Colt

My last Colt 1911 was a XSE series. The main spring housing was plastic, replaced along with the OEM grip safety and two piece extended length recoil spring guide rod. The OEM sights were replaced with Novak sights which required the slide to be machined to fit the sights. After that I had an acceptable 1911series pistol.

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

Totally disappointed showing... took it to the range and kept getting a casing stuck in the chamber, wouldnt extract or eject at all, this happened with all mags I have (GI, Chip Mck., and Wilson) my Government model was eating everything including tula. Maybe replacing the extractor and polishing feed ramp

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Clean real good the chamber also.

Yeah, the electroless nickel was something Colt was pretty bad at labeling. I will disagree about it being a stop-gap measure, as Colt had put out both "plain" stainless arms, and had also put out the "Ultimate Stainless" finish for the top end firearms.
As a for instance, the upper example was purchased with its original box--and no mention of the finish (but this was a "strike era" built example)

The Colt blue parts make a gorgeous contrast, too. Common lore is that the Colt Custom Shop turned out a number of these during the strikes.
One of the dumber things I've ever done was to walk past a Commander that matched my Series 70, just because it was $650 (which I had in my pocket, too). Hurr-hurr, derp-derp.

Reprofiling a 1911 extractor for good function is one of the easiest bits of work one can do. After this comes testing: http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=131 If it is broken the damage should be obvious, but even purchasing a new extractor may require some tuning (bending) for tension.

Regarding the feed ramp, it’s easy to get wrong but dead nuts simple to do so long as you remain aware of crucial angles and dimensions. Below is (again) my S&W 1911, feed ramp was polished by me. Picture was from my iPhone 3 which leaves much to be desired but visible is the relationship between the feed ramp and barrel which should NOT be ground down to the same plane.

CapnMac

Yeah, the electroless nickel was something Colt was pretty bad at labeling. I will disagree about it being a stop-gap measure, as Colt had put out both "plain" stainless arms, and had also put out the "Ultimate Stainless" finish for the top end firearms.

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The first all stainless steel 1911 was the AMT Hardballer in the late '70s, followed very closely by the Vega. Detonics was also making their diminutive 1911 out of stainless at around the same time. Randall had their beautifully made guns available in the early '80s but Colt didn't offer anything in stainless until 1985 when they produced a highly polished, limited edition 1911 called the "Silver Star".

Before this time Colt offered a satin nickel (electro nickel with a copper substrata), on Combat Commanders as early as in the mid '60s and then switched over to electroless nickel (Coltguard), sometime in the early '80s. Have seen some articles that mentioned that the electroless nickel was possibly done at Colt's Custom Gun Shop. The metal didn't require any extensive polishing and a copper substrata was not needed to get the nickel plating to adhere to the gun's metal parts.

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

Spent some time working overtime and came away with 700 extra buckaroos to find a k frame 13 or 65. I went into the local lgs and came out with a nickel plated Colt Combat Commander from '78. Came with 5 mags. View attachment 921012

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Nice score!

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

Thank you. I just ordered the extractor from Wilson, hopefully next range session will be better

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If you are doing the extractor replacement yourself, do a little research while you are waiting for the parts. It is not difficult to fit the extractor but a little knowledge helps alot.

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

Thank you. I just ordered the extractor from Wilson, hopefully next range session will be better

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I think the "Bulletproof" extractor from WC or Ed Brown's extractor are the best on the market.

As said, not difficult to fit and "tension" an extractor. IME, with either the WC or the Brown extractor, often they're GTG from the start.

Very good choice of pistol---why are you changing the guide rod?
I like the idea of the stock grip safety rather than a beavertail on a carry 1911.

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

Thank yall. I dont know what exactly to do with it. I carry a government model currently and my back up is a Taurus 856 so I'm thinking of using this just as a range toy.View attachment 921022

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Now that, is a knife

The Evangelist Cowboy said:

I asked perchance if there were any extractors for a series 70 colt, turned out there was... replaced it when I got home today.

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Here are some links that you may find interesting:

Magazine seating problems
Extractor fitting
Failure to feed first round from a fully loaded magazine