1911 .45ACP Magnum Edition , your thoughts.

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IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:08 pm

That could get rather expensive. I'm not a gun guy, but I think I wouldn't mind owning something like that if the price was ok.

PhatCat · #17 Post by **PhatCat** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:02 pm

It would be really cool to have but I'm thinking it might get cost prohibitive pretty quick.

BR

OUTHOUSE · #18 Post by **OUTHOUSE** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:31 pm

I am not sure if there will be enough interest but:

I think if colt marketed it at all it could go.

200 guns over the course of the world in regards to people interested is not very high.

It is just getting the word out to people not just frequenting this page.

#19 Post by **ConchRepublican** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:58 pm

Half page ad in Guns and Ammo and Soldier of Fortune should cover it.

OUTHOUSE · #20 Post by **OUTHOUSE** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 2:12 am

I'll put up the first $10.

v8kilr · #21 Post by **v8kilr** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:56 pm

I did not think Colt was doing civilian sales anymore. But I would buy a couple.

frog480 · #22 Post by **frog480** » Fri Oct 10, 2008 4:53 pm

I would too, but stupid UK gun laws

GMT Master · #23 Post by **GMT Master** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:09 am

Here's an interesting update to the 1911 idea. The gentleman I spoke with at Colt actually called me back. He called Mr.Selleck and while he didn't speak with him directly he let his business manager know about my idea. Tom's business manager let him know about the idea. He said that as long as his name was not on the pistol and that it was not mentioned in any endorsements for the pistol he was ok with it. I can't believe he even became aware of my little pipe dream of a project. Anyway I thought I would share the story.

IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Tue Oct 28, 2008 3:07 pm

That's awesome that TS knows about the gun project!

#25 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Tue Oct 28, 2008 4:17 pm

That's very cool GMT Master!

only looking · #26 Post by **only looking** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:58 pm

Can anyone post some shots of Magnum's gun from the show. I've done ALOT of looking at gun auctions for series 70 colts. Most have the medalions on the grips, which I know can be replaced with the plain wooden checkered grips, but some triggers are black and some aren't. I believe Magnum's was black. The barrel is the same thing, some blued some shinny. Once again I believe Magnum's was black but with the lower half shinny...I assume the bluing has come off from use. But as far as the ejection port, they all...regardless of year seem to have the same ejection port. I have a series 80 colt and the ejection port comes farther down on the right side than the 70's I've seen.Any help....?

#27 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:13 pm

only looking · #28 Post by **only looking** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:48 pm

looks like his trigger must be a "mood" trigger like the old mood rings, there it's silver and not black.The ejection port does seem to go lower, could it be a early model series 80? I've seen some that look like that. I have yet to see any 70's 70G's 1970-1976 thru the 70B's 1981-1983 that were that lowered.How bout you? I love talking guns....

Thanks for the photo

#29 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:08 am

only looking, check out MaximRecoil's posts in this thread. Magnum's gun appears to be a slightly modified Series 70 model.

MaximRecoil · #30 Post by **MaximRecoil** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:19 am

only looking wrote:looks like his trigger must be a "mood" trigger like the old mood rings, there it's silver and not black.The ejection port does seem to go lower, could it be a early model series 80? I've seen some that look like that. I have yet to see any 70's 70G's 1970-1976 thru the 70B's 1981-1983 that were that lowered.How bout you? I love talking guns.... Thanks for the photo

First of all, the picture that James J. Walters posted is from the pilot episode, so it is definitely not a Series 80, given the date of the show (Series 80s came out in '83).

The trigger is a serrated steel trigger with a satin nickel plated finish, which came standard on some Series 70s.

The ejection port is lowered. Keep in mind that Magnum's gun was actually a 9mm (though it played the role of a .45 on the show). At the time, no one had yet come up with blanks that could reliably cycle a .45 ACP, so for many years, 1911s in movies and TV either weren't shown being fired or they used rough look-alikes such as the Star Model B 9mm (which is why the Star Model B was a lot more popular in TV and movies than it ever was in real life).

In the early '70s Colt introduced the 9mm version of the CGM, so they no longer had to use Star Model Bs as stand-ins for 1911s in movies and on TV.

Which brings us to Magnum's gun. Series 70 CGMs chambered for 9mm had lowered ejection ports, like this one:

Eventually of course, all CGMs had lowered ejection ports.

If you've noticed differences on Magnum's gun from episode to episode, it is because there were at least three different guns used (or possibly the same gun but with some parts changed). The main difference that I've seen is that in the earlier episodes, his gun had the standard full-shelf thumb safety which Colt has been using since 1950; which is to be expected on a Series 70 Colt. In the later episodes, his gun has the older style partial-shelf thumb safety, like you would see on a pre-1950 CGM, or on a USGI 1911 or 1911A1. His gun is still a Series 70, but for whatever reason, someone has swapped in a vintage thumb safety.

Here is a picture showing the to-be-expected full shelf thumb safety (along with the blued trigger that you noted). Also note the 9mm magazine:

And here is a picture showing the gun with the partial-shelf thumb safety:

The screen-used Magnum P.I. gun in the Stembridge collection is a Colt Series 70 Government Model with the old-style partial-shelf thumb safety, like in the 2nd screenshot I posted.