Colt's latest incarnation of the Defender... a real winner!

[DHart]

"Micro" sized 1911's (3" barrels) are notorious for being the most finnicky and troublesome of all the sizes of 1911's and for that reason I have always avoided them. But after long observation on numerous forums of the many reports of people's troubling esperiences with various brands of micro 1911's, I noticed that nearly all the posts about the Defender have been glowing, reflecting Colt's typical high reliability. From these observations I concluded that if I was to give in to the itch to get a micro 1911, the Defender would most likely be the best choice. Though I still much prefer Government and Commander size 1911's, I just had to at least check out one 3"er.... so the Defender got the nod and a month or so ago I acquired a new 2005 production Defender.

I'm thrilled with the factory dovetailed Novak-style sights, mil-spec thumb safety (I find these the least likely design to accidentally "snick off"), accuracy, bevel-cuts on the front edges of the slide, and with the reliability. On the other hand, I disliked how the downswept duckbilled grip safety pushed down into the web of my hand and prevented me from gaining a high grip hold. My only other complaint was that the bottom edge of the MSH dug a bit into the lower palm of my hand... though this is really the nature of any 1911 with the short grip frame in medium/large hands. Between these two things, I wanted to do some tweaking for comfort.

So I went to work... filing and sanding the bottom edge of the MSH to blend with the frame... I gave it a softer, rounder edge and that made a big difference in my comfort with the hold. Then today I fitted a Wilson Drop-In Beavertail Grip Safety.

Now I LOVE how it feels and looks. There's really nothing else I'm yearning to do with this gun except shoot it! So the only modification besides replacing the stock finger-groove Hogue grips (grips which I have never liked, though they do offer a good shooting hold) was the grip safety.

I haven't fired it extensively yet, but so far it runs like a top. Fit and finish are awesome. Reliability perfect right out of the box - typical Colt.

All Colt needs to do with this model now is ship them with a proper upswept grip safety installed and the Defender model will be a huge home run. I'm sure this Defender will be a long term keeper.

Here are some pics from tonight.

 

[71Commander]

Welcome to the 3" club. I have a Kimber Eclipse Ultra as well as a Para C6-45. Both of these run just fine. No problems. I have a Springfield Ultra Compact, which is a3-1/2"er. It is a PITA. I can NEVER get a full mag out of it without jamming.

Nice pic's, as usual and a nice gun.

 

[ulflyer]

I like it

Was it diff putting the Wilson on? Might want to try one on mine. I do have some quick acquistion sights that I really like. I even do better on the range with them over the standard 3 dot. Just lay the bar on the bottom of the front dot and you get good groups.

 

[larry starling]

Nice looking defender. I love both of mine.

 

[Shear_stress]

Beautiful gun and no lack of horsepower for defensive work!

 

[model 649]

Be sure to check that the ejector remains tightly pinned to the frame. Two friends of mine bought Defenders earlier this year and both have to go back to Colt for loose ejectors. Otherwise they are good shooters and handle well.
Josh

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I sold off the last of my compact 1911's about a month ago. My whole experience with 3 inch guns has been bad... I'vd had all three... Colt, Kimber, and Springfield, and they were all equally unreliable.

From now on, I am sticking to all steel 5" 1911's.

I frequently carry something smaller... but only if the gun was designed that way from the start.

Congrats on yours though, glad to hear someone has one that works!

 

[DHart]

Lone... I'm with ya on preferring 5" 1911's... but I'm also quite comfortable carrying a Commander or LW Commander... I've had excellent reliability from them. As for the Defender, I know I'm not alone... there are quite a few Defender owners singing their praises. I'm optimistic that this one will be a keeper. But given the choice... I'll carry a Government or a Commander. Actually, my most carried guns are S&W 642-1, 640-1, and Kahr PM-9. I don't often carry a 1911 at all, but I like to have and shoot them. This Defender MAY become a carry gun, or not... it might just be a fun gun. Around the house or RV, never a compact gun... always full size... why not? They're the most reliable and most comfortable to shoot. Same goes for my revolvers... L-frame or N-frame always chosen when I don't have to pack it around!

 

[Gewehr98]

'Bout time you went the 3" route!

Couldn't be happier with mine. (Caspian Officer's ACP, Kart NM barrel, bushingless tapered cone lockup)

 

[azrael]

Sweet gun Dhart...If only it were around $400.00 cheaper I might own 2 or 3

 

[The_Shootist]

Small 1911's?

Hope you have better luck with your Defender than I have had with my POS Defender. I mean, its not BAD - its just that it doesn't hit the level of reliability I would feel I need with a CCW firearm.

Its accurate, easy to conceal - even easy to clean. But shooting anything other than ball ammo 9maybe not even that) and it gets finnicky. I just wouldn't want it to get finnicky if I'm exchanging shots with a bad guy.

Although, I have found, if its going to jam, its usually on the last round. So maybe I could play the odds and hope the fight is over in 3-4 shots .

I don't think my problems stem from the mags - all three mags are Wilson 7 rd capacity and its finnicky with all 3 of them.

Who knows, maybe some Saturday I'm feeling masochistic I'll take it out to the range again and see if time has made it more mellow

 

[charliew]

DHart - very nice looking Defender. What kind of grips are those ?

 

[DHart]

Gewehr98... nice looking 3"er ya got there.

Shootist... Wilson mags can be good mags, but not every 1911 likes them. Your problem may be totally associated with those mags... I'd say figure it out and you'll probably have a completely reliable Defender.

All I've used so far in my Defender are the factory Colt mags... nothing wrong with them at all. BUT, the orange paint on the followers was flaking off inside the gun so I replaced the followers with unpainted McCormick followers. No more paint flaking. I do plan to dull the sharp point of the lower leaf on the follower or replace the followers with a follower which won't gouge the feedramp.

I've seen a lot of people take a new 1911 and instantly start using aftermarket magazines with them, thinking that the aftermarket mags will certainly be better and sometimes they're worse. Have you tried sticking with the Colt mags? Worth a try if you haven't.

charliew... the grips are Kimber black rubber double diamond Compact grips - available directly from Kimber.

 

[bearmgc]

Congrats on your new Defender. I've had one now for 2 years and it has been completely reliable and as accurate for me as my govt model. No complaints here.

 

[DHart]

I did find some burrs on the slide rail slot which I smoothed out with a file in a minute or two.

Last night I fired four mags of PMC 230 gr. with a Wilson mag and four mags of PMC 230 gr. with a Colt mag (with a Wilson follower in it).... complete reliability... so far, so good!~

 

[zeke]

The Defender that was owned came with two mags that had plastic orange followers (similiar to Wilsons). However, it did not like Wilson mags. Am not a big fan of the split tail high capacity (Mckormick design?) followers and alloy frames as it appears the follower can contribute to gouging the feed ramp.