Plenty of people like to joke that creativity at Colt died with John Moses Browning, but that’s not exactly true.
The creativity didn’t die, but the skilled design and production certainly seemed to.
Colt tried a number of different concepts, including the All American 2000 and the subject of today’s article — the Colt Double Eagle.
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Why Innovate?
It was the late 80s and early 90s. The tactical market had moved past revolvers a generation ago and was lining up to trade their single-action 1911s and Hi-Powers in for those seemingly new-fangled DA/SA guns.
In reality, the DA/SA design had been around for a very long time, but it was widely ignored until the 1980s and 90s.
Colt wanted to get in on the action. They undoubtedly saw Beretta, Smith and Wesson, and CZ moving pistols left and right.
Their old 1911 warhorse was being produced by numerous other companies by that point, and they needed something new.
What they came up with was the Double Eagle.
What is a Double Eagle?
Colt already had the 1911 they were so famous for, and they also knew the current market wanted DA/SA guns.
With this, they saw a simple solution — turn the 1911 into a DA/SA gun.
It should be noted that this had been done before. A man named Louis Seecamp had already produced a conversion kit to convert 1911s into DA/SA guns.
Colt didn’t do much different when they approached the development of the Double Eagle. They made it a fair bit more complicated, but that was arguably necessary to make it current with the market trend of modern DA/SA guns.
Some of that complication came from installing a modern decocker that sat below the slide and slide release. Colt eliminated the old grip safety and manual safety, instead relying on the heavy double-action pull to act as a pseudo-safety.
Why name it the Double Eagle? The Double makes sense due to the DA/SA nature, but the Eagle part seems silly. They also billed it as the Series 90, which followed the 1911 naming convention of Series 70 and Series 80 guns.
Oddly, Colt decided to produce the Double Eagle as a single-stack gun at a time when double-stack pistols were becoming prevalent. The capacity was 8 or 9 rounds, depending on the caliber.
Production started in 1989, and the first Double Eagles were in hands in 1990. Colt produced the gun in .45 ACP, 10mm, 9mm, 40 S&W, and .38 Super.
The .45 ACP and 10mm are the most common, followed by 9mm, and then the somewhat rare .40 S&W and .38 super variants.
Borrowing again from the 1911 naming conventions, Colt also produced commander and officer models of the gun for those looking for something more compact.
When the FBI began testing new guns in 10mm in the wake of the Miami-Dade shootout, they did test the Double Eagle. Obviously, it didn’t make the cut.
What Went Wrong
It turns out converting a 1911 to DA/SA isn’t a clean operation. It would have been better to create an original pistol, but in all fairness, Colt later would with the All American, and they mucked that up too.
When you removed the grip panels, you exposed tiny parts that could easily fall out. One spring can leap out of the decocker when you remove the left side grip. This meant users had to be very careful in its disassembly.
Also, if your plastic grips broke, your gun could be disabled until you can repair them.
Aside from the wonky conversion, the pistol was reasonably solid. Colt even produced a Mark II model that fixed most of these issues.
However, even with those issues rectified, the Double Eagle didn’t exactly stand out.
Guns like the Beretta 92FS held almost double the capacity of Colt’s single-stack design.
In addition, guns like the Smith and Wesson 4506 were very similar to the Double Eagle. The 4506 was cheaper and was arguably a better gun.
This stiff competition made selling the Double Eagle difficult, and in 1997, production halted. Everything else was better and cheaper. What did Colt expect?
Final Thoughts
The Double Eagle is a cautionary tale in firearms manufacturing. No matter how old or stout your reputation is, the market will leave you behind if you fail to innovate.
Colt has brought their Snake revolvers back, and their recent acquisition by CZ might breathe some life into the old company. However, I don’t see the Double Eagle making a comeback anytime soon.
Do you have any experience with the Double Eagle? Let us know in the comments below! Interested in other stories of major companies being late to the party? Then check out our article, “What Happened to the Remington R51?”
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I carried one on duty back in the 90s. Was a tack driver and very reliable. I had the Mark II version which secured the internal parts with the grip issue. I loved it and wish I still had it. I could hit center mass at 100 yds with ease at the range.
I had one back in the 90's and the slide latch actually broke off. Colt replaced it under warranty but I was soured on the gun after that. I did put a lot of rounds through it and aside from the broken part, it never malfunctioned.
I have a. 45 cal Doublee Eagle, I am a DISABLED USMC VETERAN, Above knee amputee, too many surgeries and pronounced dead twice, my LATE WIFE overrode my DNR and I told her until this body dies for good, I will do whatever she wanted on her days off, we were going to retire in. DECEMBER 2022. But on our weekly travels (she worked as a substance abuse/mental health counselor 42+years. Full b.ooded Native American Indian) she didn't trust people the past 10 or so years. I am/was required to get my cow, and always carried, 9mm hi powwer, .45 Colt Double Eagle, and a Rugar 9mm compact.
We did shoot together, she mostly shot .22, but loved me to shoot my Colt, we have 3 daughters, and I have all pistols sighted in at 25 YARDS, except .41 MAG, for hunting, 50 YARDS. We used to date/time and Yards. Whenour Girls started dating we had targets around with notes, DO NOT DISRESPECT OUR DAUGHTERS or this is your junk!
Our girls, now mom's all learned firearm safety from a young age,I told them I don't care if you ever shoot, but you will be at a party and an "unloaded" firearm will come ou our oldest daughter had this happen, she had the other teenager put the gun on table, she then racked the slide and poof.A round fell onto the table.. my x-wife called next day and apologized for giving me and my late wife grief for teaching the girls safety of firearms etc.. I do my own reloads, never had my double Eagle misfire. My gunsmith told me about the early version, and Colt fixed it when second generation, that .45 stopped 3 (rabid skunks, we think) and a rattle snake that wouldn't let me exit my truck. I have had a lot of people want to buy it from me, onthe rare occasion I'm at a range instead of inthe country. I wouldn't sell it.. its awesome
What is the point of this bubble?
In 1993, when I visited a range that rented guns, I was shopping for a new fangled DA/SA Semi Auto (I had purchased a Ruger P-85, but was unhappy with its accuracy), I rented a Double Eagle in 9mm and a S&W 5906. The differences between the two was night and day. I recall the Colt's trigger as lousy in DA or SA. Very heavy DA pull,, and creepy SA pull.. The 5906 had a much better stock trigger, and twice the capacity, at 2/3rds the price.
It seems to me during the 70's through the 90's, Colt biggest problem was they were always a Day late, a Dollar short, and guilty of some very flawed or poorly executed designs.