Colt Officer’s ACP…revisited.

It was 1991 when I fired my first Colt Officer’s ACP .45. It belonged to another LE Instructor. He had brought it to a class that we both were instructing in and we tested it out at the lunch break.

It was the stainless model with those little ugly black wood grips. It was new and 100% stock.

Three or four of us put that little 1911 thru it paces at various ranges, some of which it was not intended for. We fired mostly ball with a few HP’s thrown in for good luck. We were all impressed at the performance of the pistol. It digested, as I recall, close to 300 rounds that day without a single problem.

The owner said, “go ahead and shoot the s^&% out of it, I want to see how it holds up”.

That night, I went directly to my friend’s gun shop and inquired about the price of one but not in stainless. I wanted a traditional blue pistol and all steel.

$470.00 out the door including sales tax was the price I got. I told him to place the order the next day. It was mine in less than a week.

At the time, my agency allowed almost any personally owned pistol as an off-duty gun as long as it passed the chief firearms instructor’s inspection, departmental requirements and you qualified with it. Issue ammo at the time was the Winchester 185 gr. STHP. Ball was also acceptable.

My Officer’s didn’t feed 100% with the silvertips. I carried them from time to time but favored ball because it was 100%. I qualified with it twice yearly as required and carried it for awhile but gave up on it later on.

That Officer’s ACP and I have had a love hate relationship for 13 years now. Actually it has sat in my safe unfired for the past 8 or 9 years. I recently began to take it out so it could get some light.

I never liked the small grip safety of the Officer’s. The plastic MS housing was another sore spot but I refused to put any money into that pistol. The Colt OEM hammer, Commander style, was ugly and crude.

I decided to do a little customization of my own on it and give it another try. I placed and order with Brownell’s for a Brown 20 lpi MS housing, a Wilson drop in grip safety and I had a new Wilson Deluxe Commander style hammer lying around so, they went into the pistol along with a new sear spring and mainspring. I retained the original short steel trigger but I plan on changing that out also.

Everything checked out well at the bench so, the next step was a range session and that was this past Wednesday.

The little Colt digested 300 + rounds of two types of ball ammo (factory and reloaded) and a few assorted HP’s that had been lying around for a few years including some of my +P 185 gr. XTP’s.

The Officer’s went 100% with no malfunctions, including a few 185 gr. STHP’s. Accuracy was more than required for a self defense type pistol. By this I mean that I can consistently hit 100% center mass on a “Q” type target from 7 yds. to 35 yds. (5 targets in all) from the holster and from the ready position. This is all that I require from this type pistol.

The Wilson GS made a big difference in the comfort level of the Officer’s ACP.
I think the slide is going for a trip to Novak’s for a set of their low mount carry night sights.

Another addition I have planned is the installation of the ISMI Officer’s Recoil Assembly.

Oh yea, I ordered a Milt Sparks Summer Special II from Brownell’s and it should be here today. Carry? Maybe.

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Jim
NRA Life Member since '69

very nice pistol it's nice to have an old favorite isn't it.

I don't know if I consider it an old favorite, but I'm glad I gave it another chance.

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Jim
NRA Life Member since '69

JimC,

Sure is a nice Officers Model. Thank you for sharing it and your story with us all.

Chuck