Thanks everyone. Talked with Jack Huntington a bit ago and the barrel was in stock at Storm Lake so is already en route to his shop.

I will report back the results when I get it back and can shoot it a little. MARK

JRH Custom handguns, Jack Huntington, will be custom fitting the barrel to the slide but it will take him far less time (money) to fit a Storm Lake barrel according to his experience. Heck, I was pretty happy with the accuracy of the originqal barrel as I am not that good a pistol shot so any improvement will be a bonus for me. Mainly looking for a far slower slide speed and less felt recoil. Better shootability to put it another way.

RE Ramped barrels - that would be nice but the costs get out of my range when we start talking about such things. I will, and have, spent $5-600.00 re barreling a rifle with the best of the best, but I cannot see the real world benefit to a mediocre pistol shot like myself for the ramped high dollar barrels. And, cash is pretty short these days.

Thanks for all of the input, replys and intel, for shure! 

Mine is one of the earlier DE's. They could probably claim it has been shot too much with heavy or handloaded ammo. Thanks for the idea and thought, though.

My gunsmith, Jack Huntington at JRH custom handguns is recomending Storm Lake.

Poorly cut barrel lugs on my factory Colt DE barrel are dissapointing to say the least. Sloppy in action with excessive heaqdspace. So, I need a new drop in barrel. Who would ya'll go to for this project part? Thnjkin Storm Lake at the outset, but what do you all here think of the best plan?  MARK.

If I needed a new barrlel for a SS Colt Delta Elite (And I do) where would yo turn for a mostly drop in fit with good accuracy?

To closely approximate the facotry loads safely, Start with 13.5gr of Accurate #9, work up in .3 gr increments until you are getting 1275fps then stop. You can probably run this a bit faster but that is beyond my experience level to comment on. Good luck! 

Well, unless clicking on the link or address worked, ya'll are just gonna have to use your imaginations. :-D  It looks about like any other well used and scratched SS Delta Elite with a flat mainspring housing and a SBT grip safety/bobbed hammer. 

Well, THAT didn't work.... lets try it another way....

[img]http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/?action=view&current=Colt10mmwnewgripsandpmr30withlazer001.jpg[img]

OK, here is a try at that.....

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/ColtDeltaElitepictureswithsomecatpics008.jpg[img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/ColtDeltaElitepictureswithsomecatpics007.jpg[img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/ColtDeltaElitepictureswithsomecatpics005.jpg[img]

And with rosewood grips. It is now wearing rosewood colored CT lazergrips but I don't have pictures of it set up with those yet, and the gun is at JRH custom 1911's to be re timed i.e. have the barrel lock hold on a little longer for greater safety margins with hotter loads and less than the current 35 feet of ejection distances.

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Colt10mmwnewgripsandpmr30withlazer001.jpg[img]

NOT really shiny or pristine because it gets carried everywhere and shot a lot.

Ahhhhh..... the gun that started it ALL! Mega cool!

How do they shoot? Handle? they look a bit heavy, are they?

Those things have got to be worth several thou these days, what do you see and hear about values?

Sorry for the no photos, I will try to post them up here tomorrow or at least really soon. How does one do that on this forum, BTW? I do have the photos up in my photobucket account if that helps any. The Wilson Combat stuff is mostly internal to make the trigger pull lots nicer. Trigger, sear, disconector, spring set etc. The recoil springs are dual and could double as rear suspension springs on my truck. I HAVE to have a semi beavertail grip safety and bobbed hammer or a 1911 chews the heck out of my size XXL hands. Also have a set of the rosewood grain looking CT lazergrips on mine. Want to add some tritium night sights soon, but don't like three dot or ANY dots on my sights. Hoping to find some straight lines or other type that can actually help with fine, precision shooting.

I think I will try polishing up my DE as well, as it might become even prettier. Glocks are good guns, just too fat and homely for me. 

LONG LIVE THE BIG TEN EM EM!

I posted this in a new thread as well, but I am hoping for some input and feedback on this one. My goal was to replicate the original Norma loadings as well as the current Buffalo Bore loads for the 10mm. I have no intentions of re using the brass on these loads, nor of using them a lot. Just a nice true 10mm power level carry  and hunting load. I am using 180gr Gold DOts, new Starline brass, WW primers, and AA#9. I started with 14.0 grains and worked up in .2gr increments but stopped at 14.8 which was the highest powder charge I could find in any manual (Accurate's old manual, for a 190gr bullet)

At 14.6 gr I had exceelent accuracy, and a SD of only 11FPS. velocity measure 1375 average from the 5 inch bbl of my Colt Delta Elite. 14.8 grains still showed no indications of high pressure like smiley faced brass but also yielded no more velocity so I have settled on the 14.6 load. The 80 I just loaded up will likely last me te rest of my life and then some as other than some function testing I do not plan to use them unless there is a crisi looming i.e. legitimate self defense although I amy try to shoot a deer with that load once as well. Those of you who load and shoot the 10mm a lot, what do you say about this load and my methodology. I am an old hand a rifle cartridge loading but a newbie in the world of high pressure semi auto cartridge loading. THANKS! Mark

So, over on another forum I got lambasted pretty badly for even trying these loads. They are for a customized (dual HEAVY recoil springs, for example) DElta Elite of mine that still is running its oroginal unramped barrel. Any of you think that 14.6gr and 1375 is too hot to run these at? I am an old hand at rifle reloading but new to loading for a semi auto pistol. the kinds of things we could use for pressure indicators with a rifle do not apply to pistol cartridges, or at least if the DO show up they are signs of MEGA too high pressures.

   Went out yesterday and chronographed a bunch of ammo I loaded up. Wanted to replicate the old Dornaious and Dixon/Norma + current Buffalo bore loads for my Delta ELite. HAd tried to do so with AA$7 but did not get there before we busted a case head wide open. AA#9 is a much slower burning powder so I had great hopes. Loaded four rounds each at 14.0, 14.2, 14.4, 14.6, and ended at 14.8

Sweet spot hit at 14.6 with average speeds of 1375 yet only a standard deviation shot to shot of ELEVEN! Showed good accuracy at the target, too.

New Starline Brass (which I have no plans to try to RE use) Winchester primers, nothing fancy but seems to be a KICK BUTT carry/duty/hunting load.

What say ya'll?   

I like slender pretty girls and slender pretty pistola's. Thusly, my daily carry pieice is a highly tweaked and tuned SS Colt Delta Elite with every aftermarket part Wison combat makes for it, installed therein and tuned/polished by Kevin Gibson of Shooters Journal. EXTRA stiff dual recoil springs.  Also added rosewood Crimson Trace Lazergrips to it. ME LIKEY!  How bout ya'll?

Just came up with a new daily carry and hunting load which consists of the Speer gold Dot 180 punched out at 1375fps by 14.6grs of AA#9 all lit up by a Winchester primer and housed in a new starline nickel plated case.

The whole set up is slender and packable, plus accurate and easy to shoot. Pretty to boot! What is not to like?