Conversation taken from GACA Facebook Group:
Bo Don White
I'm hoping it sells well, despite the rather stratospheric price. If it does, maybe another manufacturer can bring us something along these lines, but with an internal hammer to keep out dirt and/or debris. It's what I think the 1911 should've been all along, in a nice little compact form.
Bryan G. Hamilton
Pros- The price is worth it, in my opinion. Save up. I've shot a Colt .38 Super that was originally purchased by my grandfather. the only work ever done on it was a new barrel (a 6" one ) dropped in in 1999. It has digested what has to be close to a couple million rounds of Hot- to whoopass handloads in competition and just fun gunning. Some brands really do have the cost= quality. Colt is one of those brands. It looks super snag free = good
Bo Don White
So, are you saying this is on your ccw piece future purchase list, Bryan?
Bryan G. Hamilton
Cons- Alloy frame may affect the 3 gen durability i mentioned above. 2- Why retain what looks like the 1911 clockwork without the backstrap safety and a thumb safety? OR am I seeing that wrong?
I have a Colt Officers, Bo, so probably not. But if/when you stumble across one used at a good price why the heck not?
Bo Don White
One most interesting thing, here. The trigger/hammer system looks almost identical to a SCCY, save the fact that SCCY's hammer does not protrude outside the frame while it is being cycled by the trigger stroke, therefore there is no way for anything to get between it and the firing pin, unlike the New Agent.
Bryan G. Hamilton
Did they retain the backstrap safety? I can't tell.
Bo Don White
You're correct, there is NO thumb or palm safety, and I agree with that design decision by Colt. All they would be with a dao trigger is redundant and add additional (unnecessary) weight to a 'pocket' sized gun.
Bryan G. Hamilton
It will be interesting to see if the DAO pull is Glockish or more long throw, to say the least. If ya know what I mean.
Bo Don White
I never could see (or recommend) carrying a 'traditional' (single-action, palm safety, thumb safety) 1911 for ccw before, due to having to have it in cocked-an-locked condition for fealty to how Browning designed it to be carried. This gun takes away all those negatives/objections I had, so I have no basis to not recommend it, any longer. If someone comes along and asks me about it who cares nothing about price and wants the prestige of the Colt name, I'd have to say go for it, with the caveat being giving up high capacity.
Bo Don White
Yes, it will. I strongly suspect it will be much like a Para LDA, which would mean more long throw, again ala SCCY.
Bo Don White
Ha-ha...I'd forgotten that Para keeps both of the traditional safeties on their dao 1911s. Reason I'm laughing is that a Glockbot told me last week that no dao gun needed a manual safety. Apparently he must be smarter than the good folks at Para, who've been building 1911's for DECADES.
Bryan G. Hamilton
We've always differed in opinions over carting 1911s, LOL One thing about this pistol for you to consider is that while lighter and rounder - it's barely an inch shorter than a commander. Still a pretty large package. But it's a start.
Bo Don White
I've always admired Para as a company, but this is one time I think Colt made a better decision. I'd never agree with that wiseacre Glockbot, though, because he was actually referring to a Glock when he said 'dao', which it really is NOT, in any traditional sense.
Bryan G. Hamilton
The hardest adjustment i've had to make in the last 20 years is learning to speed shoot DAO pistols. AND that's with being pretty dang good with DA revolver shooting. It's just me being old I guess, or the lack of "click-click".
Bryan G. Hamilton
It just dawned on me-one more con. I'm not a big fan of trench style sights. There has got to be more of a sighting index than a groove unless you are just outside of arms reach.
Bo Don White
Yeah, I see somewhat Colt's reasoning in that it's designed to be a 'belly' gun, but I'd have gone with some low profile version of theAshley-type two dot sight. No fan of trench sights, either.