Colt 1911DAO? How did I miss this when it came out?

[Gadfly]

Apparently in 2010-11, Colt did a run of DAO 1911s. I never saw one in a gun magazine, or in a shop, or at a gun show. Never heard of them until one popped up randomly on another page I was reading. It looks to be a different mechanism than the Double Eagle, with no exposed trigger bar. The thumb safety is gone, but unlike the Double Eagle, they kept the grip safety. (Or the grip safety is inert and just filling the opening in the back of the frame.). I am guessing some type of system like the ParaOrd LDA?

So it obviously was a flop, because it seems to have disappeared fast. But I am still curious as to how it worked. Would have liked to fat finger one.

Anyone have any experience with one?

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[jh9]

Apparently in 2010-11, Colt did a run of DAO 1911s. I never saw one in a gun magazine, or in a shop, or at a gun show. Never heard of them until one popped up randomly on another page I was reading. It looks to be a different mechanism than the Double Eagle, with no exposed trigger bar. The thumb safety is gone, but unlike the Double Eagle, they kept the grip safety. (Or the grip safety is inert and just filling the opening in the back of the frame.). I am guessing some type of system like the ParaOrd LDA?

So it obviously was a flop, because it seems to have disappeared fast. But I am still curious as to how it worked. Would have liked to fat finger one.

Anyone have any experience with one?

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I saw some of the New Agent (compact version of the same) when they came out.

I think it's another variation of the Swenson DA / Para LDA concept which I (also think) is basically a LEM-before-there-was-LEM. Not sure how accurate that statement is, though.

[Archer1440]

That pistol looks like a classic answer to a question no one asked... but interesting.

[AdioSS]

That just looks wrong.

[M2CattleCo]

That’s an incredible culmination of disadvantages.

[Greg Bell]

I remember WTFing past them at the time

[farscott]

As someone who likes the late, not-so-lamented Double Eagle, I wanted to try one of the Colt 1911 DAO pistols. Unfortunately these were first shown at the 2008 SHOT Show in the guise of a DAO New Agent and did not hit the market until 2010. The Great Recession may have impacted the success or lack thereof. The rumor is that Colt did not build many of these, with some estimates of 300 total for the five-inch pistol. I have never seen one in person.

[Lon]

You would have thought they learned with the failure of the Double Eagle and the All American 2000. 🤦*♂️

[03RN]

Damn, I like that

[theJanitor]

About the DA New Agent, from Cameron Hopkins' Supervel IG page:

...I discovered I’d totally missed that Colt had introduced a DA-only version of the New Agent. Stop the presses, I better research this further. I check Gun Broker and, talk about a coincidence, what do I find but a “factory prototype” of the DA New Agent, complete with the original box marked PROTOTYPE. Digging further it appears Colt showed the DA version at the 2010 SHOT Show but never put it into production. What a find! One of only three factory prototypes! This I must have! As the auction ran down to the last hour, a new bidder jumped in. From $2600 the gun jumped to $7750 but simultaneously a friend is on the phone with me and he finds a DA New Agent picture with the serial number legible. I’m already on the Colt Archives website and key in the serial number: Colt New Agent Double Action .45 ACP. I enter two more numbers, in sequence. They both come back as DA New Agents! Several more numbers... yes, it’s certain, there was a run of at least 400 pistols. This prototype is not one of three! There were 7 minutes left in the auction. I waved bye-bye to a nearly very expensive mistake. Now I’ll go find a regular production one to mate with this, the original single-action version.

[farscott]

About the DA New Agent, from Cameron Hopkins' Supervel IG page:

...I discovered I’d totally missed that Colt had introduced a DA-only version of the New Agent. Stop the presses, I better research this further. I check Gun Broker and, talk about a coincidence, what do I find but a “factory prototype” of the DA New Agent, complete with the original box marked PROTOTYPE. Digging further it appears Colt showed the DA version at the 2010 SHOT Show but never put it into production. What a find! One of only three factory prototypes! This I must have! As the auction ran down to the last hour, a new bidder jumped in. From $2600 the gun jumped to $7750 but simultaneously a friend is on the phone with me and he finds a DA New Agent picture with the serial number legible. I’m already on the Colt Archives website and key in the serial number: Colt New Agent Double Action .45 ACP. I enter two more numbers, in sequence. They both come back as DA New Agents! Several more numbers... yes, it’s certain, there was a run of at least 400 pistols. This prototype is not one of three! There were 7 minutes left in the auction. I waved bye-bye to a nearly very expensive mistake. Now I’ll go find a regular production one to mate with this, the original single-action version.

The above, while interesting, is not accurate. The New Agent DAO was shown at the 2008 SHOT Show, and it was discussed in 2008 at https://www.coltforum.com/threads/new-agent-dao.15105/ and at https://www.coltforum.com/threads/new-double-acion-only-agent.12467/ and hit the market in 2010 per https://www.coltforum.com/threads/my-observations-about-colt-at-the-shot-show.25088/. It was out of production by July of 2013 per https://www.coltforum.com/threads/interesting-letters-i-think-received-today.85753/ . It is believed more New Agent DAO examples exist than the 1991 model.

[kwb377]

That pistol looks like a classic answer to a question no one asked... but interesting.

Circa 2005 or so, I carried a Para LDA for a short time (both a P14 and a single stack)...the agency I worked for allowed 1911-type weapons, but not single action handguns. This, and the LDA, were solutions to a problem that myopic administrators created.

[OlongJohnson]

Hard for me to see how the world needs this with all those P220s around.

[Borderland]

You would have thought they learned with the failure of the Double Eagle and the All American 2000. 🤦*♂️

That's why a Euro company had to buy the brand. Life is hard if you're stupid.

[RevolverRob]

Circa 2005 or so, I carried a Para LDA for a short time (both a P14 and a single stack)...the agency I worked for allowed 1911-type weapons, but not single action handguns. This, and the LDA, were solutions to a problem that myopic administrators created.

I have sort of kept an eye out for the little tiny LDA Double-Stack 9mms they made. The 3" guns not the 3.5". They're tough to find, but strike me as an interesting potential NPE gun that gets me double stack capacity, a proper 1911-style thumb safety, and doesn't have a cocked and locked hammer sticking out adding an additional concealment.

I guess I could build an SFS-equipped Defender or something similar if I really wanted to...

[Trooper224]

That came and went in the flashest of flashes. I can't recall ever seeing one in the wild.

[TiroFijo]

My eyes are bleeding...

[MattyD380]

I remember seeing these on the Colt website when I was starting to get interested in guns. I dunno, I'd rather have a Double Eagle.