Spent the weekend at a gunshow, and the last two days in various gun stores looking to buy myself a new Colt. Though I looked at more than a few; there was not a single one that I could buy. All had issues. Two Gold Cup Trophy's looked good, but had serious spring in the barrel. An improperly fitted barrel is the kiss of death on a 1911; and these were Colts finest target pistols no less! Other faults I found were extreme machiningmarks, slide overhang, and extractors sticking out the back of the slides. All issues that should have stopped them from ever leaving Hartford. Me and the pony are going to get drunk now; his head is hanging low, and I am bitterly disappointed. After we sober up we will ride out looking for a decent new Colt; somehow or other I think I now know how Don Quiote felt chasing windmills. I am going to continue my search to find myself a new Colt worth buying; but if a nice Norinco crosses my path, there goes my money and the Colt. One thing is for sure; I won't have to worry about the Chinese knowing how to fit a barrel, or for that matter making a good 1911 period. Colt could use some Chinese labor, and someone besides a blind man doing the final inspection on their pistols. OH, my mistake; a blind man could have at least "felt" the slide overhanging the frame at the rear, the rough machining, the extractor sticking out the back of the slide, and the spring in the barrel when you pushed down on the chamber area. Any visually challenged people need a job at Colt? They could sure use you. Nice, properly fitted Colts are like little green men; I have heard of them; can't say that I have seen any lately. Come on pony; theres a good saloon down the road!

That explains why Colt is in the downhill, at least as far as sales are concerned. Pitty, the oldest manufacturer of 1911s to have such a poor quality.

Rgds

__________________
John Caradimas SV1CEC
The M1911 Pistols Organization
http://www.m1911.org

But John; "Quality makes it a Colt"! I am thoroughly disgusted by what I have looked at. I am still looking though; for a while anyway before I totally give up on my favorite maker.

I hear that very lately, the quality has started going up again, but with me living where I live, it is hard to verify. I wish Colt the best, they should do whatever they can to keep that name alive and they should continue make quality 1911s, like they did some time ago.

Rgds

__________________
John Caradimas SV1CEC
The M1911 Pistols Organization
http://www.m1911.org

Any company can and will put out lemons. It's the nature of the beast in manufacturing. It wasn't until my brothers third Kimber that he got one that worked. I have a new rollmarked stainless Colt Series 80 that has some minor cosmetic flaws, and is a little loose in the slide to frame fit,(actually it is the original spec of Browning). But the gun is accurate and stone cold reliable.

I also have an old rollmarked blued Series 80 that I picked up. Cosmetically it is perfect, slightly less slide to frame play, but just as reliable and accurate as my stainless.

Just checked out a new XSE this past weekend. A very fine gun that came out of the plant.

Colt has a long history of up and down quality, so does S&W and just about any manufacturer of just about anything if they stay in business long enough. Series 70 and 80 Gold Cups did have a reputation of slightly better accuracy than Government models, but they were mass produced and were not hand fitted. To get the most accuracy out of any gun, it realy needs to be hand fitted. I expect the new Gold Cups are likely to be no different.

If it makes you feel any better about Colt, my NRM 1991 has worked almost flawlessly (two FTFs, both my fault). It's well fitted, and I believe it's fairly accurate, though I'm not.

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KILROY WAS HERE

"If you ever reach total enlightenment while you're drinking a beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose."

Well now I feel so much better knowing that Colt only ships their junk to Illinois. I am glad that someone is getting the good stuff; cause there sure aren't any here! I am still looking though. I may get that one dealer to ship the pistol back to Colt, get it fixed up properly, returned; and then I will buy it. He may be willing to do that as long as I put a deposit on it. It was very nice cosmetically; I will give Colt that.

I FOUND ONE OF THOSE LITTLE GREEN MEN!
Stopped by a little hole in the wall, out of the way, gun store today. He never has anything worth a damn in there, but I stopped anyway. Very glad that I did! Lo and behold theres a brand new Gold Cup sitting there which upon further inspection turned out to be beautiful. I could find nothing, nowhere, no how, wrong with this piece. I immediatly bought it. There really are some very nice Colts out there, guess it just pays to keep looking; but for any of you thinking of buying a new Colt; I would suggest that you look them over first. The sub standard ones I looked at are still out there.

All is right in the Colt universe.