My Colt LW Government Model

Rick McC. · #1 05-04-2020, 10:32 AM

I liked it so much that I actually bought mine twice!

I was very happy with it, but didn’t carry it that often, so it became one of two pistols that I sold to buy a Triumph Bonnieville motorcycle.

A few months later, I called the guy I sold it to about buying it back. He’d sold it to “his gunsmith” three days before, and gave me the guy’s number. I called the “smith,” who advised that he’d done “a lot of upgrades” for the previous owner, so it’d cost me quite a bit more than I’d sold it for.

I worked out a deal for a trade, plus some cash, and met the guy at his house that evening to pick it up, where he met me in the carport, with no lights turned on. I opened the Colt box, saw that it was my pistol, and left. The next morning, I got to checking things out, and saw that it was the wrong box, it was the wrong mags, most of the W/C parts were drop-ins which replaced the fitted Colt parts (but they were stainless, so they looked “more cool” on the black pistol [really?]). Then, the W/C thumb safety that comes with a .002 oversized diameter pin for use in pistols that have experienced some wear (I knew because I’ve fitted those myself before), obviously hadn’t been properly fit, as the thumb safety was hard to move, and I had a bit of a time removing it (it must have been driven into place with a rubber mallet, or on second thought, probably a claw hammer).

So, after the screaming cussfight with myself had subsided, and I could see again, I called up the guy that I’d sold it to, to see if he (maybe) had the correct box, magazines, and any of the original parts. Lo and behold; he had! I was able to get the box, both mags, and all of the original parts except the hammer, which he’d sold. A call to Brent Turchi, the Colt Custom Shop and Warranty Manager at the time, had the correct hammer on the way to me in short order.

So after a few months, and some mutilation by a couple of young guys who didn’t know any better; the Colt LW Government Model XSE came home, never to leave again!

Disclaimer: I’ll admit that towards the end of these last two months of being a “shut-in,” I gave some thought to fitting and/or dropping in those shiny drop in parts just for the entertainment. So far; good taste and common sense has prevailed.

Hopefully, what with starting to visit my Dad, and going to band practice, regularly again; I’ll be able to resist the temptation. I could always detail strip some of the other 10 1911s for some “bench time.”

Caleb · #2 05-04-2020, 02:17 PM

Great read! Glad you were able to get the original parts back in it and it’s back home again.

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RKP · #3 05-04-2020, 05:32 PM

You've been busy doing rescues lately Rick, and, with great history to boot.

Have you done a Triumph Bonneville rescue as well?

Rick McC. · #4 05-04-2020, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caleb

Great read! Glad you were able to get the original parts back in it and it’s back home again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad you like it, Bro!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RKP

You've been busy doing rescues lately Rick, and, with great history to boot.

Have you done a Triumph Bonneville rescue as well?

No Sir. I rode it for three years, and traded it back in on a Triumph Rocket III Roadster.

Caleb · #5 05-04-2020, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick McC.

Glad you like it, Bro!

No Sir. I rode it for three years, and traded it back in on a Triumph Rocket III Roadster.

Those are 2000+ CC’s , right?

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Rick McC. · #6 05-04-2020, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caleb

Those are 2000+ CC’s , right?

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It was 2300 cc’s, 146 HP, 163 foot-pounds of torque at 2750 RPM’s.

It was one great bike. My son has a full dress Harley (Road King or some such). When I first got it, he said it was “ridiculous.” I never could get him to ride it (chicken), but he and all his hardley buddies respected it.

Edit: OK; here comes another story.

When I got the Bonnie, I’d eventually got my wife to ride with me some. That took a while, as she’d never been on a MC in her life, and was scared of them. Over a period of two years, I got her to advance through several milestones.

First one was obviously; get her on the bike. For that I took her on short rides around here to two different parks on the Gulf. Each is about six miles from the house, west of HWY 19, on two lane roads. The second milestone was to ride north on HWY 19 (away from congested areas) to some back county roads. Third was to ride on SRD 50; a highly congested six lane road here.

After that, I got her to ride on back roads to the east side of the county, for lunch at a couple of different places on the Withlacoochee River. That was a round trip of about 45-50 miles. When I told her she was ready to do some real riding, she announced that the Bonnie wasn’t “big enough” (seat) for her to be comfortable riding any further. HOLY CRAP; music to my ears! I told her I’d look for something “bigger.”

Now, the reason I chose the Bonnie in the first place (besides wanting anything but a hardley) was because the foot controls were centered on the bike, which was by far the most comfortable way for me to ride with my bad back. There’s no way my back could handle riding anything with the foot controls forward, plus they always look to me like the rider is going down the road all set for their gynecological exam. Regardless of gender.

