My Colt CCO was "combat inoperative" when I might have needed it most!!!

D

Dogger

New member
Man, if a problem can develop with a gun, it will develop with mine!

I have a Colt CCO which I absolutely love. Today, after a full day of carry in a fanny pack, I went to store the gun away for the night. First I dropped the magazine, then I went to drop the safety and clear the breech. The safety would not budge. What the?? Come to find out, my plunger tube had come unstaked at the rear of the piece, had slipped away from the frame, and the plunger tube was blocking the safety from disengaging. Had I needed that gun tonight I would have been screwed. Absolutely screwed. I might as well have a 32 ounce brick to throw at an assailant!

My new Glock 30 is going to get some serious attention as candidate for primary carry gun.

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Good decision to go with the G30. I just radiused the sharp edges of the mag release on mine, which makes IWB carry much more comfortable.
 
If you close your eyes the only difference you will feel between a brick and that g30 is the weight.
 
Dogger When cleaning mine I check the ejector and plunger tube for looseness also a good set of 1911 grips will extend up and help hold the plunger tube if it becomes loose.Also this is another good reason to have dry fire routine with your choice of carry for the day if only for a few minutes before you go out.BILLG
 
BillG, an interesting comment. Last week I replaced the factory wood grip panels (which do hold the plunger tube in place) with Hogue wrap arounds (which also partly cover the plunger tube), then put 100 rounds thru the gun at the range. I wonder if those 100 rounds, and the flexibility of the Hogue grips, allowed the plunger tube to work loose? Good recommendation on dry fire and visual inspection (like an aviator's pre-flight I suppose) before taking the gun out of the house. But, man, I sure did expect more robustness from this Colt. I realize that plunger tubes are a weak area, but I have never experienced a loose one with a half dozen 1911s over a lot of years. I will pay better attention in the future, that is for sure!
 
When JMB designed the pistol, he designed the left stock to extend over the plunger tube to hlep keep it in place. I have had a tube come loose but only knew about it when I took the stocks off for a total cleaning. JMB knew what he was doing.

------------------
Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
If JMB had lived longer, he'd have invented what we now call "Glocks". Of course, that would p.o. a lot of very talented and very busy gunsmiths.

Your G30 will fire and save your life when your Colt is a rusty club. (It also shoots 11 times, with no extended mags; not a bad feature.)
 
Dogger--sorry to hear about your CCO, but I wouldn't give up on it. Re-staking, or if necessary replacing, a plunger tube is a straightforward fix. I suggest sending the CCO to Colt's service department, which has done some good work on a couple of my pistols in the last year.

That said, my own primary PDW is a Glock.
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The idea that the left grip of a 1911 type pistol holds or helps to hold the plunger tube is nonsense. The tube is designed to be staked in place and stay in place regardless of the grip piece.

If the tube is made properly and staked properly, it will stay in place forever. This is only the latest instance of the junk that is now being produced to resemble a fine pistol.

Jim
 
I dropped off the CCO to Northern Virginia Gunworks last week and picked it up today. Robert Garrett restaked the plunger tube and gave the gun a thorough inspection: tweaked the extractor, removed a few burrs here and there, did some polishing on the breech face, feed ramp, etc. Gun looks great, I can tell a difference just by locking the slide to the rear and peering inside the ejection port. Cost me less than than $85. I suppose I could have sent the gun to Colt but Lord knows what they would have done or how long it would have taken. Anyway, I am a happy camper and am looking forward to a trip to the range. :)
 
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