I am not going buy another 1911.
Please allow us here to disabuse you of this dangerous notion.
Earlier this year just before the coronavirus shut down I took inventory of 1911-guns on hand, decided I was about loaded up on all the useful 1911-guns I could ever "need", so made a deliberate decision to run amok and attempt to acquire a Colt Government Model in each and every caliber Colt factory chambered for Government Models. Then the virus shut down occurred and the economy choked and I felt a bit silly for spending the funds. Still, considering what investments did ... A .38 Super was rounded up first because I've long wanted a Government Model in that caliber to play with and handload for. It was mentioned in a previous post to this thread.
After that some weird and wonderful 1911s made their way to the Colt roost in the safe.
The 9mm Steyr is really nothing more than an ornament in the safe. Supposedly Colt made a thousand of these for export to Italy and Austria in the late 1970s with an additional 100 for spares in case of warranty work. Those 100 9mm Steyr pistols were assembled and sold off State Side in the early 1980s. This one shipped to a Massachusetts distributor in 1984. I'll shoot it a dab, handload for it just to say I have done so, chronograph test it with several loads in order to compare it with other 9mm cartridges then probably not shoot it all that often in future. It came with its box and all associated accessories, was was suppose to be NIB and it probably was, but has handling marks as if it'd been a Colt display model, or was cobbled together from parts in a factory bin, or else sat on a gun show exhibitor's table for some time. Has the merest beginnings of an idiot scratch. Also, if ever a poor Colt Government Model was a factory second this one's it for it exhibits the worst factory finish and workmanship I've ever seen on a Colt. Left side roll mark is atrocious, unevenly done and with a ghosting of doubling. Trigger's hard. I immediately took it out and shot it with a couple different 115 grain factory loads, Fiocci and some custom manufactured 9mm Steyr ammunition. Then Mrs. noelekal and I spent the rest of the late afternoon trying to round up brass for it's a bit haphazard in ejection. It fed and functioned fine and shoots tight groups though quite low.
The National Match .38 Special. I thought I'd get my feet wet experiencing one of these pistols with this shabby example of a National Match .38 Mid Range pistol having a price to match its appearance. This one looks like a nitwit chucked it up in a vise with no padding and internally it shows signs of significant shooting wear. Had an after market barrel bushing in it that was far too tight to suit me so the local gunsmith rooted around until he found what he says is a proper one in a drawer full of bushings. A range trip of 50 rounds fired found that the pistol shoots nice round groups perfectly sighted in for a six o'clock hold. It's quite accurate though it does not exhibit quite the stellar accuracy of the Smith & Wesson K38 or the Colt Officers Model Match revolvers when they are used with the same ammunition. The 5-round magazine requires the services of "two men and a boy" to load and the loading buttons on either side are of no help at all. Very unpleasant to load it is, excruciatingly stiff springed and with magazine lips both sharp and pokey. Feeds full wadcutter .38 Special loads like a machine though and ejects them into a neat pile about six feet directly to my right. Trigger is to die for! Most excellent! This one's not really a 1911 gun at all when one looks at the inwardness of the thing and its design. Was produced in 1961. Like the Ace though this one feels "right" like a Government Model should.
The Colt Ace .22. "Where have you been all my life" was my initial reaction to shooting this one the first time. It's been out for exercise several time since and has solidified my regard for it. It's not for everyone. Said to be finicky about cleanliness. I can believe it so, for the fellow who isn't fastidious, this pistol won't suit. I had determined that I'd shoot about 200 rounds through it between cleanings and it has rewarded me with no bobbles when used with the ammunition it prefers. It's a finicky eater. It completely balked with Federal 38 grain high-velocity copper plated hollow points and would have nothing to do with them. Also balked similarly with Winchester High Velocity copper plated hollow points. It did shoot Remington high velocity Golden Bullets fine. It really likes CCI Standard Velocity 40 grain lead solids as well as RWS Target .40 grain ammunition. We ran it to over 200 rounds when my son and I went turkey hunting with my cousin and his son back in April and it functioned fine the entire time unless that wrong ammunition was fed it. Accuracy is better for me than is described by most internet discussion of the pistol. Trigger's good enough and might improve with shooting use. The floating chamber and its supposed mimicking of .45 recoil is a bust. It's soft shooting with no special enhanced recoil sensation to speak of. Gives a curious stuttering feel. I'd shot one of these belonging by a bank customer some 30 years ago while standing on his rear deck. Didn't recall a thing about its shooting qualities. This pistol's like the .38 Mid Range in that it's not really a 1911-gun either when the design is examined. It's closer kin to the Mid-Range, but with different extractor design and of course that floating chamber. Size, weight, balance, and controls feel exactly like a typical Government Model and I like that about the Ace.
