MarineTech
Member
Well, after 2 months of waiting, my new Colt Custom shop Series 70 repro has arrived. I nearly fell over when the gunshop owner told me it was in when I showed up on Saturday. I had gotten used to walking in, asking "Is it in?" and getting a negative. This usually allowed me to start making derogatory comments about the owner (Don't worry, it's a thing we do to each other), and then I start browsing around for other things. Well this time I had no place to go. It was in. Felt like a kid on Christmas.
The credit card came out, the form was filled in, and into my hot little hands it came. Gave it a quick examination yesterday, but I'm working 3-11 this weekend so I didn't have time to take it down. Overall fit and finish seem excellent. The dark bluing job on the gun goes back to the quality of the original series 70s. It's a truly beautiful pistol. The trigger felt a bit jerky and the thumb safety was really stiff, but I figured at the time that they'll wear in with some use. Also, the slide felt a little bit tacky to the touch, but I figured it was whatever they had oiled it with before shipping it out. I did my best to put things out of my mind and went to work.
Got up this morning and did my normal puttering around and chores. I wanted to do some cleaning on the gun, but I figured I had plenty of time. Normally a good strip down and cleaning on a 1911 only takes me about an hour to complete. Boy was I in for a surprise. Started the take down process and tried to remove the plug and barrel bushing. Needed to haul out a bushing wrench to get things moving. Thought "Wow, they really did a job on fitting this tight". Got the bushing turned and was easing the plug out and suddenly had a lap full of brown flaky crud. "What in the h*** is this?" Recoil spring was absolutely caked in this stuff. It somehow managed to be flaky, sticky, and greasy all at the same time. I managed to get everything else apart and much to my chagrin, this crap is everywhere. OK, I can deal with it, I'll just hose it down with Gun Scrubber to get the worst off and then go back over it with Shooters Choice to finish up. No go. This stuff is just sitting there laughing at the Gun Scrubber. No effect. I spent an hour and a half scrubbing this crap out of the slide and all its parts with Q-tips and nylon and bronze brushes. I even pulled the firing pin and extractor and found the crap in there. What the heck is this stuff? Managed to get it off the slide, slide stop, recoil spring, and recoil spring guide. Had to give up after that and head in here to work. The plug is absolutely filled with it, and I'm probably going to soak it overnight in mineral spirits to loosen it up. I haven't looked into the whole frame assembly yet, but I'm praying that it's not loaded with this stuff. I figured that I'd detail strip this gun at some point, but I didn't plan on it being this soon. I just have to wonder though "What was the guy at Colt thinking when he did this to my gun?" I have never seen any new firearm this loaded with preservative. I've seen older surplus guns loaded with cosmoline, but nothing made this recently.
Still though, everything seems to be very tight and well made. The slide itself is noticeably heavier than on my Kimber or Para Ordnance, and the all the parts fit well.
I'll give a more detailed analysis, review, and hopefully some pics once I get this completely cleaned up and to the range.
The credit card came out, the form was filled in, and into my hot little hands it came. Gave it a quick examination yesterday, but I'm working 3-11 this weekend so I didn't have time to take it down. Overall fit and finish seem excellent. The dark bluing job on the gun goes back to the quality of the original series 70s. It's a truly beautiful pistol. The trigger felt a bit jerky and the thumb safety was really stiff, but I figured at the time that they'll wear in with some use. Also, the slide felt a little bit tacky to the touch, but I figured it was whatever they had oiled it with before shipping it out. I did my best to put things out of my mind and went to work.
Got up this morning and did my normal puttering around and chores. I wanted to do some cleaning on the gun, but I figured I had plenty of time. Normally a good strip down and cleaning on a 1911 only takes me about an hour to complete. Boy was I in for a surprise. Started the take down process and tried to remove the plug and barrel bushing. Needed to haul out a bushing wrench to get things moving. Thought "Wow, they really did a job on fitting this tight". Got the bushing turned and was easing the plug out and suddenly had a lap full of brown flaky crud. "What in the h*** is this?" Recoil spring was absolutely caked in this stuff. It somehow managed to be flaky, sticky, and greasy all at the same time. I managed to get everything else apart and much to my chagrin, this crap is everywhere. OK, I can deal with it, I'll just hose it down with Gun Scrubber to get the worst off and then go back over it with Shooters Choice to finish up. No go. This stuff is just sitting there laughing at the Gun Scrubber. No effect. I spent an hour and a half scrubbing this crap out of the slide and all its parts with Q-tips and nylon and bronze brushes. I even pulled the firing pin and extractor and found the crap in there. What the heck is this stuff? Managed to get it off the slide, slide stop, recoil spring, and recoil spring guide. Had to give up after that and head in here to work. The plug is absolutely filled with it, and I'm probably going to soak it overnight in mineral spirits to loosen it up. I haven't looked into the whole frame assembly yet, but I'm praying that it's not loaded with this stuff. I figured that I'd detail strip this gun at some point, but I didn't plan on it being this soon. I just have to wonder though "What was the guy at Colt thinking when he did this to my gun?" I have never seen any new firearm this loaded with preservative. I've seen older surplus guns loaded with cosmoline, but nothing made this recently.
Still though, everything seems to be very tight and well made. The slide itself is noticeably heavier than on my Kimber or Para Ordnance, and the all the parts fit well.
I'll give a more detailed analysis, review, and hopefully some pics once I get this completely cleaned up and to the range.
At the time, I was ignorant about how to detail strip the pistol. So, I had to go to makarov.com and read the instructions as I was trying to get the guck off my new gun!! I took me all of about 4 hours to clean a gun that is usually sparkling clean in 20 min!!
