Nomad

I have an opportunity to buy a Colt Delta Elite, stainless, S/N: DS115xx. I've heard that these are prone to frame cracks, though none appear evident on this one. I may not be looking in the right place. Can anyone tell me about when this one was made, and if it's subject to frame cracks? This one has the double recoil spring and plastic guide; and commander-style hammer. Should the recoil springs and plastic guide be replaced?

Thanks,
Nomad

Sean Smith

The frame cracks on Delta Elites are largely mythical. The guns are quite sound and typically require extremeties of stupidity to damage beyond repair. If the frame will crack, it will be around the left side (IIRC) slide stop hole.

My personal opinion is that the stock Delta Elite is oversprung, and the plastic plugs have been known to break for no good reason. I'd suggest a 18-20lb variable Wolff spring with a CP shock buffer and a steel guide rod in place of the stock setup. This will also be more pleasant to shoot, contrary to what you might expect.

Easiest way to tell when it was made is to look at the cocking serrations. If it has vertical serrations it was made from 1987 to about 1991. If the cocking serrations are angled, it is an "enhanced" model made from about 1991-1996. The later models also have flat-top slides, skeletonized hammers and a quasi-beavertail grip safety instead of the basic 1911 style. There really isn't a practical difference between the two that I know of.

rkamp

Nomad,

I put off buying a Delta for 10 years because of the rumor of the round being too hot for the 1911 design. I bought my first one about
5 years ago (SS Enhanced).No problems, and if you shoot S&W loads
(180 gr. at 950fps), and the hot stuff judiciously the gun will last
a couple of lifetimes. It sounds like the piece you are talking about may not have been shot much because it still has the stock spring set up "intact".
Brownells sells a Caminolli dual shock guide rod that uses an inner and outer buffer to protect the frame. You came to the right place to get helpful information.I use a
#22 Wolf spring on my current Blue
Delta that I'am building into a trail/ hunting sidearm, but I may go to a #20 based on the forum information.Read all the past posts on the 10mm forum. There is an excellent gunsmith who gives invaluable advice based on experience (Burns).

If you have any .45s you will probably want to sell them. The 10mm
is the best round going, 135,155,180, and 200 grains for self
defense and legitimate hunting applications.

rkamp

RickB

I've been using the Cominolli guide rod, 20# spring and EGW firing pin stop, and I'm still on my first set of buffers, after over 1000 rounds. I haven't shot a lot of hot ammo, but my last 50 rounds consisted of a 200gr TC over more #7 than Accurate recommends, and it shot like .45 hardball. No signs of accelerated or unusual wear.

Nomad

Thanks guys. I appreciate the helpful information and everyone's taking time to reply. I've decided to go ahead and buy the DE.

I've previously reloaded a lot for .40S&W and have a considerable quantity of very hard 155 gr. lead round nose bullets. Any recommendations for using this bullet in 10 mm with Unique, Herco, etc? This is just for a practice load... nothing serious.

Thanks

Sean Smith

Assuming the bullet is appropriately hard, pusing it to 1300 ft/sec or so should be no big deal as far as fouling is concerned. 10.2gr AA#7 makes for a nice, mild load and around 11.4 is good if you want to turn up the volume a bit.

AA#7 and AA#9 are good for 10mm, among other things they are bulky enough that you run out of case capacity before you can do anything too stupid (especially with #9) and give pretty nice velocities. No metering problems either. #7 seems to be pretty low flash too. Some people have gotten ludicrous ballistics with 800-X and magnum primers without pressure problems, but the consistent complaint about it is that it doesn't meter for crap.

As usual, don't blow up your gun just because a stranger on an internet forum said it was OK. :P