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Ever have a 1911 Series 70 collet break?
- Thread starter Lavan
- Start date
Jim Watson
New member
Heard about it for years. Three guns here over time but the current one not shot a lot.
I think a major cause of breakage was user error. Twisting the bushing with a wrench with the slide all the way forward and yanking the bushing off the flared barrel for routine cleaning would be more stress than shooting.
I think a major cause of breakage was user error. Twisting the bushing with a wrench with the slide all the way forward and yanking the bushing off the flared barrel for routine cleaning would be more stress than shooting.
My 1911A1 Series 70 has one. Never once, in 40 years or more, has it given me any grief of any kind. I suspect the gun rag writers may have started this rumour.
"...there's a reason Colt stopped..." Yep. It costs less to manufacture a solid bushing than it does a spring based bushing. A collet bushing is essentially a round spring.
"...there's a reason Colt stopped..." Yep. It costs less to manufacture a solid bushing than it does a spring based bushing. A collet bushing is essentially a round spring.
I saw a number of broken collet bushings. Now, can I narrow it down to use, or bad disassembly technique? No, but we had a display board in the gunsmithing shop I worked in where our shop owner would glue broken collet bushing to the display as they'd come in. Hundreds of 1911's moved through our shop, and we had somewhere between 10-15 on the board. If I had a series 70 I would replace the collet bushing.
dogtown tom
New member
I've owned three Series '70's over the last forty years and have never had one break.
Yep. I had one break during a shooting school. (1985 or so) You would have thought the gun was welded together.
I finally knocked the slide off the gun and sliced my hand open on the ejector.
Never used a Collet bushing again.
I never thought to look. I’ll bet there’s a gouge in that slide.
I finally knocked the slide off the gun and sliced my hand open on the ejector.
Never used a Collet bushing again.
I never thought to look. I’ll bet there’s a gouge in that slide.
I never had one break, but years ago some of us were shooting together and I saw one break. The gun was a near new series 70. Suddenly, the owner stopped shooting, with a confused look on his face, and I saw the slide on his pistol was open about half way. We examined the pistol and discovered the collet segment with the lug that locks the bushing into the slide had broken. The recoil spring, plug and broken collet bushing went down range.
That being said, a Gold Cup I bought new back in the mid '70s is still going strong with the original collet bushing.
Many shooters did replace the collet bushing with a solid Colt drop-in bushing. I sometimes did too. The collet bushing really did provide the accuracy advantage of a fitted match bushing. I found that accuracy did deteriorate when factory drop-in solid bushings were substituted for the collet. Fitting a match bushing restored factory collet bushing accuracy.
That being said, a Gold Cup I bought new back in the mid '70s is still going strong with the original collet bushing.
Many shooters did replace the collet bushing with a solid Colt drop-in bushing. I sometimes did too. The collet bushing really did provide the accuracy advantage of a fitted match bushing. I found that accuracy did deteriorate when factory drop-in solid bushings were substituted for the collet. Fitting a match bushing restored factory collet bushing accuracy.
Last edited:
Dfariswheel
New member
The problem with the Colt collet was traced to a sometime miss-fit between the outside of the collet and the inside of the slide.
If the inside of the slide was too tight a fit over the collet, the collet fingers were unable to spring open correctly and the fingers would buckle instead of flexing.
This induced a high strain that eventually caused a finger to snap off.
The fix was to slightly reduce the ring shaped areas on the upper fingers of the collet to make more clearance between the collet and slide.
The full details are described in the Jerry Kuhnhausen Shop manual on the .45 Colt Autos, Volume One.
As I recall, the test for collet buckling was to remove the slide and barrel from the frame, and with the barrel in the locked position, press down o nthe barrel hood.
If the barrel has a springy feel, the collet needs to be clearanced by slightly reducing the ring-like areas on the upper fingers.
If the inside of the slide was too tight a fit over the collet, the collet fingers were unable to spring open correctly and the fingers would buckle instead of flexing.
This induced a high strain that eventually caused a finger to snap off.
The fix was to slightly reduce the ring shaped areas on the upper fingers of the collet to make more clearance between the collet and slide.
The full details are described in the Jerry Kuhnhausen Shop manual on the .45 Colt Autos, Volume One.
As I recall, the test for collet buckling was to remove the slide and barrel from the frame, and with the barrel in the locked position, press down o nthe barrel hood.
If the barrel has a springy feel, the collet needs to be clearanced by slightly reducing the ring-like areas on the upper fingers.
Jim Watson
New member
The Barsto collet bushing for Commander was a different design from the patented Colt Accurizor bushing. The Colt is meant to act as a draw collet with the barrel taper expanding the collet against the slide bore. As dfariswheel says, the fit has to be right. Colt thought they were eliminating a fit point but they were not holding dimensions close enough.
The Barsto collet bushing for Commander was just springy.
Kind of like the Colt collet bushings you would sometimes see on a straight barrel.
The Barsto collet bushing for Commander was just springy.
Kind of like the Colt collet bushings you would sometimes see on a straight barrel.
bamaranger
New member
confused
Ok, clear up some confusion for me. Were ALL Series 70 pistols equipped with a collet bushing, or just the Gold Cups? I was of the belief that only the Gold Cups had collet bushings. The nature of some of these replies is sounding otherwise. I had an all steel 70's Commander that definitely did NOT have a collet.
Ok, clear up some confusion for me. Were ALL Series 70 pistols equipped with a collet bushing, or just the Gold Cups? I was of the belief that only the Gold Cups had collet bushings. The nature of some of these replies is sounding otherwise. I had an all steel 70's Commander that definitely did NOT have a collet.