Handling comparisons,series 70 vs series 80

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ShowNoMercy

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Hi everybody! 20 years ago I had a Colt government series 70 in nickel in .45 Just bought series 80 Colt stainless commander. So here's what I come up with from memory. 1) While the government pointed very well,the commander point a little better to me,I guess the 3/4 in. Difference in slide and barrel makes a difference,plus commander is lighter,obviously. 2) vertical slide serrations are there on both. 3) had spur hammer n half #### on government,never used it,dangerous in my opinion,commander has no half ####,good.4) commander has oval type hammer, not rounded like old commanders.5) ejection port seems a little lower than government if I remember correctly. 6) grip safety there on both guns.7) Sights on government were garbage,I had to use black sharpie to give me some contrast so I could hit with bloody thing,commander has 3 dot white sights.8) my government had a different bushing when you strip it,you know the bushing with the fins,I haven 't striped the commander but I assume it's a solid bushing. Can't give you a shooting comparison as commander is still a virgin til I get home. If memory serves right, I was getting in the area of 3 inches at 25 yards. But that was 20 years ago,and maybe I can't hit a barn with a handgun now,lol! Anyway this is only a comparison from only a handling point of view.Take care everyone!
 
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They'll both have a half #### notch. As the Commander is newer the sights are better. Personally, the short barrelled Colts work better for me, both Commanders and Officers versions. Although I find the correct combination of mainspring housing and grips make at least as much difference. Aside from the different firing pin safety on the Series 80, the mechanics of the guns are pretty much identical. Some versions of the newer pistols will have lower ejection ports as you mentioned. Really, the main difference is the more difficult task of getting a good trigger job because of the extra parts in the Series 80. Other then that pretty much the same gun. - dan
 
The old style bushings were a problem. Sometimes one of the 'fingers' on the bushing would break off and jam the gun up good. While I can't swear that Colt hasn't done away with the half #### feature I would be very surprised if they have. You might want to verify that the missing half #### feature is supposed to be that way and that no one has fiddled around with the hammer.

I, too would get rid of the series 80 trigger/firing pin parts & replace them with series 70 parts.
 
dan belisle said:
I've heard that about the collet bushings since the late sixties, and I've owned more 1911's then I can remember. In all that time I've never had one break. I can see how it would, and I've seen pics, but I think it's a relatively rare failure mode. - dan
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I suspect it's pretty rare too. I think the trouble is if it does happen there may be almost no way (short of a hammer) to get the gun apart. I've never heard of a regular bushing failing and with them being so cheap the collet bushing probably falls into the "answer to a question no one's asking" category.
 
ted_dent said:
I've never heard of a regular bushing failing...
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I've had a regular bushing fail. The bottom portion that holds the guide rod plug in place broke off and sent the plug and recoil spring down range. It didn't jam up the pistol, though.
 
Curmudgeon said:
I've had a regular bushing fail. The bottom portion that holds the guide rod plug in place broke off and sent the plug and recoil spring down range. It didn't jam up the pistol, though.
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That got to be a pretty rare occurrence. :eek: At least if the flange breaks off a conventional bushing it has nowhere to go except away from the gun. When the collet fingers broke off they had nowhere to go except inside the gun which was not good. :mad:
 
I trust the half #### more than I do the safety. Just keep your free thumb between hammer and firing pin while setting it.
 
After a friend had his Series '70 collet bushing break, I put a solid bushing into my 1911 and put the collet into my parts stash.

I recently found a use for it - in my GSG 1911, where it is doing a good job with the after market barrel bushing.

dan belisle said:
I've heard that about the collet bushings since the late sixties, and I've owned more 1911's then I can remember. In all that time I've never had one break. I can see how it would, and I've seen pics, but I think it's a relatively rare failure mode. - dan
Click to expand...
 
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