Colt Gold Cup National Match Mid-Range.

The Colt 1911 Gold Cup National Match .38 Special Mid-Range was made specifically for the ISSF (International Shooting Sports Federation) Centre Fire target match. The pistol was made for international export to countries where firearms laws may be highly restrictive, limiting calibre and magazine capacity. The pistol was also made to provide a specialised and highly accurate target pistol for US and Canadian shooters participating in the ISSF Centre Fire match. It was made to use .38 Special Mid-Range wadcutter target ammunition. Listed velocity was 770fps with a 148 grain wadcutter lead bullet. In addition to the tighter tolerances we expect to find in Colt Gold Cup National Match pistols Colt decided to eliminate the potential accuracy problems that can be created by the normal Browning recoil operation by eliminating it. When a Browning action operates it recoils a short distance before the toggle linkage beneath the breech of the barrel trips and pulls the rear of the barrel downwards, unlocking it from the slide and aligning the breech with the magazine. The Browning action requires that the barrel be moved out of alignment, and that introduces a potential for misalignment to the detriment of accuracy.