Posted: 3/15/2010 2:31:41 AM EDT
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The imminent arrival of my income tax return allowed me to finally afford a new railed 1911, so on St. Valentine's Day, I ordered a Colt Rail Gun. Part of my rational for buying the Colt was simply because I'm a serial contrarian, and the Springfield Operators and Kimber Warriors of the world seem to be the overwhelming majority of the railed 1911 niche. I was inspired by seeing one of the Colts in person. It had all of the features I was looking for in a light-capable 1911, and I found it to be a particularly striking piece. Also, the retail price on the Colt was about a hundred dollars lower than the asking price of the used Desert Warrior that was on-hand. I did some additional searching, and managed to find an FFL that could get me the Colt for an even lower out-the-door price than that. I placed my order on the spot and commenced waiting. And wait I did. Yesterday, I picked up the pistol and a few hundred rounds. Ladies and gents, I am a happy camper.
The first two magazines through the pistol, fired by Yours Truly and a friend of mine, printed an altogether respectable group. By the end of the range session, I was tearing ragged holes in the center of the targets at 30'. All told, we went through just over two hundred rounds, the latter half of them fired with my SureFire X300 mounted on the pistol's frame. I, personally, did not witness any failures. One of my more novice pistol shooters reported one failure to fully go into battery, though I wasn't able to observe the malfunction––don't know for sure what the cause was, but I suspect operator error or the simple fact that the weapon was literally brand new. This only occurred once, prior to the 100-round mark. No other failures of any kind took place. The weapon was field stripped and cleaned with CLP immediately prior to departing for the range, and the two factory eight-shot magazines were utilized. My roommate has an STI Spartan––a superb .45 by any measure––and he enthusiastically mused that he really ought to pick up one of the new Colts. And one of the Marines from my unit (the relative pistol neophyte) was wowed by the Colt's trigger. Everyone that shot it, come to think of it, raved about the trigger. I don't have a scale for such things, but it was noticeably better than my previous 1911 (a Smith & Wesson Gunsite pistol), which by no means had a bad trigger. But the Colt's is better, hands-down. There is virtually no creep, and it breaks like an icicle. Accuracy was excellent. Better than any of the autopistols I've owned, though it's not as laserbeam-scary as my Ruger GP100 (but so far, only the Smith & Wesson Model 41s that we used to shoot on the pistol team can challenge that revolver for accuracy when I'm in the driver's seat). My only quibbles with the pistol after my initial outing are relatively minor when one takes into account the actual function of the pistol. First and foremost, it was a bear getting the slide stop back in when reassembling the Colt after cleaning it at the end of the day. I didn't experience anything even remotely close to that degree of frustration when I initially stripped the piece. I'm rather at a loss as to why it was so awful the second time around. It was as if I couldn't get the ball detent in the plunger tube to move. Secondly (and this is only a frustration because I had to fight with the slide stop as long as I did), the bottom edge of the slide isn't dehorned or melted at all. There were several shavings of my thumbnails on the frame from the ordeal in which I attempted to put the Colt back together. All in all, I'm extremely satisfied with the Colt. Pictures will be added in the coming days (I'll steal them from my friend––she was the one snapping the majority of the pictures) to prove that it happened. 
We also rented a Ruger LCR, which I found surprisingly pleasant to shoot for a miniscule pocket revolver with almost no weight, and an AR57, which was amusing despite the prohibitive cost of the 5.7x28mm ammo and unintuitive ergonomics of the upper. We also put rounds downrange with my roommate's J-frame (which did not fare well in comparison to the LCR), STI Spartan, and CZ .22-caliber bolt-action rifle, in addition to the Glock 17 that the other Marine owned and my GP100. A fantastic day with great friends and good guns. 
