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Field Ethos
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By Chad Adams
It’s good to get your card pulled now and again. To eat crow. To be made fully aware, against your will if it were, that you don’t know everything you think you know. I had that experience with a Colt pistol during a recent range session, and I’m quite thankful for it.
For so many shooters out there of a certain age, Colt defined our first pulls of the trigger. From plinking with a Single Action Army to slinging an M4 on duty, Colt made first impressions most companies can’t match. But as I built a career in this industry, I’ll admit it’s been easy to look past the icon at times, with so many companies building the guns Colt made famous. Colt focused on military contracts; the competition stole away market share on signature Colt designs. No platform exhibits this dichotomy quite like the 1911. Colt built it, and then everyone else came for it.
Such is commerce in a free republic.
Still D.R.E.
But then I got on the trigger with a Colt Gold Cup Trophy recently, and I was flooded with the reminder of just who and what Colt still is. Yes, there are a ton of companies out there building 1911s—many of them built incredibly well. But only one company’s guns wear the “Rampant Colt,” and that still means something to shooters.
It means even more when the gun is rocking as intended. Our range gun absolutely spit fire, stayed incredibly flat and exhibited a very game trigger. Topped with a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro, it worked steel as fast as you had the ability to hold it. In short, it shot better than I could fully extract from it—which is always the goal. Let’s push ourselves past our limits, not the hardware.
The Colt Gold Cup Trophy comes with or without an optics cut, chambered in .45 ACP or 9mm. It features well-executed 25 LPI checkering on the front and back strap. Built to compete, it employs a beveled magazine well to enhance mag changes on the clock. Adjustable rear sights help shooters dial in their preferred competition load. Finally, the competition-blue G10 grips absolutely set it off.
Gold Cup Trophy Details
The gun ships with one magazine, offering 8+1 (45 ACP) and 9+1 (9mm) capacities. The 5-inch barrel helps extract the absolute most accuracy possible from this rock-solid platform. It brings the right amount of heft, weighing 2.38 pounds. A stainless finish pairs incredibly well with the G10 grips while offering protection from sweaty paws and the elements.
The single-stack 1911 competition gun fills a bit of a niche market. In USPSA single-stack and Steel Challenge, it becomes a player. As a ranch gun and plinker, this is a pistol that delivers a lot of performance in a mid-range price tier. Street prices put it around $1,800, and you’re paying for that suite of components and features a notch above the entry-level market.
So maybe you’re like me, and you’d gotten away from seriously thinking about Colt for a while. Since CZ’s acquisition, we’ve seen some tremendous positive movement from one of the industry’s most vaunted brands. Colt is standing on business again. And the business of building elite shooters is good.
Price: MSRP is $2,099.
Pros: Damn thing shoots lights out and feels better in the hand than I can describe. A virtual steel magnet when running IPSCs and plate racks. 10 out of 10.
Cons: Unless you compete in very specific divisions, you get outgunned on capacity or power factor here. And we live in a world where the right entry-level gun makes a solid argument.
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