MGC's Colt MkIV / Series 70 Government Model .45 Automatic

Post by Garyforce

Hello all
Ok here’s Gary’s next review of the guns i own
next to bat....
MGC’S COLT MKIV / SERIES 70 GOVERNMENT MODEL .45 AUTOMATIC
a.k.a.
THE COLT 1911
(pictured below)
Specs
Length: 21.6 cms / 8 1/2" (muzzle to butt)
Barrel: 12.7 cm / 5" (full length / open)
Weight: 545g (approx)
Materials: Shock resistant abs & zinc alloy
Grip: Plastic (wood grips are available)
Comments
Ok firstly …..it has to be said ….. this is the gun that everybody owns and if you don’t WHAT PLANET ARE YOU LIVING ON !
This is ‘THE’ Automatic pistol. A comfortable weight & grip and a sleek practical no nonsense automatic.
Loading
Loading the colt is the same as most of you will be familiar. The gun takes the .45 caliber carts which you 1st unscrew, remove the ‘firing pin’, then taking a 7mm cap face up and pushing down the cartridge all that remains is to put the pin back and screw the cart back together. Having primed eight cartridges you simply push them into the magazine, slot the mag into the bottom of the butt and your done.
Firing
firstly you need to chamber a round and that’s as easy as pulling the slide back and letting it go ! this motion sets the hammer back….. now .... pull the trigger !
As this is a semi automatic pistol you can obviously just keep pulling the trigger until you’ve gone through all 8 round the whole process can be over in say ……… 6 seconds provided of course she doesn’t jam on you … but that can happy with any gun and so far I have found this gun pretty reliable.

Cleaning
The 1911 strips down easily.
First pull the slide back far enough so that the ‘curved’ cut out in the slide aligns with the right hand edge of the slide stop catch. Then from the opposite side of the slide you can push out the stop catch. You should now be able to remove the slide from the gun.
Next you can remove the spring and by pushing in the ‘button’ just bellow the barrel will allow you to remove the barrel bushing. From there you can now rotate and remove the ‘button’, then the barrel.
Next step is to remove the grips, the heavyweight ‘plates’ will then simply fall out.
Finally you can begin to remove the hammer and the trigger
As I have said before …… as you remove the hammer & trigger its important (if not referring to instructions) to make note of how the parts of the hammer & trigger fit together ! and be warned ... putting them back together is a fiddley business !
Next, clean and oil the gun using whatever cleaning solution / oil you prefer. (Again i would recommend marks cleaning technique of hot water, baking soda & vinegar)
Then once we are cleaned and oiled .... put it all back together ....and voila ! (oh and once again….. make sure you get the hammer and trigger back together correctly because it’s a right pain in the backside when you put the damn thing back together and it doesn’t fire because you’ve messed it up the voice of experience there hehe ! )
Over all
ok …….so what can we say about the 1911.
Well … as I said earlier….this is ‘THE’ semi automatic pistol…. If you don’t have this modelgun in some form or another then the question has to be why not !
There are more variations on the 1911 than I can count depending on your particular preference. I must say though it is important that once purchasing your 1911 that you either make sure it comes with or you acquire as soon as possible wooden grips ! ……. These make the gun and just give it that finish and feel that we all love
The gun fires well …. Loads easily ….. strips easy enough, though fiddley (but you expect that !) …… does jam on occasion but again …. You should expect that to happen from time to time due to cart misfires etc. All round though …. A cracking pistol 8/10
Additional note
Sods law that after I took this picture and fired the gun ….. the slide snapped clean in two ! L I have no idea how or why but I am gutted !
Fortunately as I said …. As there are so many versions of this model spares are common so hopefully I’ll get this fixed in the next week or so J

Post by Mark

Nice review Gary!

Bad bit of luck there on the slide though..Where did it break at the ejection port or? And how many rounds have you fired through it since you bought it? I hope that you won't have to pay very much for a spare slide and that you can get one fairly soon.

I have fired my MGC Colt series 70 Combat Commander very rarely, and i would hate to have that break on me as i love shooting it as well as my other HW modelguns as they have much more recoil than the ABS versions.

Good luck on the slide replacement!
_________________
Wanted to buy: MGC Sten MK3....trades?(still)

MGC MP40 Marushin MP40 Nakata MP40 TRC MP40

Modelgun manufacturers, past and present:CMC,CAW,Hudson,HWS,LS,MGC(R.I.P. 1960's~2007) Marushin,Marui,Kokusai,Shoei,Tanaka and Western Arms

Post by Garyforce

hi mark

iv'e not fired my 1911 all that much ! ..... it was second hand (and came free with my thompson so you cant fault the price )

as for were it snapped

it was exactly at the point of the ‘curved’ cut out in the slide. and at first it was just a clean crack right up the left hand side !

i didn't notice at 1st till one of the carts jammed i then looked ...... gasped ..... and felt like i wanted to cry !

but the most damage was done when i came to remove the jam .... as i tryed to gently pull the slide forward .... the whole front half of the slide came clean off in my hand !

i was gutted ........ still........ i guess that that was a long time comming probably ! :s ..... and ill get it fixed with a new slide so no worrys really
_________________
- Gary

Post by Claymore

My USP slide cracked at the top of the frame, only cosmetic and does not stop it working (i have another frame on order). My series 70 chrome and Kimber model had a lot of breakages with barrels and when it happend the round was trapped and put pressure on the frame. Fortunatly the frame did not break but i can see how a jam would cause the problem.

These HW models are good but the fact that zinc powder is added to the plastic causes the frame to be very brittle i think and put pressure in the right place and something goes.

Again mate nice reviews keep them coming

Post by Mark

I suppose that when you fire the modelguns alot you will break parts or at least wear them out to the extent that you have to at least replace parts. I really try not to shoot my plastic handguns very much as the breakage potential is there and since i don't really have a good source of spare parts, i have to make them or try to repair the broken pieces

claymore, you might want to buy a spare barrel for your USP because they are known to break especially after the slide cracks in the area that you describe. Also, i have seen the trigger break at the side bows so, i try not to shoot it much double action. Is your USP a HW?

Post by Claymore

Yes it the HW version and yes i have a spare barrel already just in case.