I was excited to hear when Colt was going to re-release the Delta Elite. The deep blued Delta Elite was one of the first 1911s I ever shot and is always on my short list of the guns I want really bad.

But then when Colt did start selling them again, they only offered them in two-tone and stainless steel.


Again, another one of my grail Colts is the Python. I fell in love with that gun as a kid when I had the Crossman 357 Co2 gun. Just one of best looking wheel guns next to the Manurhin MR73.

So when Colt mentioned selling them again, I was ready to pay the big bucks for a brand new deeply blued Python.

And again, no blueing option available, only stainless steel.

For anyone keeping with news and rumors, what is the chances we'll ever start seeing blued Elites and Pythons coming out? I've just never been a fan of a stainless steel and to me when I think of both of those guns, I only imagine them with that deep mirror finished blue.

So sexy...

Hand rubbed blueing would be worth the extra $$.

I hope they do.

I don't care for two toned or stainless guns at all.

Cerakote it or Ion Bond DLC, there are finishes that are more durable and are pretty close to bluing.

Manufacturers don’t like doing bluing anymore.  My guess is that A) they could save a few bucks by just using stainless and B) bluing just isn’t as durable.  Definitely prettier though, and I think it’s a shame we don’t have more options.

This /\. Its just too labor intensive and most of these places don't have the staff to do it right anymore.

I would love a new production Python in an old school polished bluing but I don't see it happening other then maybe an extremely limited distributor run. Any "Black" guns you are going to see from Colt (or any major manufacture) are going to be standard (non polished) bluing or more likely some kind of black coating over stainless.

While its not as pretty, Black Nitride over SS is a 10x better finish from a practical POV.

I wouldn't trust it to be as good as before.

I could maybe see Lipseys or Talo doing a run of them.

Colt walrus-wheel Royal bluing will never come back.  It's dead, Jim.

Charcoal bluing?  Maybe from Turnbull, possibly a custom shop.  If you get "blued" colts, it's probably going to be a dark oxide like they've been doing for years, not actually blue.

Sig has 320 and 365, Cold has a new/old 1911 and revolver.

What are you trying to say? This makes NO sense.

I'd rather have a railgun and python than any amount 320s and 365s

Different guns for different purposes and I don't like being limited or restricted so I'll take all 4 for the win Alex

Is it because the factories no longer have the equipment? Too labor intensive?

The Colt royal bluing is one of my all time favorite finishes. Feel like they're dropping the ball on not releasing anything.