I Was 16 when I first visited a shooting range in 1989, I was amazingly surprised to see so much handguns, I did'nt know they were allowed in France.
The first gun I fell in love with was a Colt python 6" ultimate stainless, it was bright and huge compared to others revolvers and I could only stick my eyes on it.
Later, for my 21th birthday I was offered the same model, the dream came true.
Sadly Colt is having bad days for at least ten years now and I juste read even the "python" was discontinued.
Early in 90's colt was having a wide array of great guns, I could shoot some of them let me tell you what I felt.
First of all the Python.
First time I handled mine I was wondering if I were awake, such a beauty with its satin like finish,nice vent rib, good grip, very smooth trigger both in SA and DA, this gun is a pleasure to shoot and is very accurate.
I still own it, it's 6" inox ultimate finish.
It's possible to do all in one shots at 25 meters (about 27 yards) both with 38 special and 357 mag ammos (from a rest of course i'm not a so good shooter).
Metallic silhouettes shooting was easy at 100 meters, never tried at a greater distance.
On the other side it's a little bit heavy for its class wich make it a poor choice for one hand shooting but who shoots 357 mag ammos with one hand ?
I've read several times on a french forum that Colt revolvers were weack because their cylinders are locked in one point only, instead of smith&wesson wich are locked in two points.
It may be true, my cylinder tends to move slightly, rearward and forward, I don't remember if it was the same when it was new.
Anyway the accuracy is still marvellous and I shot thousands 357 mag ammos for years.
I wonder if a smith would be in a better shape.
The 45 acp Colt Gold cup.
At this time I needed an autoloader of course, so one year later I was planning to buy a Colt delta Gold cup 10mm auto caliber wich seems to be a very funny round.
This gun was very rare in France and the gunsmith told me the deltas were having frame crack so I bought a 45 acp Gold cup model instead.
I have no regret, this gun is still damnly accurate after thousands of rounds through it and pleasant to shoot since it's a 1911 and a 45 caliber.
It's a 80 series and some say they're not well made, the 70's were better, to be franck I don't know.
So far the only guns with a better finish I've seen are a STI executive (40 s&w) and a Sig sauer p220 sport wich cost respectively 4 times more and twice the price.
the Colt gold cup is not perfect as I wrote in the review I made but still a very good gun.
The Colt 22 Target.
when I went to buy a 22 rimfire pistol I chose a Colt of course, the 22 target model had been just released.
The barrel lenght is 6" and it's equipped with a standard rail wich allow the mount of an optic.
It seemed well made looked tough, was very accurate and in my opinion the grip was better than the ruger kmk 512.
I don't know why this gun is so rare, it's more durable than the Browning buck mark (wich is very good though) and the S&W counterparts.
The Hammerli X-esse is Better but costs twice the price.
The Colt's trigger is very smooth but after each shot we feel a backlash, not very important but a little bit surprising.
The sights are a little bit small for my eyes too.
I was fed up whith the 22 caliber because of the lack of sensation and sold my gun wich I regretted for years.
I'm currently waiting my next Colt 22 target I just bought and I won't sell this one for sure !
The Colt anaconda.
This another reptile looks like a bigger "python", it's chambered for the 44 magnum caliber.
The finish is not the same however and I've read it was weack, the barrel tended to unscrew himself.
I'm no way a gunsmith so I'd say "probably".
3 of my friends owns an anaconda and shot many full loads cartridges without any trouble.
The grip is far better than the Smith&wesson 629 in our opinion, I tend to hurt my finger with smith trigger guards also, the anacondas are faster to reload (longer ejector rods).
The Colt Double eagle.
The first double action auto pistol from Colt.
This long awaited gun was a 8 shots autoloader on a 1911 base.
Chambered in 45 acp and 10mm auto, there were hope it replaced the Beretta M9 and its weack 9 mm in the army.
A special version has even concured against the mark 23 for the special forces contract.
A you may have guessed it loosed.
The trigger was hard and had some crisps, with the early versions the double action mechanism springs literally jumped in the air while removing the stock platic grips.
The double action system was housed under the grips wich were wide and uncomfortable for small hands shooters plus the trigger finger could be pinched by the frame while the trigger was in rearward position.
So this gun sucks ?
I don't think so, the grip was good for me, the 3 dots sights were wide and clear, the balance was good.
AND it was incredibly accurate, all impacts stayed in the middle of the ten ring at 25m we were astonished.
The Colt double eagle was not the great gun Colt needed but was good enough and deserved a better faith.
Some more to come stay tuned.
