best quality colt

**ForwardAssist** · January 15th, 2012, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by 300WM

Which ones? I have never heard of this. I always thought the MIM parts were parkerized. MIM parts are hard all the way through, though I don't know about machined parts. I do realize that a MIM part, when stoned, opens the pores, and these pores are not present in machined parts. These "pores" are what causes a little more friction than the machined part and why some gunsmiths say a MIM part will never be as smooth operating as the machined part. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I've always read that some smiths won't do trigger jobs on MIM parts. I found a good thread about it over at 1911 forums. It seems like MIM is an area of contention even among knowledgable smiths.

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=335673

Smith and Wesson seems to come out in favor of it. They mention the price difference in raw materials, but we all know that much of the cheaper bar stock ends up as cutting chips on the floor while virtuall all of the more expensive MIM stock produces parts.

/I don't know anymore.

**harold63** · January 15th, 2012, 10:01 PM

Originally Posted by ForwardAssist

I've always read that some smiths won't do trigger jobs on MIM parts. /I don't know anymore.

I did a lot of watching and listening before I attempted it, but the guy that taught me isn't old school. In other words, he flows with change. Maybe some of these gun techs think machined parts are the only way to go. If you compare a machined part to a MIM part (after stoning both) under a microscope, you can see that the MIM part looks like it would be more brittle, but even so, it would need to be under high pressure to bend or break. Just from the little I have learned, I don't see any MIM parts under that kind of stress except where the sear and hammer meet, but that is more of a wear thing than a stress thing.

I don't know, either,...yet.

**saleen322** · January 16th, 2012, 07:28 AM

Here is my experience with Colt FWIW. About 25 years ago I was getting into match shooting and was getting better at it so I wanted a good .45. Money was tight then and I saved up and bought a new stainless Series 80 Gold Cup Colt. I had it in my mind that Colt was the best. I thought it shot good as I had nothing to compare it with. I had to polish the chamber to feed wadcutters but again, that is not unusual. As some time passed when I starting comparing it to others guns at matches, I saw that the slide on mine was looser. Later, during a match, I was doing pretty good when my shots (and scores) starting going down. I really focused thinking I was doing something wrong but it kept going down and I am cranking the sight up. Only afterwards did I see what happened—the front sight was coming up off the slide. Back then at least Colt staked their sights and did not mill a dovetail for the front sight. I had it restaked and this would happen once more before I completely lost confidence in it. The quality on this gun was not good. I bought a new Springfield 1911A1 loaded and my scores went up about 10 points right away and the Colt was sold. About 2 years ago I was at a gun show and a fellow was selling what I thought was a Colt .45. I looked closer to see it was a Colt 1911 .38 special with a “MR” serial number probably made in the mid 1960s. The guy wanted $700 for it. This Colt was worth about $1500 so I bought it just for the price. Comparing it to my old Gold Cup, this gun was better made in both fit and finish. It shot well but not as good as my 52 Smith. For this Colt and $200, I got a $2000 rifle so it worked out for me. I now have five 1911s, one 9mm, one 10mm and three 45s. Three are Springfields, one is Dan Wesson (Pointman 7), and one is AMT. All of these are head and shoulders better than the Gold Cup I had. Now, I haven’t shot any of the newest Colts but I hear that they are better. I guess what I am saying is if you want a Colt, get a Colt. However, if you are just looking for a good 1911 there are a lot of choices and some good ones out there. Best of luck to you.