So today I took 3 1911's to the range. One bone stock Colt 1911 Classic NIB, a Colt 1911 Don Williams Custom and a GI No Name in 9mm. All are full size Govt length pistols. I shot the drill of the month with 2 of them. I posted in that thread detaining how that went. I shot decent groups but shot them slow. I then proceeded to go through some other shooting drills at 7 and 10 yards. I ended the days shooting at 3 3" targets at 15 yards. I can't remember the exact round count but I think I shot about 12-15 rounds out of each gun give or take. This is a pic of the 3 targets.
You can tell which one was the 9mm by the size of the holes but the other 2 look pretty similar. One is shot from a bone stock $700 gun the other was shot out of a full house custom that lets say cost more than $700.
What this once again showed me is that it is more about the Indian than the arrow. The stock Colt with a NM barrel and stock everything shot really really well. It was just as accurate in my hands as my fancy boy pretty Colt. On paper at 15 yards there really was not any meaningful difference on paper. The targets are really more about me and my ability as a shooter or lack of ability depending how you are looking at it than the gun in my hand.
Now all that said there are somethings that the stock Colt did not do well. It needs to be dehorned. It has sharp edges all over it including in the beavertaill area of the grip safety. I was tearing my hand up after about 50 rounds through it. The trigger after a bit of spring tweaking was breaking at 3.75 lb +/- but it has a some creep. The sights are good enough but would not be great for fast shooting. Black on black with no contrast. So there are things which need to be improved but all in all its a shooter. I can see why these new Colt Classics are selling for less than the old 70 Reproduction. The older 70 Repro was a much more finished gun. It had less sharp edges. It had polished flats. It was a bit more refined and less rough around the edges. Still as a base foundation of a retro build this new Colt Classic is perfect start. It needs a little refinement. It needs to be finished IMO but after a few touches here and there and it will be a fine 1911 even if it doesn't shoot any better than it did today.
You can tell which one was the 9mm by the size of the holes but the other 2 look pretty similar. One is shot from a bone stock $700 gun the other was shot out of a full house custom that lets say cost more than $700.
What this once again showed me is that it is more about the Indian than the arrow. The stock Colt with a NM barrel and stock everything shot really really well. It was just as accurate in my hands as my fancy boy pretty Colt. On paper at 15 yards there really was not any meaningful difference on paper. The targets are really more about me and my ability as a shooter or lack of ability depending how you are looking at it than the gun in my hand.Now all that said there are somethings that the stock Colt did not do well. It needs to be dehorned. It has sharp edges all over it including in the beavertaill area of the grip safety. I was tearing my hand up after about 50 rounds through it. The trigger after a bit of spring tweaking was breaking at 3.75 lb +/- but it has a some creep. The sights are good enough but would not be great for fast shooting. Black on black with no contrast. So there are things which need to be improved but all in all its a shooter. I can see why these new Colt Classics are selling for less than the old 70 Reproduction. The older 70 Repro was a much more finished gun. It had less sharp edges. It had polished flats. It was a bit more refined and less rough around the edges. Still as a base foundation of a retro build this new Colt Classic is perfect start. It needs a little refinement. It needs to be finished IMO but after a few touches here and there and it will be a fine 1911 even if it doesn't shoot any better than it did today.
Last edited:
