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The new production from Colt will be rougher and less tuned than the ones made in the hay-days of Colt Series 70s (1972 to 1985 or so). You certainly would NOT want them to still be making their collet barrel bushing. It was destined to break a leg off and jam the gun - mine did during a match! It's well worth a trip to a good pistol smith to have the gun tuned, trigger set to the pull weight you like (3.5 pounds is my preference), and mag well enhanced for the WB allowed funneling. If you have ever had a 1911 bite you on the web of the shooting hand, I would have the smith add more clearance between the top of grip safety and the tip of the hammer. I would also have the smith replace any MIM (molded and sintered) internal fire control parts with forged-billet-steel. They are easier for him to get a smooth surface on anyway, so if you use a good smith, he should automatically swap those parts out. But then, I'm going by my experience. I put in billet sear and hammer and thumb safety and 100,000 rounds later have not had a bit of problem. Sights on production now are pretty good. About as high as any replacement sight set. If you were expecting to change out the sights, though, now would be the time to do that, too. A new front sight ought to be dovetailed into the slide so it will be driftable and easy to exchange. And much more rugged in use. good luck, GJ

And, I forgot to mention that GOOD magazines are a necessity! Spend extra on them.

Moonshine Cowboy Action Shooters is a SASS-affiliated club that holds a monthly CAS match on the first Sunday of the month with a start time of 11:00 a.m. Location is 2600 SC Hwy 11, Travelers Rest, SC (about three miles from Hwy 25 North). They do not have a website but there is a Facebook Group. The old group “Moonshine at Dark Corner” is not the current group. To encourage cowboy shooters to “give it a try”, they have allowed shooters to use a 1911 pistol at the September match and will again at their October 4 cowboy match. I was at the September match where half of the shooters “went Wild”. Their first “dedicated” Wild Bunch match is scheduled for Saturday, November 28, 2026 with an earlier start time (first round downrange at 10:00 a.m.). I can help field questions and provide contact information for the club’s Wild Bunch point man “Lazy Eye”. The club is convenient to Western North Carolina as well. If you are in the region and enjoy Wild Bunch, let’s support this effort!

Never seen anyone that I would have do pistol smithing who would charge those rates. Especially not for fire-control smoothing and even new sights. Last paid smith job I had done - new sights on a 1911, including dovetail milling and a front sight from scratch - $250. COULD you find a guy ready to charge $1500 to tune it up? Sure. Should you? No. good luck, GJ

Agree with GJ. I have used STI, Colt, Ruger, and Rock Island 1911's with success, and I see many others using 1911's costing less than $1200. It is your money, and it is nice to have a nice 1911, but you might be overspending for Wild Bunch. Just as important may be producing good quality ammunition that always functions in the 1911.

Starting December 1, 2026 Every Wednesday, yes, Every Wednesday Registration at 8:00 - Shooting at 9:00 4 Stage, Cowboy, warm up match $10.00 per shooter Register and Pay at Range Every Thursday, yes, Every Thursday Registration at 8:00 - Shooting at 9:00 4 Stage, Wild Bunch, warm up match $10.00 per shooter Register and Pay at Range More info on Cowtown Cowboys facebook page

Quite frankly, if I were to get another 1911, whether for WB or just plain to own... it would be Colt's 1911 Classic. MSRP of $1,069. 6 of my 7 current 1911s can be used for WB as is... 2 in modern, 4 in Traditional, only 2 of which are Colts (a GI issue & a Gold Cup). However the ones I use for WB are a pair of Taylor Tacticals. One that I won in at a match (finished in the right placement)😉... and another that I bought as a backup. The model I have is no longer available. The frame is patterned like a 1911, not a 1911-A1, so it doesn't have the chamfered area by the trigger, which for folks with shorter fingers is an issue, me, not so much. IME, any 1911 in anything other than a full race gun needs a couple of things to make it reliable... 1 - a slight alteration to the ramp to feed a wider variety of bullets, and a trigger job, crisper is how I describe it. Magazines should not be an after-thought. I have gotten by for the past 15 or so years with CMC "Shooting Stars". Others prefer Tripp Research, (now CobraMag). You cannot go wrong with em. I have one very similar to them, an 8 rounder, marked as a KimPro TacMag. It's been a reliable mag, but I don't have it as my 1st string of mags.

