Home >> Collecting >> Gun Collecting

Differences Between Colt Models 1991 & 1911

The most notable automatic handgun made by Colt is the Model 1911. These automatics began their use when the U.S. Army took possession of the first production runs in 1912. The 1911 model automatics remained essentially unchanged until 1991 when Colt Firearms introduced the model 1991. The company's desire was to introduce an economy version of the 1911 at a reasonable price. The two automatics were essentially the same gun with a few changes.

Finish Change for the Weapon
- The finish of the Model 1911 automatic was polished blue as delivered from the factory. To differentiate the Model 1991 automatic from the original Model 1911, the factory changed the finish on the Model 1991 to an all matte parkerized blue finish. The cost of the matte parkerized finish was less than a polished blue finish. Following the introduction in 1992, a name change occurred to Model 1991A1 to associate the new weapon with the original Model 1911A1 which was the designation of the weapon supplied to the U.S. Army from 1911 to 1985. An upgrade occurred in 2001 that changed the finish of the weapon to provide more polished flats on both the slide and frame.
Mechanical Differences
- When Colt designed the Model 1991A1, it made some changes in the mechanical parts of the Model 1911A1. Over the history of the Model 1911, the bushing at the end of the slide changed from a solid bushing to a split bushing to solve imperfections in the matching of the slide and the barrel, which created a bind in the mechanism. This change occurred in the 1970s. The Model 1991A1 returned to using a solid bushing. The original trigger on the Model 1911 was steel but to save cost the company changed the trigger material to a synthetic material. Another change that rose from customer likes was the relieving of the ejection port to better handle different manufactured cartridges. During the 2001 upgrade of the Model 1991A1, the trigger returned to being steel rather than a synthetic material.
Purely Cosmetic Differences
- Other cost saving changes made to the Model 1991A1 were made to lower the price. These included changing the grips from solid wood to a synthetic polymer. Changing the sights to easier use taller sights with three dots to aid targeting satisfied many customer desires. The left side of the slide of both models was marked with a roll mark signifying the manufacturer and model of the weapon. The roll mark for the original Model 1991A1 was a single line of large print, Colt M1991A1. During the 2001 upgrade, the roll mark changed to three lines of small print.

Gun Collecting