Hey all, I was going to purchase a Colt M45A1 from GRTactical, and I was looking on their first responder pricing page and saw they now stock another Colt in addition to the normal M45A1 called a “M45A1 Custom 45.” It’s about 300 more, anybody have any idea what this is? Guy on the phone wasn’t sure.
I checked Colt’s website and I didn’t see anything there about a different “custom” version.
Hey Tzook,
I’m going to go and check this out right now… Not the answer you were looking for I know but I’ll thank you all the same just for the heads up.
Just looked/looking and I can’t find it buddy… where is it, can you post a linie dinkie maybe?
Peace Jeff
I can’t find an actual link to the product, only the first responder/LEO pricing sheet at gandrtactical.com. It doesn’t have a link to the product itself, just it in a listing of Colt products.
I believe they’re the same gun except the QCB model has been hand fitted in Colts Custom Shop.
From Colt’s website:
http://www.colt.com/Catalog/Pistols/CQBPCloseQuarterBattlePistol.aspx
More than 100 years ago, the Colt 1911 was chosen as the official sidearm for America’s Armed Forces. Today, a Colt 1911 is once again proudly serving at the side of our country’s military. After a rigorous selection process, the United States Marine Corps selected the Colt Rail Gun as their Close Quarters Battle Pistol (CQBP). This marks the first time since the end of World War II that a Colt 1911 is being shipped to the United States Government.
To honor the brave men and women of this important staple of America’s military might, the Colt CQBP will be made available in limited quantities through the Colt Custom Shop. What makes the CQBP stand out is its Desert Tan Cerakoted Stainless Steel Receiver and Slide, Novak® 3 Dot Night Sights and Flat, Serrated Mainspring Housing with Lanyard Loop. The pistol also features an Enhanced Hammer, Colt Tactical Ambidextrous Safety Lock, and a 5” National Match® Barrel.
The Colt Custom Shop performs hand fitting of critical mating parts and each firearm is test fired by the Custom Shop and supplied with the actual test target.
Features
Novak® 3 Dot Night Sights
Enhanced Hammer
Ambidextrous Safety Lock
Long, Solid Aluminum Trigger
Flat, Serrated Mainspring Housing with Lanyard Loop
Desert Tan Cerakoted Stainless Steel Receiver and Slide
5” National Match® Barrel
MIL-STD-1913 Accessory Rail
http://www.colt.com/Catalog/Pistols/RailGun®.aspx
History Meets Modern Era: THE COLT RAIL GUN®
Colt continues to take its battle and time proven M1911 pistol and adapt it to meet the changing requirements of its customers with its model O1980RG – The Colt Rail Gun with Blackened Finish. Where quality and workmanship are demanded, Colt once again meets and exceeds the expectations of its customers. This handgun is outfitted with new and exciting features for the law enforcement community, the shooting enthusiast and the personal defense user. The M1913 Picatinny Rail offers the versatility to attach tactical lights or laser sights to the receiver of the Colt Rail Gun, making it a tactical pistol easily adaptable to any military or law enforcement need. This ability to attach a tactical light also makes the Colt Rail Gun an ideal candidate for a home/personal protection need. The Colt Rail Gun features a Mil Standard Rail, Colt Upswept Beavertail Grip Safety with Palm Swell, Extended Single Side Tactical Saftey Lock, Novak® sights, and other standard features of the XSE series. Colt’s quality continues to be derived from its forged steel receiver, forged steel slide, forged stainless steel barrel, and forged steel slide stop.
Features
Novak® Low Mount Carry Sights with Dots
Enhanced Hammer
Extended Single Side Tactical Saftey Lock
Colt Upswept Beavertail Grip Safety
3-Hole Aluminum Trigger
Lowered and Flared Ejection Port
M1913 Picatinny Rail
National Match® Barrel
Front and Rear Slide Serrations
AVAILABLE MODELS:
O1070RG O1980RG 01070M45
Is there a difference between the M45A1 and a CQB Model? I was under the impression that M45A1 was just what they called the gun they would sell to civilians that the military calls the CQB. I was also under the impression that Colt’s custom shop makes all of the M45A1’s that are sold to civilians.
No. Colt offers the off-the-shelf production model (like the USMC gets, but with different rollmarks) and the custom shop model. The custom shop model will be hand fitted.
Yes. The more expensive one gets a slide fitted and some other things + pelican case & cleaning kit.
