Shot My WWI Repro Today!

[mbinky]

I finally got a chance to put some rounds through my WWI Repro today. I must say, it is a smooth shooter. I fired 100 rounds of Federal American Eagle 230 FMJ, and about 40 rounds of some Lancer reloads I had left over from a few years back. They were 185 grain fully jacketed SWC. They wouldn't cycle my P220, so I put them aside. (I had meant to fire them in my G21SF, but it is back home...) Amazingly, they all cycled and fired fine except for one stove pipe. I am sure it is due to the ammo being underpowered. (talking powerpuff here...) Matter of fact, none of the Lancer would cycle the slide far enough back to lock it open on empty. But they fed!

The pistol is pretty accurate, and the trigger is superb! I was shooting some 3"-4" groups at about 15 yards, and could easily hit the clays out at 50 yards. The sights are small, but useable. I usually prefer a short trigger and arched mainspring housing, but I am warming up to the WWI.

After I got home and cleaned her up, I noticed the slide cycled much smoother. Can't wait till this weekend when I can put a few hundred more through it!

[ColtCustom45]

Sounds great. Can't wait to shoot mine.

[clughog]

Fantastic! Sounds like you've got yourself a really nice pistol. Glad you are shooting it instead of hiding it away in a safe or something. Looking forward to more reports!

[MOZART]

I have one as well very fine shooters. Can't beat the blue job either.
I'm sure you will enjoy it for many years to come.
Quality makes it a Colt.

[JustinTime]

Congrats. Keep shooting that WWI repro.

[mbinky]

Well, I got the range again today. I fired 150 more rounds. They were 50 rounds of Georgia Arms 230gr FMJ Canned Heat, 50 rounds of Winchester Ranger 230gr JHP's, and 50 rounds of Speer Gold Dot 200gr JHP+P's.

As I expected, it shot smooth and true. I did have one problem while firing the Gold Dot's. On two occasions, the last round in the magazine jumped the feed lips and caused a malfunction. Both times it ocurred with the same magazine. The magazine is a blued 7 rounder, hybrid feed lips, flat dimpled follower, weld seam down the back, and the High Standard logo on the floorplate. I picked up a few of these a few years ago for range use. Am I correct in assuming that this malfunction was magazine related? The pistol functioned flawlessly with the factory magazines. And this only occurred with the +P ammo.

I do love how the more you shoot this, the smoother it gets!

[daveohno]

It's a nice pistol, isn't it? I love mine too.

[JustinTime]

Mine is a safe queen. I bet it shoots nice though.

[Hill]

I do love how the more you shoot this, the smoother it gets!

It's grinding away the machine marks, some of which can be too small to see naked eyed. It would happen in any new gun, or new mechanism for that matter, and is not a unique feature of the Colt repros.

Every new gun I buy that I intend to shoot gets disassembled and given the fingernail test for roughness on every contact surface, then gently smoothed with fine diamond hones and/or Arkansas stones. That way I can clean out the fine grindings before they disburse through the action grinding at pieces that possibly shouldn't be ground.

It's a lot of what you'd pay for if you asked for an "action job" and can transform a pistol positively, depending on the skill of the gunsmith you hire.