Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Colt series 70 vs 80

Thinking I need one of these. 80's are much more plentiful, folks talk highly of their 70's.

What are the big differences?

If you're speaking of the actual Series 70, the difference is two-fold, i.e., 1) a prong style barrel bushing on the original 70, and the absence of a firing pin safety of any kind on the original (and current) 70. Basically, the 70 differed from the straight up Government Model (i.e., the commercial name for the USGI standard sidearm till 1980) by adding a prong style barrel bushing. That became the standard commercial Government Model offered by Colt till the series 80, which replaced it. The 80 went back to the standard Government Model barrel bushing, but added an internal firing pin safety.

No one much cared about the dropping of the prong bushing, but many complained about the addition of the internal FP safety, and thus the 70 came to be highly prized by 1911 fans. Folks were opting for used Series 70 Government Models and Springfields over the new Series 80.

Eventually Colt got the idea (having lost many customers to Springfield and others who were making what amounted to old fashioned GMs, i.e., without internal safeties), and "brought back" the "Series 70," only it wasn't a Series 70. What they brought back was actually a pre-70 Government Model falsely labelled "Series 70," just to take advantage of the enthusiasm for the old 70. Didn't matter, though, because few were particularly nostalgic for an original 70 for the prong barrel bushing anyway. They just didn't want an internal FP safety, so it made many happy.

It's all very complicated.

Get either. The 80 got a bad rap from gun writers and poor gunsmiths. Both are not reliable critics.

During the 80's everybody was criticizing Colt. Mostly because of reduced quality at that time. That was true in some instances. Since it was fashionable, the trigger got caught up in the criticism. The 80 triggers on todays high end models are second to none.
Most and I mean most, including real experienced 1911 shooters can not tell the difference between a series 70 trigger and the 80.

Now the finger bushing vs. solid bushing is a whole different argument.

Buy the gun that you happen to find that you like.

If it's a 70 Series, you can change the bushing if you don't care for it.

If it's an 80's Series, you can get rid of the FPS if you don't like that as well.

Neither is a big deal.

Or just buy a new Colt configured however you prefer.

PS: They really don't have to be "broken in" either as some idiots think.........just a little TLC and/or tweaking up front and they'll run just fine from the git-go.............with good magazines (read that as Tripp Cobra Mags, period).

MM

I have a Mark IV Series 70. The original slide has the big letters, when I found a spare slide with small letters I had to use valve grinding to get it to fit. There were complaints about the pronged barrel bushing breaking.

I found an 80 that I like, just didn't know if I should be holding my breath for a nice series 70.
I think I shall move forward with this new venture.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I have both styles and much prefer the non-FP safety models. Of the three FP safety models I have one has had the safety removed when it proved unreliable..as in pull trigger and get a click. It is a 1986 vintage gun that was made during the strike and is the least accurate of all the 1911s I have ever owned.

The other two, a Commander and a Combat Commander, have had their SERIES 80 FP block triggers worked over by a very competent 1911 smith and are excellent and have been 100% reliable.

The only problem I have with the guns with the FP safety is during total strip down for for cleaning...one has to have a pair of tweezers to align all the little parts to get them back in the frame...

Bob

Are you referring to a "Series 70" or an actual Series 70. The actual Series 70 is only available used. Colt is still making the "Series 70."

The actual series 70.

I have both 70 series and 80 series Colts. As stated above changing a 80 series to a 70 series isn't a big deal if you really feel the need.
My prized Colt is a 80 Series built by Paul Liebenberg when he ran Pachmayr Gun Works.
Here's a pic showing the different set-ups.

If I were you, I'd see if I could find one of the "New Series 70s." Who needs an internal firing pin safety? If you're concerned about accidental discharge on dropping it, you can get a titanium firing pin that cannot develop the momentum needed to fire by merely dropping the gun. That's how Springfield has solved the safety issue. Simple fix. No need for a complicated mechanical system like the firing pin block.

So the big criticism of the Series 80's were the FP safety, and the use of SOME cast parts. The frame, slide, and barrel remained unchanged. Slide stop, extractor, ejector and hammer were the same. Many of the rest of the parts were investment cast, but were very good quality.

Series 80 guns came from the factory throated for hollow points.

If you never did anything to either gun, the Series 70 is the higher quality gun because more of its parts were made in the old way. If you were to build a custom gun, there's absolutely no difference, as you're going to throw away most of the factory parts anyhow.

Of the two, I'd rather have the Series 80 gun, IME they have always been more reliable.

Due to the throated barrel? I'm sure the new Series 70 has that too.

The Real Hawkeye gives you the straight scoop. When the Series 70 came out it referred to the "collet" bushing and slightly flared barrel of the full sized Govt. Model. I don't know if the collet bushing was "invented" by Irv Stone, but he was selling them as aftermarket "drop in" options with his flared BarSto barrels at the same time as Colt came out with them. Due to the bends in the collets, they provided simultaneous pressure inward against the barrel and outward against the slide, rendering stability to the barrel which, up to that point, could only be attained by fitting an oversized bushing which was costly and often interfered with reliable functioning. The ultimate down-side of the Series 70 was that occasionally one of the collets would break off and totally lock-up the slide.

In today's world, the collet bushing has gone the way of the dinosaur however the term "Series 70" is still around and mis-applied (even by Colt) and refers to 1911 pattern guns that don't have a firing pin block. Someone apparently theorized that the 1911 if dropped directly on its muzzle could go off due to the free floating firing pin being driven by inertia striking a chambered round. Colt had previously (1937) manufactured somewhere around 20-25,000 Gov't. Models with the firing pin block developed by William Swartz but the military contract required Colt to remove them from the guns delivered to the military. Unlike the current Colt Series 80, whose firing pin block is moved by a lever activated by the trigger, the Swartz has a small "tit" that protrudes out of the top of the frame and is activated by the grip safety. Current Kimbers use this mechanism. During re-assembly of the gun, many of the "tits" have been broken off by forcing the slide back on the frame while depressing the grip safety making the gun totally inoperable.

Regardless of what ANYBODY says, series 80 mechanisms can, have and do fail. Here's one that I had break:



….the gun was totally inoperable.

Firing pin blocks on 1911 pattern guns, add an element of complexity to a mechanism that desperately needs to be kept simple and provide little to no offsetting benefit. Can a Series 80 trigger be superb? Absolutely. But it takes more work, so why bother if you don't have to?

In an attempt to cut through the static...

There are only two Colt 1911 firing mechanisms: series 80 and everything else. The series 70 firing mechanism and everything that came before it are the same. If you don't want a firing pin safety you are looking for a non-series 80.

The primary feature of the series 70 was the collet bushing. The firing mechanism was unchanged. The collect bushing grips the barrel similarly to a ferrule. During disassembly, pull the slide back 1/4" or so to decompress the collet bushing before turning and you will vastly reduce or eliminate broken collet fingers.

There is a third...The Schwarz system which can also be found on S&W's.

I specified "Colt 1911" to avoid trying to cover all other 'improvements' implemented by other manufacturers - Swartz-types, Para LDA's, Stahl Omega, and whatever else.

Yes, Colt did invent the Swartz and used it in a few thousand pistols in the late '30's. They are several thousand dollars now.

Theoretical question, could a Series 80 gun be safely carried "loaded chamber, hammer down"? Do not want to, do not know why anyone would, but would it be considered safe? Half cock?

Carried, sure. Getting it into that condition is a little dangerous, since there's no decocker.