[Anvil]

I wanted to get into 1911 pistols and didn't know where to start so I went to my local gun shop, handled every Springfield, Colt, Kimber they had and wound up buying a Colt Gold Cup Trophy SS .45

Well, it seems to shoot just fine but I've got alot to learn and for $939 I'd like to make it as nice as I can for a daily shooter.

I don't mind putting some cash into it but I don't want to waste my time and money making expensive mistakes.

Really, I don't know what I'm doing so I've got some questions.

1. Did I screw up by buying a SS 1911? Should it be hard chromed?
2. Are Acc-rails worth it?
3. What are MIM parts? is tool steel better?
4. What is the proper break-in for this piece?
5. Am I better off with a barrel bushing or not?
6. Should a GOLD CUP TROPHY be used as a carry gun? or does it fit into the "Competition only" catagory?
7. Is the Network Gas Gun modification any good?
8. Does a melt job weaken the structural integrity of the pistol?
9. What is the normal shot life of a 1911 in stainless? (assuming normal SAMMI loads of 45ACP)
10. Why all the hype about VIDEKI triggers? I think Dlask look pretty good myself but ... nuts and bolts, whats the difference?



I've been a gun nut for 18 years now and this is my first 1911. All these questions swimming in my head have been keeping me up 4 nights in a row researching online.

Thanks for your time and attention, and Dane, thanks for the invitation to your forum!

 

[Bonehead69]

Well IMO, no you did not screw up by buy a stainless steel one. I myself prefer(but thats me) stainless guns. The MIM is Molded In Metal , and yes tool steel is much better IMO (theres those letters again :smile: ). As for the rest of your questions I'll leave them to the more knowing people on here, cause I have no idea on a few of them questions.

 

[Jim Watson]

Contrary to popular belief generated by magazine articles, you do not have to buy a thousand dollar gun and send it straight to the gunsmith to have something to shoot.

My position on your particular questions:

1. Did I screw up by buying a SS 1911?
No.
Should it be hard chromed?
Chrome over stainless is a gunwriters dream. Rarely needed and makes later mods difficult and expensive.

2. Are Acc-rails worth it?
Not on a new gun for routine use. Much, much later to tighten up wear.

3. What are MIM parts? is tool steel better?
Metal Injection Molded. Your Colt likely has some cast parts, too. Milled steel is better, but if the stock parts are working, run them as long as they last, then buy the best available replacements properly installed.

4. What is the proper break-in for this piece?
Lubricate well and shoot. Be sure your recoil spring suits your ammo and use a buffer, at least for practice and comps.

5. Am I better off with a barrel bushing or not?
It has a perfectly good bushing now. Leave it alone.

6. Should a GOLD CUP TROPHY be used as a carry gun? or does it fit into the "Competition only" catagory?
As long as you don't mind the weight and rear sight corners, there is no reason not to carry it once you have shot it enough to be confident of its reliability and zero.

7. Is the Network Gas Gun modification any good?
A huge redesign and rebuild of the basic gun with no purpose I can see.

8. Does a melt job weaken the structural integrity of the pistol?
No. I find the Kimber and Clark melt jobs ugly, mine are more lightly beveled, but whatever suits you will make it easier to carry and handle.

9. What is the normal shot life of a 1911 in stainless? (assuming normal SAMMI loads of 45ACP)
Many tens of thousands of rounds for the major components. You might use up some of the stock small parts, but that would just be a chance to have the gun refined a bit after you are well used to it.

10. Why all the hype about VIDEKI triggers? I think Dlask look pretty good myself but ... nuts and bolts, whats the difference?
Videcki was making good consistent triggers before Dlask was ever heard of. Academic now, Videcki is out of production. I gather Mr. V has retired. The Dlask would be a good lightweight trigger for use when/if you have major trigger work done and the Gold Cup sear depressor omitted as most shops do.