Custom shop M45: Hand fit in the custom shop, a little tighter, pelican case, cleaning kit
Regular M45: http://www.colt.com/Catalog/Pistols/RailGun®.aspx
From gunworld.com
"But instead of getting a production model Marine 1911 pistol for the civilian asking price of $1,995, you will get a boatload more for your investment. Colt Custom Shop gunsmith Matthew LaBonte walked me through the added steps that they will take with each consumer weapon to make a great thing even better.
According to Matt, some of these added steps include: custom-fitting the slide to the receiver; cleaning the face of the sear and back-cutting it for a shorter roll; cleaning up the hammer hooks for smoothness; reducing the trigger pull from the USMC 4 pounds standard spec down to 3 pounds; cleaning up the barrel sides, hood, radial locking lugs, and lower locking lugs to insure a more consistent lockup…all painstakingly done by hand. "
We have one of the CQB’s in stock at the first responder price (FYI): http://www.gandrtactical.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=LEMI
C4
Anyone mess with one of these? Grant’s first responder price is really good considering its a Colt Custom Shop pistol.
I had one and the fit/finish was no where near my Wilson I got for not much more. Paid $1750 for Colt, sold it for $2100 (what I had in Wilson).
Eta: I never shot it, felt no better than my friends rail gun he got for 1100. Just wasn’t worth $1k to have a custom tuned gun that still didn’t match Wilson. They ARE cool though, just not for me.
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You got a Wilson for $2100?
Lol, yeah [emoji41]. Deals come up in lightly used ones on gunbroker every now and then.
It was a full size Protector.
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I believe the custom shop guns also have “CCS” stamped under the grip panels.
I have the “blue box” M45. Solid shooting gun. Mine rides with a X300 and in this setup up it is a very controllable package and reliable as a hammer. My only complaints is the finish flakes off pretty easily if you use it as intended and my front sight wasn’t pinned from the factory. Neither of which is a big deal to me.
One would be hard pressed on finding a better price than what Grant offers for either gun.
I had the opportunity to have two of these issued to me over the last 3 years. Between the two the round count was well in the tens of thousands.
Gun #1 would not maintain a group after ~5k rounds. Tritium fell out of the front sight post. Grip screws were constantly lost. Gun #1’s slide was not fitted well to the frame whatsoever for a brand new gun. The final nail in the coffin for gun #1 was the erratic extraction/ejection issues.
Gun #2’s biggest gripes for me was the grip screws coming out no matter what **** ton amount of loctite I put on them, the tritium falling out the front sight post, and the cerakote completely wearing off to bare metal on the right side/half left side of the slide, and on the grip safety, front strap, etc.
Now, I say all this with a major caveat: I beat and shot the hell out of both of them. The unit I was with at the time held records for ammo allotments; we shot all the time. I cleaned the gun decently well, but it still went through the ocean, desert, jungle, snow, etc. Malfunctions were a very common occurrence unless well lubricated.
Overall I did like the gun, but I always wondered if you could get more for your money. Also, good luck finding a holster for it. I never really looked into it but what we were told is the frame was ever so slightly wider than a standard railed 1911 (we had to get issued new safarilands). Sorry if I was all over the place. I honestly preferred the usmc’s older meusoc 1911’s much better.
Interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences. Nice to see some real world feedback.
Like stated, mine has been solid thus far, but mine has not been, nor will it probably ever be subjected to the same round count and environmental rigors that you guys are subjecting these things too.
If you ever care to elaborate further, I know that I would be all ears.
Thanks for the insight. Keep in mind that LAV, Hackathorn, and other experts with the platform constantly talk about the 1911 needing to be lubed, and that usually the best solution for the grip screws is a small o-ring in between the screw and the grip. Not sure if you’d heard either of those.
Keep in mind the M45A1 NON custom shop is closer to the actual issued M45A1 USMC as opposed to custom shop. The Issued guns do not get the custom shop hand fitting.
reference is in the 1911forum Factual M45A1 thread, Original Post on page 1.
So, if you DO NOT have a USMC CCS M45A1, its ok, it’s practically the same as the issued model.
I have a m45a1 custom shop and so far really like the gun and I have a Wilson Combat that i shot back to back. Obviously the Wilson is a much nicer looking/feeling gun but I surprised how a 1700 (I paid) performed to the double the price gun. I’m actually considering having some work done to the m45a1 front strap, fitted grip safety, possibly mag well.