The Commander!

IMG_0747 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr

Commander refers to all Colt 1911s with a barrel of about 4.25 inches and has a shorter slide to accommodate that barrel. Now a days Commander refers to most any 1911 pistol with that same Colt configuration or close to it. They all have roughly the same barrel length. Colt is usually the standard reference for all 1911 pistols.

All I can say is Im a big fan of the Commander size 1911s. Im going to be reviewing some Commander size 1911s here in the near future and starting things out I have a pair of Commanders. One is a Colt and the other is a Desert Eagle. One is an 80 series and the other is a 70 series. Another Colt reference that usually designates whether or not the gun has a firing pin safety or not. I would like to talk about that next.

It has been said that the 70 series is the more desirable since it has the best trigger and ease of disassembly and re assembly. The Desert Eagle Commander shown above would be considered
a 70 series since its lacking a firing pin safety. The Colt has an original 80 series Colt design firing pin safety. I have heard that this 80 series is the undesirable system of the two but I dont see that as the case. So far I dont see or feel any real difference in the two triggers. I also dont have any real problem reassembling any of these pistols regardless of the firing pin safety or not.

Theres also the argument that the extra firing pin safety "gizmos" is just another thing that will break and its one of those consistent themes Ive heard in the 1911 community. To me the 1911 is just another pistol just like any other pistol. There is other styles that incorporate all types of different features, some features better than others, but nonetheless most of these guns function well. So why the big stink with 1911s? I personally dont get it and it should just be buyers choice. The problem is once it becomes a common themed "misconception" in the firearms world that this is the "go to type of thing" and "avoid that at all costs" when it really dosent amount to anything real. I personally dont see any "striking" difference or an issue in the two "none firing pin safety" and "firing pin safety" style 1911s. That includes some of the other styles of firing pin safeties like in the Kimber brand. Ive also never had one of these "safeties" fail on me ever. Not saying it cant happen but if we are going that route while your concerned of shooting your 80 series style pistol you could be squashed by a stripped and winged meteor from space shaped like a 57 Chevy Bel Air...

I like the Commanders myself...

I’ve primarily owned the 5” 1911’s but bought a Kimber TLE II Pro 45 last summer. I have to say it’s very accurate, functioned perfectly from the first shot and is a real pleasure to shoot. Also the trigger is excellent.

I since have added a Colt xse 38 Super LW Commander and really enjoy it.

I got one! A Lightweight.
Along with a 50 foot group using cast 200 grain SWC's and Unique.

One of my top five must have handguns...

.38SuperMan said:

I’ve primarily owned the 5” 1911’s but bought a Kimber TLE II Pro 45 last summer. I have to say it’s very accurate, functioned perfectly from the first shot and is a real pleasure to shoot. Also the trigger is excellent.

I since have added a Colt xse 38 Super LW Commander and really enjoy it.

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Ive been looking at that Kimber TLE II hard and I really like the looks and features of the gun. Really nothing bad to say except the price of it. The gun is close to the same price as the Colt Commander. I went to a local gun store to get the Colt and there was an endless sea of Kimbers at the counter. The clerk insisted on me getting the Kimber even though I was there to specifically get the Colt. Also the Dan Wesson Commander was a couple hundred more than the Kimber and the DW is a much more superior gun to me than the Kimber. Just my opinion of course.. HA!

I'm going to do a drive-by here. There are no Series '70 Commanders.

Original Series '70 pistols ran from 1970 to 1983. After 1969 Colt used the Accurizer barrel and collet bushing, (aka the Series '70 bushing) in Government and Gold Cup models. The Commander used a different bushing and never went to the Accurizer barrel/bushing. In 1983 Colt pistols became '80 Series pistols with the solid bushing, as always, and the firing pin safety.

Bill

Yes, I read Colt found that the collet bushing didn't work with the shorter barrel.
Strictly speaking, the Colt Commander, introduced in 1950, had an aluminum frame, in 1970 they introduced the Combat Commander with a steel frame.
I have a satin finish Combat Commander, when I was in the National Guard an NCO had a Commander. We let people fire both, everyone said they liked mine better.

I like Colt Commanders and carry one regularly.

