I recently purchased a Colt Government Model Series 70 made in 1981. It is in very nice shape and appears to have been shot some but not much. The original collet bushing is in place and in good shape.
My question is should I continue to shoot it with the original collet bushing or remove it in case I ever decide to sell the pistol in its original configuration? Also, will a standard bushing fit a barrel made for a collet bushing or will it need to be hand fitted?
I would leave it in and continue to shoot it. There have been some failures, but they are the exception, not the rule.
If you notice abnormal wear in one spot. or a portion of the bushing...then I would change it out.
Contact EGW with the specs of the barrel O.D. and the slide I.D. and they'll make up one for you for a very reasonable price.
Way back about 1989 I switched out the collet bushing in a stainless Series 80 Government Model for a stainless Wilson drop in that fit very nicely.
I don't think they ever put a collet bushing in a Series 80 pistol. I could be wrong though or maybe somebody put one in after it left the factory.
If you always retract the slide slightly before attempting to turn the bushing, and refrain from attempting to remove the bushing for the barrel, it should last a good long time. Heck, Swenson left the collect bushing in the Series 70 Swenson pistol I have.
Colt used the collet bushing up to at least 1988, I had a new 1988 and it had one, my stainless 1984 and 1987 have the collet bushing.
That is interesting to know. I always thought they were limited to the Series 70 pistols. Thanks for the info.
Walt, I ran across pictures of your Swenson pistol when I was researching the collet bushing. It is beautiful!
I also have a Bullseye S70 NM by TJ Roche of Hopedale, MA (anybody know who he is/was?), that retains the collet bushing.
My Hoag is a S70 NM, but with the 6" barrel it no longer has the collet . The 5" setup that came with it is plain ol' Government Model.
So at least some of the 'smiths of the time were not afraid of the collet!
My Gov't is circa 1978. I swapped out the collar and barrel when the gun was new, for reliability. I have all the parts and have no other mods to the gun, its pristine. I'm on the fence whether to modify it (custom build) or just go pickup a Series 70 shooter and build on that.
Kuhnhausen's books show how to make sure the clearance on the collet fingers is OK.He doesn't say anything about HAVING to change it out.
I know what a collet* is and how it works. (*on tools/fixtures) but I've never seen a collet barrel bushing, so I can only assume it's similar in form and function.
So let me ask, what was the intended purpose/reasons for the collet bushing?
Better/tighter fit at the barrel bushing end?
I'm curious too, what the problems/concerns associated with the collet were/are.
(I'm assuming the "better mouse trap" wasn't better as they're no longer a common part )
Solid-Collet
Hey Cap,from what I can gather, the collet seems to be a cheaper 'fix' to a normal bushing.With those loose fingers to grab onto the slide and take up some of the slop with the slide&barrel and still keep everything tight when the slide locks up.But,you need clearance between slide &fingers for the fingers to flex.Hope this helps.
However, the Colt design differed from the Bar-Sto design. Rather than relying on finger spring tension to permit shot-to-shot repeatability of muzzle positioning as the Bar-Sto bushing provided, the Colt bushing was more of a “draw collet,” similar to that used in a drill chuck. The Colt bushing, unlike the Bar-Sto bushing, required careful fitting, particularly to the slide. While the Bar-Sto bushing proved to be longlived and reliable, the Colt bushing has developed a reputation over the years of broken collet fingers and jammed pistols.
I and the folks at the range have heard many stories about broken fingers on Colt collet bushings, but none of us have ever seen one with our very own eyeballs.
Have any of you ever seen a broken one?
Yes, only one, on a Gold Cup, in 30+ years of shooting 1911s.
Tom Beliveau told me that if a collet barrel bushing is going to break it usually does it early in the offending pistols life (assuming it is shot often enough).
I have a few Colts with collet bushings and they have not given me any trouble.
Hunter's post makes the most sense to me. I would think that if it was going to break it would break early on because the fit was not right. Of course if you remove the bushing from the barrel (which requires spreading the collet fingers) or tinker with it in any manner, you would be starting all over again. I can't see what else would cause it to break if it was function properly for many rounds before the breakage.
