New Colt Gold Cup

Just got off the phone with Colt.  Unfortunately their new series 70 GC comes off the same assembly line as all the other 1911's.  Nothing is hand fitted and the only differences are aesthetics and whatever is explicitly stated in the description. Was about to pick one up as a back up, open sighted was gun.  Too bad.

The colts are not what you want unless for defense, of the ones ive looked at, loose slide fit on every one of them.the range officer beats them in every aspect at much less cost.

I sent my last Colt in 3 times for warranty work before giving up and paying a BE gunsmith to fix it.  I bought both, in the same year.  The slide to frame fit on my Colt was better, the barrel was also better than the RO, but not much and the bushing was a joke, zero fitting and that is because it's a drop in part.  No trips for anything on the Colt that kept it from running reliably except a broken grip safety, unlike the Springfield, which made as many trips to keep the pistol functioning, but is now flawless and Springfield did the work in 1/4 the time Colt did.  For less cost than a stock Colt the Range Officer can be upgraded to exceed any production Colt and probably custom shop offerings by a BE gunsmith.  You'll get a better gun and save some $ IMO. Guys like Jerry are the real experts so I'll defer to them this is just my limited experience.

No Colt factory pistol has any hand fitting except to make the pistol function (slide stop, safety, etc.).  I spent what I paid for my last Colt to get it to be cosmetically and functionally what I wanted.  Colt uses great components, better than Springfield, but they are still all drop in.  Even the "custom shop" 1911s have very little hand fitting.  Any good BE gunsmith is the way to go with a donor Range Officer.

The old pony ain't what she used to be....

The last Gold Cup I built was the worst cold I've ever seen. It was a series 70.
Very disappointing. 
Jon

I would have no interest in a bullseye gun with a Series 80 trigger no matter who manufactured it.  With the Colts you are always going to have to deal with that unless it's an oldie.

When I first started shooting Bullseye I purchased a new Gold Cup to shot in the .45 match. Prior to shooting NRA Bullseye I was shooting the Police L targets and got pretty good at it. .22 and 38 special were the guns most used. Because of my previous shooting I was tearing up the marksman in 22 and center fire, especially .22 as I was shooting master scores. But shooting .45 with the Gold Cup I was so bad it kept me in the marksman class. Friends talked me into going to Camp Perry in '82. I did well in .22 and Center fire but went into the toilet with the .45. Fred Kart asked why I did so good with the other guns and so bad with the 45? I told him I just can't shoot the 45! He asked to see the Gun, he then said it wasn't me it was the gun, the only good thing it wasn't a series 80. Fred fixed it just before Perry the following year though knowing it was the gun I had another 45 built and was doing good with it. However I took the Gold Cup to Perry to use in the Ball match and got a leg! Yet problems still haunted that gun, the front sight fell off in a few ball matchs, the pin on the eliason sigh came out and the sight flew off in another couple of matchs! Having the front sight silver soldered, replacing the rear sight with a Bomar made for the Gold Cup and a trigger job by Jimmy Clark plus the work Kart did the gun turned out to be a good shooter but at probably twice the price had I had one built!

Not sure what time frame all the personal tales of woe come from. I know Colt has upgraded some of it machinery and the Lightweight
commander that I bought in 2007 is reasonably tight, shoots respectable groups for a stock service grade gun and has been 100% reliable so far. I don't think I would buy one that I could not examine before plunking cash down though. I have a long affinity for Colts and never bought a new one prior to the lightweight that didn't need some corrective work for stupid stuff. I bought a Python that had the pivot pin for the elevation on the rear sight drilled through the frame on an angle. It was purchased new in 1974 and I didn't get it back until a year later.

I bought my Gold Cup about 1980 give or take a year. It functioned fine, No jams or alibis! Except the front and rear sight would fall off from time time. Only problem is it would not shoot a good group with that collet bushing. Back then most smiths like colt to work on and the parts were better than anything else available.

Yep, just couldn't beat that good ol' Colt Quality control..

Sent it back and told them there just wasn't enough adjustment in the rear sight to cover their offset milling of the sight slot...

Wow! And CNC machinery was supposed to make everything perfect! I was told errors don't exist because everything these days is made on CNC! I have a machine shop and do have a CNC machine. If someone don't put what ever is being milled in the fixture correctly you will get what you just did, I think the other guy is spreading Horsehocky!  A term he used to tell me I'm wrong!

2014 Colt.  I guess QC took a day off.  Lesson learned and my fault...expect what you inspect.  No more Colts ordered online.  Ever.  Warranty department called it "in spec". I asked what spec was and the reply was "no fitting" so if the part works, regardless of fit/appearance then it's good to go.  Oh well.  Safety broke after a few hundred rounds as well.  Ended up spending more than I bought it for to fix it.

I think everyone is making junk. The IDPA style shooters buy the stuff and don't care. I purchased 3 different Micros, all were to fit the Weaver base, they fit but not correct, all were too wide and one was a Bushnell.

inthebeech wrote:Just got off the phone with Colt.  Unfortunately their new series 70 GC comes off the same assembly line as all the other 1911's.  Nothing is hand fitted and the only differences are aesthetics and whatever is explicitly stated in the description. Was about to pick one up as a back up, open sighted was gun.  Too bad.

My first bullseye pistol was a series 70 Gold Cup (this was in the 70's). It wasn't accurate, the roll pin for the rear sight needed replacing, the trigger needed work and the collet bushing needed replacing. I started realizing that my shots weren't on call at 50 yards and it wasn't me. I sold it and ordered a true bullseye pistol from Jim Clark, Sr. I still have it.

Last Fall I bought a Series 70 built in the late 70s to replace one I'd sold years ago. When received, the rear sight was far to the right. After I sighted it in for my eyes, it was at the stop to the far left. Just got off the phone with my gunsmith and he told me he'd lasered it and everything was perfect-- except that the top of the slide was machined slightly off, which apparently affects the front sight. He said he could machine a dovetail and install an adjustable front sight. Any thoughts on this approach ?

The gun was laser tested and it's OK but the top of the slide is slightly off. Not sure what that means. If the top of the slide was slightly off center, a large amount would be 1/8" as it would be very noticeable but yet the front and rear will be in line and if adjusted to center the bullet impact will be 1/8" off center, I doubt if you will notice that small amount. But to have what you have the front and rear sight must be in different locations or machined at an angel.
 I'm not sure what your problem is but if the dovetailed front sight will fix the problem better to have it done that not. If it were to create the need to change the adjustment when shooting 25 and 50 yards you may want to reconsider. It's highly desirable to not have to change sight adjustment when changing from 50 to 25 yards let alone 2 adjustments.
 Not sure what you intend to use this gun for but if it's not EIC matches then rather than waste the money on the repair you might want have a scope base made for it and use it in NRA competition if it shoots well enough.

Thanks Froneck. I wouldn't be so concerned if I weren't shooting a Mid Range Colt 38 Spec along with the .45. The MR rear sight is approximately in the center and I shoot it pretty well. But when I pick up the .45 NM I have to compensate for the rear sight. I'm going to go ahead and have the gunsmith install a Partridge front sight. I really don't care if this modification affects the value of the gun since I have no intention of selling it.

I'm not a collector, so I don't know but I would assume getting done what you intend will increase the value. I don't know how many Gold Cups Colt made but I'll bet over a million. But like you I'm a shooter and do to the gun what makes me shoot better. I have a Hammerli 208S I drilled the barrel to mount a scope base! I too didn't buy it to re-sell it, I want to shoot it!