So, a day or two later I’m at the Triumph dealer looking for something bigger with central foot controls. I’m wandering through the place, and seeing several nice looking models bigger than the Bonnie (which I should have already mentioned, are a less than anemic 900 cc’s these days); but they had forward mounted foot controls.

Then, I found it! It was most definitely bigger, and had the foot controls in the proper place. I found Dave, the owner, and told him that I’d found what I was looking for. We walked over to it, and he said “oh, you’re going for the big dog.” I said “I don’t know about that; but it’s bigger, and the foot controls are in the right place.”

We worked out the details; trade in $$ and so forth, and he said they’d have it ready the next day before lunch.

That evening at the house, I was trying to describe it to Paula, and showed her a pic I’d taken with my phone of it sitting in the store with a bunch of other bikes all around it. You really couldn’t see much detail, with the lights flashing off the chrome on bikes everywhere, so she said to see if I could find one like it online.

Well, in short order I came across a video! First, there was a guy speaking in a magnificent

ish brogue (I could only understand about every third or fourth word; but he sounded really cool). He’d speak a bit, then the video would go to a guy riding a Rocket III Roadster. First, he went across the screen smoking the rear tire (a 240 comes stock, BTW) the whole way. Then the Scot was back; muttering splendidly! Then more video of the Rocket, and the guy’s drifting through a looong curve; smoking that rear tire all the way. Back to the Scot; the guy could have drawn a crowd reading the phone book! Then back to the bike, which was shown doing the longest wheelie I’d ever seen in my life; and of course that rear tire was smoking through the whole thing.

Then, the video ended. I looked over at the wife...sitting there with eyes the size of silver dollars, face as white as a sheet. I said; “well, there it is.” She says; (serious as all hell) “you’re not going to drive it like that, are you?” I said “hell no!”.

It was a while until I could go to sleep that night; thinking more or less “what the hell have I done!”

To tell the truth; it was five months of riding it before I’d crack the throttle more than 1/4” until I was in fourth gear. Dave had told me when I picked it up that it was a different animal than any bike I’d ever ridden, and if I drove it like the others, “it’ll kill you.”

We had quite a few good rides on the r3r, many with folks we’d trained with at some of Brownie’s Threat Focused Pistol training events. And they were “events;” “course” just doesn’t quite convey the entirety of those weekends!

Anyway, after Paula broke her hip (bicycle riding 8 1/2 miles in the pouring rain after breaking it, and walking on it for another day, but that’s a subject for another story), and after the surgery and eventual healing; she couldn't comfortably ride the MC anymore.

So, a couple years after that; I let the Rocket get away. Best damn bike I ever had in this lifetime, and a hell of a good one to end my riding days with.

Mods: I know this has drifted a bit far away from the original thread; so please move it to another area as a stand alone thread, if you think it’s warranted.

Horse'nround · #7 05-04-2020, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick McC.

I liked it so much that I actually bought mine twice!

I was very happy with it, but didn’t carry it that often, so it became one of two pistols that I sold to buy a Triumph Bonnieville motorcycle.

A few months later, I called the guy I sold it to about buying it back. He’d sold it to “his gunsmith” three days before, and gave me the guy’s number. I called the “smith,” who advised that he’d done “a lot of upgrades” for the previous owner, so it’d cost me quite a bit more than I’d sold it for.

So, after the screaming cussfight with myself had subsided, and I could see again, I called up the guy that I’d sold it to, to see if he (maybe) had the correct box, magazines, and any of the original parts. Lo and behold; he had! I was able to get the box, both mags, and all of the original parts except the hammer, which he’d sold. A call to Brent Turchi, the Colt Custom Shop and Warranty Manager at the time, had the correct hammer on the way to me in short order.

So after a few months, and some mutilation by a couple of young guys who didn’t know any better; the Colt LW Government Model XSE came home, never to leave again!

Disclaimer: I’ll admit that towards the end of these last two months of being a “shut-in,” I gave some thought to fitting and/or dropping in those shiny drop in parts just for the entertainment. So far; good taste and common sense has prevailed.

Hopefully, what with starting to visit my Dad, and going to band practice, regularly again; I’ll be able to resist the temptation. I could always detail strip some of the other 10 1911s for some “bench time.”

You are to kind "those young guys who didn't know any better" Grumpy ol' Norwegian translation- couple of punk-ass morons that should never be allowed to touch a handgun. Any so called gunsmith worth his salt would or should have advised his customer what he had and implore him not to screw it up!
So you're one of "THOSE GUYS".... second chance Charlie! I wished for a long time to have run across my series 70 Combat Commander. I let it go as a young sailor to fix car.... In retrospect it was worth a helluva lot more than my 69' Cougar!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caleb

Those are 2000+ CC’s , right?

900 - 1200 depending on the vintage and build request.