farscott
12-22-2018, 04:29 PM
I now have a 9mm Combat Elite Defender (for short, CED), model O7082CE. Let's call it an early Christmas gift -- as it is just that. The polished and brushed stainless and matte black PVD accents make for an attractive pistol. It is also nice to see the "Combat Elite" rollmark on the slide in the same font as the original CG-prefixed pistols.
A few issues became apparent at the first range session.
1) It does not like to feed 115-grain ball or 135-grain JHP from slide lock. In the first hundred rounds (I used IMI 115-grain ball and Hornady 135-grain JHP), I had seven failures to feed the first round in a fully-loaded magazine and eleven failures to feed the second round. In every case, the bullet nose was jammed into the PVD-finished frame feed ramp. The issue is obvious as the feed ramp is covered in copper transferred from bullet noses. This was using the provided magazine as well as Wilson ETM samples. The magazines are clearly the issue, as the top round is nosediving. An older blued Mec-Gar Government-size magazine from one of my STI Trojan pistols fed with no issues. Same with Metalform "Springfield ramp" magazines. I have some Dawson Precision magazines I use with the ICE magwells on the Trojans that I need to try.
2) The rear slide serrations on this pistol are VERY sharp and the gun drew blood. The serrations do an excellent job of providing a grasping surface, but the edges are aggressive.
3) The entire slide needs the edges broken. From the nose of the slide to the ejection port. Same with the front of the frame. This pistol is tough on leather holsters. I used an old VM-2 made for an Officer's ACP, and I added a few scars to it using this CED.
Shooting observations:
1) The trigger is good for a mass-produced factory pistol. It does not compare to a custom, but it is better than what Colt delivered in the last decade. The trigger allows the shooter to hit the target.
2) The 25 LPI checkering on the steel mainspring housing and front strap is sharp enough to anchor the pistol in the grip. I like that the checkering has borders at both the top and bottom of the front strap. The bottom portion of the mainspring housing is also not checkered, allowing a cover garment to move freely and with less damage.
3) The slanted wide rear slide serrations are quite functional, and they allow for no-slip grasping. The edges are too sharp for non-gloved hands. I need to see how the pistol does with gloves, especially now that winter is here.
4) The ambi thumb safety is well fit. In my experience, Colt pistols usually have mushy feeling thumb safeties with excessive travel into the fire position. This pistol has no mushy travel, but the thumb safety provides a bit more resistance to actuation (both ON and OFF safe) than I prefer. The ambi safety is wide enough to use but not so wide as to be wiped off in the holster. Overall this is a huge improvement over previous factory Colt thumb safeties.
5) The pistol allows the shooter to be accurate. I was shooting steel at fifty yards with the pistol. The sights are real Novak models, which is nice to see.
6) If the round feeds, there are no issues. The gun extracts and ejects with no issues, both complete rounds and empty cases.
7) Muzzle lift is not too bad and felt recoil is better than expected. The weight of the steel frame combined with the 9x19 recoil impulse make for a soft shooting pistol.
Some minor nits:
1) The pistol came with a small "idiot scratch" on the frame. I think I can polish out the scratch when I break the sharp edges on the frame, but I really am not concerned. My usage will provide much more wear and tear. After putting the gun back together, the presence of the scratch is not a surprise as I had to use a credit card to depress the slide stop plunger enough to allow the slide stop to fully seat.
2) This is the first pistol in a long time that has slide-to-frame galling. Even after cleaning the gun with G96 to remove the factory preservative and then lubing with Slide Glide Lite, the slide travel is not as smooth as my other 9x19 1911-pattern pistols. I expect this will improve with usage.
3) The provided Colt (looks like a Metalform and has the "M" in the upper right corner of the base plate) and Wilson ETM magazines hit the ejector, especially with aggressive reloads. I may relieve or replace the ejector. This is disappointing but not unexpected based on my experience with 9x19 Colt pistols.
In conclusion, my biggest concern is feeding from the magazine. Like most 9x19 1911-pattern pistols, the magazine is the weakest link. I know that Colt likes to ship pistols with sharp edges, but pistols designed for concealed carry should have those edges broken so as to play better with the shooter, holsters, and cover garments. Colt obviously is aiming the pistol as the concealed carry market with the features on the pistol, but the slide, especially the rear serrations, and frame are literally razor sharp, as the cut on the base of my palm proves.