The Colt Government Model Enhanced .40 S&W stainless steel. Probably another ornament for the safe with some range shooting of .40 S&W thrown in. Would have preferred plain ol' Govenrment Model styling and in blue, but any Colt Government Model chambered for .40 S&W is exceedingly rare. These were produced in limited numbers in 1992. I'm not so keen on some of the Colt Enhanced features or the appearance of stainless steel. Appearance and functional features I don't care for include: slanting slide serrations, the undercut at bottom rear of trigger guard, a hideously styled duckbill grip safety, the oval Commander styled hammer spur, a full-length guide rod and I loathe the factory rubber grips with which these were provided. Can't see me carrying this one with a holster worn Delta Elite on hand which I dearly love. Very, very accurate on the single occasion I've had it out to the range. Maybe its that silly full length guide rod, hah! This one was pristine, stinkin' new-in-the-box with paper work and accessories so of course I promptly went out with Mrs. noelekal and shot the hooey out of it with Winchester White Box 165 grain .40 S&W. Gave perfect function. It has a nice trigger as it came from the factory and requires no trigger work.
Colt Government Model Enhance 9X23. This one at least is blued. I share the same sentiment about this one and its styling as I have for the .40. The Government Model in 9X23 is another rare bird, manufactured one year, in 1997. This one's likely yet another ornament for the safe with some handloading experimentation required as well as chronograph testing, mostly to compare it with the .38 Super. I get a feeling that the 9X23 won't significantly whip the .38 Super. Feels just like the .38 Super to shoot. Shot both Winchester soft point and Silver Tip hollow point loads through it the single time I had it out, a total of 50 rounds all together. The pistol lost seven cases in high weeds. Enthusiastic ejection back over my right shoulder and at an angle, landed about 15 feet away. Consistently to the same spot but consistently far. Might have been a little louder than the .38 Super appears to be, or perhaps it was because I was in a different shooting bay the day I shot it and the sound echoed differently. Or perhaps the muffs didn't seal as well around the shooting glasses' ear pieces that day. Really wasn't fire-breathing at all. It is doubted that a person could tell any shooting difference between the two cartridges, or between the 9X23 and that 9mm Steyr for that matter. Bit underwhelming, but let's allow the chronograph to reveal all. This one had been shot some when I got it. Trigger was not great. I discerned two distinct steps in it upon take-up of the trigger before sear released. I've worked on it a bit, just tiptoeing around the edges of a trigger job, and got one of the steps out and also made the sear's actual break a little more crisp. I'm going to go ahead and work on the trigger some more to see if I can make it feel "right." If I mess it up I'll fall back on the local gunsmith to rectify it and supply parts.
The two Enhanced Brothers, showing the checkered walnut stocks I installed in place of rubber. The .40 S&W came equipped with plain rubber panels with Colt emblems molded into them. The 9X23 came equipped with rubber wrap-around grips (worse and worse) with silver Colt medallions. The Colt Enhanced variants came and went fairly quickly in the 1990s. The Enhanced version apparently wasn't too popular. I know I didn't care for them at the time, but some rare variants are now appreciated.
You know what? It's odd, but the addition of these Colts to the stable didn't make me any more of a 1911 guru than I was(n't) before.
I still have a World War I era 1916 British contract Colt Commercial .455 and a 1950s/early 1960s Colt .38 A.M.U. to go in order to finish the collecting tangent. The .455 is going to be tough enough to find these days and a .38 A.M.U., which chambered for a .38 Special cartridge with the rim especially turned off the case, is going to be spendy indeed. I may better quit while I'm ahead.
