I haven't handled a Colt 1911 in ages.  I was stunned when I saw one with a rail on gunbroker.

Crap?

They have been screwing them together pretty nicely lately. I'd still inspect one before I bought it as issue's seem to be cosmetic when they do occur but they run nicely right out of the box.

By and large, Colt enjoys a reputation for consistently functional pistols, but the fit, finish, and other aesthetics is very inconsistent. the spectrum ranges from gorgeous bargains for the price asked, to outright abortions with a large in-between population.

Some of the common issues I have seen in the past couple of years is mismatched parts thrown on from the bin (WWI stuff on S70s, Ambidextrous panels on a WWI, etc), misaligned recoil spring channel, trigger slop, faulty plunger tube staking, mis-ground/beveled surfaces, horrendously cut grip panels, excessive tool marking, and rusting stainless, NIB. Colt switching over from the old Bridgeport to CNC technology will give more consistency (particularly with the slides) but CNC won't stop ugly, miscut grips or the wrong series part from being slapped on.

The rule for a Colt is to be able to put your eyes and hands on it before buying, or expect a gamble.

Thanks.  That pretty much rules out a gunbroker transaction.


Funny, my dad was a kitchen table FFL in the 80s, and pretty much the same could be said for the Colts I saw then.  Some beautiful, some not so much.

That's probably because the same crew is working on them now with the same tooling

There have been some cosmetic issues in the last few years but they seem to be correcting that now.  I have only had cosmetic issues with one new S70 in all the new ones I have bought.  Buying ANY brand 1911 "sight unseen" is a gamble regardless of which koolaid you drink and that includes Baer, Brown et al. Colt has installed CNC machines and quality does appear to be improving. I recently picked up one of the new Combat Elites and it is (so far) flawless in form and function. But, then again, I buy nothing but Colts in the 1911 style.






 

My last Colt acquisition was a new Commander/blued about 4 months ago.
Overall very pleased with quality and finish.
Once disassembled, I honed all sharp edges w/a stone (especially on the barrell).
Then had to do some deburring here and there.
Then I polished the feed ramp.
But that has always been the way with Colt. It's a production gun.
The exterior finish and fit was excellent.
It has not missed a beat in functionability either.
I did eventually change the bushing to .001" tolerances vs. the production tolerances. It helped
improve accuracy also. That is all I'm doing to this gun.
I love this gun and compared to Springfield and Kimber it was only a little over $700.00 bucks.
I'm glad to see Colt is doing better and adding new models and options.