My Delta Elite

 

So in my return from the hinterlands of elk hunting, I was catching up on my reading and saw that Rob Allen had finished his write-up on the Colt Delta Elite.  Good read, and very informative.

 

I was tempted to respond to both the article on Gun Nuts and his site, but I think I'm going to do it here.



 

 

I went about my thing with the 10mm 180 degrees different than he did.  My first 10 was the Delta Elite.

It started out kind of by accident.  3 yrs ago this month, I was looking for a 1911 in a different caliber.  One day, while perusing Gun Broker, I happened across an auction for LNIB Colt Delta Elite 10mm 1911 for the unheard of asking price of $800.  The pistol itself was one of the early ones (low 4-digit DE serial number and all) and came with the old Colt cardboard box instead of the new plastic ones.  So I snatched it up and went about making it comfy for me to use.

What I did was replace the trigger, main spring housing, fire control group, barrel, grip safety, operating rod/spring, and manual safety.  With the exception of the barrel (Clarks Custom), grips (Night Hawk), and trigger (STI), I used Ed Brown parts.

Some would ask why?  Well, being a southpaw, the single manual safety doesn't work for me.  At all.  I have to use an ambi-safety.  Everything else was creature comfort on my part.  Since I shoot with such a high grip, I had to replace the original grip safety with something that wouldn't bite me.  And as Rob pointed out in his review, the stock trigger ain't nothing to write home about.

The barrel was replaced with a Clarks Custom match barrel due to the fact the factory one wouldn't feed hollow points worth a hoot. That, and I tried to make it work and screwed it up. 

Of all the mods I made to this pistol, the only thing I had to send it out for was the barrel.  Everything else you see was done by me, including mounting the beavertail grip safety.

One side note of interest here.  When it was all said and done, I got really good at taking apart a Series 80 pistol and putting it back together again.  When I started, it would take me about 45 minutes to take it down and back.  When I finished, matter of a couple of minutes.  What would always trip me up was the firing pin safety parts in the frame. Gad, what a PITA.

Been Awhile

Sorry it's been awhile since I put anything up here.  Truth is, life intruded.

My job got real at the beginning of July.  A C-130 ran out of air south of here and bellied in in the southern Black Hills.  Unfortunately, 4 people didn't get to go home for the 4th of July that weekend.  Two people, however did.  So the month of July was pretty much a wash.  14-16 hour days spend trying to coordinate stuff for the crash site and folks who were trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Then, last week was Rally Week.  Which meant that my once a year gig at the Buffalo Chip Machine Gun Shoot was back up and running.  More on that in another post.

So, in my absence, some whack job shot up a movie theater trying to live up to the legend he'd created in his own mind of himself.  Much hay was made of what he used, and the howls from the anti crowd were long on wind, and short on anything in the way of facts.  From everything I read on the subject, the fact that he supposedly used a 100 round drum for his AR probably saved more lives than he eventually took.  Thing is, my wife once asked me when we were headed to a movie a couple of years ago why I felt the need to strap on my piece, just to go to the movies.  Guess what?  She knows why now.

Then some racist nut bag went and shot up a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin.  No word on what HE used, but if it had been some sort of scary looking rifle, the howls would have been even louder from the long on wind, short on facts crowd.

Then, to round it all out, some leftist ass-munch goes and shoots himself up a pro-life joint in DC.  Two things stand out here.  First, how could this happen in DC?  I'm betting this goon forgot to register his shootin' iron with Metro PD.  Second, why is it that we hear about all these supposed 'right wing extremists' that are all ready to get their Second Fort Sumter on, but yet most of these mass shootings have been perpetrated by left-nuts.  Why is that?

So, to leave on a good note, I am now the proud new owner of a Kimber Super Ultra Carry.  Man, this one nice pistol.  I've had the gun for exactly 2 weeks now.  Put 50 rounds through it during some down time at the Shoot.  How does knocking off bowling pins at 30 yds with open sights sound?  I'll have more on this little shooter in the future, but man, is it nice.

Got to say, I love the bobbed frame.  My Dan Wesson 10mm has a bobbed frame and both fit my hand like a glove.

Anyway, I hope to have a recap up of the Shoot sometime this weekend.  Spoiler Alert:  It was a blast!

The Big Surprise-High Standard Edition

As promised, I had a surprise to offer.

What was that surprise? Well, back at a funshow in January, I picked up a High Standard Crusader Compact. It was slightly(?) used and was in reasonably good condition.

