My Springfield TRP 1911 is a full 42 ounces empty. It's a great gun, and I carry it often. I decided I needed an all steel 1911 that was a little lighter for days I don't want the full weight of the TRP.

Here's my Colt Commander 1991a1. I fit it with simulated ivory stocks. It's weighs 32 ounces, a full 10 ounces lighter than my TRP, yet is all steel.

Very well balanced. This won't replace my Government model, but it is a great option of carry and use.

Anybody else a fan of the Commander size? Is there any difference in reliability / durability?

Attached Images

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Your pistol is quite reliable

It is a Combat Commander not a Comander

You can shoot thousands of gi ball in it without problems.

that looks great!

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John 14:6, Luke 21:11

Thanks for the correction. It's always good thing to learn something, and be more precise.

Howdy, Pard:
My 5" Kimber Classic is also 42oz. unloaded & WAYYY too heavy for an EDC (50oz. w/8+1!). I used to carry a 1970 Colt Cmdr. alum. frame (before they called them a "Lightweight" Cmdr.) which only weighs 24oz MT. Big problem is it has an absolutely useless small bump for a pinned front sight. Would be fine for a close up point-and-shoot w/in 5 yds. Last Jan. I bought a Ruger LW Cmdr, which weighs 29oz & has a dovetailed front sight, which I replaced w/a fibre optic. The extra 5 oz. over my old Colt helps somewhat on recoil, but still harder to manage than the Kimber in an IPSC match.

Just out of curiousity, is your Colt a 70 or 80 Series?

This one is a series 80. They call it the 1991a1. I actually prefer the Colt series 80. Alternatively, My TRP has a lightweight titanium firing pin, which helps prevent inertial discharge, which I'm fine with as well.

Very nice in SS.
I carried a Satin Nickel MK IV series 80 Combat Commander as my main CCW waay back in 1987 ,
Regretfully traded the Colt away when I switched to a Nickel Model 59 sometime around 1989 after deciding the DA trigger and 14 round capacity had its advantages in drug infested (Back then) Mi-Jami.

I'm a fan of the Colt 1991A1 Combat Commander. Mine is parkerized with cocabolo grips and rides in a black molded leather DeSantis. I bought it for $300 from a friend five years ago. The first time I fired it was at the Escambia River Muzzle Loaders ranges in Escambia county Florida just north of Pensacola. I was immediately impressed with the accuracy. From that day to today, it has never jammed, had a failure to feed or eject. It has a little holster wear on the slide at the muzzle from being carried a lot. I recently bought a Para USA Black Ops single stack 1911. It is just as accurate but being a rail gun, is noticeably heavier. I would never sell or trade my Colt 1991 but might consider trading the Para USA for something else that I really want. Those Colt Combat Commanders are very handy and mine is a keeper.

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In the Diehard 1911 World, of which I am a member, there is a debate as to whether or not the aluminum frame 1911's, like Colt's Commander, are more subject to wear than the steel frame guns. The issue isn't frame cracking or rail failure, like one might predict, but some kind of wear in the feel ramp area while using jacketed hollowpoints. There are many that believe that shooting a large number of hollowpoints wears or somehow otherwise changes the dimensions of the frame in this area. There are some big name 1911 gunsmiths that insert a steel feedramp replacement in this area to combat this.

I am on my third lightweight stainless slide/silver anodized aluminum frame Colt Commander. I carried them at work for over 20 years. They were Series 80 Colts as my department regs demanded the firing pin lock and specified only Colts. I shot mostly hollowpoints, lots of hollowpoints, mostly Federal 230 grain Plus-P, as there aren't a lot of Plus-P FMJ offerings and I believe in practicing with what you carry. It ran flawlessly initially. After a few years and several thousand rounds, the feeding/chambering cycle became erratic. I went through the usual new springs/magazines/etc. and stuff drill, including inspection of a well-known 1911 specialist without really fixing it, so I bought another new Commander. Same thing, a few years' of flawless service and a few thousand rounds and then, problems again, failure to feed. More diagnosis, new springs, new magazines, no difference. Again, another new Commander. A few years later... This last time, new Wilson mags fixed it, after 2 varieties of new Colt mags and 2 varieties of Chip McCormick mags.

Then, I retired.

There was no visible damage to the feed ramps, no new roughness, nothing I can see or feel. The Wilson mags seem to hold the top cartridge higher than any of the others when inserted in the gun, so it looks like it misses more of the frame when chambering, but...

I own an awful lot of perfectly good 1911 mags.

Meanwhile, my old aluminum Commander, made about 1970, that has only had a few thousand rounds of mostly round nose bullets, and most of that jacketed, chugs along fine on it's original Colt magazines and any other decent mag I put in it. None of my steel frame 1911's of any make have experienced this.

Fuel for thought.

Bought last winter. and instantly became a favorite.
Colt Combat Commander w/ Ahrend's ebony grips from Gripseller.

I have a few Colt Commanders and a new Wiley Clapp lightweight Commander on the way. Great guns.

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Don't kiss smiling dogs!

A Wiley Clapp stainless steel Commander is shipping now too.