Posted: 1/20/2009 7:00:13 AM EDT
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I picked it up yesterday evening. I was amazed at the quality of the parts and the fit and finish presented on this particular gun. The slide to frame matched up perfectly, trigger had no slop, barrel was tight, and the grips, well what can I say about those but WOW. I love the redness and deep rich wood look. Makes me want to pull them off to save them from getting beat up. I am pretty rough on my guns, and would hate to get them scratched up, but they look and feel so nice. I have never been to fond of the stainless guns, but this matte stainless I like. It is only shiny on the sides of the frame. The blue looks good on the slide too.
The only negative I can say is that the edges of the slide are sharp enough to really cut you. I wish that Colt would take the sharpness off of the muzzle and the rear of the slide, I am scared if my arm brushes up against it while I am carrying it might cut it. I did go by my friend that is a gunsmith and ammo manufacturer to shoot the new piece. I field stripped it and greased the rails, oiled everything else. We took out some 185 FMJ target loads, pretty light stuff. It functioned great, and was really accurate. I fired off hand at 15 yds slow fire a magazine full of 8+1 in the chamber into 1 big hole in the head of a silhouette. The hole was about 1" in diameter. My friends comment was, "I guess it shoots pretty good". I let him shoot it some. He seemed to like it. Wound up firing 100 rds through it with only one stove pipe, I think my thumb slowed the slide just enough to cause the problem. The slide was pretty slow anyway with this target stuff, you could "feel" the action. Overall, everything went very smooth. Once I got home, I detail stripped the gun, and was impressed at the quality of the small parts. It seems much higher in quality than my Springfield was out of the box. Everything got cleaned, polished up where it needed to be and put back together. I really like this pistol, and am happy I went with the Colt instead of getting another Springfield. I now see what people like about Colts. I will continue to carry my Springfield, as I have worked on it and got all but one minor irritant with it eliminated. It will be fixed soon. Sorry so late posting, had to get it cleaned, then be Daddy to my daughter, eat, be Daddy some more, and then upload the pictures on dial up. They are not real good, and I included my LW Champion in them, so it would not get jealous. 
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Beautiful gun sir, congratualtions. 
IMHO, Colt makes the best production 1911's on the market today. I've had many Colt .45's (and a 10mm Delta Elite) since the early 70's and never had a problem with them. In the last 8 mos. I've purchased a Combat Commander XSE and a New Agent. Both are running great. You know the old saying, "If it ain't a Colt, it's a copy." |
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You be me to it. Iwas just getting ready to post pics and a review of my new combat elite that I just picked up the other day. I have purchased 3 new colts in the past 3 months and the first two had a sloppy frame, slide fit and loose triggers but have so far shot great. The combat elite is another beast all together. The frame/ slide fit is considerably snug and the trigger is fit much nicer. I have a feeling this is gonna be a great shooter. All 3 of mine were so sharp on the slides that I probably could have shaved with them. That being said I believe these are the nicest production 1911's being made today. The new grips are very nice and like you I didnt want to foul them up so I swapped them for a standard set of rosewoods with ed brown stainless socket grip screws. I think springfield armory makes great production guns but the colts are definatley worth the extra green. Great choice enjoy....
(P.S. For all you anti colt guys..... The koolaid is tasting pretty sweet!!!!!) |