Has anyone had the opportunity to shoot the latest Colt pistols? If so, how do they compare with other offerings out there by Kimber or Springfield Armory? I am refering to 1911s of course.

Hi Wink,
I just recently ordered and sold to one of my customers a Colt 1911 in 38 Super. It was a Competition Government model 70 Series. I was not impressed with the workmanship. There were a lot of tooling marks you could see, on the feed ramp, guide rails, etc. There were also a lot of metal filings through out the whole pistol. One magazine would not feed, and was very rough sounding when cartridges were fed into it. I finally got it shooting after a lot of cleaning and working it over. I did call Colt about the problems, they said it would probably be ok after shooting it some. They were not any help at all. I replaced the magazine at my expense because he is a good customer. Not much quality for an $1100.00 pistol.

I think there are better 1911's. Be careful of Kimber, their quality control is not very good at times. The older ones are very good. Sig makes a very good 1911, as does Springfield, Ruger, Remington, Rock Island, etc. The upper end 1911's, Ed Brown, Nighthawk, Wilson, Les Baer and others are generally worth the money because they are better finished and don't require any further work.

I carry and shoot a 4.25 Nighthawk Hennie frame 45 ACP. I've shot quite a few 1911's over the years and this one is about as good as it gets.

There is a gunsmith, Stan Chen in my area that makes custom 1911 pistols any way you want. His pistols start at about $5000.00 and go up from there. That's a whole different kind of 1911.

Good luck finding what you like.

Over here the Ruger and the Sig Sauer are available at prices that I'm sure would shock the hell out of an American buyer, but the Colt importer is apparently adding a margin so high that retailers are wondering if they will be able to push them out the door.

I'll look at the Ruger and the Sig. Of those two, anything particular to pay attention to?

I have a Colt Gold Cup which, with a Kart barrel, shoots very well at 50 yards, off hand.
I have a Kimber Elite match, which, with a KKM barrel also shoots very well at 50 yards (2" group) from a Ransom rest. I also have a Sig P220ST which shoots very well from a bench at 25 yards. Not sure what your standards are, or what you are looking for. For a "practical" gun I am not sure that a 1911 does the job.
Peter.

Sig or Ruger, take your pick. The Sig may be a little smoother out of the box.

quote:

Not sure what your standards are, or what you are looking for. For a "practical" gun I am not sure that a 1911 does the job

Don't know your definition of a practical gun I have carried a SR1911 on a daily basics for a while. It just as practical gun as any of my 7 Glocks, Browning Hi-power several 38 and 357 revolvers.

A lot more practical for every day carry then any of my 44mags or 41 mag revolvers. Unless I am hunting or in Big bear country.

I have small size semi autos that I could carry I don't carry sub sized guns hardly any more.

I have no need 99 percent of the time to be deep under cover any more. Weather permitting I open carry a lot.

If I need a jacket I put one on it conceals my hand gun so be it. I get way more positive comments then negative ones.

Most important condition of practical is one that works.

I don't buy from companies that suggest that one shoot a couple hundred of rounds through there hand guns, to break them in.

Unless one hand loads that easily adds up to over a hundred dollars to the price.

I seen many hundreds of Glocks, Rugers, Smiths, sigs and other major manufactures.

That where taken out of the box given a quick check over and ran like a champ.

But then any of them can but out a lemon but over all their production works well.

Each to their own carry what you want for me I prefer medium and full size carry guns.