How do you make a Colt better?

[contender]

You turn it into a Ruger of course!

I recently won a Series 80 Colt Commander stainless at our FoNRA banquet. Now,,, I have a few other 1911's,,, so the Colt wasn't needed. Besides,,, when I put it in the safe,,, I heard the Rugers whispering a bit about a lynching. (Wasn't sure if they meant me or the Colt.) So,,, I sold the Colt,,, and went shopping.
I have a bunch of SA's,, and none of the ones I found were something I didn't have or needed. No OM's appeared either. But in the case at this one out of the way gun shop was a sweet looking GP-100 Match Champion. When I asked to see it,,, the owner allowed I could,,, but it had been put on layaway shortly before & he just hadn't taken it out of the case & stored it.
I looked it over,, and asked if he could get another one. He looked online,, showed me the distributor's inventory & pricing,, and said to add $35 to that price. He could have it by Friday. Well,,, yesterday I went back in there to pick up my GP-100 Match Champion. It had arrived & wasn't out in the case or anything.
It's my 1st GP-100,,, and it fits just fine around the Security Series I own as well as the SP-101's. They all welcomed him into the safe w/o any negative comments. No disgruntled players in there now!
The fit & finish is excellent. The trigger is not bad for a production gun,, with a little creep & heaviness. I can lighten it a bit with a spring assy,,, and it'll smooth out with a bit of shooting. Once I get it broken in with several hundred rounds,,, we'll see if it needs more attention to the action.

The good part is that I sold the Colt for more than I paid for the GP. Money in my pocket! But,,,,,,there is a sad thing too. That money as well as other cash will slip away from me all too soon. See,,, when I went in the shop,,, they had just taken in a NICE OM 30 carbine, in the box,,, and I believe it's never been fired. Complete package except for the shipper. It went on layaway immediately. AND,,, I need to look at a few of my other 30 carbines,,, to see if what I saw is normal or if I just snagged a variation that is a bit uncommon.
Ok,, ok,,, ok,,, I know it's NOT a sad thing to find a sweet OM in the box for an obscenely low price. But I won't disclose just how obscene it was! Family Forum & all!

But I made a Colt better!!!!!!!!

 

[eveled]

Awesome! I think you will enjoy that GP, and look forward to hearing about the om carbine variation you eluded to.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Be sure to leave some tissues in the safe when you take that GP-100 Match Champion out shooting. I'm sure the others will be jealous for quite a while.

 

[Tom W]

I believe it is called " layawake"!

 

[Jim Puke]

Questionable sum resulting from supposed reasonable deduction.

Whatever spins your wheels... :roll:

 

[Captain America]

I love my Match Champion, cleaned and lubed it, good to go.

 

[George Tucker]

I have quite a few Rugers of course, but I once had 2 Colt series 70 Gold cups, they were both fine guns, I guess I just like firearms, can think of worse things.

 

[wwb]

As long as it was a series 80, it's okay to send it on down the road..... had it been a series 70, you shoulda talked to me first!!

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

RLM! Ruger Lives Matter...

Rick C

 

[contender]

RLM!!!!!!!!!!

I love it!

Ok, Despite some downer news today,, I decided to take the GP out & see how it felt. After almost 200 rounds,,, I was pleased to find it's settling right in. Now it needs cleaning,,, and that will come later tonight.
I also checked my other 30 Carbine OM's to see if they were like the one I just found. Alas,, no new variation. All are the same.

Oh,,, The Colt being a series 80 was a no brainer in letting it go. A series 70,,, well,,,, it would have left as well,, but not as easily. I will say that I looked over the Colt pretty good, and was a bit disappointed. The fit & finish of it,,, reminded me of a few of the complaints I've heard about Rugers. Rough finish, sharp edges where they should be a bit smoother, & in general disappointing in the QC of the gun.
But the GP was just fine! No issues as far as I can see!

 

[Kevin]

Great find Contender! I'm surprised to read it's your first GP100.

 

[contender]

Kevin,,, my focus has been the SA's and older Rugers. So, yes,, this was my first GP-100. I do have some of the Security Series guns.

 

[gramps]

Great find Contender! I'm surprised to read it's your first GP100.

Ditto. The GP-100 are great! 8) The only downside for me was the weight when carrying. You could shoot Magnum rounds all day with it. .38's felt like .22's in mine a blued, 4 inch, full lugged barrel. Did I mention it was the most accurate gun I have ever owned. I sold it when I needed money. :shock: Curses Red Baron! :evil:
gramps

 

[contender]

Funny,, the weight doesn't bother me at all. Of course,,, I don't mind tucking a SA 45 in my belt either. I will say I shot a total of 240 rounds at one setting. All older medium range lead loads. This ammo was loaded about 10 years ago, commercial lead slugs. Well, due to a few things,,, I got a huge amount of lead build up in the bore. Been cleaning it all day,,, off & on. Still got a little to go. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm going to burn up all my older ammo & stuff to where it'll only get powder coated slugs after this.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Sounds like a fine choice! When I turned 18 my Dad asked me what I would like and my choice was the GP100 we have here. I like the weight, the 4" barrel and the grips are among the best I have felt and used.

 

[contender]

Well Wendy, I had to look at my collection & decide what I was "missing." While my main focus is on the SA's,,, I do have some SP-101's, a couple of Security-Sixes, a Speed-Six, a couple of Redhawks & a Super Redhawk. I even have a LCR. So I realized I didn't have a GP-100 in any form, and the FoNRA package this year has a GP-100 in it & it gave me ideas. While the FoNRA gun is nice,,, I made the mistake of handling the Match Champion. I really liked it over the NRA gun. It was more expensive,,,, (Dollar value wise,) but it sure was nice. So, the Colt found a new home & the GP-100 was welcomed into the fold. The night of our FoNRA event,,, I'd offered to swap my Colt to the guy who got the GP-100 in our auction. He'd been considering it.

I finally got the rest of the lead out of the barrel this morning,,, after all night soaking in Hoppes #9. Now to dirty it up again,,, but just not that bad.