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waltfraz
January 15, 2010, 07:38 AM
I am looking at colt defender and new agent one gun says has 80 series operating system the other says has new 90 series operating system what is the diffrence?and which is better?

PetahW
January 15, 2010, 08:57 AM
The difference between these pistols is......... none, except for the rollmark.

In 1991 Colt decided to market an economy version of their basic Series 80 Government Model.
The polished blue was changed to an all-matte parkerized (later matte blue) finish, checkered rubber grip panels were used, and the serial number sequence was a resumption of the ones originally given to US military M1911A1 pistols.
The resulting pistol was cleverly named "M1991A1", after the year of introduction.
Mechanically however they are the same as any other Colt Series 80, 1911-type pistol.

Around 2001 or so Colt upgraded these pistols with polished slide and frame flats, nicer-looking slide rollmarks, stainless barrels, and wood grips (blued models only).

The newest/latest ones are commonly called "New Rollmark (NRM)" pistols by Colt enthusiasts, to differentiate them from the "Old Rollmark (ORM)" 1991 pistols - and have the "Series 90" rollmark.

The earlier guns are easily identified by having "COLT M1991A1" in large block letters across the left face of the slide.
The NRM Colts will have three smaller lines of text saying "COLT'S-GOVERNMENT MODEL-.45 AUTOMATIC CALIBER", along with Colt's rampant pony logo.

The Colt Series 90 M1911-type guns produced today are equipped with a 3" barrel and a captive dual recoil spring pack.

.

45Gunner
January 15, 2010, 01:27 PM
Very informative, PetahW. I have one of those 1991A1 pistols I bought new in '91. It has thousands of rounds fired and I change the recoil and firing pin springs every couple of thousand rounds. It is very accurate and all around good gun for HD and the range.