Sean Smith
Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2002
- Messages
- 4,925
I got my Delta Elite back from Ted Yost about the same time Stealther did. The work done to the gun was as follows:
Fit frame & slide
Fit ramped Schuemann AET barrel, supplied
Handfiled magazine well bevel
Colt 80 series gripsafety
Novak front sight, installed
Yost-Bonitz rear sight, installed
Crown barrel, 11deg, .065†rad.
Colt hammer, bob & high cut
Trigger job, EGW hard sear, BCP long trigger
EGW square f/p stop, fit
Cut plug tunnel for reverse plug
Briley reverse plug, fit, with FLGR flush fit
Flatten slide sides
Aftec extractor, polish and tune
Ed Brown plain MSH, serrated at 30lpi
Restake P-tube and 4 stock bushings
Complete dehorning
Cosmetic cleanup on frame & slide
Satin matte hardchrome finish
Recoil spring was a 20 lb Wolff variable with a CP shock buffer.
I've put a total of about 270 rounds through the gun over 2 days, broken down as follows:
20 Winchester 175gr STHP
50 Remington/UMC 180gr FMJ
50 Cor-Bon 180gr JHP (from the limited run of 1,300 ft/sec hot stuff)
200 Georgia Arms 180gr FMJ
The pistol fed, fired, extracted & ejected everything perfectly. Function was literally buttery-smooth. The slide to frame fit had ZERO play in any direction, but unlike many tightened guns I've seen was very smooth. Once I get over the flu
I'm going to do some serious accuracy testing, but so far I don't see any reason to doubt Ted's test-firing results of well < 1.0" @ 25 yards. Even considering the gun's relatively heavy weight, recoil was surprisingly mild with everything but the Cor-Bons, and even that was quite comfortable and manageable. And if noise and blast effect are any indication, the box flap velocity on those suckers is conservative. 
Unlike almost every other 10mm I'd tried the Cor-Bons in, this gun had no problem reliably igniting the hard primers on that run of ammo.(Note: normal Cor-Bon 10mm ammo never gave any of my other guns any problems with hard primers, just the special run of hot 180gr JHPs).
The trigger breaks cleanly at 4 lbs. SUPER cleanly. It is literally like breaking a glass rod... no creep at all.
The grip safety modification Ted does is a major improvement in comfort, and almost makes you wonder why anyone bothered with beavertails at all. Its only real downside is that it doesn't allow *quite* as high a grip as some beavertails do. But in terms of shooter comfort, it is tough to beat.
The Yost-Bonitz rear sight, while looking rather traditional in profile, actually provides a VERY good sight picture. They are finely serrated and have a generous notch for easy aquisition of the front sight. I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not beforehand, but was favorably impressed. Belive it or not, I think they compare very favorably to Novaks or Heinies.
The hard chrome finish was by Tripp Research, and was nice and even. Its actual color is a VERY slightly blue-tinged silver, and to my eyes is extremely attractive. One nice thing about hard chrome is that it is very easy to clean... gunk just doesn't stick to it like it does to bare steel.
Only bad thing that happened on that trip to the range was that one of my old Colt magazines broke.
The other 2 stock Colt 8-round magazines functioned perfectly. I'm going to try a bunch of 10mm mags soon to see which ones work best.P.S. Sorry for the crappy quality of the pic; Ted has some high-res pics that I should be able to show off once he gets his PC set up in his new shop.
