MK4 80 Series Officers Model

[Puffy]

I went to the gunshow looking for a fanny pack holster for my wifes glock and strangely a Colt officers model started talking to me.... I shook it off and continued my quest of ammo from Ga.Arms (all I used in 10 years) and a new IWB for my Kimber 25th Edition. It got louder. After a while I couldn't seem to get away from it, it just kept calling. I looked at it again. Teflon black with a few marks on the slide from the noob who owned it first. http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/violent/sterb116.gif Hmmm.
I left and went home. It kept calling... It was in my dreams. Next day I heard it in the shower, it even had a nice reverb. I dress and grab the wife and head to the show. I walk past it to take the wife to the fanny pack booth...its still there, and It wont shut up. After an hour I cave. I had no decent conceal weapon except for my Walther PP Ultra. Its a sweetie but it has no pounce. It took but a few seconds to do the math on my account balance and tell the dealer "sold". I own my first (non issued) Colt. :D

It has a few things I hate. So first I want a beavertail. The 'thing' on it isn't comfortable at all. Question: What just drops in? (in stainless)
The trigger (cough) I got a Kimber like my 25th has.
I hear the front plug has issues. Recommendations?
New hammer with 1/2 cock. Recommendations?

Anything else I'm not aware of? This wil be my back up gun during the week and #1 carry on weekends.

[Hawkmoon]

Have you shot it? A good friend of mine has a Mark IV Officers with the stock grip safety tang, and it's quite comfortable to shoot. Even our fearless leader, who MUST have a beavertail on every 1911, says he can live with that style. If you really, really need one, Wilson's drop-in for the Commander may fit reasonably well. You may have to get that direct from Wilson, as I haven't seen it in Brownells catalog. But I question the wisdom of taking a small, easily concealed istol and adding a protrusion that makes it longer and incrementally more difficult (as well as uncomfortable) to conceal.

The deal on the plug is that after a lot of use, the little retainer tab may break off. Buy a spare and carry it around? Buy a spare, use the original for all range sessions, then install the new one for carry? Brownells has it, or you can buy it directly from Colt Customer Service.

What's with the hammer? The Mark IV has a firing pin safety, it doesn't need a half cock notch. A Series 70 hammer will be wider than a series 80, so you'll have to remove the firing pin safety actuator to fit the hammer into the frame. Which means you'll then have to remove the firing pin safety parts from the slide or the gun won't go BANG. Nothing that can't be done, of course, but .... why?

Lastly (so that El Comandante won't yell at me):
:wl:

[Puffy]

Its just a thing with me as far as the tail goes. Perhaps a Defender tail will suffice. On the hammer.. ya got me. Ill leave it. But the plug has got to go, failure is not an option. Perhaps a rod / plug mod, someone has to make one. (they make everything else) Even if it means a bull barrel or somethin.

I'll put up some pix after I get the finish redone... its butt ugly :p at the moment. And that tang... http://emoticons4u.com/cartoon/051.gif ooooo its so ugly. I don't think a porkchop would help. My hand demands it on a .45. Im a rather big guy at 6'4" so hiding a wep of this size is easy. Theres a permanant indentation over my right kidney and hip already from a full size living there way too long. I barely notice the pony gun, it just molds right in. Other than the safety and the finish she's as cute as she can be. When she fires +P she belches flame a bit but its controlable even in rapid fire.(250lbs helps too.) 4" groups at 25m is the norm in slofire on a full size target.

A 7 round mag with a finger tail would also be nice for a guy like me. The pinkie under the mag is a bit less than comforting. Time to get the 3ds max out and design something. A magwell might do the trick. Im open to Ideas.

[Puffy]

I found this to fix the PLUGBUG... Plugfix (http://www.dlsports.com/reinforced_spring_plugs_for_compact_1911s.html)
Failure might mean death so yall might wanna check this out!.
You would think the factory would fix this on their own and offer it to owners.
When you supply firearms that would tend find your client in a sticky mess as the norm so this is sad. Kinda like the Kimber external extractor issue. It fails,.. your weapon jams, and your dead. Im sure its all in the legal departments.
Bad lawyers can ruin anything... there is no exception to this rule. (think about it) :p Sad but true.

On a brighter note.. what do we do in Georgia on the day after Turkeyday?
We go to the range! Its deer season. A perfect reason to fire all your pistols for that 1 in a million meeting with "JAKE" the snake or "Charley" the cougar.
After that Im off to the fire house to drop off goodies for them and my local police. Tis the season ya know... :) For those on post visit the Provost Marshalls office or the MP station. They get hungry too and would really appreciate it. :D

[warmrain]

What Hawkmoon said about the spring plug! I never though it it, but it might make sense to have a range plug and a carry (lightly used) plug.

I had 1000s of rounds through mine without trouble. You need to be sure the notch and the tang are clean of crud and inspect the plug closely at each cleaning for cracks aroung the tang.

