Got a good look at it yesterday, Yesterday I traded for a new .45 auto, my choices were a springfield 1911-a1 or a colt 1911-a1, side by side I was frankly shocked at the diffrence,The springfield was all steel, and TIGHT, no play in the slide,The colt was almost as tight, but the finish looked like it was painted on,and it had a PLASTIC trigger!!!and a PLASTIC mainspring housing!!!! A plastic trigger? the most important part of any gun and it's plastic??? Have their engineers been taking stupid pills or what?? and the finish, it looked like someone painted it on with some flat black paint, Needless to say the springfield went home with me,The more I look at this springfield, the more I'm impressed with the quality, I've been reading for some time here on this board about how Colt is more or less circling the drain, now I know what you guys mean, and to top it off, the colt cost more, I don't think I'll be buying any colts any time soon.

You must have been looking at a Colt 1991.  They used cheap parts for things that are usually replaced with match parts anyway, such as the trigger.

Personally I've been most impressed with the Kimber pistols in the sub $1000 1911 market.

the colt 1991 series are thier answer to the mass market where so many 1911 types are now offered. in reality, comparing colt 1991 to springfield is almost like apples to oranges nowdays, unfortunatly. you can still get quality from colt if you are willing to pay the bucks for what they pretty much consider custom shop series, such as custom combat govt., tactical level whatever, etc. lately, i have not even seen actual 1911 govt models, which in the past was thier std issue. they may be still making them, but you don`t see them too often. with the kimbers an sa`s that are out there now, colt has dropped off tremendously in appeal. whether it`s stockholders, mismanagement, or what?life goes on! (plastic?..you`re right!)

Hoplophile,
Yeah, I guess that's what it was,Both were made to look like govt-issue, Springfield does it Much better, both were in the under $500.00 class, price on mine was $ 454.00 Still it's a shame,pay close to $500.00 and have to pull the plastic parts out and replace with steel right off the bat, Actually, the trigger on the springfield is'nt bad at all, I like it, It's no comp gun, does'nt have any bells and whistles, but that's the way I like 'em Plain and simple, It's going to get a workout later on today