All in all, the CED has the potential to be a great pistol -- if I can solve the magazine issues.
A few issues became apparent at the first range session.
1) It does not like to feed 115-grain ball or 135-grain JHP from slide lock. In the first hundred rounds (I used IMI 115-grain ball and Hornady 135-grain JHP), I had seven failures to feed the first round in a fully-loaded magazine and eleven failures to feed the second round. In every case, the bullet nose was jammed into the PVD-finished frame feed ramp. The issue is obvious as the feed ramp is covered in copper transferred from bullet noses. This was using the provided magazine as well as Wilson ETM samples. The magazines are clearly the issue, as the top round is nosediving. An older blued Mec-Gar Government-size magazine from one of my STI Trojan pistols fed with no issues. Same with Metalform "Springfield ramp" magazines. I have some Dawson Precision magazines I use with the ICE magwells on the Trojans that I need to try.
2) The rear slide serrations on this pistol are VERY sharp and the gun drew blood. The serrations do an excellent job of providing a grasping surface, but the edges are aggressive.
3) The entire slide needs the edges broken. From the nose of the slide to the ejection port. Same with the front of the frame. This pistol is tough on leather holsters. I used an old VM-2 made for an Officer's ACP, and I added a few scars to it using this CED.
Shooting observations:
1) The trigger is good for a mass-produced factory pistol. It does not compare to a custom, but it is better than what Colt delivered in the last decade. The trigger allows the shooter to hit the target.
2) The 25 LPI checkering on the steel mainspring housing and front strap is sharp enough to anchor the pistol in the grip. I like that the checkering has borders at both the top and bottom of the front strap. The bottom portion of the mainspring housing is also not checkered, allowing a cover garment to move freely and with less damage.
3) The slanted wide rear slide serrations are quite functional, and they allow for no-slip grasping. The edges are too sharp for non-gloved hands. I need to see how the pistol does with gloves, especially now that winter is here.
4) The ambi thumb safety is well fit. In my experience, Colt pistols usually have mushy feeling thumb safeties with excessive travel into the fire position. This pistol has no mushy travel, but the thumb safety provides a bit more resistance to actuation (both ON and OFF safe) than I prefer. The ambi safety is wide enough to use but not so wide as to be wiped off in the holster. Overall this is a huge improvement over previous factory Colt thumb safeties.
5) The pistol allows the shooter to be accurate. I was shooting steel at fifty yards with the pistol. The sights are real Novak models, which is nice to see.
6) If the round feeds, there are no issues. The gun extracts and ejects with no issues, both complete rounds and empty cases.
7) Muzzle lift is not too bad and felt recoil is better than expected. The weight of the steel frame combined with the 9x19 recoil impulse make for a soft shooting pistol.
Some minor nits:
1) The pistol came with a small "idiot scratch" on the frame. I think I can polish out the scratch when I break the sharp edges on the frame, but I really am not concerned. My usage will provide much more wear and tear. After putting the gun back together, the presence of the scratch is not a surprise as I had to use a credit card to depress the slide stop plunger enough to allow the slide stop to fully seat.
2) This is the first pistol in a long time that has slide-to-frame galling. Even after cleaning the gun with G96 to remove the factory preservative and then lubing with Slide Glide Lite, the slide travel is not as smooth as my other 9x19 1911-pattern pistols. I expect this will improve with usage.
3) The provided Colt (looks like a Metalform and has the "M" in the upper right corner of the base plate) and Wilson ETM magazines hit the ejector, especially with aggressive reloads. I may relieve or replace the ejector. This is disappointing but not unexpected based on my experience with 9x19 Colt pistols.
In conclusion, my biggest concern is feeding from the magazine. Like most 9x19 1911-pattern pistols, the magazine is the weakest link. I know that Colt likes to ship pistols with sharp edges, but pistols designed for concealed carry should have those edges broken so as to play better with the shooter, holsters, and cover garments. Colt obviously is aiming the pistol as the concealed carry market with the features on the pistol, but the slide, especially the rear serrations, and frame are literally razor sharp, as the cut on the base of my palm proves.
All in all, the CED has the potential to be a great pistol -- if I can solve the magazine issues.