Colt Lightweight Defender

[OceanView]

Anyone have experience with one?

Anyone have an opinion of the defender vs a p220 compact?

[cannon]

Have a Secret Agent (Same thing with a different sight.) in 9mm.

Love the thing. Fun to shoot and after hundreds of rounds haven't had a malfunction yet.

[OceanView]

BTT

[Mossy Man]

Dad has the Colt Defender in .45ACP.

Has maybe 500 rounds through it so far, and it's jammed up maybe 5 times on a variety of JHPs at different intervals through its lifespan.

He carries it daily, but I wouldn't.

[hk200085]

I would take the defender over the 220 compact any day, but then again that's my opinion.

[athiel]

I carry a defender ccw and have thousands of rounds through it, never had a issue with misfires or fallers to feed. I trust this gun with mum life.

[jimmythebrain]

I too have a Colt Defender. The 1911 platform in 45 ACP starts to have issues when the barrel length is under 4.25". Mine has been tuned to shoot 45 ACP hollow points.
It took two trips back to Colt to get rid of a pesky issue of throwing brass directly at my face/forehead.

They are different beasts with their own pros and cons.
If you want to change a gun a lot and make it unique. Go with the 1911.
If you want a short travel, single action trigger pull with a thumb safety, go with the 1911.
If you want a gun that is more reliable in a short barrel platform, one that you pull out and pull the trigger (no safety to mess with) and it goes boom AND do not mind a transition from double action to single action after the first shot...then get the Sig. Sig does make a DAK trigger system that is double action all the time but the trigger is not great. There are also some rare single action only sig P series configurations but I do not know if the P220 compact comes in that trigger.

I have both but the gun on my current carry permit is a Sig Sauer P series, not a compact 1911.

[arms_addiction]

I have a Colt defender with around 1000 rounds through it, it had a couple hiccups in the first 50rds but after that it runs great now. once in a while you will catch some brass to the face