Would you shoot hardball in a Series 70 Gold Cup?

I bought my Mark IV, Series 70 Gold Cup pistol new in 1974. Though my standard bullet for Bullseye competition was always hand-loaded, 185 grain semi-wadcutters, I've shot loads of factory hardball through it over the years with no discernible ill effects. The collet style bushing has also held up over the years, despite many reports of this type of bushing failing for many users.
 
I have owned 3 Gold Cups. One is an original Series 70 made in the 70's. The second is a remake series 70 made in about 2016 which came with 2 springs one of which is marked with green paint. The third is a Series 80 Stainless that I purchased used about 5 years ago.
The first one has been shot with about 90% hardball. There has never been a problem with hardball. The second has had only hardball shot through it with no problems and I have never used the spring marked with green for lighter loads. The third one, the Series 80 that I bought used was shot with whatever by the original owner and I have only shot hardball in it with nary a problem.
The only thing that I would be wary of is firing +P ammo in them. I never would shoot +P.
 
Pre-Series 70 National Match had lightening cuts in the slide, and they were more likely to crack if used with full-power ammo. The "weak National Match" story endures.
And, as noted, the Elliason sight is weak. I've witnessed three of them breaking, and I don't think I've seen more than four. Mine broke twice, with the screws loctited in place until it was replaced.
 
I can't speak for others but I have a collection of Colt MK IV Series 70 guns. I am guessing about a dozen of them. Maybe 5 of them being Gold Cup NM and all of them shooters. They have all seen thousands of .45 ACP hard ball ammunition and none of them has suffered in the least using standard loads. I also run 230 grain Speer Gold Dot and 230 grain Hornady XTP through them and they function fine. I normally run with 17 to 18.5 recoil springs. Never a problem. Others mileage may vary.

I think (operative word think) the factory standard spring is a 16 Lb spring but not sure.

Ron
 
I bought a GC in 1972. At time I had connections for HB, free. For about 3 years I burnt nothing but GI HB and a lot of it. I didn’t even pick up the brass. Didn’t seem to hurt the gun. I did have some issues with the sight, nothing drastic.
Just couple days ago I shot up 100rds of HB out of 2 Commanders. Both made in 70s. One is stock, as far as running gears. The other has BoMar sights, National match barrel, aftermarket trigger and other refinements. The Bomars defeat the purpose of carry gun but that critter do shoot. First 2 shots off bags at 50’ were 6” at 12 o’clock, one holer. It focused in nice with HB. I’m a firm believer in HB for reliable function. No doubt cast WC will outshoot HB.
 
Drm50

Just couple days ago I shot up 100rds of HB out of 2 Commanders. Both made in 70s. One is stock, as far as running gears. The other has BoMar sights, National match barrel, aftermarket trigger and other refinements. The Bomars defeat the purpose of carry gun but that critter do shoot. First 2 shots off bags at 50’ were 6” at 12 o’clock, one holer.
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Did you change the recoil spring to 18 lbs? I notice yours were Commanders. I'm questioning full size Gold Cup.



:)
 
The GC I bought new in 1972 never had much except HB through it. I don’t have a GC now. 2 series 70 MK 4s and 2 Comanders. I’ve not loaded much for 45acp.
I get around it by loading WCs in 45AR cases for revolvers. Price of ammo is going to force me to load apc.
 
I owned a Gold Cup for years until a devious friend bought it from me. Aaaarrgh....! I fired service level loads in it a lot and experienced no issues. It was a Series 70.
 
Back in the dark ages I shot zillions of hardball through the Gold Cup. Only ill effect: the stalked front sight fell down. A bit of silver solder fixed that.
 
Dfariswheel said:
As above Colt used to (still) ships the Gold Cup with two springs, one for 185 grain lead Target ammo, and one for 230 grain hard ball.
The 230 grain spring is the standard 16 pound spring Colt uses on all Government Model size versions.

Back in the 1960's Skeeter Skelton did an article where he and friends shot 10,000 rounds each through an aluminum frame Commander and a Gold Cup.
This was in response to stories that neither was up to use with full charge ammo.

The Commander did get a small crack in a non-critical area of the frame.
Since then Colt has improved the aluminum they use.

The Gold Cup only appeared to be well broken in. There was no damage and only normal signs or wear from use.

If you shoot ammo over standard velocities you can try an 18 pound recoil spring.
A recoil buffer also may ease your mind, but with the correct spring 230 grain ammo isn't going to harm a Colt made after WWII.
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My '72 Commander was still in perfect shape after at least 5,000 rounds or so. I shot hardball mostly but shot a lot of the old Speer 200 grain lead semi-wadcutter. The only thing I did was fit a BarSto match barrel and change out the sights to the fixed high hardball sights (I want to say BoMar made the fixed sights but don't recall for sure). If properly sprung there's no reason to not shoot hardball through a Gold Cup.
 
Pre-Series 70 National Match had lightening cuts in the slide, and they were more likely to crack if used with full-power ammo.
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Sort of correct, but not quite. Actually they still used the lightened slides up until partway through 1974. I have a Gold Cup that dates to that year (1974) serial number 70N18203 and it has the lightened slide. So it depends on when a Series 70 GC was made as to whether it has a lightened slide.
 
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