I was trolling some of the state auctions and found a property room auction happening down in Texas. There were at least 30 guns, all looking pretty bad. The listings all said they were stored in a non climate controlled area. Many of the rifles had some bad surface rust on the barrels, the internals were a complete unknown.

Of the handguns I wanted to bid on, there was a S&W model 19 and 66 among others. There was an old Dan Wesson 15 that could probably be refurbished. There was a FireStar I considered (sold under $100) and something I never heard of, a 10mm MegaStar.

But this was the one I wanted; the Detonics Combat Master from Seattle. It's one of my 'always wanted' guns that I highly desire, but would never pay their current market price to get. So it was always on my list to wait for a good deal or better.

I'm very excited to have won it at $300. It'll probably take a couple weeks to ship it in, but man I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Looks like one magazine, and since it's stainless I'm hoping it will only need a deep cleaning to bring it back. Someone pointed out the hammer doesn't look original, so I've ordered one from Numerich along with a couple magazines.

These were the photos I had to go with, not much in the way of description other than they were used guns stored poorly.

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Congrats !!! I'm envious I have only two handguns on my "bucket list"; A DW 4" model 15, and the Detonics Combat Master.

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John

Great find. And as the saying goes “that’ll buff right out”��

Thanks!

If, after an initial inspection reveals no send-it-out deficiencies, I plan to detail strip it and let it soak in.... something. Better living through chemistry?

Suggestions?

Probably be better to have it bead blasted. I don't believe the pitting (if there is pitting) and stains will come out by soaking. Silica sand can also be used, as it is more "rounded" or orbital in shape (60 mesh) like the glass beads, rather than having sharp edges like some particles.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Nice pistols. Never could figure out why the put the rear sight so far forward while starting out with the short sight radius. I'm sure they had their. reason.

Looks like they shaved the rear of the slide, probably to reduce weight, necessitating the forward mounting of the rear sight.

Nice score! It should clean up just fine.

I believe the hammer is original. There were a number of different hammers used over the years, including the "J", a wedge shape and a Commander style. Your is a later production original Detonics and probably dates to around 1980. The CR serial number prefix indicates stainless steel (C = carbon steel). Jerry Ahern resurrected the brand around 2005, but they didn't survive very long.

Here's a relatively early Combatmaster with the "J" hammer and a hard chrome finish.





Original magazines are not difficult to find and are quite distinct. The floorplate is marked Detonics .45 ACP and has a gap at the back, where an extension on the rear of the follower projects through and acts as a loaded magazine indicator. You'll want to sit down before you start looking for originals online, they can top $200. New Detonics mag's for the Combatmaster are marked differently (New Detonics logo) and should work just fine. I sold several a few years ago for about $50 each.

According to the owner's manual, the sight was moved forward and the "top rear of the slide was sloped to allow fast smooth cocking of the hammer". There's no grip safety on these and some people preferred to carry them with the hammer down on a loaded chamber. They are safe to carry cocked and locked, especially if the holster has a retaining strap that goes between the frame and hammer!

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"I also cook."

A Scotchbrite pad should remove any lingering stains...just make all rubs in the same direction.

Jerry Ahern would be proud!!

I was trying to remember the author who featured the Detonics in his works. It would've driven me nuts tonight. Thanks!

Congrats for your new gun!I've always loved the Detonics.One of my friends has one;I made sure he knows I'm first in line to buy it when he will get bored and sell it.
By the way he uses it,something's telling me I'm in for a looooong wait!

You may already know this, but Don Johnson (Sonny Crockett) carried a Detonics Combatmaster in an ankle holster on the final years of Miami Vice.

I suspect one of his calf muscles was substantially larger than the other!

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"I also cook."

The only time he wore it was when it needed to appear in the scene. The rest of the time it was in the property room.

Great score,,,,,usually priced over 750 at gun shows. I have two of them from years ago. If you shoot it make sure the skin between your thumb and your forefinger is not over the duck bill on the safety. Don’t ask how I know this.

A buddy of mine bought one when they came out. I never shot it very well, due in part to the short sight radius.

The story I heard was that some Israeli operatives had input into the slide design. And the rest of the story is the same; designed to be carried hammer down on a loaded chamber.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Great pick up. I've had mine for a long time. It was my car travel/edc gun before conceal carry was really a thing. Accurate at self defense ranges. Bought it from my cousin and I grew tired of the finish he had on it so I had it Cerakoted a few years ago, Sarge made some Zebrawood grips for me. Eats Winchester SilverTips like candy. Before and after pics. It is not a pistol for the faint of heart.

