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Colt Defender
- Thread starter MrTW
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The rangemaster at my club let me fire his Defender this past summer. Thing kicked like hell. Also fired the compact Para-whatever # it is the same night. Huge difference in recoil. Same load also...
I prefer Glocks so my vote goes to the 30 or the 36 if it ever makes it to the market.
Colt Defender is a beautiful looking piece though.
I prefer Glocks so my vote goes to the 30 or the 36 if it ever makes it to the market.
Colt Defender is a beautiful looking piece though.
I owned one for a few months. It is an attractive piece... I experienced alot of feeding failures, but really, it was nothing a little tinkering wouldn't have fixed. I now own a Kimber Ultra Carry. Also experienced a few failures, but this time, I did the tinkering, and it works. I had bad luck with a couple Wilson magazines, but the Kimber nickel plated mag and a Colt mag with the metal follower work fine. What I did was: Polish breechface, ramp, and chamber. The Colt, I think runs $600, the Kimber was $700; used (as new) with night sights.
Beretta Boy
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I would have seriously considered the gun a year ago, but (at my gun store at least) the prices on Colt have sky rocketed lately... they're just not worth it to me for the price.
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"...you're thinkin was that 5 shots or was it 6? Well, you've gotta ask yourself one question: Do you feel lucky??? ...Well, do ya PUNK!?!?
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"...you're thinkin was that 5 shots or was it 6? Well, you've gotta ask yourself one question: Do you feel lucky??? ...Well, do ya PUNK!?!?
Ive found .45acp in compact just is a little over the line. (without lightening the loads). Ive a Defender in .40 S/W and have enjoyed it alot/points super/very controlled shooting. Chambering, no problems. The slide is tight and the weight suits me very well. Didnt think Id ever go for anything but a 5" 1911 .45 period.(which I shoot daily)
Mr TW
I can't comment on the Colt Defender - other than to say I consider it a great looking gun.
But I can comment on 45 cal in a 3" barrel. I own a Kimber Ultra Carry, the smallest Kimber. I bought it (and the larger Kimber Gold Match) in the last six months.
The most important feature of the Ultra Carry, in my mind, is its recoil system which involves a double spring and dramatically reduces recoil.
I switched from a PPK/S in .380 to the UC .45 because I felt pressured to come up with some kind of super bullseye to the head with .380 to stop a BG. With a .45 I felt all I had to do was get one good shot in the thoracic cavity -- a much easier shot.
The PPK/S, although a much smaller caliber, had a truly uncomfortable kick. After two mags your hand felt like it had been pounded with a hammer.
I just accepted the idea that the .45 would be equally unpleasant to shoot and focused on the fact that the contemplated use -- self defense -- did not include pleasantness in the specs. Spec #1 was - stop the BG.
Big surprise was that the Ultra Carry had LESS recoil in .45 than the PPK/S in .380.
There is an extended technical review of the Ultra Carry in Soldier of Fortune magazine for last month. It explains the double spring recoil system and the rest of the Ultra Carry.
You will see a lot of Kimber flames on this board and elsewhere. I never know whether the flames reflect a random lemon on Kimber's part, ineffective gun handling by the flamer, or what. All I know is that the two Kimbers I have purchased both operate perfectly.
I should add that I also discount some of the criticism of the Colt product line generally as being a reaction to their perceived political weakness. It is entirely possible that the Defender is a great gun. The one post above complaining about recoil is important, to me anyway.
I have been very tempted to buy an older Colt 70 series in either Gold Cup or Officer's model. I wouldn't let the politics of the company keep me from buying what I thought was a quality firearm, especially one that was in the secondary market.
Let us know what you decide. And how satisfied you are after you get to the range.
I can't comment on the Colt Defender - other than to say I consider it a great looking gun.
But I can comment on 45 cal in a 3" barrel. I own a Kimber Ultra Carry, the smallest Kimber. I bought it (and the larger Kimber Gold Match) in the last six months.
The most important feature of the Ultra Carry, in my mind, is its recoil system which involves a double spring and dramatically reduces recoil.
I switched from a PPK/S in .380 to the UC .45 because I felt pressured to come up with some kind of super bullseye to the head with .380 to stop a BG. With a .45 I felt all I had to do was get one good shot in the thoracic cavity -- a much easier shot.
The PPK/S, although a much smaller caliber, had a truly uncomfortable kick. After two mags your hand felt like it had been pounded with a hammer.
I just accepted the idea that the .45 would be equally unpleasant to shoot and focused on the fact that the contemplated use -- self defense -- did not include pleasantness in the specs. Spec #1 was - stop the BG.
Big surprise was that the Ultra Carry had LESS recoil in .45 than the PPK/S in .380.
There is an extended technical review of the Ultra Carry in Soldier of Fortune magazine for last month. It explains the double spring recoil system and the rest of the Ultra Carry.
You will see a lot of Kimber flames on this board and elsewhere. I never know whether the flames reflect a random lemon on Kimber's part, ineffective gun handling by the flamer, or what. All I know is that the two Kimbers I have purchased both operate perfectly.
I should add that I also discount some of the criticism of the Colt product line generally as being a reaction to their perceived political weakness. It is entirely possible that the Defender is a great gun. The one post above complaining about recoil is important, to me anyway.
I have been very tempted to buy an older Colt 70 series in either Gold Cup or Officer's model. I wouldn't let the politics of the company keep me from buying what I thought was a quality firearm, especially one that was in the secondary market.
Let us know what you decide. And how satisfied you are after you get to the range.
I owned a Colt Defender this last summer. It was very accurate, with significant recoil. I shot it as well as any other larger 1911 I've owned, though, that hadn't been tricked up for competition. The problem I had was with failure to feeds. We believe that the newly designed spring system that helped the 3" Defender control the recoil, also affected the positive slamming of the slide, so it wouldn't properly chamber a new round. This occured once in every 2 or at most 3 shots.
My gunsmith replaced the spring system with the standard 1911 spring and pin, but it didn't significantly improve things. I traded the weapon soon after. Since then, I've heard of others having similar problems. It was a good shooter though.
My gunsmith replaced the spring system with the standard 1911 spring and pin, but it didn't significantly improve things. I traded the weapon soon after. Since then, I've heard of others having similar problems. It was a good shooter though.
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