Tag Archives: Colt gold cup

Who doesn’t love a Gold Cup?

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John Moses Browning’s celebrated 1911 design was adopted by the U.S. military just in time for World War I and soon after Colt began to respond to feedback to tweak the gun for further use. In January 1932, Colt responded to the common fine tuning done to service pistols by military marksmen at the National Match competitions in Camp Perry by introducing the National Match series of accurized 1911s that offered upgrades such as hand-fitted internals, match barrels, checked triggers and mainspring housings and adjustable sights. This model proved popular until it was suspended in 1942 due to the pressing needs of World War II.

In 1957, Colt rebooted the concept as the “Gold Cup National Match” line and has retained the terminology ever since.

Fundamentally, these guns have been the benchmark for right-out-of-the-box competition pistols for more than a half-decade with Colt long describing them as “the finest shooting semi-automatic in the world.”

Check out a sweet spread that covers several decades of these classics in my column at Guns.com.

The Legendary Colt 70 Series MkIV Gold Cup

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The Hartford, Connecticut-based works of Mr. Samuel Colt is synonymous with some of the best, not to mention the most classic, of all 1911 model pistols. Perhaps the pinnacles of their efforts were the Gold Cup National Match MKIV 70 series of handguns.

When introduced in 1970 (hence the term ’70-series), the National Match MKIV Gold Cup pistol was the ultimate in .45ACP target pistols. After much feedback from the shooting community, Colt constructed this gun to be as complete as possible right out of the box. Remember, back then, there wasn’t fifty companies making IDPA/IPSC race guns made to order. Competitive shooting itself with large caliber military-grade pistols was in its infancy compared to what we know today.

The gun had many features unheard of in a factory pistol. This included an adjustable trigger stop that limited finger movement so that the aim wasn’t skewed, grooves on the front of the receiver grip and wide super smooth, tuned trigger, and a special barrel and bushing (more on that later). The slide had a flared ejection port and a flat grooved top rib as well as angled (not strait as in GI 1911) rear serrations. The bluing on these guns is very deep and reflective, which was very different from military Parkerization. The thin beavertail on these guns is very different from comp 1911s today but was still handy and workable….

Read the rest in my column at University of Guns

Colt gold cup 70 series was made with ISP shooting in mind