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You all probably know this but Jerry Ahern passed away in 2012. Too young.He died in Jefferson, GA, close to where I live, Born in 46 died 2012, I read some of his books, which were very specific on guns and leather,






i

Many years ago, a coworker bought a new Detonics Combat Master. As a died-in-the-wool Colt guy at the time, I expected the worst from his new pistol. I was wrong. The gun was 100% reliable with whatever ammo we were using that day. And shooting carefully as possible from the bench, was surprisingly accurate at 25 yards.

Enjoy your new Combat Master. Were it mine though, after initial function testing, I would detail strip and bead blast it. If you bead blast it properly, it will come out looking brand new. I have a blast cabinet and have done several of my guns over the years. Brownells 270+ glass beads leave a very bright result, while the Harbor freight #80 glass beads will leave a similar, but slightly more matte finish...

Jerry Ahern's Survivalist series were the first books of that type I can recall reading. Thoroughly enjoyed them at the time.

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NRA Life, COTEP 640

Jerry Ahren also offered a line of rough-out leather holster and had a book titled CCW: Carrying Concealed Weapons.

Back when I was actively teaching CPL classes, I offered his book, his IWB and Pocket holsters for a 2” J frame and his ammo wallet to my students.

He was quite a character! I still have some of his leather goods stashed away and they were a good value for the money.

Ahern holsters at 6 O’Clock:

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"I also cook."

Stopped by the FFL and got the paperworks going.

Took a few pics that I don't feel like processing right now, but I did these two.

In the first pic I noticed something; looks like the rear sight is in backwards? Not sure, found a pic of another one with the same orientation.

Second pic is just a look down the business end.

Needs a good cleaning but everything appears to be functional.

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No expert on Detonics, but that rear sight looks fine. The part facing you when shooting should be flat. All my semi-autos with fixed sights are oriented similarly.

That is the correct orientation for a rear sight of that particular design. The scalloped side faces forward, the flat side faces you.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

What a highly collectable find! Congratulations, as you probably already know, that gun paved the way for all reliable Officers sized and smaller 45 autos (according to Ian at Forgotten Collectables).
I would imagine it's worth substantially more than what you paid for it if all you do is clean it up, whatever you do don't refinish it as some have advised here.

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

I'm not even sure what finish one would apply to a stainless gun. My FFL says he can bead-blast the finish back to new, but I'm only worried that might fade the already dim rollmark?

I may send it off to a 1911 expert if I can find one- during my very short inspection while I was filling out paperwork I noticed a tiny bit of movement of the business end of the barrel and some tiny up/down movement of that end of the slide in the rails. Not sure how tight these are supposed to be since I've never owned one.

EDIT to add: The final tally after the winning bid, auction fees, FFL fees, sales tax, and shipping (empty box to Texas and return box to the FFL) was $430 more or less.

These are quite old and very collectable. Because of its age all bets are off when it comes to the lose tolerances, true that new high end 1911's are extremely tight. That wasn't the case when these were made, keep in mind they were trying to develop a compact 45acp that would reliably and consistently chamber the 45acp in such a short platform; something nobody had been able to accomplish at that point. Let me know if you're interested in selling it, as long as you don't touch the finish other than cleaning it up, that's a safe queen.

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

The magazines, hammer, and grips I ordered from Numrich came in.

The mags appear to be new factory, at least they're stamped Detonics on the base plate. I ordered the other three they had in stock, so wiped those out.

The hammer looks new.

The grip panels are new.

You got yourself an excellent piece of .45 history right there. I was fortunate to come across one years back for the right deal, although maybe not as good as yours. It was blued and was showing lots of neglect, so I had it zipped down to Robbie Barkman for the Robar NP3 coating. When I was doing a fair bit of surveillance work, it rode as backup (although would've been first to get to) in an Andrews crossdraw set up. Being seated most of the time, this was comforting as I could get a firing grip on it without moving around too much and looking normal. It was for when the street snoopers got a little close for comfort. It was a reliable and comforting piece of steel.

One way around the magazine price issue, is to make your back up magazines the slim base pad Wilson officers model mags. When I put those in, they only stick below the grip about 1/4-1/2" or so and are 100% reliable in that compact blaster.

Be sure to post pics when you get it "put back together" with your parts.

Had to settle for Colt Officer instead of a Detonics 45. Sounds like there's a couple Detonics owners here and you might want to follow their advice not to make any changes that arn't reversable. That includes refinishing bead blasting etc. Highly collectable firearm. Good move grabbing mags etc from GPC while they had them.

My dad traded into one of these about ten years ago, and had about $300 in it. It cleaned up very nicely, and we both were interested in shooting it after all of those Ahern articles over the years.

As a disclaimer, dad was a marksmanship instructor in the Army and SF, and I grew up with a 1911 in my hand. We have experience with 45s down to the size of the lightweight Kimber Ultra Carry.

