ltwguns.com

No pretty pictures. Can the gunsmiths here provide thier thoughts on the fitting and quality of the current crop of Colt barrels, the Series-70 repros to be specific.
What are they made of ?

I prefer stainless because of where I live... Match barrels are nice and do contribute to the feel of a pistol. But, if a factory barrel shoots 2" and you are a 2" shooter, it's probably money wasted.

Thanks.

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Julian

I'm not a gunsmith, but the barrel in my new-production series 80 is very accurate. The fit does not seem to be as tight as it could be, but it shoots right about 2" at 25 yards if I do my part. With Federal Tactical ammo it shoots a little tighter. I'm sure I could get more accuracy out of a Kart, but I don't think it would be of any real value to me. Bushing to slide fit is the tightest I've ever had in a Colt, bushing to barrel fit is okay.

Julian, I've had pretty good luck with the current crop of Colt barrels, which I believe are all carbon. How well any one barrel will shoot is a little bit of a crap shoot though. You know ahead of time that a Kart (or whatever brand you prefer) is going to shoot lights-out if the 'smith does his job. The Colt, well you expect it to, but you won't know it up front.

If one has a barrel testing fixture, you can determine the barrel's accuracy potential ahead of time, but you may still have to do some fitting to the gun to realize that potential. If you are going to spend any money fitting the stock barrel, then you aren't too far from just spending the difference to fit a Kart.

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

thanks guys !

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Julian

John, are you sure that Colt current Colt barrels are Carbon Steel as opposed to Stainless Steel?

I have to new production Colts and they certainly appear to be stainless steel.

Regards,
Cameron

Sure? Heck no, not anymore. And about every time I want to say that I am, I slap myself, until I recover my senses.

But I do have a stainless Series '70 waiting for the bench and I'll try some cold blue on it's barrel and see what happens. I also know the hammers on the stainless Series '70's are/were carbon steel that were plated. I also know that one particular Series '70 (re-issue) turned blue in the tanks with the rest of the pistol.

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

Julian,

Most current Colt barrels in 45 ACP provide very good accuracy when properly bushed up tight and crowned. Accuracy enough to satisfy most 'practical' uses. If you're building a shooter and are on a budget (vs. a no holds barred on a full house build), I'd suggest you try the Colt barrel, bushed and crowned by a good smith, first.

The blue 70's come with carbon. The NRM 1991's come with stainless, regardless of the pistol's finish.

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Stan Chen Customs
http://www.chencustoms.com

The barrel hood-to-slide fit was so sloppy in the last two NRM Seires 70 guns I have that the lug cuts in the slide would have been battered very quickly. I can understand things not being match tight, but it was far from spec. Needless to say, both guns have Kart barrels fitted to them now.

Here's an example of what a stock Colt barrel can do if used with a fitted barrel bushing.

Nice job Jason.

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