report on Charles Daly .45

B

bubbaturbo

New member
From some of the other posts I think there are several of you that might be interested in Charles Daly pistols so here goes. When I first saw one several months ago, I was not impressed. Yesterday I saw another one. It had a very good or even excellent finish. The slide to barrel fit was quite good and the trigger was not bad. There were no machining marks on anything that I could see. It does have 3 places where the slide serrations are not complete leaving a little web of metal running from one rib to the next. Its improved appearance made me decide to give it a try. It came with two 8 round Mecgar mags. I stripped it today in order to clean it before its first shooting. The mainspring housing retaining pin came out in two pieces. It probably fractured during initial assembly since the holes in the metal housing were not perpendicular to the long axis of the housing and the pin had to bend in order to make it out the other side. For now I have replaced the pin and put in an old Colt plastic housing I had lying around. Then I noticed that the slide stop would not contact the plunger assembly. I should have seen this in the store but the magazine would raise the slide stop and gravity would pull it down when no magazine was inserted and so it appeared to function OK. I don't like extended stops anyhow and replaced it with an Ed Brown stop I already had. It works OK I think. One grip screw bushing came out with a grip screw. Between cleaning and replacing parts I didn't get out to shoot it yet although I don't have such high hopes now about how it will function. I'll try to shoot it tomorrow and report back.
 
Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I also bought a Charles Daily. The gun malfunctioned right out of the box in ways that didn't even make sense. The short story is that I sent the gun back to the importer three times, once with a video tape of me shooting it as it messed up. It would jam on almost every magazine. KBI (the importer) insisted that there was nothing wrong with it and I was limp wristing. The dealer I bought the gun from and a couple of gun smiths said this was rediculous. Once I lent the gun to the dealer to see if it would function for him. It actually broke while he tested it. Finally KBI sent me a new gun.This one started jaming right away but at least consistently. Probably just a weak spring, will probably be an easy fix. Anyway I gave it to the dealer and asked him to send it to a smith and fix it. No way I'll send it back to KBI. No way I'll buy anything they sell either. Ever.
 
bubbaturbo, i am interested in your results after fixing the Chs Daly. I was considering purchasing one in the Commander size after foolishly selling my Colt Officer Model last year. (Dang) Any other shooters' reports on the CD in the newer guns would be appreciated!!
 
Hi all - I had the misfortune of shooting a Charles Daly .45 last year. Two rounds would stovepipe in each magazine with a variety of ammo, most often with CCI Blazer 230 gr. Because of this, I can't describe the accuracy because I was always anticipating a malfunction and not concentrating on accuracy. It did have a nice trigger!

The owner told me he later replaced the recoil spring and bought some Chip McCormick magazines and the pistol now functions flawlessly. Good luck with yours.
 
Wow...real eye opener guys--sorry to hear of your misfortune. Fine design the 1911 is ; certainly one of the best ever and some of us would say the best period, but it does have to be made right...good luck & keep us posted.
 
Hmmm . . . I almost bought one of these. Now that I won that Glock, I've decided to wait and save up for Springfield or Kimber, since I've got a good handgun and can wait years if necessary for my next one. On the good side, TFL is obviously growing well since a few months ago when I asked this question very few members had direct experience with CD. Of those, several were very happy with them--is it possible that as finish improved the internals and QC got worse?
 
In my life I've found that you get what you pay for, and buying quality always costs the least.

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"All my ammo is factory ammo"
 
I have written volumes on the Charles Daly...I owned one of the early imports and it was terrible! Thanks to EGW and George Smith, the gun was made reliable and I sold it after about 800 rounds.

A month or so ago I spotted a new CD at a gun show in Salem, Va. It was beautiful. It had be dehorned and all the sharp edges (external) were gone. I bought the gun for $309 and took it home for inspection. I found the same anomolies internally that I had found with the earlier gun. I decided that rebuilding the CD would be my winter project.

I ordered all my parts form EGW and McCormick. Both have super service and within a couple of days I was ready to start my project. With the help of an old Marine friend (who knows 1911A1s a helluva lot better than I) we fitted and replaced the firing pin stop which was flopping about in it's seat. I used an oversized EGW firing pin stop and an EGW extractor.

The firing pin stop and extractor will take care of most CD malfunctions. (polish the breechface while the extractor is out)

A new McCormick hammer, sear, and trigger were installed. This eliminates that terrible "bite" that the CD trigger has and smooths up the whole trigger operation. I tweaked an EGW sear spring and a 4 lb trigger resulted. There's a little pretravel that I will adjust out on my next venture inside the gun.

An EGW barrel bushing was fitted and accuracy is great!

An EGW full length guide rod and 18 lb recoil spring and lots of cycling have helped smooth up the slide frame feel.

For a tad over $400. I have a beautiful 191A1 that is accurate, and reliable. I have now fired over 300 rounds through it without the slightest sign of a malfunction. I don't think I made a mistake....

When looking at Charles Dalys, look for a melted, de-horned finish on the outside, and the serial number should begin with CD...This would be one of the later models.

I've never dealt with KBI for warranty. I worried that they might replace parts with parts of Phillipine OEM quality...

