[bobby68]

i'm pretty new to guns.. years ago when i first learned about the 10mm i considered buying a delta elite. What ever happened to it? Was it a colt or was it a seperate company. I am assuming they just are not made anymore.

I talked myself out of buying one unsure of my need, although i'm still not sure if i made the right decision. Now that i'm gun happy in my old age maybe i desperately need one, along with a 1911 .45, a little .380, etc.

[OpenRoad]

What happened to the Delta Elite? Colt happened.

There's other 10mm 1911's out there, Dan Wesson makes the Razorback. There are some higher price alternatives as well.

[bobby68]

thank you... but my question was to learn more about the company that made the delta elite... was it colt? i just don't remember and i wanted to know when it stopped being made.

[stans]

Colt made the Delta Elite and a number of other 1911's with various names such as Delta 10, Elite 10, Delta Gold Cup. Colt has not been known for marketing genius and this has been a real problem for them. Combined with labor problems, Colt has been on the verge of collapse several times.

The Delta Elite is a great gun, I have one and love it. Colt made two engineering mistakes with the Delta Elite, both easily fixed. First, the Delta Elite First Edition pistols had the arch shaped cut through the frame rail for the slide stop. This thin area of frame rail is prone to cracking when stressed by full power 10mm ammo. Colt fixed this by milling away this small section of rail after the First Edition guns were finished.

The second problem is the recoil spring system. Colt engineered a plastic guide rod and dual springs that gave about 23 pounds of energy under full compression. This slightly oversprings the gun and the plastic guide rod will usually disintegrate after about 500 rounds. Colt never fixed this, but anyone capable of field stripping the 1911 can swap in a steel short or full length guide rod and a single spring of not more than 22 pounds.

The Delta Elite died out due to a lack of marketing, Colt's financial problems and decreasing popularity of the caliber as well as a few bad gun magazine articles. Gun writers moaned about the wrist snapping recoil of the 10mm and that the 1911 was over stressed by the cartridge. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but the new darling of the semi-auto pistol world was the 40 S&W and everyone was flocking to it like it was a gift from above. I'm not knocking the 40, it is a great defensive round, but anything the 40 can do, the 10 can do and then some! The 10mm seems to be enjoying a bit of a comeback these days.

Here is an excellent website for more info on the 10mm and the 1911 chambered in 10mm.
http://www.geocities.com/mr_motorhead/10tech.html

And a discussion board dedicated to the 10mm.
http://10mmtalk.com/forums/index.php?act=SC&c=2

[Gixerman1000]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Firearms

[Standing Wolf]

Colt has not been known for marketing genius...

I think you just won the Understatement of the Month prize.

[agtman]

Stans nailed it.

Except for some limited cracking in the cut-out area of the frame (and then only among some of the first run pistols), the DE was a great 10mm gun and enjoyed a fine run.

Colt's goofy double recoil spring set-up is easily fixable. Most prefer a full-length guide rod and single recoil spring of appropriate poundage.

A stock Delta's performance can be improved immensely with several, relatively minimalist touches, as detailed on Sean Smith's link that Stans posted.

DEs can also be more fully customized to fit your personal needs, if you wish, and many Delta owners have done so. Here's mine:

http://bren-ten.com/agtman-delta/id4.html

[Onmilo]

The Delt Elite died a quiet death.
It was resurrected, with modifications, as the Dan Wesson Pointman 10.

[Snake Eyes]

What happened to my Delta? Something happened to MY Delta Elite????

Ohhh..whew....It's sitting right here in its holster on my hip, like it's supposed to be!

Dang, you had me worried there for a minute.

It is a little lonely though.....waiting for its brother to get back from Yost-Bonitz.

[Tman]

AGTman:
That is a beautiful DE. How does the checkering and grips on your pistol compare to the plastic grips that comes standard on the DE (is it harding on your hands, less shock absorption in the grips when shooting 10mm)?

[agtman]

Tman:

The relieved area under the trigger guard, the 30-lpi front-strap checkering, and the high sweeping BT grip safety all work together to make recoil very managable, even with the hot loads. Basically Vic Tibbets' work allows for a higher purchase on the pistol while improving its ergonomics substantially. You feel more control over recoil and torque than was the case in its stock form.

As for the checkered Hogue grips, yeah, they look great and I like their feel much better than Colt's factory wrap-around one piece "prebble" grip, as I believe it was called. During shooting sessions, I don't find the checkering hard or abrasive on my palms, if that's what you mean.

I've really gotten a lot of personal enjoyment from shooting this pistol. :) Here's an older Range Report on it (w/ pics), if you're interested:

http://bren-ten.com/agtman-delta/id5.html

[tex_n_cal]

The Deltas appeared in the late 80's, and were around for a few years. It's not too hard to find good used ones, many new in box. There are many variations, limited editions, etc.

King's Gun Works makes a nice stepped full length guide rod for the Delta, which is what I prefer, being a spring guy :) Others are happy with one spring. YMMV

I have two Colt 10mm's and one Kimber. The Kimber is more accurate out of the box than the Colts, but less reliable. One of the Deltas now wears a Bar-Sto barrel that makes it very accurate. Both Colts run 100%, no ifs, ands or buts. The Kimber has a ramped barrel, which theoretically allows more adventurous handloads.

With the CMC 9 shot magazines you have a 9+1 pistol that matches the .357 mag in power. It's a hell of a pistol.

[Tman]

Agtman:
Thanks for the information. The grip answer was exactly what I was looking for. Gotta wait for my DE to come back from the smithy, then I think I'll start looking for some grips (if they only look half as good as yours then they'll look fabulous!!!). :)