Colt Mustang

This popular Colt 380 acp caliber semi auto pistol was introduced by Colt in 1987. Unfortunately it was discontinued by Colt but it still remains a very popular pistol. The all steel version was 18.5 ounces and the light weight model with the aluminum alloy frame weighs 12.5 ounces unloaded.
This is a single action pistol with an exposed hammer that was very popular as a small reliable carry handgun. It was a very good seller for Colt at one time and I could never understand or get to the truth of why Colt decided to discontinue this model.

I have always liked an exposed hammer, as I feel it is a way around using a safety for a left handed person. Through the years I have worked on an awful lot of these handguns in all the various versions. Initially Colt had a problem with the sear spring not staying in place while the gun was being fired. Colt realized this problem early on and designed a retaining clip that was installed to stabilize the sear spring. It worked fine and resolved the sear spring dilemma.

I happen to like single action pistols of all kinds. This Mustang came with a right handed thumb safety and being a south paw, I never used it, I would carry the Mustang with the hammer forward on a live round in the chamber. I would have no problem doing this because it has a firing pin block safety system. This pistol incorporates an internal extractor system that is similar to the 1911. The pistol has a plastic type polymer trigger and there is no reason to change it because its self lubricating. It has a trigger pinch problem that can be corrected.

The Mustang comes with a plastic guide rod. There used to be an after market stainless steel guide rod that was made by Scott & McDougal, that is fine to use in the all steel version but I would prefer to use the plastic guide rod in the aluminum alloy frame model because the steel guide rod will batter the aluminum frame.

There are many people that customized their Mustang having extensive and very expensive work done to it, but in the end it was still a good carry gun for your pocket and I saw no point in trying to make this a Rolls Royce, it made no sense at all to me.
I have done a great deal of work on this pocket pistol, and I kept the work to only what was needed in a realistic viewpoint. I just wanted to refine the action and the feed ramp, and recut the crown, and improve the sights, keeping the cost where people could afford the necessary improvements.

I have had a number of people bring me this Mustang in pieces, including a gunsmith as they took it totally apart but were not able to reassemble it. I own a light weight Colt Mustang and I even made a pair of ultra thin maroon micarta grips for it. I have been able to get a very good trigger pull on this pistol. What I have been able to do to the original sights is drill 2 dots in the rear sight and paint them with fluorescent yellow and on the front sight which is slightly crooked I had 2 options, I could either serrate it or cut a channel in the front blade by hand and paint it with fluorescent orange paint.

There are quite a few Colt Mustangs still out there that are available. It still remains a very good pistol and I regret that Colt has discontinued this model. I keep asking myself when will Colt ever get their act together, they have had countless number of opportunities, but it never seems to happen. For those of you that have a Colt Mustang, its a keeper and its still a top choice in my opinion for a small pocket semi auto pistol that works very well.


Authors Personal Notation: This commentary as well as all my previous commentaries are my personal opinion only. I mean what I say and I say what I mean. If my commentaries offend you please do not come here and do not read them.


Teddy Jacobson / Pistolsmith
www.actionsbyt.com
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tjacobson@houston.rr.com
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