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15043
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Fri May 23, 2008
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Description:
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KWC Colt Delta Elite Spring Pistol
Author: The Serious Sniper
Published: 5-23-2008
Discuss this review in the Forums.
-Table of Contents-
1. Real Steel History
2. Buying
3. First Impressions/Fit and Feel
4. Included Accessories
5. Features
6. Magazine
7. Light Disassembly/Internals
8. Accuracy tests
9. Pros/Cons
10. Final thoughts
11. Customization
-Real Steel History-
The Colt Delta Elite is a modified Colt M1911A1 chambered for the 10 mm Auto. It is similar to the M1911 in design and operation. Colt manufactured both stainless steel and blued versions with 8 round magazines. A Delta Gold Cup model was also offered for target competition. All Delta models have been discontinued.
It is also credited as being the first weapon since the ill-fated Bren Ten that sparked a genuine interest in the 10 mm round. The 10mm round has seen minor resurgence among outdoor enthusiasts. There are some documented cases where bears have been killed with the 10mm round and more Alaskan guides are now carrying them in the wilderness. Glock has had some success keeping the 10mm alive and many 1911 enthusiasts are trying to buy the Colt Delta Government models whenever possible.
The Delta Elite is a standard 1911A1 design, with a few differences from the latest Series 80 derivative of that pistol. It carries the skeletonized "Commander" type hammer of that pistol and the same overall features of the 1911A1 that have made it so popular with its users. However, the Delta Elite carries a stiffer double recoil spring to handle the increased pressure of the 10mm Auto round. Many reputable 1911 gunsmiths, such as EGW, strongly recommend that users replace their double recoil springs with even stiffer single springs, along with a full 5 inch recoil spring guide and some sort of shock buff. Otherwise, the Delta Elite has a tendency to suffer shock- and fatigue-related frame and slide rail cracks that render them unsafe to fire.
Real Steel Delta Elite:
(Information above excerpted and adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Delta_Elite)
-Buying-
I was in the mood for a new spring pistol, so I waited for this one to go on sale at my local Big 5 store. I paid $22 for it, and no sales tax (in Oregon).
-First Impressions, Fit and Feel-
Picture of box:
My first impressions were pretty good. First off, however, this gun is clear—not good for my tastes, even though law enforcement probably wants to keep it that way for safety. Big 5 pretty much only sells clear Airsoft guns, so if I wanted black, I would have to order it online or take some Krylon spray paint to this bad boy. I liked the feel of the gun, and the plastic grips, which have a rubberized feel, are just as grippy as diamond-checked 1911 grips. Even though it is on the light side, this gun has a rigid and sturdy feel. There is no slide flex, there are no creaks, and this is a ~$20 pistol!
-Included Accessories-
Included in this package are:
The pistol
One clear magazine
Manual
Sticky target
Pack of 0.2 g. bb’s
The sticky target was an unexpected bonus. I enjoy shooting the gun at it inside my garage because my mom hates airsoft bb’s laying around. You can also re-use the bb's when using a sticky target.
-Features-
The specifications from the packaging are:
BAXS hop up system
315 FPS
12 Round Magazine Capacity
Accuracy/Precision – Can hit a quarter every time 25 feet away (with 0.2 g. bb’s)
The gun has a standard 1911 thumb safety. It is sturdy and slides up and down easily, locking both the slide and trigger in the up position. The grip safety is (sadly) non-functional. Also take note of the grips. In this picture, you can see how well-textured they are. For some reason, KWC has a hole drilled only partially through the hammer on just the left side. Who knows why, but it gave me an idea for customization, which I discuss later.
Other Side—notice the second hole partially drilled out:
The magazine release and trigger are standard 1911, even down to the straight trigger pull meant for target shooting and competition. It has overall less travel, and the gun tends to move around less when the trigger is operated. As shown in the picture below, I drilled my trigger out so that it would more resemble current 1911 firearm triggers.
The gun has a 1 piece aluminum barrel:
Cybergun’s famous trademarks—“Colt Delta Elite 10mm Auto” The serial number can be seen in this picture, which may be unique to each pistol.
Another feature that I really like about this pistol is the sights. They are wider and taller than 1911 firearm sights. The front sight features a non-centered red line to assist in aiming, but it only helps marginally. To help with front sight acquisition, I put some red sharpie on the entire front blade.