I just did the conversion from collet to solid bushing
I recently converted a Colt Mark IV Series 70 Government model from the original collet bushing to a solid blued Wilson bushing. There was nothing wrong with the collet bushing but they are hard to find now and I wanted to be ready. In my experience, the Wilson part is not a drop-in by any means. In the Brownells catalog, it mentions that the stainless version drops in, but that was not the case in my pistol. I tried both. The blued version required ID and OD grinding to fit. As my Colt was originally electroless nickel (silver matte) finish with blued highlights ( slide stop, barrel, bushing etc), the blued bushing looked better anyway. In my opinion, the change from collet bushing to solid (the change made during the early series 80) was a cost savings measure. A modern CNC machine can make a solid bushing in seconds. The collet bushing is complex and required the barrel to be machined down (O.D.) in the area behind the bushing area. I can detect no difference in accuracy, but I don't have a Ransom rest.
The change was actually made in the late '80s, they were used up to at least 1988.
My all original 1988 Combat Elite came with a collet bushing.
I stand corrected. 1988 must have been the era of the change. I wonder what one-handed NRA bullseye shooters use today? They must not care about defensive use, only accuracy. I don't know much about the Bullseye sport and what is allowed. Can they use full race guns or only "stock" 1911 pistols? I just started with IDPA and I want combat accuracy and reliability in all of my Colt 1911 Government and Commander pistols.
My Swenson has a Series 70 barrel and collet bushing. Guess ol' Armand wasn't afraid of them.
Before I replaced the barrel in my Series 70 I removed the collet bushing from the barrel a number of times and it didn't seem to suffer in the least. Keunhaeusen's description of how to check the collet bushing has a lot to do with whether or not the tips of the fingers of the collet bushing are getting into a bind between the slide and barrel.
Colt put out a few configurations of the original Combat Elite. I think there's a thread or 2 on here that shows a few of them.
Some did come with a Commander style hammer, some had adjustable sights, some of the early models had blued thumb safety and slide stop.
The usual mish-mash for Colt.
What is the difference between the series 70 and the series 80? the history of the 1911 on the e-zine( I think that is what it is called) does not even mention the series 70.
From Dana Kamm
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Series 70 vs. Series 80
There have been a lot of questions posted by new members and 1911 owners as to what the difference is between Series 70 and Series 80 Colts. This question is best answered by giving the following history:
Colt is the original manufacturer of 1911 pattern pistols, having made versions for both the military as well as commercial market since regular production began in January 1912. The commercial versions were nearly identical to the military ones, differing only in markings and finish. Following World War Two military production ended, but the commercial guns remained in production with only minor changes such as deletion of the lanyard loop and a larger thumb safety shelf. These pistols are known to collectors as "pre-Series 70" guns, as they pre-dated the Series 70 guns introduced in 1971. It was during this year that Colt introduced the first major design change to the Government Model in nearly 50 years. In an attempt to improve the accuracy of production guns the barrel bushing was redesigned, along with the barrel. In this system the bushing utilized four spring-steel "fingers" that gripped the enlarged diameter of the muzzle end of the barrel as the gun returned to battery. By tightening the fit of barrel and bushing in this manner Colt was able to improve the accuracy of the average production gun, without going through the expense of hand fitting the older solid barrel bushing to the barrel and slide. Models using the new barrel/bushing setup were the Government Model and Gold Cup, which were designated the "Mark IV Series 70" or simply Series 70 pistols. It should be noted that the shorter 4 1/4" barreled Commander pistols retained the use of the older solid bushing design and thus were never designated Series 70 pistols, although one hears the term erroneously applied to Commanders from time to time.
The new "collet" bushing (as it came to be known) worked quite well, however it was prone to breakage if the inside diameter of the slide was too small as it caused the fingers to buckle, then later break from the stress of being wedged between the barrel and slide. On pistols with oversized slides the bushing didn't grip well enough, and accuracy suffered. Because of this the collet bushing was eventually phased out sometime around 1988, with the older solid barrel bushing design being reinstated for use in production guns.
