It was raining Colts today......

A quick update.

I started to get failures to extract on nearly every round. The empty would wind up just sitting behind the chamber, on top of the next round in the magazine. The slide would start to pick up the next round, and everything would come to an abrupt halt.

If I only loaded one round, the gun would cycle and then push the empty back into the chamber.

If the chamber was oiled the gun would work for a few rounds, then the fun would start again.

I replaced the recoil and magazine springs, but nothing changed. I cleaned the bejeebus out of the barrel and chamber with the same lack of result.

I figured the chamber was corroded, and I could see and feel some pitting at the very front of it.

Rather than find an old barrel that someone might be selling because it also sucks, I bought a new one from a place with the excellent name of In Lead We Trust.

In Lead We Trust

Here it is:

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It is marked so it can't be passed off as original.

It dropped right in with no fitting.

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I took it to the range yesterday, which was an adventure all unto itself. Lots of folks with new Christmas guns, which they waved to and fro with much merriment. I put 50 rounds downrange, a mix of round nosed ball and flat pointed ball. Not a single malfunction, and the new barrel was at least as accurate as the old one. Back in business.

The dark blue looked strange to me, so once I knew it worked I hit it with some blue-be-gone in the areas that showed.

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I'll shoot it a little more before I carry it, but I'm happy with this new barrel, and based on my sample of exactly one I can say these barrel makers turn out a good product. Now if they would only make magazines for these things.
 
I LOVE the lines of those Colt 1903/1908 Pistols!! I have 3 that I bought just because I liked them - although I had no real practical purpose for them. Mine are between 90 and 100 years old and still look, function and shoot great! Each of them came with some two-tone Mag's. :) I do break 'em out once or twice a year and pop 50 rounds or so. They are really accurate Pistols and actually have great triggers for pocket pistols.

While I would not buy one (I always like "real deal" guns) I have seen the recent Repro's they made a few years back and they are not bad (but pricey). For the same money one could still buy the real McCoy however I do credit the Company that Colt licensed to make 'em for being so exacting and true to the originals.
 
An opportunity to show off. I used to collect these. I have divested myself of most of them when I got into S&Ws, but I kept 4 of them. 1 a shooter, and these 3 that are in really nice condition.

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Just a quick update - I've put 250 rounds of UMC ball through this new barrel, and all is still well. No malfunctions, and the barrel has settled in to producing nice groups at 20 yards offhand. If the gun had better sights and I had better eyes I think it would be a real shooter.

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