Is Colt still good?

[26 Inf]

It’s 2019 and we have people talking about the subjective quality of mil spec fire control groups in ARs. Mil spec FCGs are place holders for Geissele FCGs.

Great, now you've started an argument about FCG's.

It’s 2019 and we have people talking about the subjective quality of mil spec fire control groups in ARs. Mil spec FCGs are place holders for INSERT FAVORITE BRAND HERE.

[ChairborneRanger]

Colt Defense is still good to go. Colt also makes 1911s and has a outsourced Rifle line. The non Colt Defense Carbines are NOT military grade "Expanse." It's a consumer grade Carbine. Virtually every component is not truly military grade per Colt. It's a good budget range toy, but I would shell out the cash for an 6920 OEM if you are on a budget. The 1911s are like a crap shoot as far as fit and finish, but they are good quality and well made. The Colt 1911 .22s are made by another company. I honestly do not know how the Colt Competition rifles are, but I would go with Colt Defense for anything used as a defensive carbine.

I think that is generally good advice Core781. The Colt Defense line is still pretty good----the remainder, somewhat and sometimes, questionable.....

[26 Inf]

Bringing this back from near death.

I have a definitive answer:

Attachment 57349

It says right on the box, GTG!

Seriously, very nice. Between this upper and a Colt complete lower I bought from Brownell's, I now have a complete Colt (except for the BCG and charging handle).

[lsllc]

I’m tempted to buy one of those.

I have a 2016 or 2017 production 6920 Magpul furniture gun.

I had a squib on factory Wolf ammo last week. The bullet landed 2-3” down the bore and stopped. I had a very hard time getting it out. I broke wood dowels. I tried a brass rod and a wood block/hammer. Still could get it out and actually broke the brass rod. So I switched to steel, sure i would end up damaging the barrel and ending up having to replace it. The steel rode the barrel down til the bullet pushed out.

I cleaned the gun and took it to the range. 3” groups with an Aimpoint Comp M3 2 MOA for at 250 yards with match ammo.

I guess Colt sucks.


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[Hammered_Pair]

In this day and age of just as good as, save the money get a "Poverty Pony" with the RF85 and never clean again. ;-)

[davidjinks]

I love your posts.

I second Doc’s response.

A. Colt has a lifetime warranty
B. Colt will fix your stuff
C. Most of you won’t be running your gun vert hard. The hashtag/ammunition ratio lately is disappointing
D. lol BCM
E. 99% of you will jack up your guns putting on dumb crap you don’t really need and will never get full use of
F. Maybe some of you really DO just need Anderson lowers and PSA uppers.
G. Chris Bartocci has not been employed by Colt for a good minute.
H. Most people now are making gay ass clones anyways that again don’t get shot
I. Today people were shooting guns and hitting things and didn’t bitch about it
J. Seriously, this thread. Seriously?

[scottryan]

This. Chris also has said that straight pins for pinning the gas block are inferior to mil-spec taper pins... Apparently unaware that LMT uses straight pins for their gas blocks, a company he constantly dotes on as being top-notch and better than Colt in every way. He doesn't know everything and holds opinions that directly contradict each other.

Taper pins are superior.

I don't think Chris said LMT is superior to Colt in every possible category of build quality.

[SouthwestAviator]

Taper pins are superior.

I don't think Chris said LMT is superior to Colt in every possible category of build quality.

He says that LMT is better than Colt in overall quality. The fact that LMT uses straight pins, a carbine buffer, a semi auto carrier, and doesn't parkerize under the FSB is enough to make them inferior to Colt overall. Each of those things adding up together comes across as serious corner cutting. There are too many manufacturers building rifles right (including Colt) to bother paying more for an LMT that uses inferior parts and assembly processes.

[26 Inf]

He says that LMT is better than Colt in overall quality. The fact that LMT uses straight pins, a carbine buffer, a semi auto carrier, and doesn't parkerize under the FSB is enough to make them inferior to Colt overall. Each of those things adding up together comes across as serious corner cutting. There are too many manufacturers building rifles right (including Colt) to bother paying more for an LMT that uses inferior parts and assembly processes.

I've read about LMT's lack of parkerizing under the FSB before.

Are these possibilities?

1) Does assembling non-parkerized parts allow for tighter tolerances and therefore a tighter, more sealed gas system?

2) Parkerizing as a unit, after assembly gives you the same darkness/tint of parkerization on all parts, plus you aren't risking scratching the barrel sliding the FSB over the parkerized finish.

3) It seems to me that if you parkerize the barrel, then slip on the FSB, then drill for the pins, you are putting the pins into an unparkerized surface. Why aren't we worried about that?

4) With this in mind:

When the steel is immersed in the phosphating solution, a light acid pickling takes place and the acid concentration is reduced at the liquid-metal interface. It is here, at this surface, that the steel from the gun is dissolved, hydrogen is released, and a phosphate coating is deposited onto the steel. The fact that these coatings are formed in place at the surface of the steel, incorporating metal ions dissolved from the surface itself, makes them “conversion” coatings which are integrally bonded to the metal. Phosphate coatings differ from electro-deposited coatings which are “additive” coatings, overlaid on the metal.

While the chamber and bores of rifles and handguns should be protected from the Parkerizing action, other operating parts can be coated with no worry about dimensional change. Any excess, built-up coating is essentially removed in the very early stages of use, after reassembly, and the parts return to their original dimensions. https://www.brownells.com/userdocs/l...arkerizing.pdf

Manganese phosphating ( and iron phosphating coatings are usually the thickest electrochemical conversion coatings, being thicker than electrochemical conversion coatings such as zinc phosphating and bluing.

Parkerizing will add 0.001" (lightest) to nearly 0.004" (heaviest) depending on the process and the time the phosphate is allowed to grow. http://www.homegunsmith.com/archive/T5811.html

The Brownell's Manganese Parkerizing Solution meets standard mil-spec MILLSTD-171 for small arms finishing.

4) Continued: If there is no movement/working to remove excess, built-up coating if the FSB is pinned in place before parkerizing. Does this mean that parkerizing after assembly would in essence seal the cracks due to built up coating in surface slip fit union?

Based on all that I've read, I'm not so sure that it is correct to call out that LMT uses inferior parts and assembly processes. Kind of like KAC doesn't HPT bolts because of their belief that it shortens bolt life.

BTW - thanks for the comment, it caused me to add a little to my knowledge base.



3)

[26 Inf]

In my looking around I did find this, somewhat humorous explanation of why parkerizing under the FSB is important:

The real distinction is this:

When SHTF, and you have to reach for those 100 loaded mags to ward off human-wave attacks, the mob will inspect your weapon to see if it has parkerizing under the front sight base.

If they see the park there, they'll say "Hmmmm . . . this guy's serious . . . he looks like a real arfcom survivalist . . . bet he even has expensive TAP ammo in every one of those mags . . . anybody that goes Tier One and spends three grand on SHTF ammo is too much for us. He'll mow us down like pot plants at harvest time . . . no siree, we're going to a different neighborhood, we are." And they'll look at you with a new respect in their eyes as they head toward easier pickings,

But if the mob sees no park under the base, they'll look at you like a wolf-pack looks at a baby elk. They'll say "This chump has a Bushmaster or other inferior rifle. He's not serious, he's a poser. I'll bet that's only XM193 in all those mags, too. He's too cheap to have a real gun and real ammo. We'll eat him for breakfast." And they'll proceed to wreak mayhem on you and yours. (TOS)