ltwguns.com

I have had this Cotl 1991A1 for several years and thought it was a pretty decient gun......

..... then I aquired this....


and the old Colt dont seem to keep up.
What can I do to get it up to par?
I want it to shoot as good,feel as smooth,add night sights,maybe a ambi safety,combat hammer/beaver tail and I'm thinking of hard chrome.

Anyone have any suggestions?

It seems like you know what you want. I would agree with everything
except the hard chrome and ambi safety.

There is no need for hard chrome on a stainless gun and the ambi safties tend to break.

other then that just send it to a good smith and it will run just as good as your kimber.

Oh one other thing - have the front strap checkered its expensive but is worht he money.

_________________
http://www.landsharkleather.com/
Building Hand Crafted Leather for the 1911 Platform

If it was mine, I'd have an Ed Brown thumb safety and grip safety installed, along with Heinie sights, and a Yost-Bonitz hammer & sear set. I would also have the frontstrap serrated or checkered. Finally, I would have it bead-blasted to a more matte stainless finish as opposed to the hard chrome. Maybe some new grips too. I would take the Colt with that work over the Kimber any day.

I'd sell the Kimber and send the money along with the Colt to YOBO.

_________________
"Semper Fi"

I'd ditch the Kimber in a heartbeat and sink the money you make into the Colt. Send it to the YOBO guys and in a few months, you will have a gun that will far outlast the MIMber, I mean Kimber.

I'm not trying to put down your Kimber, I just think your money would be better spent selling it and building up the Colt.

_________________
Hard work pays off

It's a shame that the Colt needs to be worked over to get up to par .

I realize this is a site dedicated to those who sponsor it, but if the Kimber is enough to make you happy, and you don't want to spend several hundred dollars and months waiting, sell the Colt instead and buy a lot of amo with it along with non-MIM parts to replace the ones prone to breakage. Then practice and get real good with your Kimber, and call it good.

If on the other hand you must have a squared away Colt. Sell the Kimber to fund the Colt project, and you'll have a unique and awesome piece of hardware from a tallented 'smith to be proud of.

Either way, don't forget to practice .

Lenny

_________________
Show 'em where you live....

I have to agree completely with Lenny on this one. As much as I love custom 1911s, it is, indeed, a shame that Colts need so much work to make them feel, shoot, or even look right. Not that some aren't totally reliable out of the box, but from my experience they just don't have it together. If only Colt would sell oversized frames, slides, and barrels as components... Hmmmmmmm.

That being said, the Kimber, if it runs right as is, should serve you well until you get good enough to justify having the work done on it or the Colt.

Scot,

I have to politely disagree with you on the MIM parts on the Kimber. I have seen many more failed Colt factory "forged" parts than I have MIM Kimber (McCormick) parts. I have a 10mm Caspian commander-sized gun that has over 7k rounds of full power ammo through it, along with countless lower recoil ammo. It is as snug and smooth as the day I first shot it, and the trigger just as crisp. It has McCormick MIM small parts throughout, to include the slide stop. I can't speak for everyone who owns a gun with MIM parts, but I really, truly think the whole MIM argument is much to do about nothing. FWIW, regardless of what Colt says, they use a good bit of MIM in ther guns, too, as I stil have all the small parts pulled from my WWI repro that was rebuilt. Why didn't I keep the MIM in that one? Because the parts were so poorly fit that they had to be replaced.

USMCSKI, just remember that even though the Colt needs a bit of work to be up to snuff with the Kimber, resale will almost always be better with the Colt. Sad to say, but quite true.

Just my boring $0.02

~Jim Keeney

_________________
"I'd rather die on my feet than keep living on my knees." - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Revolutionary

No problem Jim, not everyone has had problem with MIM. I have a Springfield with MIM that has never broke a thing. I have broke MIM on a Kimber. In fact, the only time I have ever witnessed MIM parts break, it has been with a Kimber.

bp1911 on this forum has broke numerous Kimber MIM parts, maybe he will chime in. MIM parts correctly done seem to work well, unfourtunately, is seems as if Kimber has not figured out how to do MIM correctly.

My feeling is that for the price Kimber charges for their guns, you get far too many MIM parts of questionable strength. I'll accept MIM parts on a $450 Springfield Mil Spec, but not on a $1300 Kimber Raptor.

As for McCormick MIM parts, after talking with him at SHOT, and hearing from many different users on their experiences with his parts, it seems he has perfected the manufacturing of quality MIM components. Again, maybe bp1911 with chime in, as he spoke more indepth with Chip on his new manufacturing machines and how he goes about making his MIM parts.

Anyways back on topic. I still feel you will be much better served with upgrading the Colt. If for nothing else, it will easily hold its resale if you ever need to sell it. After you sink all the money in the Kimber, I'll go out on a ledge here and say that you will not get it back out. If any of the smiths on this forum work on your gun, you will easily be able to sell it in a matter of days, if not hours.

Learn from my mistakes. Just send the Colt in and be done with it. Kepp the Kimber stock and just shoot it. If something breaks, replace it. I'll no longer spend any money upgrading/having custom work done to anything but a Colt.

_________________
Hard work pays off

Thats what I plan to do....the Kimber is a shooter as is...the Colt... I want it to shoot,look,feel better than the Kimber.

I think I have cought the 1911 bug after looking around on this and other 1911 forums ....so many functional works of art!!!

Now ...if I just could afford more toys!!!

Interesting. MIM is excellent for some things, bad choice for others.
I think a Colt is an excellent platform for up grades. The reason is that some people who's opinion I respect, think that. Seems to me that you have a very high end Kimber to play with that needs nothing at all. I do understand why you want to spend more money on a S/S Colt 1911.
I agree with Jim about the silly MIM rumours. Better get use to it because those parts are going to be around forever, now.
You have some of the best smiths in the business here at your disposal and they need to work for a living. This is what they do! Pick one, send him or her your Colt, and spend some money on it!
Get R Dun!

Ahh….. the old MIM discussion.

Well let me preface this by saying that I own both Kimbers and Colts and I have had more than my share of issues with MIM parts. After a lengthy discussion with Chip this year at “Shot” I learned quite a lot about MIM and its manufacturing process. Kimber did at one point in time (very early years) used McCormick MIM parts and they held up well. However in an effort to reduce costs they have long since (Pre series II) switched to other suppliers. After talking with Chip it my may well be that well manufactured MIM parts could hold up and do just fine. MIM parts from one supplier do not equal MIM from another supplier and there do seem to be huge variances in the quality of MIM parts. With that being said, I have been soured by personal experience and have chosen to only carry guns with key parts (slide stop, thumb safety, and fire control parts) manufactured from forged parts from reputable sources. I have personally had three MIM slide stops break, two thumb safeties (one ambi and one standard) and one grip safety. I have since had all suspect parts switched out. I am biased against MIM and Series II Kimbers but to each his own. I would personally sell the Kimber to fund the purchase of a Rock River or Les Baer and send the Colt off to one of the local smiths on this board. That way you will have a rock solid range/carry gun with the RRA or LB and you will have a custom "one off" Colt that you will cherish for years to come.

Just my .02

I agree to the Sell the Kimber and trick out the colt. Especially if the Kimber is a II. I do not like the firing pin safety they have.