[Farnorth]

On my Officers model .45 I put in the new reverse plug I ordered from Clark. It is defenatly a heavy duty improvement and it fit with no modifications. I also bought the barrel bushing from Clark at the same time. It took a bit of fitting, but it's in there now. I also installed the Wilson drop in beavertail. It took a bit of filing and fitting but went in easily enough. I just like the feel of a beavertail in my hand on all my .45s. At six five and 280lbs, I can conceal it pretty easy :D . It (the Officers) is fast becoming one my favorite pistols. Greg

[Hawkmoon]

On my Officers model .45 I put in the new reverse plug I ordered from Clark. It is defenatly a heavy duty improvement and it fit with no modifications. I also bought the barrel bushing from Clark at the same time. It took a bit of fitting, but it's in there now. I also installed the Wilson drop in beavertail. It took a bit of filing and fitting but went in easily enough. I just like the feel of a beavertail in my hand on all my .45s. At six five and 280lbs, I can conceal it pretty easy :D . It (the Officers) is fast becoming one my favorite pistols. Greg
Greg, which Wilson drop-in BT did you use? I think the standard one would leave a significant gap behind the frame tang on a Commander or Officers, so am I correct in assuming that you used the one they sell for the Commander?

[Farnorth]

Hawkmoon, I had to do a little digging but I found the package. It was the Wilson drop-in beavertail , high ride style for Colt pistols (Commander/Officers). I had my wife take a few pictures and we'll try to get them uploaded. I also took out the double spring set-up and put in the Wolff single spring. Greg

[Farnorth]

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jepinak/a9979822.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jepinak/7f54393a.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jepinak/b437a153.jpgWe'll see if these come through. I added the picture of the barrel bushing because I would like to know if anyone else has used this Clark bushing. It works fine, but looks a little long to me. Greg

[Puffy]

Excelent! How bout a full shot. I wanna see that cute tail in profile! :p O baby!
I was just lookin at the Wilson kit and the Clark. Very nice.
Looks like I got some work to do.

[Hawkmoon]

Puffy, just remember that you need the beavertail for a Commander/Officers pistol. The drop-in for the Government is profiled to clear the longer frame tangs on a full-size frame and will leave a substantial gap if installed on a Commander or Officers frame. Unless I've just missed it, Brownells doesn't have the Commander unit, so you'll have to order it directly from Wilson Combat.

[Farnorth]

What with all my yapping and trying to upload pictures I forgot to add the part number for that Wilson beavertail. Its #429BC. Greg

[Puffy]

Grip Safety: #429SC High Ride Beavertail to be spacific. In stainless.
25CO to fix the "plug bug".
Both @ Wilson

Thanks Hawkmoon! Im on it. :)

[Shorts]

I installed (http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=10;t=12659;st=0) a King's high grip beavertail (.250 radious so it needed modification to the frame). You could possibly get most of your hands on the gun if you did go for as high rise grip beavertail. There is a lot of material the comes off.

I also fit a King's bushing, it looks like the Clark unit pictured above. I'm still debating installing a reverse plug. I have my reasons.

[Farnorth]

Hi Shorts,

After I installed the Clark reverse plug I looked like the monkey and football scene trying to put it back together. I was visiting my local gunsmith last Saturday and the conversation came around to that subject. He fools around trying to put it back together like I do with the same results. He then lets the slide come to a normal (relaxed) position on the frame, lined up the link holes and inserted the slide stop. Then it's just a matter of moving the slide back to the disassemble notch and pushing it in. I hope this is at least as clear as mud. I'm glad to know you're kings bushing looks the same as my Clarks. I was kind of worried that there might be some accuracy issues or at least some collection of junk there after shooting. So far I've had neither problem. Happy Holidays, Greg

[Ric4509]

Puffy - I have a blued MKIV 80S Officers .45 acp. All I did was to change the factory beavertail which is not upswept like Wilson's. I also changed the grips to cocobolo wood grips, hex head grip screws, Videki trigger, and lastly an extended thumb safety. I have shot an average of 100 rds per session twice a week since 1999 when I bought it used. The plug hasn't given up and so is the barrel bushing.

[OD*]

Hawk,

When did Colt change the receiver tangs on the Commanders?

[Puffy]

Ric4509 Can ya get a photo up? :) I love photos but I dont have a camera till my friend comes back in town. Besides mines ugly as all getout. :scared:

[Shorts]

Farnorth, I found out today I look the same trying to put together mine since I finished up the King's bushing and put the gun back together. The thick edges of the bushing dont allow the tab on the recoil plug to pass by so I had to put it in from the back and install the spring, then get the slide stop lined up with the link and press the stop in while holding the slide back. Talk about a real hassel! I was doing this all one-handed (as is all I'm graced with these days). Man, I might as well get the reverse plug now lol

Anyhow, here's a pic of the King's bushing. I also beveled the edge (mainly due to dinging it up during fitting), but it came out alright. I wish it were blue, but this is what I had in my box so I figured why not.

http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1467806-kingsbushing.JPG

http://tellico.off-road.com/wwwthreads_uploads/1467808-oacp112905.JPG

[Farnorth]

Hey Shorts, That's exactly how you have to put together the slide and frame if you change to the reverse plug. The good news is that the tab on the new reverse plug is quite a bit more stout than the factory original. I just put the original in a bag and put it in the ole parts box. I'm fixin to get to the range and pound a bunch of rounds through this thing. I've got about a hundred through with all the changes, and all is well so far. Do you still have the two spring recoil spring set up? I changed mine to the wolff single spring. Guess I'll have to wait and see how it holds up. It looks like you did a real fine job on that pistol. Have fun shooting it, Greg