Well, since I finished working with my current company and I start with another on Monday (and I'm getting reimbursed for my untaken vacation days), I decided to treat myself.  I picked up one of the Colt reproduction Series 70s in stainless.  I paid too darn much, but instant gratification is priceless.

She's pretty rough, but she'll smooth out after some shooting, I'm sure.  I was a little dismayed to find some of the sear engagment surface missing.  It's a MIM part and it actually appears that one corner of the sear engagement surface was missing from the molding process.  That was a surprise.  I'm sure Colt's will make good on it, though.  They're good folks.

So, anyway, I guess I'll just post my crappy pics.  One of these days, I'm going to learn how to use that camera, but until then, you'll just have to suffer through all this.

Oh, and darn it, but I found a nice used blued one I might have to pick up next week.  

Cheers,

kk7sm

Nice pics!  To me, I'm looking at a perfect, virgin canvas.  I would love to have one of those.

Quoted: Nice pics!  To me, I'm looking at a perfect, virgin canvas.  I would love to have one of those.

Thanks!

Wish you lived closer to me.  I've seen your work.  

I tried to take some photos of the disconnector and sear.  You can see the chip in the sear engagement surface.  I think these are MIM parts, not that it's a big deal to me.  My little camera sometimes doesn't autofocus all that well, but here goes:

Very nice, kk7sm.

You going to lose the MIM parts?

ETA: I do think the stainless is nicer than the blued.

Oh, this one's going to get customated.  That stuff is probably going to get replaced with C&S parts.

One of the reasons I went with the stainless on this one is it's a lot easier for me to screw around if I don't have to worry about rebluing.  I'm looking at a blued one, too, just because I think they look prettier.

But then, they're all pretty.

Interestingly enough, the grips on this one are already cut for an ambi-safety.  Go figure!

Cheers,

kk7sm

Quoted: Very nice, kk7sm. You going to lose the MIM parts? ETA: I do think the stainless is nicer than the blued.

Really ?

Well, in true ARFCOM tradition, I expect I'll get BOTH.  

Well, except I saw a very nice used Series 70 for a very nice price the other day, so I have to convince the money gods to make it happen.  

Congrats on the new 45. You can never have to many

I'm kinda' partial to blued myself......


Here's mine.............

If you send it back to Colts', you'll get the same MIM parts again.

Go C&S or EGW Hardened Sear.

How's this look in Blue?

Uh, that's a repro, right?  That is a beautiful gun!

Quoted: If you send it back to Colts', you'll get the same MIM parts again.

I'm aware of that, but I always keep the complete set of original parts for any gun I own.  I'm just kind of anal that way.  

ETA:  I'm already going to put in a C&S sear, etc., but the Colt's one will go in a baggie in the original box.

Oh, I did put in a sear I had in the parts box temporarily and fired a few rounds through the new Colt yesterday after the IDPA match.  Shoots great to point of aim.  I'm most pleased.  

Well, I mentioned I'd found a nice used blued one I might have to pick up, and I did.  From serial #, she appears to be 1980 production and looked to have had a couple of boxes of ammo fired through her and never cleaned.

She has a little holster wear and a couple of very minor blemishes, but overall, is just gorgeous.  She's extremely tight going into battery.  Some of that is attributable to the collet type bushing, but the most of it is just how tight the lugs mate to the barrel.

I'm looking forward to shooting this one.  All indications are she'll be extremely accurate.

In the pics, there's some oil on the trigger that makes it look like the finish is worn off, but that's just my shoddy photography.  A week ago, I had one Colt 1911.  Now, I'm starting to have a herd.  







Cheers,

kk7sm

I put a new SS Colt 70 on layaway because yours looked so good.

That's it, 1911 disease is contagious!  And the only cure is more 1911!  

Nice lookin colt!

You may want to try Wilson's A2 deluxe sear. I have one in my SA Loaded and it is outstanding.
www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=528378

That is hot.  I've been meaning to get a blued Colt series 70 or 80.  I will eventually.  It's just hard for me to justify one as I've already got two great 1911s.

Thanks, guys - that blued Series 70 was a pretty good deal for me.  I wound up trading a Walther PPK/S for it.  I had inherited a second Walther and I just didn't need two, but I always have room for another 1911.  Mostly, I like guns I can tinker around on.  This one looked like it had had a couple of boxes of ammo through it and then was put away without cleaning.  Kind of nasty, but she cleaned up real good!

