Colt Special Combat Classic

The Colt 1911 is one of the most iconic handguns ever. It has a history that stretches back over 100 years when it was designed and created by the legendary, John Moses Browning.

Something special

It’s hardly surprising then, that in relation to CO2-powered replicas, the Umarex 1911 Colt Government still stands tall amongst collectors and CO2 enthusiasts. The company has launched many variants of the 1911 over the years, but here we have the Special Combat Classic model. This pistol has a stunning silver-effect slide, hammer, trigger blade, safety, magazine release, and slide lock, making it one of the most cosmetically appealing M1911-based CO2 pistols that Umarex produces.

Steely

The all-metal mainframe of the Colt Special Combat Classic is very solid, with various areas of the rest of the pistol being ABS. These include the slide lock, hammer, trigger blade, safety, and magazine release button. The metal slide has a very appealing black and stainless steel finish. Incidentally, on the underside of the mainframe, there is a short run of Picatinny accessory rail.

Get a grip

The slab-sided grip has deeply chequered ABS side panels with a dark brown finish. These perfectly complement the pistol’s looks, and give an assured hold. A noteworthy feature is that the forward face of the grip has a textured dot finish, while the backstrap shows a chequered silver finish. And that’s not all, as there is a very generous ABS tang that allows the pistol to sit very comfortably in the hold, as well as helping with balance and handling.

Sight in

There is a useful pair of low-profile open sights that consist of a raised foresight blade, and a fully adjustable rear sight. For fast target acquisition, the foresight has a white dot on the rear face to help place the blade correctly in the rear sight notch. They proved surprisingly precise when adjusted correctly.

Power, magazine & ammo.

Like many pistols of this ilk, the 12-gram CO2 capsule is housed within a dual-role magazine that inserts into the grip. So, let’s now check out the procedure for powering the pistol up and loading in the ammo.

Firstly, the magazine is removed from the pistol by pressing the mag release button, which is situated on the left-hand side of the grip, just behind the trigger. Now, be aware that even without a capsule fitted, or ammo stored, it’s quite heavy, so will fall straight out and onto the ground, unless your free hand’s there to catch it. This adds to the authenticity.

Once the mag is removed, a capsule needs to be placed inside it from the left-hand side. To pierce the CO2 capsule, simply tighten the winged nut at the base of the magazine.

To load ammo, there’s a linear magazine under spring tension that’s positioned on the forward section of the duel-role magazine. First, the BB retaining system has to be primed by pulling it down against the spring, and then turning it to the left, where a small lug holds it in place. Next, 19x BBs (it will hold 20) are loaded into the top until the magazine is full. Then, turn the lug out from its housing and let it hold the BBs in place under spring tension. You can now palm the full dual-role magazine into the grip, and you’re good to go. At this point, it’s wise to engage the safety lever, which is found on the left-hand side, at the rear of the grip, just forward and above the rear tang. A white or red dot will be seen below it on the rear of the grip, showing its status.

Reload & shot count

Once you’ve depleted the BBs in the magazine, you simply depress the mag release and repeat the filling procedure. From a full 12-gram capsule, although the shot count is stated as approximately 70, I found I was getting well over that, achieving around 90 shots per capsule. However, as we all know, CO2 power can be affected by ambient temperature, so take that into consideration.

Trigger & safety

The trigger can be used in single or double action mode, plus the pistol can be de-cocked without firing. Also, the manual safety lever can be engaged at any time to put the pistol on safe.

To cock the pistol for single action, you can either rack the slide (move it back and then forward) or manually pull back the hammer. Obviously, this is for more precise target shooting. The double-action mode means that the hammer is cocked as you squeeze the trigger.

In use

Pistol shooting can be very demanding and tests everything from your hold, aim, and trigger control, and when you get it right, it’s extremely rewarding. All you need is a safe backstop and some targets on your own property.

I mention this because as a hunter using a 12 ft/lbs or FAC air rifle, even I forget just how much fun CO2 can be. Even more so when using a quality pistol, which the Colt Special Combat Classic undoubtedly is. When I’d got back into the swing of things, the pistol really impressed me, and was capable of sub ¾” groups at 10 yards in single action mode. The average velocity of 393 fps was not bad either.

Conclusions

The USP of CO2 pistols, like this one, is their lookalike authenticity and the highly efficient blowback action, plus the reliability of other main action features, such as the trigger and safety.

It works faultlessly, and the operation of the slide during the firing cycle offers up a whole lot of realism. Talking of which, the hammer, slide action, and slide lock are fully functional, making this even more of a pistol that tempts you to carry on shooting, whether that be studied single-shot paper target punching, competition use, or basic back garden plinking against reactive targets or tin cans.