-Magazine-
The magazine is clear, weighted, and holds 12 rounds. The design is such that a spring loaded bb follower pushes the rounds up into position. To allow rapid loading, the follower is designed to catch at the bottom of the magazine slide. However, experience has shown that this doesn’t always work and one must manually hold it in place while inserting bb’s. It’s not the easiest operation for field loading while under fire. Another problem, is that when you release the magazine from the gun, 2 will inevitably fall out. The plus side to this, however, is that I can load 14 bb's into the first magazine, 12 in the mag, one, which I just stick at the breech without cocking the gun, and one in the pipe. This puts no stress to the magazine, but I only leave one in the pipe for wars because if you leave the gun cocked overnight, you could severely weaken the spring.
Sgt. Froggy mentioned this thread--it shows you how to mod the magazines so that bb's don't shoot up when you try to load them: http://www.airsoftretreat.com/forums/index.php?topic=43145.0 I will eventually do this to all of mine.
These magazines are fairly inexpensive, so my recommendation is just to keep a few loaded and on you. Right now, I have a total of 5.
-Light Disassembly/Internals-
Push out the slide lock from the other side as shown.
Next, just pull off the slide.
Here are a few pictures of the internals. Nothing out of the ordinary, and average for a spring pistol. I don't see any imperfections or fragile points.
The spring and spring guide:
Hop up and breech:
The lower receiver:
-Accuracy Tests/Performance-
Currently, I can hit my tetherball pole every time with a 0.25 g. bb’s from 30-40 feet away. The pole is approximately two inches in diameter. I use 0.2 g. bb’s just for long distance shooting because with this pistol, it over-hops .2s a bit high, but it hits pretty much dead-on around 100 feet away with no wind. .25s fly straight and true for a good 60-70 feet, and from there they drop. Running targets (my friends) are hit with ease from 60 feet away. This is an excellent backup weapon.
-Pros/Cons-
Pros:
Inexpensive
Well-built
Tacky grips
Full trademarks
Operational safety
Good sights
Splendid feel, solid grip attained
One-piece barrel
Easily-obtainable magazines
Has never jammed, over 1000 rounds put through it
Readily customizable (slide lock, trigger holes, stippled grip)
Cons:
Clear
Plastic components
Must mod the magazine so that the magazine follower will lock
-Final Thoughts-
It is one of the best spring pistols for the money, and it sports high FPS for a spring pistol. My friends can feel it from 60 feet away while running, so if your primary goes out of service mid-game, this would be a perfect backup. The grips on it and the overall design make it easy to grab, and precision shooting grip techniques can be applied to this pistol as well. (Thumb-over-thumb, two-hand push-and-lock, single-hand grip.)
A side note:
I used to own a few KWC S&W 1911's, (they were the same exact pistol with different trademarks) but they jammed ever so often. The first one that I got jammed every single magazine--it got returned. That pistol had a clear hopup unit inside of it. A few months later, KWC finally put in some black hopup units--they worked ok, but accuracy and range were horrible, and they still jammed occasionally. Now, as you can see from the pictures, this pistol has an orange unit which works perfectly. My friend just bought one of the S&W 1911's about a month ago, and his has the same orange hopup unit inside of it as well.I just tested the pistol in snowy weather, 30 degrees, and after 40 shots, the hopup was working fine. I only use TSD .25s and Airsplat Bio .2s in this gun though.
-Customizations performed-
First off, a Dremel/rotary tool kit is needed (this one is from Costco):
As we can see from this picture, I drilled out the hammer all of the way:
And then I did some scalloping on the trigger itself:
I added slide lock functionality by cutting out this part for the nub that is on the bottom side of the slide lever:
Then I cut a notch in the slide (under the “T” in AUTO):
Lastly, I stippled the front grip facing and fake grip safety. This added a superb feel to the pistol—a rock solid, non-slip grip. This is a picture of the slide locked back:
And the final picture, a “custom” 1911 ready for action!
I recommend this pistol to anyone who needs a solid backup for winter games when their GBB will not function properly, or even for a SWAT-style primary for backyard wars. It currently sits in my Uncle Mikes holster as a backup either on my leg or my belt. Thanks for reading!
The_Serious_Sniper
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Review Administrator
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Posts: 2,539
Registered: February 2004
Location: Wisconsin
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