Colt Combat Unit 9mm: Review and Initial Impression

[SecondsCount]

I think of Colts as good base guns. If I wanted a gun to be awesome enough to carry OOB I'd buy a DW.

I /really/ like a Colt with some love, though.

I agree on the Dan Wesson, all three of mine have functioned fine out of the box. Same with the two Springfields I have owned.

After owning a few Colts, and shooting/troubleshooting a few others, I will never understand the pass that they get because there is a pony stamped on the slide. I would buy a Kimber and have it throated before buying a Colt.

[Robinson]

I have about 500 rounds through my 2016-made Colt O1091 right out of the box without issue. This thread has me thinking maybe I got a lil bit lucky.

It's not just luck -- my Colts have overall been very good. I had one out of my current four Colt pistols that went back to the factory for a FTE issue and came back fixed. The rest have been reliable since day one.

[Robinson]

So, I attempted to adjust the extractor tension according to the procedure outlined in this Wilson Combat YouTube video: https://youtu.be/UOSmJd7HaDY

Before any adjustment the extractor would barely grip a spent casing with light shaking. After 4 trips between the shooting line and work bench I gradually got it to where the extractor would grip an empty casing so that could not be shaken loose with vigorous shaking. However, the extractor would still not pass the 10-8 test due to occasional FTE's, multiple rounds coming back at my face, or even ejecting to the 10 o'clock (WTF?). Moreover, I started having FTF issues when firing from a full mag which suggested that the extractor was too tight.

After 4 attempts and 50-60 wasted rounds I threw my hands up in surrender and called Colt. They are supposedly emailing me a return authorization.

Man that really stinks. There is no excuse for it either -- it should work with all typical 9mm ammunition right out of the box. Good luck and I hope you get the issues resolved.

[Clobbersaurus]

Sensei, did you happen to get a photo of the extractor? I'm a little curious to see it. Your experience sounds very similar to my experience with a $300 Norinco 9MM. When I pulled the extractor after the 10-8 test I noticed it had a 45 extractor in the gun.

I ended up buying an Aftec extractor for it but that caused over tensioning on the case and I had the same issues you had.

[Jay Cunningham]

My ejector bent on my CCU 9mm on round 601 to the point where it locked up the gun and I had to send it back to Colt.

[Robinson]

My ejector bent on my CCU 9mm on round 601 to the point where it locked up the gun and I had to send it back to Colt.

Are you using ETMs?

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....l=1#post618689

[Jay Cunningham]

Yes...

[EVP]

I got some advice from someone to use a 45 commander ejector. It works better and it is less prone to bending if fired without a mag.

I am not a 1911 guy so I could not tell you how to find the optimal ejector and such.

[Amp]

I sent my 9mm Competition Model back to Colt to fix the bent ejector and they had it back to me within 4 weeks counting shipping time. They paid shipping both ways and repaired it under warranty even after I told them I bent it using Wilson ETM magazines.

The new ejector is shorter and appears to be a .38 Super ejector. The ETM mags barely touched the ejector when you pushed up on them after seating so I relieved under the ejector slightly so there would be clearance. The top round does not make contact on the side of the new ejector like it did on the original. The gun throws all the empties out at 3-4 o'clock.

Very happy with Colt's customer service.

[Robinson]

In a separate thread (linked in #26 above) I described my latest findings with using the 9mm ETMs. The small profile aluminum basepads prevent the top round from impacting the ejector -- at least in my guns.

It seems replacing the ejector with the .38 Super version has become Colt's standard fix for this issue.