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Originally Posted by jeff higgins

there are two distinctly different classes of colts - collectors and shooters. This one would fall into the former.

The newest "third generation" colts being made today are superior as shooters to the older guns. The dimensions used in both the cylinders and the barrels are much more conducive to accurate shooting. Cylinder throats on the .45 calibers are consistently .454" diameter, and barrels have .450" bores with .458" grooves. These diameters, and their relationships to one another, are critical for accurate shooting.

Older colts are notorious for widely varying cylinder throat diameters on the same gun. I've seen older colts with cylinder throats as small as .454" to as large as .460" and everything in between on the same gun. Bore and groove diameters vary widely from gun to gun as well. Pretty darn sloppy manufacturing, really.

Their saving grace back then was black powder and really soft lead bullets, with hollow bases. The black powder would "bump up" these hollow based bullets to fill oversized cylinder throats, but then they would also swage back down to fit the smaller bore. Accuracy was acceptable as a close range fighting gun.

We expect better today, and colt delivers. Modern smokeless powders will not "bump up" even soft lead bullets. Throw modern jacketed bullets into the mix, and off-sized throats and barrels just don't work.

So, if a guy wants a "shooter", just buy a new one. They still make them. They are "only" about $1,500 brand new, which a lot of guys will spend on fancy 1911's anyway. The new ones, imho, are the best they have ever made.

roger that.