience the pistol isn't capable of winning the Gold Cup Trophy at Camp Perry primarily due to its inability to shoot good groups at 50 yards.

BE Mike,

Have never had the type of problems that you describe. My original Series 70 Gold Cup National Match has a solid pin, not a roll pin that holds the rear sight, it has never backed out. I do not have a tiny spring that keeps the sear in the same position. The colleted barrel bushing has never been a problem for me, maybe I got lucky and all of mine have been properly fitted. The Series 70 NMGC (as manufactured in the 1970's) has always been (for me) more accurate than any other M1911 style pistol off the shelf. Now they are probably not going to win at Camp Perry (neither am I). I will promise you that the guns that win at Camp Perry have been highly tweaked by various armorers. GySgt. Brian Zins, USMC(RET.), was not shooting an out of the box pistol. I can assure you that probably the Quantico WTB/MTU worked some magic on his guns. I never had a problem shooting good groups at 25 or 50 yards with a Series 70 NMGC 30 - 40 years ago, nowadays not so good.

AJ

 

[ContinentalOp]

So you've never had a problem with the roll pin holding the Eliason sight backing out? You like the little tiny spring which is supposed to keep the sear in the same position? You like the collet barrel bushing? My biggest gripe is that it is roll marked into the slide what I consider to be false. In my experience the pistol isn't capable of winning the Gold Cup Trophy at Camp Perry primarily due to its inability to shoot good groups at 50 yards.

FWIW, my 70 Series Gold Cup hasn't been shot much, maybe around 1,000-1,500 rounds of hardball, and the pin shows no sign of backing out. Granted, that's not a lot of rounds.

I did replace the collet bushing on mine with a solid match grade bushing, as well as a link job for better lock-up.

And I hate the sear depressor spring. It's a royal pain when detail stripping. Ask me how I know.