The Detonics shot miserably. Not the trigger or accuracy, but the nasty recoil. No idea why it kicked so hard, as the Ultra Carry is a *****cat by comparison. LW Commanders, and Officer's Model are softies too. That Detonics kicked like a 2"x4" slapping your palm. The only thing we can guess is that the recoil springing back then was in its infancy compared to modern mini-45s.

I think I would avoid trying to tighten one up. Apparently, one huge issue when 1911s are cut down short is the angle of the barrel gets relatively extreme in recoil, and fouls up John Browning's original geometry. That play you feel may be needed for reliable operation. Just a thought.

To the OP, I do hope that yours works out super for you. That said, it might be wiser to pick something more modern in a cut-down 1911 for carry. I am not suggesting Kimber, as I believe there are other manufacturers that make better products and have vastly better customer service.

Best wishes, Marc

Well I'm open to any clean-up suggestions. Right now I'm debating the 40 minute drive to Harbor Freight to get an ultrasonic cleaner vs a can of brake cleaner and toothbrush.

Weren't the Detonics and the Star PD the front runners of the compact .45acp?

If not they should have been!

Randy

They were before Colt introduced their Officer's ACP, then a whole host of 1911 clone makers introduced their own variations. The Star PD was more available than the Detonics and enjoyed quite a bit of popularity among LEO's.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the Detonics actually laid the groundwork for all other compacts functionality and dependability. They were the original BETA.

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

Beautiful pistols y'all have here. An older ( 1976-78) Detonics is top on my bucket list.

A LGS owner, and owner of several Detonics, explained to me that the rear sight position was to allow "Condition 2" ( chambered round-hammer down). As the pistol was drawn, the top rear of the slide allowed a natural thumb position to cock the hammer.

Also, according to him, some of the early magazines were made by Metalform, and display the MF logo.

Hopefully I can find a nice one soon, as he is searching for me.

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John

Correct, that was the concept behind moving the rear sight forward and milling down the top of the slide aft of the sight.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Great thread. Love these little .45s. After selling my mid-80s stainless a few years ago ( followed by extreme sellers remorse ), I longed to find a nice early blued model. Found it and purchased it Friday. From what I can gather, this is a mid to late 1979 model ( SN D74XX); after the patent pending roll-mark was removed, and the newer hammer was incorporated.

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John

That didn’t take long

Did your FFL find it or did you find it on your own?

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Sure you did

I found it, believe it or not on GB. They usually have a few Detonics, but newer stainless. This thing popped up and voila. My FFL will have it Tuesday.

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John

Well the State's pointless waiting period finished yesterday, so I picked it up last night after work.

Tonight I detail stripped it. This was one dirty gun, and not from the storage. It doesn't look like the previous owner cleaned it much.

You can see the crud and some corrosion on the parts. Everything got soaked in brake cleaner, scrubbed with a nylon brush, and the stubborn stuff got scrubbed with a brass brush. After blowing everything dry it all got lightly oiled and the slide rails greased. Gun is smooth and slick now.

The finish could use more work, it still has that stainless haze, but the tape residue is gone. It's going to be a working gun so not sure if I'll do too much more.

I did install the new hammer- fit was great and no more pinching.

The only snag was the left upper grip screw- the bushing came out instead of the screw. That meant I couldn't put the wood grips on. I have some NOS Pachmeyers inbound as well. I put the bushing back with blue locktite on the threads (all I have in the house) and hoping that once it sets up it'll let go of the grip screw.

It cycles dummy rounds 100% and the trigger is very nice.

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Came out very nice! Make sure to hold on to the "J" hook hammer too.
Edit: Just went back and saw yours never had one or somebody swapped it out already? Oh well, still a great collectable.

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Dave Ramsey Cultist

Looking at all the pics in a Bing search for the gun I saw only a few with a commander hammer. I have a hard time believing that it came from the factory that way; my FFL friend got hammer-bit just cycling the slide. Talk about a flinch maker, I'd be afraid the drop the hammer on a live round.

The only parts of the gun that didn't get disassembled and cleaned were the mag release (removed and brake cleaner shot into the assembly, then oil) and the mainspring housing (the pachmeyer backstrap conceals the pin).

Hoping to drive up to the mountains today or tomorrow to shoot it a bit.

I'm curious to know how loose these guns were from the factory. Mine has some play in the slide and barrel. If it's across-the-room accurate I'll leave it as is, but if it won't group I'll probably start looking for someone who can improve it.

Also, wanted to mention that cocking the hammer on the draw is more difficult than I expected. The mainspring is pretty stout and there's not much to hold on to for leverage.

Obviously, the Locktite worked and held the bushing so I was able to get the grip screw out.