The single biggest change to the 1911 design came about in 1983, when Colt introduced the "MK IV Series 80" pistols. These guns incorporated a new firing pin block safety system, where a series of internal levers and a plunger positively blocked the firing pin from moving until the trigger was pressed, thus eliminating the possibility of the gun discharging if dropped onto a hard surface or struck hard. In this instance however, ALL of Colt's 1911-pattern pistols incorporated the new design change so even the Commander and Officer's ACP pistols became known as Series 80 guns. With the previous paragraph in mind, it is important to know that from 1983 until 1988 the early Government Model and Gold Cup Series 80 pistols used the Series 70-type barrel and bushing as well, although they were known only as Series 80 guns.
There was one other design change made to the Series 80 guns as well, and that was a re-designed half-cock notch. On all models the notch was changed to a flat shelf instead of a hook, and it is located where half-cock is engaged just as the hammer begins to be pulled back. This way the half-cock notch will still perform its job of arresting the hammer fall should your thumb slip while manually cocking the pistol, yet there is no longer a hook to possibly break and allow the hammer to fall anyway. With the notch now located near the at-rest position, you can pull the trigger on a Series 80 while at half-cock and the hammer WILL fall. However, since it was already near the at-rest position the hammer movement isn't sufficient to impact the firing pin with any amount of force.
Regarding the "clone" guns (1911-pattern pistols made by manufacturers other than Colt), only Para Ordnance (SIG, Auto Ordnance, Taurus have since adopted it also) adopted Colt's Series 80 firing pin block system as well. Kimber's Series II pistols and the new S&W 1911s have a FP safety also, but it is a different system than Colt's and is disabled by depressing the grip safety. No manufacturers aside from Colt ever adopted the Series 70 barrel/bushing arrangement, so technically there are no "Series 70" clone guns. What this means is that design-wise most of them share commonality with the pre-Series 70 guns, using neither the firing pin block NOR the collet bushing. Because of this it is important to remember that only Colt Series 80 models, and a couple of "clone" 1911 makers use a firing pin block. Older Colts and most other clone guns lack a firing pin safety and can possibly discharge if there is a round in the chamber and the gun is dropped on a hard surface, or if struck a blow hard enough to allow the firing pin to jump forward and impact the primer of the loaded round. By the way, Colt has just recently reintroduced new custom pistols lacking the S80 firing pin safety (called the Gunsite models) as well as a reintroduced original-style Series 70 to appeal to purists. Interestingly, the latter uses a solid barrel bushing and Series 80 hammer, so it is somewhat different mechanically than the original Series 70 models.
Regarding the controversy involving getting a decent trigger pull on a Series 80 gun, it is only of importance if the gunsmith attempts to create a super- light pull (under four pounds) for target or competition use. In defense/carry guns where a four-pound or heavier pull is necessary, the added friction of the Series 80 parts adds little or nothing to the pull weight or feel. A good gunsmith can do an excellent trigger job on a Series 80 and still leave all the safety parts in place, although he will probably charge a little more than if the gun were a Series 70 since there are more parts to work with. But any gunsmith who tells you that you can't get a good trigger on a Series 80 without removing the safety parts is likely either lazy or incompetent.
1991 vs. 1911
For those wondering what the difference is between these pistols, the fact is there really is none. Back in 1991 Colt decided to market an economy version of their basic Series 80 Government Model. The polished blue was changed to an all-matte parkerized (later matte blue) finish, checkered rubber grip panels were used, and the serial number sequence was a resumption of the ones originally given to US military M1911A1 pistols. The resulting pistol was cleverly named "M1991A1", after the year of introduction. Mechanically however they are the same as any other Colt Series 80, 1911-type pistol. Around 2001 or so Colt upgraded these pistols with polished slide and frame flats, nicer- looking slide rollmarks, stainless barrels, and wood grips (blued models only). The newer ones are commonly called "New Rollmark (NRM)" pistols by Colt enthusiasts, to differentiate them from the "Old Rollmark (ORM)" 1991 pistols. The earlier guns are easily identified by having "COLT M1991A1" in large block letters across the left face of the slide. The NRM Colts will have three smaller lines of text saying "COLT'S-GOVERNMENT MODEL-.45 AUTOMATIC CALIBER", along with Colt's rampant horse logo.