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Congrats on the new Colt! I picked up one myself a couple of weeks ago; when I get around to taking some pics, a thread will be forthcoming. My personal trick for the slide stop is to take the tip of a mechanical pencil or ballpoint pen (with a brass tip) and use that to push the plunger in. The slide stop then pushes straight down on top of the pencil or pen, just enough to clear the tough part of the plunger. Pull the pencil/pen out and finish seating the slide stop. |
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Quoted:
I put in the request if a SS rail gun is found in his network I'll take it, but I don't think my dealer had any luck. I'll see him tomorrow and ask. Too bad so sad if not. I guess I'll just have to wait for the 2010 version. 
http://photos.imageevent.com/smglee/ss10/huge/P1040185.jpg There are at least 4-5 stainless ones in gun shops around my town. The best price I have seen on it is $1050. I really.....REALLY.....like the rail gun, but since I already have a Warrior I decided to buy the Combat Elite instead. The gun is awesome short of the plastic MSH. Have a Gold Cup Stainless Steel MSH on order though. I still may get a CRG some day. They just look bad ass. And all my Colts are nail drivers. Congrats on the Rail Gun. NOW POST SOME DANG PICS 
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Pics will be incoming tonight after I get off work, all. Oh, and thanks for the pencil idea––I'll have to give it a try later. Carried the CRG (I like the acronym!) for the firs time today. IWB in a more-or-less 'one size fits all' DeSantis tuckable holster (Raven Concealment holster on-order). Only had it out for about an hour, but it carries well. It's decidedly more comfortable to wear than the Ruger GP100 that's been my companion in the interim between 1911s, but that goes with the territory, methinks. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I put in the request if a SS rail gun is found in his network I'll take it, but I don't think my dealer had any luck. I'll see him tomorrow and ask. Too bad so sad if not. I guess I'll just have to wait for the 2010 version.
http://photos.imageevent.com/smglee/ss10/huge/P1040185.jpg There are at least 4-5 stainless ones in gun shops around my town. The best price I have seen on it is $1050. I really.....REALLY.....like the rail gun, but since I already have a Warrior I decided to buy the Combat Elite instead. The gun is awesome short of the plastic MSH. Have a Gold Cup Stainless Steel MSH on order though. I still may get a CRG some day. They just look bad ass. And all my Colts are nail drivers. Congrats on the Rail Gun. NOW POST SOME DANG PICS The way I'll snag one is for my dealer to get it and I lay-a-way it. His distributor network not mine. If I had all the money needed in my account I could have it here in a day or two I'm sure from somewhere. It isn't that impossible. Having $$$ always gets it done faster. Creative ways of having hardly nothing to gain something of value is how we poor people do it though... Where are them tell tail pic's that belong in this tread??? |
As promised, here are pictures of the CRG and a couple of the targets.
The pistol, with SureFire X300 mounted and the first two mags fired through it. I called one of the low fliers, the other two were Lauren's. 
Closeup of the CRG and the first group. I should've taken this photo without the light mounted to more accurately depict the pistol as it was when the group was shot––I added the X300 at the ~150 round mark. 
CRG sans SureFire. 
With some assorted moto crap. The pointy challenge coin was a gift from one of my best friends, commemorating his last trip to the Sandbox. First challenge coin I've seen with an MRAP on it. 
Standing up, with my long-serving G2Z and favorite pocketknife in tow. 
Fitted with CMC 10-rounder. Next trip to the range will determine if she plays nicely with the Wilson Combat 47Ds and the CMC. 
Best group of the outing. 
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| Were you using them PMC bronze 230gr loads to do that grouping? This last Saturday I had my brand new XD out for the first time and of the five brands of ammo the PMC stuff did the best out of it. Others I used were Speer Lawman, Winchester Win Clean, S&B (worst), and UMC. All 230gr ball. |
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Edgecrusher: I'm sorry! It's been really busy for me lately. I shall endeavor to increase my adequacy in future posts.
Joe: No, not the baby Jesus! I did include several shots that ought to be tears-free for the Son of God, FYI. 
Torment: Yes, the PMC Bronze 230-grain FMJ was used exclusively in those groups. I was quite impressed with how well it did for fairly vanilla range ammo. |
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My experience w/Colt as of late is still the same as when I purchased my first colt early in the 70's.
Upon bringing a new colt home you must have sandpaper, a hone stone, and a dremel tool w/some accessories. I have yet to ever own a Colt that I didn't have to deburr once I got it home. Now having said that I have fantastic luck with all my colts. |
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Quoted: My experience w/Colt as of late is still the same as when I purchased my first colt early in the 70's. Upon bringing a new colt home you must have sandpaper, a hone stone, and a dremel tool w/some accessories. I have yet to ever own a Colt that I didn't have to deburr once I got it home. Now having said that I have fantastic luck with all my colts. And I have never had one that I had to do that to. Regardless, no Dremel is getting near any of my Colts. |