My recommendation is to shoot your Colt as much as possible. If it has flaws, get a reliability package from Dane or other gunsmith you trust. Otherwise enjoy it and if you want to, keep a shopping list of improvements to add about this time next year after you know what you are working with. Look at other real guns you can handle, not magazine centerfolds, for ideas.

 

[Sean Smith]

I pretty much agree with everything posted so far. Modern stainless guns are just fine, the problems with stainless were with the earliest production models waaaay back in the day. Your Colt should last pretty much forever and be very very good as is.

From looking at it, the only things I'd be inclined to change would be to add a set of nice hardwood grips, an extended thumb safety and a "real" beavertail grip safety. Everything else would depend on how it acted after puting alot of rounds through it.

 

[Jake Salyards]

Just a few humble thoughts here. Firstly, nice gun you bought. It was designed as more of a target piece than a carry gun, but it should serve you well. I think the gun you bought may have a light recoil spring in there so it will function reliably with light target loads. If you are going to drop in 230 golden sabers or some other defense load you may want to order some wolff extra power recoil springs. Order a couple, they are cheap and a good thing to have laying around. Also, this is just me, but I would order up a few wilson-rogers magazines from wilsoncombat.com
Some people like the 8 rounders, I like the 7 rounders myself. They are both the same size and they are both good gear. A dehorn, properly done, will not harm the integrity of your gun in my opinion. Shoot it first and see what hurts and what is just fine. You may want to think about a different safey if it is for carry. I have in mind an extended thumb safety. I actually prefer the stock colt unit myself, but I am in a distinct minority on that issue. Please bear one thing in mind though (I learned this myself the hard way), If you are going to end up putting a thousand bucks into an already thousand dollar stock gun then do yourself a favor, SELL IT and contact a really good gunsmith and have him build you up a 2 thousand dollar gun from the ground up with your needs in mind. I have actually taken pretty good guns and dumped money into them and had them come back with LESS reliability and LESS function and LESS accuracy than when they were stock... AND I couldn't just take off the parts and make it back into what it was before I started. Be careful who you let operate on your roscoe.

In any case, you have purchased yourself a fine gun in my opinion. Plus, yours, if I remember correctly, doesn't have the front slide serrations, which I think is good as they are useless to me. If it was me (It is NOT me, I know this), but if it was me, I would buy a wolff 18.5 lb recoil spring and put it in there. Then I would get about 500 rds of Sellior and Bellot 230 grain ball ammo and shoot it all up in one or two range sessions. S&B has a grainy powder that I personally thinks helps to break in the moving parts. (I could be high on that though, it is also good ammo that is cheap). I wouldn't even worry in the first several hundred rounds what kind of failures to feed occured as long as I thought the gun was safe to shoot. Then I would call Dane and talk to him about what I wanted to do with it and then if he agreed it was a good idea I would have him:
Do a trigger job on it
Do the "wave" treatment on it
Put in all new springs
Put Heinie sights on it
Give it a dehorn package
Install an ed brown thumb safety

Then I would buy some of Lou Alessi's holsters and get down to some serious training and practice with that badboy.

Of course, if I took it to the range and loved it, then I would just buy some holster from Lou and call it all good. No sense throwing money away. If you are going to leave it stock though, then do yourself a big favor. If you see someone you know at the range and they are shooting a really nice, custom 1911 and they offer to let you try it..... RUN, run away fast and hard until your legs won't carry you anymore. Because once you try the really good stuff you are going to turn into me and then there is going to be financial trouble in your life for years to come. You will be happy, but you will be poor. Could be worse, you could be poor and unhappy.

Nice gun, good luck with it. Jake

 

[Anvil]

Excellent advice!!!!

Strangely enough, the stock thumb safety clicks off every time I want it to. I thought I'd need to put a wide safety on it like I did with my Browning HI Power but it seems it won't be necessary.

I've already ordered a Smith & Alexander grip safety and they threw in a free fitting Jig.

