Colt Combat Unit 9mm: Review and Initial Impression

[Sensei]

What weight recoil spring are you running?

It’s the original factory spring. I’m not sure what the weight is but the 9mm CCU uses a single spring rather than the dual spring system in the 45 ACP.

[Kevin B.]

Sample of one, but a few weeks back I shot @JHC 's Sams-customized 9mm Combat Operator and encountered sporadic FTF issues throughout, usually remedied by a good whack on the back of the slide. By way of thanks, I ordered him a set of variable recoil springs from Wolff.

I know he has shot it with both the 13# and 14# springs with good results. Perhaps he will share his experience.

I do not know what weight Colt uses but it is something to consider.

ETA: I believe ToddG settled on a 14# variable to get his 9mm 1911 to function reliably.

[Sensei]

Sample of one, but a few weeks back I shot @JHC 's Sams-customized 9mm Combat Operator and encountered sporadic FTF issues throughout, usually remedied by a good whack on the back of the slide. By way of thanks, I ordered him a set of variable recoil springs from Wolff.

I know he has shot it with both the 13# and 14# springs with good results. Perhaps he will share his experience.

I do not know what weight Colt uses but it is something to consider.

ETA: I believe ToddG settled on a 14# variable to get his 9mm 1911 to function reliably.

https://www.gunsprings.com/COLT/1911...cID1/mID1/dID1

According to Wolff’s Website, Colt uses a 14lb spring in 9mm and 38Super. It was not listed in the manual. I may play with the weight a little or try some 124 grain +P GDHPs to see if I can get her running. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Robinson]

First day at the range since the gun got back from Colt. A total of 50 rounds of 124 grain AE and 50 rounds of 147 grain HST were on the menu. First up was a 10-round extractor test. The gun choked on the last round that was fired strong hand. Since it was the last round, I cycled 5 more rounds strong hand only without problem. The remaining 35 rounds of the AE were used for FAST drills and cycled fine through both factory and Vickiers ETMs.

Next came the 50 rounds of HST. There were 2 FTFS; one with a Vickers and one with a factory mag.

I don’t know. This gun is accurate enough but I’m about done with it.

Good God, that sucks. That gun should run great with HSTs -- those are my carry ammo. I MEAN WHAT THE HELL?!

I feel lucky that I've been so fortunate with Colt 9mms. I sincerely wish your pistol would be as good as mine are out of the box.

[Robinson]

It’s the original factory spring. I’m not sure what the weight is but the 9mm CCU uses a single spring rather than the dual spring system in the 45 ACP.

Colt's 9mm pistols that use the dual recoil spring are a little over-sprung in my opinion. I think the ideal spring weight for a Colt Government model 9mm is 10#. The dual recoil spring works great in the .45s but is just overkill in the 9mm guns.

[Sensei]

Colt's 9mm pistols that use the dual recoil spring are a little over-sprung in my opinion. I think the ideal spring weight for a Colt Government model 9mm is 10#. The dual recoil spring works great in the .45s but is just overkill in the 9mm guns.

I was mistaken in my earlier post - it is the dual recoil spring assembly in the gun. Specifically, it’s a dual spring with a red painted base. The rounds appear to be hitting the feed ramp and the malfunction is as Kevin B described - a swift tap to the back of the slide chambers the round:



I’m ordering a Wolff variety pack to see if that helps.

[LittleLebowski]

No idea how I missed this thread from one of my favorite members of the community. Going to read the whole thing.

[JHC]

Sample of one, but a few weeks back I shot @JHC 's Sams-customized 9mm Combat Operator and encountered sporadic FTF issues throughout, usually remedied by a good whack on the back of the slide. By way of thanks, I ordered him a set of variable recoil springs from Wolff.

I know he has shot it with both the 13# and 14# springs with good results. Perhaps he will share his experience.

I do not know what weight Colt uses but it is something to consider.

ETA: I believe ToddG settled on a 14# variable to get his 9mm 1911 to function reliably.

I started at the top of the scale. The 14# and 13# ran pretty well but stifled the ejection down to the range of 10-20 INCHES of total distance to my right. I did get about 2 FTE per 100 rounds fired with each.

Now I'm a couple outings out - 275 rounds total with the 11#. That looks pretty nice so far. Ejection distance is about 6-7 feet to my right which seems reasonable.

Friday (first time out with the 11# near the end of 175 rounds total, I ran into 4 FTF/FTE one right after another with my magazine #5. I was almost out of ammo but no issues with two other mags for the remaining 20 or so. But too little to be conclusive.

This morning I started with suspect magazine number 5 and got a FTF on the first shot. I set it aside and shot the rest of the 100 with the other mags with no further issues. So the 11# is feeling pretty good so far.

For a frame of reference, I asked SA customer service what weight the OEM spring was for the 5" 9mm and they told me its 9#.

[Sensei]

I started at the top of the scale. The 14# and 13# ran pretty well but stifled the ejection down to the range of 10-20 INCHES of total distance to my right. I did get about 2 FTE per 100 rounds fired with each...I asked SA customer service what weight the OEM spring was for the 5" 9mm and they told me its 9#.

Muchas gracias.

[BigT]

Considering that both my .40 2011's run fantastically with 12lb springs and 180 pf ammo, a 14lb spring strikes me as pretty heavy for a 5' 9mm