Notice the magazine not fully seated. EDIT to add: The mag is fully seated but the fit isn't flush, that's what I mean. That's one of the Triple-K aftermarket mags- marked "Detonics 45 Auto". The stock magazines are marked "Detonics .45 A.C.P."

I have a set of NOS Pachs inbound, but the wood ones look nice too.

Should be back with a range report tonight!

EDIT to update: No range report! We drove an hour and just after leaving the pavement going in to the Olympic National Forest I heard a bell and the little oil can light on the dash came on, then went out. Checked it and it was low (due oil change in 300 miles) so added enough to get it into the good zone, but the light kept coming on intermittently. We turned around and headed home, about 70%-30% in favor of it being the sending unit. A few miles later the CEL came on, which tells me it's likely a sensor gone bad.

Got home and put the code reader on it; P0520 ENGINE OIL PRESSURE SENSOR CIRCUIT. Fired up the M1009 and drove to the dealership for the part. Will install it tomorrow.

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Hope the Triple K magazine works, but their reputation is much like that of ProMag.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Today was either fix the jeep or drive the M1009 to the mountains to shoot the gun. Decided to drive to the mountains. On my way home, about half way home, the truck bucked once... About ten miles later it bucked a couple more times and died. I pulled off, popped the hood, and seeing nothing amiss I tried to start. Fired right up, so I set off towards home again. I got about five more miles and it died.

I managed to coast down the big hill to the Hood Canal Bridge at idle and it died on the bridge a few hundred yards across. Repeat that six or seven more times and I was on my side of the bridge and it died. I was able to restart but the road ahead had no shoulder and it wasn't running for more than a minute or so before quitting, so I called it.

First time in my life I've ever had to call a tow truck. I was still $200 away from the driveway so that hurt, but there's nobody close that can come tow-strap me home- and braking with the motor off is scary anyway.

The Combat Master shoot wasn't as good as I'd hoped either. I was getting regular failures to extract, and the brass has extractor marks. I'm leaning towards a timing issue? All the Triple-K mags worked fine, as did the stock mag, but most weren't holding the slide open after the last round, and sometimes the slide would lock back with one round still in the mag. The best performing mags were the Wilson 47s. All in all I fired 50 rounds of hardball and a handful of HSTs and the gun ate them equally well.

At this point I'm not sure if I want to troubleshoot the gun or find an expert.

EDIT to add: I forgot to mention the accuracy. The gun was shooting (such as it was) one ragged hole patterns at about 18'. Brass throw was somewhat erratic and I only found about ¾ of the box of empties. One was 22' back and to the right, but most were about five feet behind and five feet right.

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Well, I've got two thoughts, such as they are. *shrug*

Did you install new recoil and/or hammer springs?

The extractor may need tuning or replacement. Or it might be clocking. Maybe fitting an oversized firing pin stop?

Not a gunsmith, but those were the first things to come to mind. I hope you're able to get it running satisfactorily.

I had a blued one for a while. Traded for a 2.5" 66 no dash. I enjoyed it but my wife couldn't work the slide with the double recoil spring. I think I remember you can use full size 1911 magazines. It shot and functioned well for me.

Mainsail, Check to see if Pete is still at Ben's Loans in Renton. Pete worked at Detonics and is a wealth of knowledge. He may be laying low because of Covid.

Geez! You just spent $200 on a towing fee and I'm about to give you advice on spending money on M1911 parts.

Tuning 1911's with barrels shorter than 4 inches takes work and parts. The erratic ejection is usually a result of an extractor that is turning, we call it "clocking", slightly within the tunnel. The fix is a fitted firing pin stop. If you are going to fit a firing pin stop, might as well get a flat bottom stop from EGW (Evolution Gun Works) as that will delay breech unlocking and slow the recoil of the slide better than any recoil spring weight.

You might also want to get a spring steel extractor as they hold tension longer than cast or billet steel extractors. With these parts, plus recoil springs and even main springs, you can tune most 1911 style pistols for reliable extraction and feeding.

You probably should replace the magazine springs too, maybe go with Wolff 5% extra power springs, assuming the magazine bodies have adequate stiffness. To be honest, I think Colt, MecGar, Tripp, and even Metalform are better magazines than Triple K or ProMag.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Hmmm, interesting. The pin stop is one of the unique parts to the CM I believe. I think it's a stubby version of a standard 1911 stop, so one can make it from one of those. Anyway, that part is very loose on my gun.

I can, or someone that knows what they're doing can?

The six round mags are unique to the CM. Other 1911 mags will work fine, just not seat flush. The issues I was having were across all the magazines I was using; the one older original OEM, the four new Triple-Ks, two full size Shooting Stars, and two Wilson 47s. I'm not entirely sure I can find replacement springs for the magazines.