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Currently Colt is producing a Gold Cup that is called the Gold Cup Trophy.
Below you will see a photo of a Gold Cup Trophy that has the traditional flat top slide, however, the current Gold Cup
Trophy has a round top slide.
It is my opinion that this round top slide is not really a "GOLD CUP" as it does not have the features traditionally
found on a Gold Cup.
Traditionally, the Gold Cup has a flat top slide, spur style hammer, grooves cut on the front strap, Elliason rear sight
and steel "Gold Cup" trigger. Additionally, the Gold Cup has always been known as the Gold Cup National Match.
The round top slide Trophy is not, in my opinion, a true Gold Cup.
I do not know this for a fact but here is my theory about how the current Gold Cup Trophy came to be.
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| Stainless steel, flat top Colt Gold Cup trophy |
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| Blue steel, engraved Colt Gold Cup Trophy |
It seems to me that the Gold Cup trophy came about when Colt had an excessive number of round top slides and no flat top slides.
To utilize these round top slides and continue producing the Gold Cup, Colt placed the wide, forward slanted rear cocking
grooves and a new roll mark indicating that this Gold Cup was a "Trophy" as opposed to the "National Match"
Gold Cup.
Further, this Gold Cup, the Trophy, came with a Bo-Mar rear sight and a wide trigger made by a third party company, purhaps
provided by King's or Wilson.
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| Series 70 Colt Gold Cup National Match |
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| Colt Gold Cup Elite |
The Gold Cup Elite is another example of what I believe was Colt's effort to utilize excessive parts.
As Colt was moving to stainless steel and having an excessive number of mild steel slides Colt roll marked these mild
steel slides as "Gold Cup Elite" and installed them on the newer stainless steel receivers.
I am a traditionalist when it comes to my firearms preferences. Therefore, I don't like two-tone Colt Autos.
As a result, I obtained a stainless steel Gold Cup slide and installed it on the stainless steel frame. I then obtained
a mild steel frame for the blue Gold Cup Elite slide. I was unable to obtain a genuine Colt frame so I settled on a Caspian
frame.
The Caspian frame is an excellent frame. I sent the frame to King's Gun Works in Glendale, California to install a wide
Colt Gold Cup trigger and blue the frame.
King's did an excellent job and the result can be seen below.
Below is my Colt Gold Cup Trophy that I use for local steel challenge matches.
I bought this new Colt for $900.00 with an additional $300.00 worth of aftermarket parts.
Notice the Dawson Precision fiber optic front sight.
Note Bo-Mar style rear sight with Colt logo.
Also, I installed King's slide lock, thumb safety and grip safety, and grip screws; Carbon Creations carbon fiber grips.
Below can be seen the Smith & Alexander mainspring housing with mag well.
This gun also came from the factory with a full length recoil spring guide.
As a tradionalist Colt afficionado it is my opinion that Colt would do well to maintain the traditional styling of their firearms.
A Colt Gold Cup should be in the traditional National Match style. If a Gold Cup Trophy is to be offered, it should be
offered as an additional type or style.
I think the case for this can be made by the fact that Colt is offering a traditional Series 70 Government Model.
Further, Colt would do well to again offer a .22 lr conversion unit for the Gold Cup and Government Model.
Here's my Gold Cups.
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