Colt Defender Reviews

by **St8Shooter** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:07 pm

why I love my dremel tool!!

by **BillB** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:13 pm

Got it to a gunsmith today. According to him the spring in all Colt 7-round mags comes too tight from the factory. He recommends that every new mag be loaded with 7 and left to sit for at least two weeks to teach the spring some manners. Guess I'll try that. While he has the gun he's going to tune or replace the extractor and go through the entire thing to see if any other mods are advisable. I'm guessing that he'll have it for 3 to 4 weeks.

by **St8Shooter** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:44 pm

Hmmm... My mags are always loaded. Let me know what happens..

by **BillB** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 6:08 pm

Will do. And even before the GS mentioned it, I noticed that the top round was nearly flat (horizontal) instead of angled up towards the ramp. The spring idea makes sense when you consider that the 1911's have a separate ramp below the throat of the barrel. My rounds were likely compressed when they slammed into the ramp horizontally, resulting in the FTF. Many pistols have the ramp as an extension of the barrel, so the tight spring wouldn't likely make much difference.

by **skatona** » Wed Oct 13, 2010 11:49 pm

Keep an eye on the feed ramp. earlier models of the defender had mags that acted like wood peckers on the alum. feed ramp and would create a small divot that would keep the round from feeding. the earlier followers were pointed metal coated in orange plastic that would eventually wear off and then start digging into the feed ramp. I hear they changed those followers for round hooded ones. If you by chance are using the originals (4+ years ago) then you should change the followers. otherwise you will have the dremel out after every range time. it's a great/fun gun once the kinks are out of it.

by **BillB** » Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:34 am

Thanks for the info. Mine is serial number NDF10xx, making it about 2 years old. The followers are metal, with no plastic coating. The GS did say that they could use a bit of machining though, so that will be taken care of before I get the gun back.

by **HankFrost06** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 3:41 pm

Just came home from the range. Fired my new Colt Defender 45 ACP for the first time. Fired about 200 assorted and mixed rounds through it with SA, Colt, Kimber and Wilson Mags without a single problem. Shoots better than I can aim. When I tried some range ammo I had never heard of before it did not want to feed it very well. It was dirty but it shot the important stuff just fine. I traded my NO Shooting Kimber for the Defender. I made a good choice.

by **billman61** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:16 pm

New owner...Night Defender...fired 250 rounds thru it on Monday, had mixed reviews. Both of the Colt magazines failed to feed if they were loaded with more than 5 rounds. It appears that the followers were sticking. Easy fix for me...Wilson Combat magazines are on the way.

On several occasions the extractor failed to engagae the round, and didn't let the slide all the forward, and had to be encouraged with the butt of non-firing hand. Maybe that's due to being new and tight.

Also got cracked square in the forhead several times with ejected casings...someone said to me, hold on to it...and that will stop. I plan to work on that. I don't like bleeding in 25 degree weather!

Still think it's a fantastic handgun, and I will work through these problems until it's relaible. Accuracy is excellent! Quality is superb.

I appreciate any advice/criticism. I'm certainly not an expert.

by **St8Shooter** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:05 am

congrats Bill!! Yes they will all go away with time. prob next time you go out with it. Give it a good cleaning now and all but the brass to the head should be gone. I still get one once and awhile.. worth it though!!

by **St8Shooter** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 12:05 am

congrats Bill!! Yes they will all go away with time. prob next time you go out with it. Give it a good cleaning now and all but the brass to the head should be gone. I still get one once and awhile.. worth it though!!