After test firing it to ensure it everything was in somewhat good working order, I had some modifications in mind. Some were necessary, like replacing the recoil spring and rounding the bottom corner of the extractor to help in this department, as when I test fired the pistol, it had issues with getting the last round in battery.

Unlike the Delta, this one didn't need many mods. I had to replace the recoil spring, as I said above, but I also wanted to replace the grips and trigger. My thoughts of putting a different mainspring housing on it were dashed when I found out that the two I bought were each different in size than the factory original.

Some folks may like a parkerized finish, but not me. So, using the last little bit of DuraCoat I had left, I set about refinishing her. I will tell this, the pebble texture on the frame was pure-D-accident. I mixed the DuraCoat too think and it came out in globs. After I found the reducer, the consistency was much better and the slide was a snap to paint.

The only thing I had to send out was the barrel. There's a Wilson Combat pistol down at the funstore that has probably the coolest muzzle crown I've ever seen. So I had my smith put a 30* crown on the barrel. I mean, why pay $3000 for a Wilson Combat pistol with a really cool crown, when I can have the same thing for the cost of shop labor? (Which was $40, by the way.)

So, you may ask, what's the big surprise? Well, this little shooter is not for me. No, this little beauty is a birthday gift. For the most supporting, loving, and caring person I know. My wife.

(In the interest of full disclosure, since she puts up with me, this makes her the most caring and loving person I know.)

P.S. In case anybody's wondering, she absolutely loves her new little heater.

Dan Wesson Commander Bob-Tail

Last week, I picked up a Dan Wesson Commander Bob-Tail 1911 in 10mm. Fit and finish on this little shooter is beyond head and shoulders above anything else I've ever owned or fondled.


The one issue I had with her was the lack of an ambidextrous manual safety. After a couple of days of snooping around, I found a Kimber stainless steel set up that looked like it would work perfectly. The downside was there were some small modifications that I would have to make to both the pistol and the parts.

First, I had to polish up the Kimber parts as they came with a matte finish. About 30 minutes with various grits of sandpaper from 240 grit all the way down to 400 got me about where I needed to be. To finish up, I used the Dremel with a polishing wheel with some jewelers rouge to put a final polish on things.


After that was completed, I had to disassemble the rear end of the pistol to remove the smallest pin. Part of the Kimber setup was a replacement pin that had a cut out on one side to accept the left side of the manual safety without the spur commonly found on standard ambidextrous safeties (see the bottom pic of my custom Delta).


(On a related note, I've disassembled every one of the six 1911's I own and have never had to go chasing the plunger pin and spring across the room. Note to self: If I ever do this again, keep a better eye on that little piece. They fly pretty good!)


When assembling a Kimber ambi-safety, put the left side in first, as you won't be able to get the left side safety onto the pin if you don't. Once that's in, everything else slips right into place ala the usual reassembly procedures. Fortunately, none of the mods I did today are irreversible. All of the parts I took off can be put back on the pistol, returning it to its factory original condition.


So, here's the before picture:

Here's the after pic:

Which should go well with my custom Delta Elite:

Not a bad little collection of 10's, is it?

Custom Delta Elite Part II

Took the Delta out yesterday (Sunday) to make sure everything functioned. Had some issues with the manual safety and the trigger was giving me fits at the range.

Got her home, completely shucked her down to the frame and made sure everything fit correctly. In doing this, I fixed the issue with the manual safety and the trigger.

The last thing to do was to ensure the tang blended correctly with the grip safety and make sure the right side of the manual safety wouldn't dig into the web of my shooting hand. Man, it didn't break the skin, but it sure hurt like hell.

The last thing mechanically I've got to do is knock the tops off the hammer and sear pins to ensure the right side of the safety sits flush to the frame and do a little more custom fitting so that manual safety doesn't get me any more.

Then for the aesthetics, I've got a set of Night Hawk grips coming for her to finish her off.

A Little Custom Work

Last spring, I restored a 1944 Remington Rand 1911A1 to its former glory as a warrior's pistol.

This got me to thinking about maybe tackling something a little more complex. Well, last month I got a Colt Delta Elite in 10mm. One thing I don't like about standard Colt 1911s is the grip safety. The way it's configured doesn't lend itself to my shooting style, which is to get as high as a grip as I can and then some. I tried this grip style on my RR 1911 only once, and I've got the scar on the web of my left hand for the effort.

Obligatory before pic

This is what led me to make my first attempt at customizing a 1911. I got the parts from Ed Brown (no paid advertising or anything here FCC) last week and set out today to make my project come to life.

