Originally Posted by
psalms144.1
I've got no first hand experience with Colts of that era - bought my first one in the late 80s, and my last one probably 10 years later. In that time, I owned 10+ Colt 1911s, two Detective Specials, and one "Pony" DAO .380. The DSs were excellent; the Pony ran flawlessly for the limited amount of shooting it saw. With two notable exceptions, not a SINGLE one of the 1911s worked worth a shit. None of them. I will admit, one of them was a plain-jane Officer's model, and I should have known better, but I was young and dumb at the time. The rest were Commander or Government model pistols, most of them "high end" Gold Cup, or "Combat" models. Several of them wouldn't reliably feed FMJ ammunition, and none of the problem guns would feed JHP of any kind. My experience with Colt 1911s is what drove me away from my first love, the 1911 platform, and into DA revolvers and Glocks.
The two exceptions were a 9mm "Commanding Officer's" model - LW Commander frame with a 9mm Officer upper - great pistol, carried well, shot better; and a "budget" 1991 5" .45 that, while rough on finish and sharp enough on the slide to shave with, ran like a champ with anything I fed it, and was exceptionally accurate. Had I kept either of those two pistols instead of searching for something "better," I might never have left the Cult of Colt.
But, everything happens for a reason, so now I'm very happy with a brace of Dan Wessons, one STI, and a lowly Range Officer...