Turns out Colt is also making some updates and additions to the Combat Unit pistol line. To the railed government model they are adding a mag well and ambi safety. They are also going to release a non-railed version of the same gun as well as a CCO version. All have tritium front with plain black rear sights, checkered front strap like the current model. Again, not real exciting news but posting in case anyone has interest.
A question that came to my mind while re-reading the thread; Will these new Combat Elites have National Match barrels (as did the previous two-tone ones) (and if they do, will they really be a meaningful upgrade from the standard Colt 1911 barrels)?
Best, Jon
Most of Colt's pistols have a National Match barrel these days, including the Colt Competition, all the Rail Guns, etc... so I am going to guess these new pistols will as well. The 1991 may be the only pistol left in their lineup that doesn't. So I guess you could compare the barrel from pretty much any Colt to a 1991 barrel to determine whether it's an upgrade or not. I will say the barrel profile is definitely different between my 9mm 1991s and my 9mm Gold Cups. The fit is better on the Gold Cups too.
If you want a 1911 with a reliable FP safety setup, I can't think of an option other than Colt. I would like to get a Colt 1991 and send it of for custom work . Surely you could get all you need for DW prices , including the price of the gun.
I know with Colt, much is made about whether or not the barrel is marked National Match. Within my humble experience in owning a number of Colts over the last 40+ years, I've not found any consistent difference in accuracy whether Colt barrels are marked "NM" or not. What I've found to be significant is precise fit of barrel to bushing, bushing to slide, barrel to breech face and to slide stop. I also prefer close fit of slide to frame even though I realize this is not as important to accuracy as the other items mentioned. For instance, I have an old '60s Colt Government with factory non NM barrel. The barrel was welded up and refit back in '66 by James Clark. He also fitted slide to frame utilizing the "squeeze and peen" method. That old non NM barrel still produces 10-shot 50 yard groups of just over 2" from a Ransom Rest. Given the weight Colt fans place on having a barrel stamped "NM", I'm not surprised Colt seems to stamp NM on more barrels all the time. If I were in charge at Colt, I'd just have NM stamped on all new production
I remember that Caspian was left with a lot of frame and slide sets from the original Granite State Rail (GSR) model as they were sold off on the Caspian web site under the "Xtreme Recon" moniker. Those frame and slide sets lent themselves to custom gunsmithing. I believe the issue that SIG and Caspian faced is that Caspian was used to shipping oversize parts as that is what smiths want to get the desired fit. SIG wanted to assemble guns with as little fitting as possible, and oversize parts are out of specification. That difference in experience and philosophy created issues for both SIG and Caspian.