What I got from Ed Brown was:

Beavertail grip safety w/memory pad
Commander-style hammer
Sear and disconnector
Flat checkered main spring housing w/mag well
Ambidextrous safety
Main spring

The trigger is from STI and is polymer. It required a little bit of custom fitting to make sure it cleared everything. This was the very first thing I did when I started. I figured I'd start easy and work my way up from there.

The one part I was most worried about was the beavertail grip safety, as this required firing up the old Craftsman bench grinder. I took me a couple of minutes to make up my mind if this was what I really wanted to do. It was, and I did.

Roughing in the grip safety

Following the instructions included with the jig I bought, I got the grip safety roughed in, then spent the next hour working with various jewelers flat files to get everything to fit right. The one thing that guided me in this part was the fact I didn't want to take too much material off and ruin my project before it ever got off the ground. In fact, I was downright paranoid about it.

Then I spent the next couple of hours (ok, more like 4 or 5) getting everything to fit right. The only thing I really had any problems with was getting the new ambidextrous manual safety to fit. I think I disassembled and reassembled the guts of the Delta Elite about 35 or 40 times checking fit and cussing when things wouldn't go back together the way they were supposed to.

The finished product

After all that, I finally got everything finished, put back together and function checked. Man, I'm good. This turned out way better than I had any right to expect. I look at her and I almost don't want to shoot her. But shoot her I will, probably tomorrow. I can't wait to check out that STI trigger. Just dry firing a couple of times for function, it's wayyyyy better than the stock job. I can't wait.

A New Addition

Gots me a new member of the family today, a Colt Mark IV, Series 80 Delta Elite 10mm. Picked it up for a song via Gunbroker last week, if you call $800 for an early model 4 digit serial number Delta Elite a song, and she arrived at the funstore this morning.

Took her, and my wife, out this afternoon to test fire the new pistol and expose my wife to shooting large bore semi auto handguns.

First, the Delta Elite. Shot to point of aim at about 60 ft, no issues with feeding or ejecting. Matter of fact, ejection was pretty, shall we say energetic. Unlike my Ultra Raptor which seems to hit me 3 times out of seven somewhere on my head with dead brass, this one was up and over my head and out about 10-15 ft behind me to the right. I didn't put out any paper, as this was a shakedown cruise, just to feel her out. In the coming days, I'll be upgrading some things on her like grip safety, mainspring housing w/mag well, trigger, hammer and sear, ambidextrous safety, main spring, and disconnector. I'll post how things go as I go.

Now Mrs Hazmat. This being her first time shooting large bore semi autos, I was worried, but not too terribly, as she's done excellent with her Mosquito, my CZ 50, and the two .25 ACPs she's shot. I don't know why I was even worried in the first place, as everything she's shot that had a little kick to it rifle-wise she ate right up. But she ponied up to the bar so to speak, and shot my XD .40 sub compact, the Ultra Raptor, and the new Delta. Of the three she shot tonite, she didn't much care for the XD as it had too much muzzle flip for her tastes. I think maybe a 9mm or a standard sized .40 might be a better fit for her in that department. She didn't much care for the Delta, as it had a little too much snort for her. She did, however, take a substantial liking to the Ultra Raptor. I'm thinking that there may be a compact .45 in her future, that way she won't be running off with the Raptor when I'm not looking.

The next thing we're going to work on is getting her CCP. Fortunately, here in South Dakota, it's not too much of a hassle. $10 and a trip to the county sheriffs department and she'll be all set.

A Warrior Reborn

About 6 weeks ago, I bought a Remington Rand 1911A1, manufactured in 1944. There were some issues with it, as the previous owner had made some "upgrades" to her. A BOMAR rib, an adjustable trigger, an oversize attachment to said trigger, Pachmyer grips, and chrome safety and mainspring housing.

(Click to biggerize the pics)

After 6 weeks at the doctors office and some gifts to the gods of GunBroker, all of the upgrades were reversed. Witness a warrior reborn:

I decided to have her re-blued since I had to have the 6 holes in the top of the slide filled and welded over. Some will say I ruined the collector value, but that was already shot when I got her, with all of the things that were done to her. Jared and crew at Jack First Gun Parts did a top notch job putting her back to right for the amazing amount of $153

I've always admired the lines of the 1911, and after shooting a buddies 1917 manufactured Colt 1911, I got the bug. Now, I've had two other 1911-type pistols, both of them Kimbers. An Ultra Carry, and my current carry piece, an Ultra Raptor. While the lines of the Kimbers are graceful, there is nothing quite like the elegant lines of a true 1911, or 1911A1 in this case.