Bottom line up front: Buy it.
Longer version…
Colt’s Custom Shop is legitimate, with highly talented ‘smiths. The Special Combat Government represents Colt’s best — or did — the Custom Competition Limited has that distinction now that the SCGs are discontinued (which is another reason to get one, and that Colt’s remaining supply seems to have been dumped on the market in the last year at reduced prices).
The SCGs are noticeably better in overall fit and finish compared to production Colts. Of note, the dehorning, trigger tuning, beavertail and thumb safety all show extra attention to detail — not to a semi-custom level in every nook-and-cranny, but near, and in the most important practical respects vis-a-vis actually shooting the gun comfortably, reliably and accurately.
You still get typically looser Colt slide-to-frame fit; some folks jut can’t live with that, which is fine, but given the gunsmith fit barrel the SCG ships with, it’s tight where it needs to be and the accuracy’s there.
The trigger on mine is excellent, and stands with any of the semi-customs I’ve owned or handled, despite being Series 80. My example has very brief pre-travel, a “soft” wall then rolling “carrot” break, and reminds me of the Baers ad Browns I’ve sampled, versus the GIs and Wilsons which have slightly more pre-travel, a more defined wall and crisp “glass rod” break in my experience.
The checkering is 25LPI done in-house on Colt’s new(ish) dedicated machine. It’s excellent, as is the (also new-ish) high cut, which I’m a fan of (I think only Alchemy offers one higher).
Yoeman66 gave some excellent background, to which I’ll add one update: the magwell is no longer a Smith and Alexander. It’s still blended nicely, and I’m not certain of the make but believe it might be EGW's two piece — it looks like it (you can see an example in BR549er’s post #14), and mine has just a touch of play that I’d prefer it didn’t. Doesn’t affect function, but I would have preferred the S&A.
Only thing approaching a complaint for me is the ambi-thumb safety; no slop like many production Colts, thankfully, but is light enough that I’ve engaged it under fire a few times. I’ve seen this complaint from other owners and think it might be the gun not the shooter (I’ve never had this happen before), and it might need a touch of tuning, or I just need a different part fitted.
Long post, but had a few things I’ve wanted to get out there on the forum as SCGs do get talked about.
I’ll close with a copy-and-paste Dave at EvolutionArmory — who used to build SCGs for Colt — posted here a while back that sheds a little more light into why these are worth grabbing, especially if you like the pony or want arguably the best all-around 1911 you can get at the current price-point:
EvolutionArmory wrote:
The 2 biggest features of the gun are the gunsmith fit version of Colt's drop in NM barrel and the trigger work that is done to the pistol. The barrel is a true national barrel and they are capable of some great groups. Other things that are done to the pistol that is worth mentioning is that the grip safety is blended to the frame by the polishers when they are doing the national match grade polish to the frames and slides and that the mag funnels are blended slightly. Not a full blend like a custom smith would do but the edges are broken so the mag won't hang up.
The bushing is the same bushing used on the assembly line and is a pretty darn good part. The bushings are a little looser than I like but the groups the guns shoot speak for themselves. The guns need to shoot an inch group or smaller before they can leave the shop. With the occasional flier allowed for human error. There's no written guarantee like a Baer, it's just the level of quality the custom shop is looking for.
I hope that answers some questions. I had the privilege of being responsible for 40-50 of them a month as a CCS employee for a couple years. They are a great gun for the dough. They do no frame to slide fitting but again, the test targets speak for themselves. How loose they are and how great they shoot make me question everything I had learned about what makes a super accurate gun