New grips are a must! I've looked around at every material on earth and will probably settle down with Bocate or some bone variant.

The gun of my dreams is NOT a Gold Cup but rather the first one-man-shop custom I ever saw. C.T. Brian commander. That man's work is unbelievable! Well, in truth he has an incredible photographer. The real reason I went with a Gold Cup is the extra wide trigger. I don't know of any other 1911 that has an extra wide trigger but if I had my druthers, I'd have a carbon steel Commander with the Gold Cup trigger parkerized with a competition crisp trigger set at 4.25 pounds and some Heine straight 8's and a tig welded mag well.

I probably won't sell this one only because I have a really bad habbit of falling in love with my guns after I buy them. The one criteria when I bought this piece was that it had to be a lifelong keeper (I was saving for an Springfield M1A). Carrying weight isn't really an issue as I'm 6'3 300lbs.

I'm not eager to spend another 1,000 on this one but if I do, my future son will have that much more gun to pass down to his son.

Oh, and about the happy poverty thing....
OH BOY DO I UNDERSTAND!!! Everytime I go to that damn gunstore and fall in love I'm in the hole for about a month or so.

Expensive guns I thankfully didn't buy: (saved the money then had a change of heart)
Beretta Elite II
Walther P88
Baby Eagle .40
Glock 30
Browning Hi Power .40

Expensive mistakes I've made:
S&W 4043 on a high interest credit card
Glock 35 with BarSto .357 conversion barrel

Mistakes I'd make again:
Cheap Remington 870 12 gauge home protection set up.
Kahr P9 (girlfriends small hands)

Of course with my luck I may be offering the same advice about selling your first 1911 in a few years and be happy yet poorer for it. Actually, I know I'd be happier with a full house gun. I just can't afford it yet. I expect I'll need about $3,500 or so to get what I really want. (At least that's the price I got from Bill Thompson and C.T. Brian)

 

[Dane Burns]

"Really, I don't know what I'm doing so I've got some questions."

No different here.....I'm still asking questions myself :grin:

Welcome aboard!

 

[VoceNoctum]

If you do carry it, the only thing I'd recommend is being extra careful with the wide trigger for holster selection.

I like the Dlask trigger's myself, I have them in all my 1911's.

I put King's ambi's on my Defender, but the other two guns I've got have the factory one sided safety for now, I've played around with it, and decided it serves my purpose just as well.

I'd have suggested a decent kings drop in grip safety to start, but fitting one is just tedious, not difficult. Just make sure you don't go too far :smile:

The new Gold Cups (from what I've heard) don't have the sear plunger, though they still have the special "split" sear & hammer to help protect the sear from abuse.

Colt uses mostly cast parts, few MiM parts. Last count was safety & grip safety IIRC, with a possibility for future use of extractors. I believe most of the trouble's I've heard about Kimber's mim stuff is more from their heat treat process, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Duke]

I think all the advice given so far is on the money. The one major change I made on my Trophy was to get a 1/16 drill bit, measure it and then cut it. I did this to replace the roll pin that Colt uses to anchor the rear sight. My roll pin failed at 450 rounds and needless to say I had to go look for my rear sight. Just put a little tension on it by placing it over a nail and tapping it with a brass hammer then slide it back through the mounting hole. The last Gold Cup I replaced the roll pin in is still shooting after 15 years with no problems with the rear sights.

Enjoy your new toy and welcome to the forum.

 

[gyp_c2]

Welcome to the forum...
Take it out and shoot the crap out of it...If you still like it, shoot the crap out of it consistently 'til it tells you what it needs and enjoy yer' new pistola...

 

[alaska1993]

Although I am also a 1911 newbie, I feel confident saying you don't need to do anything. Sure there are many, many, many neat things you can do but the gun you bought is just fine just as it is. Take the money you save on accessories and go buy some ammo and shoot, shoot, shoot. Have fun.