Not a Colt, but ....

[PJ Hardtack]

Stripped and cleaned my new Rem 1911 R1 for the first time today, after firing 250 rds new out of the box. I was VERY impressed with the quality of the machining, lack of tool marks, etc.

I was putting a variety of 230 gr loads through it, loaded with 5.1 Green Dot. Accuracy was all I could ask, but the star of the day was 230 FMJ RN load! It shot ridiculously well.

[Blackfoot]

Collect Colts,   Shoot Remingtons!

Drifter

[PJ Hardtack]

Nice philosophy, but I can't/won't own guns I don't shoot. Never understood tying up money in something that sits around doing nothing.

I guess the point of my post was that this Remington 1911 clone is a better gun than the Colt Series '70 I mentioned. My tricked out Series '70 Gold Cup is still my pet, but it like the Spartan utility of a 'Plain Jane' 1911. It's just one of those things in life that is just too damn good to change.

A 'smith once told me his theory on why loose, ratty 1911s shot so well . He figured that like most pieces of machinery, a gun could only wear to the max of engineering allowed tolerances. After that, it wouldn't deteriorate further, other than bore wear. He proved it more than once, fitting new barrels to old GI 1911s and adding a few other goodies (ambi-safeties, sights, etc.) for newby IPSC shooters who couldn't afford new guns and all the after market goodies that were all the rage at the time.

[Books OToole]

Never understood tying up money in something that sits around doing nothing.

It is called an investment.

Books

[St. George]

There 'is' a difference between an original, GI M1911A1 and the counterpart commercial 'Colt Government Model' in fitting.

The commercial piece is tighter overall, whereas the GI service pistol's tolerances are looser, to allow for prolonged combat conditions.

Ordnance had a test where they assembled an M1911A1's parts after they'd been scattered in dirt and sand and such - then they fired it without a glitch.

They also racked the slide, loaded a round, and left the safety off - throwing it over a concrete berm to see if it'd fire on contact with whatever it encountered.

None did.

No such tests were done on commercial weapons - but Colt did use the Ordnance Department's results as a part of their advertising.

Scouts Out!