I hope this help!
 
I shot the pistol today. By the way, the manual states that "the frame, slide and other action parts are made by precision investment casting and CNC-machined". It also states that it is chambered for "45 ACP cartridges in the round nose configuration". Accordingly, I first fired 50 rounds of Winchester 230 gr FMJ, 50 rounds of Federal 230 gr FMJ, and 50 rounds of Blazer 230 gr FMJ. I had no malfunctions of any kind. Although I did not shoot from a rest or try to determine how accurate it was, the gun seemed to shoot consistently where it was pointed. I then switched to some Federal Hi-Shok 230 gr JHP (not Hydra-Shock). The manual states that using other than round nose configuration ammo might require the adjustment of the barrel feed ramp by a gunsmith. No kidding! I could never get the gun to feed the first round from the magazine. I dropped one in the barrel (yeah, I know) several times and after it got started it would (mostly) continue to feed. After I strip and clean it I'll report back on what it looked like inside as far as wear and breakages go.
 
Hey bubba, (always wanted to say that ! ;))
How much was your Daly ?
And from where, so I can point any interested parties to the source. :)

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"The Gun from Down Under !"
http://www.para1911fanclub.w3.to/
E-mail hotshot_2000@hotmail.com
Alternate E-mail
HS2000@ausi.com
 
Gordon,

Right now it looks like Gregory Monte at Jersey City Armory has the best deal on a new CD @ $320 plus $9.00 for USPS shipping. (He's one of the first to convert to USPS)

I would suggest calling Greg and asking him about whether the gun appears to have been de-horned or not.
www.jcarmory.com
 
The Rock had one. The Rock liked his. The Rock just sold it to another TFL member since The Rock is streamling the battery.

The Rock
 
And, The Rock's now ex-CD shoots very well, thanks for asking. 200 rounds on the day of purchase, and another 200 today at the range - no problems. I used 230 grain FMJ American Eagle at both shoots.

And, thanks for the day at the range Rock. Lots of fun.

Marty
 
I took the gun apart after shooting today and found no breakages or signs of wear as far as I could tell. One thing I have not been able to do is get the sear and disconnector out of the gun. The pin holding them in is in there tight. It extends out past the right side of the frame and has a small cut that holds on the right side safety. It looks very fragile on the end that I would be pushing on. I was going to have the ambidextrous safety replaced with a single side but until I do I am concerned about damaging the pin since I have never seen this type of setup before. Does anybody know if there is anything special about this pin or can I just drive it out carefully. I am inclined to leave it alone until I replace the safety since then I won't have to worry about damaging it. I am going to toss the safety anyhow. These guns sell for about $353.00 in OKC and I bought it from a small shop that had only one. I think I'll keep it and try some minor things on it. First I'm going to read up on feed ramps. I think there is a lot more to it than just "polishing it" so it will feed other than round nose ammo. There have to be all kinds of angles and distances involved and I bet it is pretty easy to mess it up, maybe beyond repair. That's my experience so far. I'll report back if anything dramatic comes up.
 
For a GREAT 1911 book, buy Jerry Kuhnhausens "The Colt .45 Automatic - A Shop Manual"
Distributed by VSP Publishers & available from Gun Craft.
My book is books 1 & 2 combined.
EVERYTHING you need to know 'bout throating & polishing etc etc... :)

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"The Gun from Down Under !"
http://www.para1911fanclub.w3.to/
E-mail hotshot_2000@hotmail.com
Alternate E-mail
HS2000@ausi.com
 
I finally got the sear pin out. I know now why it is in so tight. While trying to replace it, you can see that the holes for it in both sides of the frame are not exactly in line with each other. It is not a bent pin since more than one pin was tried. I don't understand how that can happen since it seems that they would surely drill both sides of the frame at the same time from one side - but maybe not. Anyhow, since the factory sear pin holds the right safety on via a cut half way through the pin on the part sticking out, the sear pin has to go back in a very precise manner rotation-wise. This is very difficult to do if you have to drive the pin in with a punch. Reassembly took me forever. I have learned a lot about how sears, disconnectors, hammers, and safeties work but am not confident enough to try installing a new safety myself. This thing is going to end up costing me as much as a Kimber I bet. So far it is kind of fun to mess with but I am glad I don't have to rely on it as my only pistol. This would be a very discouraging first pistol in my opinion.
 
My Charles Daly hasn't had any major problems. I got to last march. it has close to 1750 rounds through it. hasn't jammed since about rnd 300. only problem, front sight got loose and then decided to fall off, not a big probelm, becuase I was planning to replace it with night sights anyway. so now i don't have to remove the front sight.

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It ain't mah fault. did I do dat?
 
As I said in a post last month.I bought my CD the first part of Jan. and had a problem with the extractor.But thanks to George I adjusted it and it has been running great.I have read alot of "out of the box" horror stories from top of the line manufactors on TFL so I am not discouraged by a few about the CD's.The best advice I heard on TFL was "dont get rid of it." just my 2 cents!

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"No weapon formed against me shall prosper" Isaiah 54:17
 
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