Colt Custom Carry

By Joe Gorman

Colt’s long tradition of creating Custom Shop masterpieces continues with the Custom Carry Limited 1911. This pistol offers a unique selection of custom parts and features that combine to make it the last EDC gun you’ll ever need. And no, you won’t stop buying more guns but that chunk of brain in your head responsible for logic will remind you that you only need this pistol.

The Custom Carry Limited is an ’80 Series Commander-sized pistol that comes in both .45 acp and 9mm. My review is of the .45 acp version, because .45 acp. It’s worth noting that the pistol is made of stainless steel that’s coated with a durable finish Colt calls Decobond Ionbond. This finish, it is claimed, further reduces the chances of corrosion. The Decobond appears gray in color and adds to the no-nonsense appearance of this weapon.

What sets this apart from other Colt Commanders is the hand fitting done by Colt Custom Shop gunsmiths, the number of Chen parts included on this pistol and the pinpoint accuracy of the finished product. The sights, the safeties, the magwell and the hammer are made by Stan Chen. Colt further customizes the pistol with longitudinal lines on the top of the slide and the addition of G10 grips that both functional and attractive in a utilitarian way. Colt also uses Wilson Combat’s excellent 7 round compact, low-profile black magazines. The Chen magwell does not increase the length of the grip and the Wilson 7 round barely protrudes from the bottom of the well. This is ideal for carrying to my mind.

The sum of all these parts and features is a carry gun that needs nothing except ammo, oil and cleaning to provide years of service. As I mentioned, this pistol also ends up being incredibly accurate. The high visibility sights (the front sight is a tritium night sight) contributed to the ease with which I was able to shoot this pistol accurately at slow-fire targets. I shot several 5-shot groups from 10 yards that could be covered with a poker chip using Winchester and Hornady defensive ammunition. I shot standard 230 grain ball ammo with excellent results and magazine after magazine of Winchester Ranger T 230grain +P with zero malfunctions. The excellent Hornady Critical Duty +P 220 grain ammo also returned stellar groups and never skipped a beat.

Changing to combat shooting on B27 targets at 8 yards, I ran drills that required me to move laterally and draw from concealment before shooting doubles. For these drills I used my Galco Speed Master Paddle holster and Speed Master Paddle mag/light holder to facilitate easy draw and quick loading of more ammo! The Galco paddle rigs have made concealed carry life easy for me for years. Running these drills, I noted that the grips, the mainspring housing checkering, the front strap checkering, the positive engaging/disengaging thumb safety, and the excellent sights helped me get on target quickly and kept the pistol firmly in my hand and on target. After 200 rounds spent on this stage of the evaluation, I experienced zero malfunctions. I am, however, ashamed to report that I allowed one of my double taps to migrate into the 7-ring. Alas, I rushed the second shot of a double and I ended up coloring outside of the lines. But 199 shots were mostly in the 9/10 rings. To my mind, this is what this gun is all about. For the next part of the combat evaluation of this pistol I ran a Mozambique Fail drill and fired quick head shots at 8 yards so effortlessly I stepped back to 25 yards and, taking my time, kept 3 shots in the head. Naturally, I walked back to the 50-yard mark and shot 3 more at the head. 2 hits and one miss. Sigh. Operator error was to blame. There were no failures of any kind during this stage.

The Winchester Ranger T +P Ammo will shoot crazy tight groups, and yet I can somehow manage to print one all by itself… this is clearly operator error.

My son made it home from deployment and joined me as I moved on to the steel plate/bowling pin phase of testing. While the 5-pound trigger on the Custom Carry Limited broke cleanly, it was heavier than on my Colt Competition Government model and muscle memory got the better of me when trying to go for fast times at clearing a table of bowling pins. I reminded myself that I had a pistol dedicated for such things, that the likelihood of me being attacked by bowling pins while out and about were low and that this pistol was designed to put metal on flesh quickly and accurately-enough for self defense purposes. I’d already proved how crazy accurate it was during the slow-fire evaluation. After slowing down the cadence for shooting at pins, I was able to clear five pins with five shots from 15 yards. The IDPA steel plate targets were easily run from 15 yards with a conscious pause to grab a sight picture before squeezing the trigger. This pistol handled this stage with no malfunctions.

After a thorough cleaning. I pronounced this Colt, accurate, reliable, attractive and entirely suited for its mission. I then donned it and set out for an evening deer hunt. I ended up putting a rifle shot low on a big doe and she ran into a Wildlife Refuge! She was able to move, and I followed her deeper into multi-flora rose and dense underbrush. I made a call to the park ranger and explained the situation to him. He agreed that everyone would be best served by me shooting the deer again. (It was after legal shooting hours and there is no hunting or shooting allowed in the refuge) Being cleared hot, I was able to administer a fatal shot, using my Maglite and the Colt Custom Carry Limited. I guess that means I can say I killed a deer with it too.

For the last several weeks I have exclusively carried this pistol. The ease with which I can don/doff the gun and extra mag and light by using the Galco paddle holsters really makes life easy. As I write this, it’s winter so I’m typically wearing a sweater or coat of some type. This makes concealing this rig super easy. If I throw a Galco Combat Master on my belt, I can get by with concealing this pistol with a T-shirt.

Colt Custom Shop Carry 1911 .45acp Test Results

.45 acp Ammunition Tested	Avg Muzzle Velocity	Avg 5-shot group size at 10 yards inches
Hornady American Gunner 185 XTP	830 fps	1.4”
Hornady Critical Duty 220gr Flexlock +P	906 fps	1.2”
Winchester Mil 230gr Ball Brown Box	765 fps	1.7”
Winchester Ranger T 230gr +P	890 fps	1.2”
Remington UMC 230gr Ball	740 fps	1.6”