Poor Knight's new arm - a Colt Gunsite CCO!

[Poor Knight]

Here is a picture of the Poor Knight's new arm! What is a knight without a weapon anyway? I traded in my old H&K UPS Compact .45 for a Colt Gunsite CCO. I am very happy - I disassembled, cleaned , inspected and reassembled my pistol yesterday and must say I am very happy with my purchase - I feel like a proper American, with my Colt .45! The H&K, while a fine weapon, was an over-engineered plastic German - designed supposed improvement over the 1911A1, and i really don't think the 1911A1 can be improved - the design can be better executed, but that is what I now have in my Colt Gunsite CCO. 2006 is the year the Poor Knight and his lady will go to Gunsite - I have been trained by Gunsite graduates, but have not yet made my pilgrimage.

The HK USP Compact, while a fine shooter, tried to be too many things - both a single-action, cocked & locked .45 AND a decocked double-action firearm. It was also too wide for comfortable concealed carry, the magazine release was right under the trigger guard, which did not work for me AT ALL, and it had a built-in lock for the mainspring which rendered the firearm unusable until unlocked. With the 1911A1, you get a firearm that works one way to shoot and is only unusable when unloaded. In sum, the HK reminded me of the over-engineered tricycle we got for my then three-year-old daughter while we were posted to Germany. The tricycle had a freewheel feature in the front wheel - so you pedaled one way and went forward, pedaled the other way and went nowhere. My daughter couldn't figure it out, so we traded it in for a US trike at the PX. Pedal one way, she went forward; the other, she went backward! She loved it!

Range report to follow!

PS - the Colt came with the strangest thing I have ever seen - a warning from the Massachusetts Attorney General basically stating that kids will kill themselves or each other with my pistol if I don't "equip it with a device that fully blocks use by unauthorized users" ! It comes with a preamble by Colt saying MA makes them do this but Colt thinks it's crap. Anyone else ever seen anything like this? Why does the MA attorney general want to knw who is "authorized" to use my Colt?

 

[Snake Eyes]

Speaking of trying to be too many things at once....what's up with that cheese grater on the front of the slide?!?!?

(Nice gun)

 

[Poor Knight]

The tactical cheese grater

Speaking of trying to be too many things at once....what's up with that cheese grater on the front of the slide?!?!?
Why, that is the totally necessary and quite common press-check device used when about to enter a room containing terrorists with nuclear devices! Why do you ask?

 

[srstraley]

Let me say first that i love the 1911. But I think your being harshly critical of the USP. What you call over engineered I call inovative. It is useful to have a decocker and its simple to train yourself to use your trigger finger to release the mag. The only part of your argument that holds water is the fact that the colt is more concealable because its thinner. The USP will probably have a longer lifespan/round count than the Colt also.
What it really sounds like is your trying to justify a new gun purchase, which is cool I do it all the time. But have legitimate reasons for a gun sucking other than its thicker and too modern for you, before you rip on it! But I'm sure you'll like the Colt it's a good pistol as can be seen by the fact that it won a huge contract with the Department Of Homeland Security. Oh! wait a minute, that was the USP that won that contract!!

 

[Poor Knight]

I really like the HK USP

I just like the 1911A1 better. Sorry I did not mean to sound critical - the HK is a great pistol, I had it for 5 years, but it just didn't work for me for CCW. Not trying to rip it at all - just my opinion!

My main problem with the mag release was that I would sometimes accidentaly activate it with my support hand - the middle finger os my support hand would hit it during double drills and the mag would unseat. It only happened with the extended magazine bases so I replaced them with the flat ones (at $6 apiece for 4 mags!) Then, just a few weeks ago, it happened again only this time the magazine came out and I had to catch it before it hit the floor! I decided that the USP just didn't work for me and I needed to get a different pistol. Now, giving up the USP was difficult - it had been utterly reliable (other than the magazine problem - which had only occurred in two practice sessions out of about 30 I had done), so I wrote down the "cons" of the HK USP - First, the magazine release in a different place from where I was trained to find it. Second, it was difficult to conceal - too wide. Third, a plasticky trigger and too heavy DA trigger pull. Fourth, two completely different manual of arms - one using a decocker and one using cocked & locked. Now, this fourth reason I originally thought was a benefit and was one of the main reasons I bought the pistol - but over time, and doing various drills, I found it confusing. I had to think about which manual of arms I was using (decock & move, or safety on & move)? which I did not like doing under stress. I guess I'm getting old and set in my ways, and would always revert to what I learned as a young Marine infantry officer - the 1911A1 Gunsite "Modern Pistol" technique. Now, the pros - it's dead accurate out of the box, utterly reliable, and is extremely comfortable & easy to shoot with the recoil buffer and the excellent grips. But, adding it all up, I went back to my first girl - the 1911A1 - and gave up my fling with the German fraulein.

There's this great t-shirt - Celebrate Diversity - with pictures of lots of pistols. (Link: http://www.thoseshirts.com/diversitybk.html ) Can't we all be friends?

 

[timothy75]

Thats a really nice gun and I hope it works. Did you find that in a store or did you have to order it?

 

[Poor Knight]

Tim - I ordered it

from www.k5arms.com There is a place that has it cheaper - do a search on the 1911 forum for Gunsite CCO - or you can order it from Gunsite for $1250. I traded for mine - my HK and a 30-06 bolt-action rifle.

 

[Father Knows Best]

from www.k5arms.com There is a place that has it cheaper - do a search on the 1911 forum for Gunsite CCO - or you can order it from Gunsite for $1250. I traded for mine - my HK and a 30-06 bolt-action rifle.

I just bought one of these a few weeks ago. A local gun store ordered it in for me. My price was $1099 out the door (the shop paid the sales tax for me because I was paying cash -- it would have been $1099 plus 9% sales tax if I'd paid with a credit card).

They said their distributor had three of them in stock when they called to order mine, so they are available out there.

 

[srstraley]

I was just messing with you any ways Poor Knight. I know you have to go with what works for you. I just wish Colt offered the CCO as a production item for around $700 like they did back in 1999. Enjoj your Colt!

 

[srstraley]

In my opinion Colt either doesn't care about the civilian market or has absolutely no clue what buyers want.

 

[Poor Knight]

Range report

Quick range report - went to the range today with my wife, who is a novice shooter (pretty good though) and was getting familiar with her Walther p22. I di put 56 rounds through my Colt with nary a malfunction EXCEPT - the slide failed to lock open after the last round. It failed to lock open for the 50 rounds of FMJ Independence ammo I bought at the range. However, it function perfectly for the Federal 230 gr Hydra Shocks I use for CC - that locked the slide no problem! So, do I have an ammo problem or a mag problem? It locks back on an empty magazine when I am not shooting. Also, the magazines stuck and I had to pull them out several times with the Independence ammo.


I will try again with different ammo and see what happens - if the slide continues to fail to lock back I will call Colt.

Otherwise - all rounds in the bull at 5, 7, 10 and 15 yards! No failures of any kind, good sights, good trigger - I like it!
Edit/Delete Message

 

[paul45]

In my opinion Colt either doesn't care about the civilian market or has absolutely no clue what buyers want.

Oh Please! Here we go again for the 100th time....