Colt Series 70 Gold Cup

[lotus]

Just got a Series 70 Gold Cup and had a chance to put a couple of hundred rounds downrange over the weekend. Very nice! Had one FTF, which in my experience with 1911s is pretty good.

I can tell this gun was meant for NRA/bullseye shooting, not action shooting. However I'd like to try it at USPSA. Any recommendations on how to set it up? Especially the sights. Thanks!

 

[loadedround]

Congratulations on your new purchase of a Series 70 Gold Cup. They are fantasic shooters and have held their value extremly well over the years. I bought one in the early 70's for bullsye shooting and must have put over 15K target rounds through mine without a problem, outside of changing the recoil spring every 1000 rounds. I sold mine several years ago on a whim and have been sorry ever since. Sorry I can't advise how to set it up for IPSC shooting, but I wish you very good luck with it.

 

[bannockburn]

loutus

I had one many years ago and the two things I initially replaced were the recoil spring and the roll pin which held the rear sight in place. At that time the recoil spring was set up more for light target loads so I replaced it with one that was standard on a Government model. The roll pin for the rear sight had a tendency to eventually break so I replaced that with a cut down section of a drill bit which was the same diameter. Only other thing I did was to polish the feed ramp. Trigger pull from the factory was fine right out of the box and accuracy was first rate as well.

 

[JimStC]

Just a few thoughts. In USPSA Single Stack I would have the trigger lightened and add a fiber optic front sight. Might add a magwell. Also might add a larger mag release button.
Good luck and congrats on a wonderful pistol.

 

[FM12]

I've has several, always 100 % reliable, even carried them as a duty weapon, no higher reccommendation than that. Enjoy!!

 

[HarcyPervin]

Shot one a couple weeks ago, beautiful gun, runs great. Mind me asking what you paid for it?

 

[Rock185]

lotus, the factory recoil spring is four coils shorter than a factory Government model recoil spring. I used either the Govt. spring or Wolff 18 1/2# in my Gold Cups. The undercut front sight is secured by the narrow tenon on the '70 Gold Cups, and may loosen, at least some of mine did. I finally milled the slide and installed a Heinie front sight of the appropriate height. I battled with the rear sight pin coming out, as many Gold Cup owners did. I tried all kinds of fixes without success. The fix that finally worked was to use a pin made of music wire with a slight bend in the middle. It didn't break and moved very little. The factory steel trigger is the heaviest 1911 type trigger I have ever weighed. With use, the hammer may begin to follow. I finally replaced it with a lightweight trigger, which solved the problem.

In spite of these little issues with the '70 Series Gold Cups, I still think they are neat guns, and some of the best looking O-Frame guns Colt ever produced. I think the new round-top type GCs, with the Bo-Mar type sights, are probably a more trouble free set up though...

 

[thedriver101]

S70 Gold Cup? Don't worry about setting it up, just send it my way and forget about it!

Kidding. Nice purchase, sorry no advice on how to get it ready for competition though. Good luck though!