I would not pay money for a new Colt at any price. In fact, I'm not sure I'd even want one if it was given to me for free. Colt is done, has been done for a long time. Get yourself a Tisas, Dan Wesson, or Nighthawk depending on your budget. Don't waste your time with Colt. The guy above me is suggesting that you buy the gun and send it off for $1500 worth of gunsmithing right out of the gate. The Dan Wesson will already have all of that done when you receive it.

instead of starting a new topic i’ll raise the dead / CMP has them and they’re $399 and yes i has one on order

In that price range, my choice would be a Dan Wesson. To answer your question, I'm not using a $1500-2500 1911 in WB. I do shoot a Nighthawk in USPSA. Before last year, I was shooting a $600 STI Spartan for USPSA for a long time. My WB gun is a Kimber that is 25 years old.

What's your most important requirements that a new gun would have to meet? In other words, what fails to give you full confidence with that Springer you have? My experience is that if the gun runs reliably, I can tune the rest quite easily to satisfy my operation of it. good luck, GJ

Gives you a chance to practice "Loading from the Belt" 😄

I don’t think I have ever heard CAS awards announced as (for example) “Men’s Duelist”. Of course not, because there are no men’s only categories. The WBAS handbook has always, to my knowledge, included the same language: There are no men’s only categories. Despite that I often see category signup sheets, scoresheets and awards for “Men’s Modern” and the like. I just saw a photo of buckles to be awarded at the SE Regionals, same thing. If an accomplished lady shooter chose to compete in a base category and won, would she want an award with that label. It’s just inconsistent with the SHB that we say we follow.

Only holds 4 rounds in the magazine tube.

The MD of a local CAS club had the impression that WBAS rules allowed shooters to have a magazine in the holstered pistol at all times during the match. I assured him that I had never seen this at a match (except of course when the shooter is called to the stage from the LT). I was reviewing the SHB to determine what penalty might apply if a participant was walking around with a magazine inserted. Some relevant rules: ”All firearms will remain unloaded except while under direct observation of a designated person on the firing line or in the designated loading and unloading area.” p.22 This does not address an empty magazine inserted in the gun, or a magazine with rounds, since a Wild Bunch firearm is not “loaded” until a round is chambered. I think the answer is under “1911 PISTOL-RANGE OPERATIONS” 1911 Operations at the Loading Table ”A magazine will be inserted in the 1911, with the chamber empty/clear.” p. 15 ”At the end of the course of fire, the 1911 must be shown clear on the firing line [requiring removal of the magazine]…Place the cleared, safe pistol in the holster.” pp 14-15 Arguably inserting a magazine (whether containing ammunition or not) at other times is a SDQ for “Failure to adhere to loading and unloading procedures.” p 29 What say you?

Ditto

You are correct.

Sure sounds like a too-light firing pin strike is occurring on the '73 that has been rechambered to .45 auto. Small primer might have a more rigid anvil than a large primer design does, due to "bigger span" of the LP anvil's arch? It's not the outside dimensions of the .45 auto case that varies between the NT (non-toxic) SP case and the original design of the LP case. If you taper crimp both the SP cases and the LP cases the same way, then it's not likely that the gunsmith cut the .45 chamber too long (bad headspace, thus letting the round slide forward on firing pin impact). The only thing different is going to be the primer and the pocket. SP primers MAY be a little more sensitive to a FP strike than LP primers. I've not seen anyone run that test yet. Would be interesting to see, when using exactly the same brand of primers, whether SPs are easier to light off as the main spring tension is backed off. There's a tremendous number of cowboy type shooters who over the years have claimed that a particular gun after it was tuned up for lighter spring weights, would no longer run anything but Federal primers. This sounds a lot like the same story, just in a different suit. I'd bet the lack of reliability of firing can be resolved by tuning hammer fall to be a little heavier, as has been the case in hundreds of cowboy guns I've heard about and a few I've even tinkered with. Good luck, GJ