[nater]

The gunstore opens at noon, and I will be there knocking down their door for my new series 70 in stainless steel. I have never owned a colt before, so this will be a new experience for me.

The gun will not remain stock for long, as it is going to Pete Single for a full machine package, and then I will be fitting a ton of new parts to finish her off.

I will report back when I pick her up and get to a computer.

 

[stillwater]

Nice choice, I think.

 

[dsk]

I agonized about leaving mine stock or customizing it. In the end I made the practical choice and bought another one to leave alone while the first was tricked up.

 

[nater]

Ok, I dont have a camera handy, so some words will have to do. First, the serial number is 71B18XX. The fit and finish is pretty damn good. The slide to frame fit is as tight as any production gun, and the barrel is fit well. I do have to comment that the trigger has alot of take-up and creep. It is the only thing that is at all disapointing.

It already has some green canvas VZ Grips, and tomorrow will be getting a cylinder and slide trigger kit, along with a Koenig Speed hammer and a trigger that is yet to be determined. Also, a strong side Ed Brown tactical safety and hardcore slide stop. I dont see the need for a new barrel or bushing at this point, as they are well fit for right now...

 

[goldcup45]

sounds good

Cant go wrong with a chip mccormick trigger and a match grade barrel bushing and shock buffer kit from wilson .:rock:

 

[dsk]

Don't waste your money on the Hardcore slide stop. The factory Colt part is milled from barstock and should hold up to plenty of use. In fact, Colt is one of very few manufacturers not making slide stops out of MIM.

 

[DHart]

If your experience mirrors mine and dsk's as well as that of many others, you may find you want to do very little in modifying the Series 70... they're pretty fine right out of the box, generally. I agree on sticking with the Colt slide stop.

If that were my gun, I'd have put on some VZ's like you did and then leave it alone for a thousand or two rounds of shooting... then replace only what I felt was really needed.

 

[nater]

Like I said, I just got it, and had not experience with colts before this, so perhaps I will stay with the colt slide stop. I had come up with these plans before I got the pistol in my hands, and my shop normally does not carry the 70 series in stock for me to look at before I ordered mine.

As for keeping it stock, the point of this gun was to send off to Pete Single and get a full out machine package done to it (serrated round top slide, front cocking serrations, 20lpi checkering, beveled mag well, bo-mar sight cuts, etc). So I dont really have any plans to leave any stone unturned on this project. For what I want, the colt barrel should be more than good enough, perhaps a new bushing one day, but for right now, it looks good.

*edit* I do have to add that I shot it yesterday (lubed it up, and shot a box of ammo through it). I had one failure, it failed to feed. I will have to look into that after I clean it up and lube it up well...

 

[WhyteP38]

Just out of curiosity, do stainless steel 1911s have galling problems? David Lauck in his book THE TACTICAL 1911 recommends getting a blued steel pistol and having it hard chromed rather than getting a stainless steel pistol because, according to him, stainless steel has potential "galling" problems.

He certainly has much more experience with 1911s than I do, but after reading posts on this forum for the past four years and never once seeing that problem mentioned, I'm wondering if maybe the info in his book is outdated. The reason is that I've become interested in getting a stainless 70 series GM Colt but am now cautious based on his book.

 

[dsk]

Galling is pretty much an issue of the past. The manufacturers solved it by using different alloys and degrees of hardness for the slide and frame.

 

[gigmike]

Good luck with it! I picked up one a few weeks ago but unfortunately I'm getting ready to send it back to Colt as the hammer falls when it is 1/2 cocked and you pull the trigger. Something must be off with the safety... I wasn't going to worry about it as it's going to go to Ted Yost for some work, but then I decided to shoot it for a bit and see how I liked it stock. BTW does anyone have any experience with Colt customer service work? I'm wondering how long it will take.

 

[nater]

You know, mine does the SAME freaking thing. I never noticed it, but at 1/2 cock, if I pull the trigger, the hammer falls. Hmmmm.. that is no good. Mine is going in for new sear, disconnector, trigger, etc in the next few days, so I will ask my smith about it!

 

[gpo1956]

gigmike and nater,
You have series 70s that fall from half-cock? Series 80s will do that, but it is extremely odd that you both have series 70s that do.

 

[gigmike]

Yeah, the dealer said it was no big deal but a couple guys I consider very knowledgeable say "send her back to Colt". Apparently it's a defect in the safety, exactly where I don't know.

 

[OD*]

You're hammers are falling because Colt is installing Series 80 type hammers in them. There isn't anything wrong with the guns (well, the ones I've handled).

 

[dsk]

Ole Dan is right. Sometimes Colt uses Series 80 hammers in the Series 70 pistols. It does no harm because the "half cock" position on an S80 hammer is already close to the at-rest position, so no energy is transfered to the firing pin.

Had you guys just sent your Colts in to be "fixed" without calling them first, you'd have simply gotten them back untouched and paid for the shipping to boot.

 

[gigmike]

Just out of curiousity how does a series 80 hammer differ from a series 70? I always thought the basic design was the same.

 

[nater]

This is my guess. The series 80 hammer has a half cock "shelf" which will allow the hammer to fall from the 1/2 cock position if the trigger is pressed. The series 70 hammer has a half-cock notch, which will keep the hammer in the 1/2 cock position no matter if the trigger is pressed.

*edit* Either way, with the 80 series hammer, the 1/2 cock position is not very far from the rest position, so when the hammer drops, it does not gain the inertia it needs to set the primer off. Mind you, I would not want to try this, but it should be safe.

If this really bothers you, you might call colt and ask for your proper 70 series hammer. I will not, as my hammer is being replaced within a few days.

 

[OD*]

The design is basically the same but, the Series 70 hammer has a captive half cock notch, the 80s have a shelf at quarter cock.

 

[prplhrtx3]

Hmmmm, I just checked both of my Series 70 repros, one stainless and one blue. NEITHER hammer falls from half cock position.
S/N on stainless is 71B10XX
S/N on blued is 71B09XX
Both are early production models, maybe Colt used up all the S 70 hammers in early production???