cyclopsshooter
Member
This is the story of one newly purchased Colt Commander 1911 XSE in Stainless Steel. 10/14/2011 This pistol will be used often for carry, target use, general fun, and a heck of a lot of handling. I will be updating this thread with round counts, events, and work done... Lets see how she holds up over the long haul
A little back story:
A few months back I decided to hunt down a centennial Colt with the "100 Years of Service" roll-mark- I didnt intend this to be a shooter.. More or less just a safe queen to bring out every now and then to serve as a benchmark against earlier Colts. Since this was for fun I gravitated toward the Rail Gun. Having been unimpressed by some earlier 80 Series products, I was a little worried about ordering in a new Colt. However, those worries were unfounded. It turned out to be a top quality product (despite a buffing blemish aft of the ejection port, and a need for deburring...) I have no plans to deburr the Rail Gun or to mess with the blemish, I'd like to keep it just as it came from the factory.
It really sucked not shooting it at first but as fortune had it, a customer who also fell in love with the pistol upon handling it, immediately ordered one for himself. A few weeks later my distributor finally allocated me three of the two-tone Rail Guns, as soon as they arrived my customer hit a straight line back into the range and invited me to shoot it too Score! The Trigger was a little stiff to break at first but got MUCH better once through a box of ammo... It grouped nicely and worked flawlessly, a very sweet shooter.
Having only owned 5" models I was pleasantly surprised a while back when another customer let me handle a few of his Commander models. (Used Commander models just don't circulate in these parts) The balance was quite nice and I didn't have to worry about that damn last 3/4" sticking out below my over shirt! Also, when shooting the Commanders, they didn't seem to kick as much to the left as the Government Models... a bit easier to bring back on target.
So, last week my Davidsons sales rep called outa the blue and said he had a couple of Colts allocated- I perked right up having sold out of the two-tone Rail Guns months ago. He had a Wiley Clap Commander and a stainless XSE Commander. The WC's price gave me pause but I figured what the hell I didnt give the XSE much thought beyond thinking that it would be an easy sell.. turned out it was RREEAALLYY easy to sell as I fell in love at first sight
I have already added Pearce finger grips and swapped out the ambi-safety for a 70 Series style.. also added an inside the pants belt clip- Nice grab and go setup.
I'm a little bummed at the safety scratches.. might try to buff those down a little at some point... gonna replace the hammer and sear pins too, those flat ones just don't look right-
This is a living record (like I attempted with a Taurus 1911 and failed- http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=588451 ) However, I expect good things from this Colt
Now, we begin- Lets shoot!
A little back story:
A few months back I decided to hunt down a centennial Colt with the "100 Years of Service" roll-mark- I didnt intend this to be a shooter.. More or less just a safe queen to bring out every now and then to serve as a benchmark against earlier Colts. Since this was for fun I gravitated toward the Rail Gun. Having been unimpressed by some earlier 80 Series products, I was a little worried about ordering in a new Colt. However, those worries were unfounded. It turned out to be a top quality product (despite a buffing blemish aft of the ejection port, and a need for deburring...) I have no plans to deburr the Rail Gun or to mess with the blemish, I'd like to keep it just as it came from the factory.
It really sucked not shooting it at first but as fortune had it, a customer who also fell in love with the pistol upon handling it, immediately ordered one for himself. A few weeks later my distributor finally allocated me three of the two-tone Rail Guns, as soon as they arrived my customer hit a straight line back into the range and invited me to shoot it too Score! The Trigger was a little stiff to break at first but got MUCH better once through a box of ammo... It grouped nicely and worked flawlessly, a very sweet shooter.
Having only owned 5" models I was pleasantly surprised a while back when another customer let me handle a few of his Commander models. (Used Commander models just don't circulate in these parts) The balance was quite nice and I didn't have to worry about that damn last 3/4" sticking out below my over shirt! Also, when shooting the Commanders, they didn't seem to kick as much to the left as the Government Models... a bit easier to bring back on target.
So, last week my Davidsons sales rep called outa the blue and said he had a couple of Colts allocated- I perked right up having sold out of the two-tone Rail Guns months ago. He had a Wiley Clap Commander and a stainless XSE Commander. The WC's price gave me pause but I figured what the hell I didnt give the XSE much thought beyond thinking that it would be an easy sell.. turned out it was RREEAALLYY easy to sell as I fell in love at first sight
I have already added Pearce finger grips and swapped out the ambi-safety for a 70 Series style.. also added an inside the pants belt clip- Nice grab and go setup.
I'm a little bummed at the safety scratches.. might try to buff those down a little at some point... gonna replace the hammer and sear pins too, those flat ones just don't look right-
This is a living record (like I attempted with a Taurus 1911 and failed- http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=588451 ) However, I expect good things from this Colt
Now, we begin- Lets shoot!
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