1991 A-1 Colt compact .45???

[209]

I was reading a report on a weapons discharge in an MRI environment. The report said, "The officer was carrying a model 1991 A-1 compact.45 caliber semiautomatic pistol (Colt's Manufacturing, Hartford, CT)".

Maybe I'm not up on my Colts but is there such a pistol with that nomenclature?

Just wondering. I didn't find anything in a fast search and figured there are some Colt fans here with a bit more knowledge.

http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1092

 

[Straight Shooter]

Sure, the Colt 1991A1 Commander. It has a 4.25" barrel instead of a 5".

 

[Oro]

Colt also makes the Officer's model with a 3.5" barrel and shorter grip frame. There have also been 3.5" barrels on full size frames, though I forget the name of that model; it was short lived.

There is also "Defender" model with a 3" barrel. I would wager if they said "compact" they meant an Officer's or a Defender and not a Commander. Just my guess. If they said "1991" compact I bet they meant the officers model like that one pictured above - the early 1991 series but with the 3.5" barrel, short grip frame and parkerized finish.

 

[Clifford]

I own one. It an officers model(3.5" barrel). With a park finish.
Its roll marked 1991 compact. Colt made a series of guns like this with lower quality finishes to compete with lower priced competitors.

 

[209]

Thanks, I initially read the report and thought the 1991 part was a typo. I guess I need to broaden my knowledge on Colts. When I did my initial search, everything kept coming up identified as 1911.

 

[Oro]

Yeah, '1991' is colt-speak for a run of lower-priced guns in the '90s. They Parkerized them and made them basically GI style except for tall combat sights and the '80 Series Firing Pins - exactly like Straight Shooter's gun pictured above. After a while they quit with the parkerizing and went to polished slide sides and matte everywhere else and blued (or stainless) and wood non-medallion grips. I have one of these made recently in commander length. This is now referred to as the "NRM" (New Roll Mark) '80 series because the dumped the "1911" roll mark and went back to a more common one. The "upper" line of guns, with fancier grip safeties, tactical thumb safeties, lowered/flare ports, and Novack sights are called the "XSE" series.

If all that sounds confusing to you, it took me like a year to figure it out. Colt's marketing plan since about 1985 has been junk and their product line is slightly more confusing and overlapped than even GM. Everyone is praying they will get this sorted out and stay in business, but it just doesn't seem they are trying hard enough. They build good guns, they just can't market and sell them.