Colt Competition Series 70 9mm 5" 9rd Pistol

This is Colt's competition 1911, set up the way a shooter would set one up before the first match instead of after. The 5" National Match barrel is the accuracy piece, and the sights on top of it are Novak - a red fiber optic front against a fully adjustable rear, which is the combination most people end up paying a gunsmith to install. The dual recoil spring system takes some of the slap out of the cycle and extends the life of the springs, which matters when a gun sees thousands of rounds a season rather than a box a year.

Ergonomically it is built to sit low in the hand. An upswept beavertail grip safety and an undercut trigger guard drop the bore axis relative to your grip, and the checkered G10 panels with the scalloped cut give traction without shredding a palm over a long stage. The extended thumb safety is easy to sweep off, and the three hole aluminum trigger breaks against the Series 70 firing system, which is the reason competitive shooters keep asking for it - no firing pin block linkage means a cleaner press. In 9mm the recoil impulse is soft, and two 9rd magazines come with the pistol along with spare sight fibers.