I'm still mulling over just leaving the stainless one as is.  That one's new with the pretty box and if I decide to have anything done to that one, I think it's going to a professional.  No matter what, when I get to making changes, I always keep a set of original parts, so that's why I sent to Colt's to get another original sear.

I'm going to set up the used blued one the way I like 'em.  I'm expecting a bunch of stuff to show up on Friday, so once she's done, I'll post some "after" pics.  I've done a full TI on her.  The internals are in great shape and the collet bushing looks to be holding up very well, no cracks.  I'm always amazed at the lock up on the Colts with the collet bushings.  Anyway, it's a good project to keep me busy for a while and it gives me an excuse to buy all sorts of interesting tools.

Great looking Colts!!!

Why is it so hard to find a series 70?

Quoted: Why is it so hard to find a series 70?

The original ones, well, people like them.  Most of them have been altered by now to make them into what someone wants.  I managed to find a pretty decent unaltered one.

The new ones, it's a limited production run, so there just aren't that many of them.  If it were me, I'd prefer Colt's just went back to the Series 70 and started using that as a basis for all of their 1911s.  But I'm not running the show!  

Cheers,

kk7sm

Well, I did some work on this one, so I thought I'd share.  Y'all can call me names - I'm not a pro, but I just shot an IDPA course with her and she shoots just fine.  I'll be sending the frame to Tripp for hard chroming, so I wasn't too particular about the finish where I was grinding - I just got something on there and called it good.

But here are some photos - first time blending a grip safety in and I picked the Ed Brown high version - that was a learning experience.  I wound up blending it in in the down position because I was doing my grinding with it held in with a rubber band - in the future, I think I'll do my blending in the up position by letting the sear spring and MSH hold it.  I could probably remove more metal, but it's comfy to shoot, so I think I'll leave it as is.  Other parts:

Meprolight night sights
C&S narrow extended ambi-safety
Ed Brown grip safety
Wolff recoil and plunger springs
Some Nowlins stuff I'm not entirely sure I'm happy with
Different Colt grips than what were on it before

Anyway, she shoots great and digested all of the ammo I ran through her today, to include a box of old Black Talons.  Only stoppage was one of my reloads that had a high primer (oops).

Here's pics:











Cheers,

kk7sm

ETA:  I'm glad I did this work and I don't think I'll be doing it again - I'll just pay someone next time!  

You always wonder why 1911 Smiths make so much.  Until you try and work on one.

My first looked a lot worse than that.  And my second, and my third.....

Well, the most important part to me is that it works, and it does work.  I was able to shoot an IDPA match with it today and did better than I have been, so that's an improvement.  I'd definitely not do this to the new stainless, but this one already had some pretty good finish wear going, so I felt a little better about it.

Either way, live and learn!

Thanks for the encouragement!

Cheers,

kk7sm

Quoted: But here are some photos - first time blending a grip safety in and I picked the Ed Brown high version - that was a learning experience.  I wound up blending it in in the down position because I was doing my grinding with it held in with a rubber band - in the future, I think I'll do my blending in the up position by letting the sear spring and MSH hold it.

Looks good!

What do you mean by "down" and "up" positions..i.e. do you mean "down" as in you were depressing the grip safety in when fitting?

If / when I decide to re-radius a tail and fit a grip safety on one of my pieces I'm definitily going to do it with the grip safety depressed while fitting...Looks are nice, but I want function before looks. I have a Wilson drop-in that fits perfectly in the up position on one of my Colts...but depressed, there's a little lip, a little edge there, and it gets annoying after a while. I'd rather have it totally smooth when it's all depressed. That's just me, though.

Quoted: What do you mean by "down" and "up" positions..i.e. do you mean "down" as in you were depressing the grip safety in when fitting?

That's exactly how I did it.  I actually used a couple of the Ed Browns.  I used one for fitting and one for the finished product.  First, I used the jig you can buy from Brownell's to grind it down close, then put in the grip safety I was planning for the tool box.  I pinned it in the frame, then used a rubber band to hold it in place.  After that, I ground it the rest of the way.

As far as finish, I'd already planned on sending the frame to Tripp for hard chrome, so I wasn't that worried.  I just smoothed up where I'd been grinding, then used an RB17 blue kit I'd had for about 7 or so years unused and got some color on it.  Tripp'll be removing that anyway, so I'm not too worried about it.

Thanks for the compliment!

kk7sm