My Colt LW Government Model

[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.

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.”