On that I had Bobbed



And a 'new-to-me' Super 38

I have always loved the Commander. I can not recall when I got my first one

I even have one that is my BBQ gun

The Blue Colt Gold Cup Commander with it's Ivory grips has been taken to numerous weddings, funerals and even two inaugurations over the decades that I have owned it. Since this one is carried in a horizontal Galco Windsor shoulder holster system, that shorter slide does help

I have it's stainless steel brother that gets most of the ammunition fired through it

I also have some Commander pattern auto loaders from other manufacturers. Several are from Kimber but the last one is a Les Baer

I have a few other Commanders that I need to photograph. One is a Colt that is getting it's tail bobbed at the moment while another is an AMT Skipper

I think XFUZZ will remember this. The department we worked for had a tradition of requiring new officers to carry revolvers for their 6 month probationary period. In the 70's when the crooks started getting better weapons, the guys I worked with started carrying Browning High Powers and Colt 1911's. I carried a Colt LW Commander with a good trigger, good sights and would feed an empty case. I ended up with several LW Commanders and if I was called back to service, I would feel very comfortable with one of them. Of course, I would always have my S&W 37 as backup!

Have a 1968 mfg LW Commander myself...carried it a long time ago.

Here's my Commander. In .38 Super. It is lightweight, but is just called "Commander". When they first came out, all Commanders were lightweight. Later, a steel version was added, called the "Combat Commander". Then later, to confuse everyone, the original Commanders were called "Lightweigt Commanders". Very confusing. At least that's how I remember the chronology.

But I love theirs and feel of this one in the hand.



Best Regards, Les

CA Escapee said:

I'm going to do a drive-by here. There are no Series '70 Commanders.

Original Series '70 pistols ran from 1970 to 1983. After 1969 Colt used the Accurizer barrel and collet bushing, (aka the Series '70 bushing) in Government and Gold Cup models. The Commander used a different bushing and never went to the Accurizer barrel/bushing. In 1983 Colt pistols became '80 Series pistols with the solid bushing, as always, and the firing pin safety.

Bill

Click to expand...

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your comment here. I used to own a Series 70 Combat Commander in satin nickel finish. Bought it new in the late '70s. It had a solid bushing, not the collet, as you noted. I sold it off after not too long because it was inaccurate as heck and I was really young (21-22), so didn't know about customizing back then.

While not technically a Commander, my EDC 1911 is Commander size. It's an Officers Model with a carry comp that makes the overall length the same as a Commander. But that probably doesn't count, since it's still a 3.5-inch barrel.

I have owned several Colt Commanders in the past, but do not now. For concealed carry, I like the Officers size pistols, as long as they are reliable. For range and field carry, I like the full size pistols, as weight and concealability are not issues.

That said, I recently purchased a Kimber Commander length 1911 in .45 acp. It has a round butt grip, steel frame, and a slide mounted optic. No firing pin safety in this model. It is quickly becoming a real favorite, as it feels great in the hand, is very accurate, reliable, and pretty soft shooting compared to an aluminum frame gun. Not really a primary CCW, but could be if you wanted.

Larry

Although most of my 1911 style pistols are Government Model length, I do have one Commander length pistol that I assembled from parts and pieces. I do find it to be a quicker handling and better balanced pistol.

I don't have any pictures on my phone, but the first handgun I bought when I turned 21 in 1990 was a brand new stainless Colt series 80 combat commander. I still have it too. There is something about a stainless commander that just looks right. The only thing that I ever did to it is polish the ramp and put an extended Wilson safety on it.

Well, you’re wrong about the 1911 being like any other pistol, at least to some of us.

I do tend to agree that in anything except a very finely tuned target trigger, a properly functioning Series 80 safety is not a great hardship. On the other hand, I do think the Series 80 parts are a reliability risk. For that reason, I’d rather have the standard design, not because it actually affects the trigger pull all that much. Conversely, I am not one of those who shrieks in horror when they see the dreaded... “external” extractor. S&W’s seem to work very well.

As Les notes, Colt, like S&W, these days seem to be inhabited by employees who don’t know or care about their own history. Commanders are aluminum-frame guns with 4.25” barrels. Period. Other versions that look like a Commander are correctly called something else. They’re not true Commanders. I am only interested in Commanders. If I want a gun with a steel-frame, I’d prefer to just have the regular 5-inch gun. All this just my own very humble opinion, of course.

I have a Rock Island GI 1911 with the 4.25 barrel and GI hammer and the gun is much easier to cock one handed but I do like the looks of the original commander hammer better. I don't care for the skelton or target hammers. I visited the Texas Rangers museum in Waco a couple weeks ago and the place was filled with Ranger duty 1911s from the last hundred years and many were engraved and/or had fancy grips and about half of them were Commanders. Almost every gun was a .45 but there were a few .38 Supers and there were several matching pairs of 1911s with ornately carved "two pistol gun belts".