Another Colt in the house - 1978 LW Commander .45, needs some TLC (New Pics)

[BAM-BAM]

SigP220....enjoying a trip down memory lane with this thread......as a 20 something in the late 70s a .45 was a Colt. For about 10 years I owned one Colt 1911 or another or two...... Gold Cup, Commander and LW Commander Govt. Model....but carried a 4" Diamondback and later a DOA 3" 65.........

About 1988 I got a W. German Sig 220........light ,the size of a Commander, DA/SA for carry, would shoot clover-leafs at 50 ft. Later followed by a Sig 245 and an Ernest Langdon Model 220.

The Colts got traded away and I didn't have a 1911 pattern gun for about 20 years...... but everyone needs one...... about 2 years ago came across a used Sig C3 ...... Commander length slide on an Officers frame......IMHO the perfect carry 1911...... and .......

The 1911 I wanted at the end of the 80s but you had to build your own back then!!!!!

 

[03hemi]

I like the long trigger myself and the short trigger too. Here's my newly purchased Combat 45acp.

 

[alwslate]

A short story about a Colt Lightweight Commander. I think the year
was 1968 that my brother was getting ready to leave for Viet Nam. He
told me he wanted to buy a handgun to take with him and asked for
my advice. I told him that because of magazine, ammo and parts
availability he should buy a Colt 1911. We went to a LGS together
and he bought a new Colt .45 Commander. After he returned from Nam
he figured he didn't need the Colt any more and traded it off for a
rifle. I don't know how much he fired it but from what he told me it
never left his side partly because of the stupid rivalries between the
different factions of US troops that made up the American force there.
The Colt did have some finish loss and some freckling but otherwise
was fine and I'm sure that he would have sold it to me if I had only
asked. But I didn't. As I said above if I was going to buy a new
Commander it would be a steel frame model but if a vintage light
weight model showed up at a decent price I would jump on it.

 

[sigp220.45]

Thanks to Amazon, Youtube, and an assist from Ernest and Julio Gallo, I managed to swap out the trigger for a new short one and the flat mainspring housing for a Hogue aluminum arched one.





I also discovered the slide stop was busted - it just pushed out from any position. That was an easy fix.

I may put a standard thumb safety on it if I find one cheap, but the one on it works fine and doesn't bug me.

Its off to the range where my kitchen table gunsmithery may result in a slide to the forehead.

 

[Bat Guano]

I carried one for a few years in the mid-70s,plainclothes. Stock, except for higher fixed sights and ivories. Regs allowed it, but management weenies determined that I had not been sufficiently trained to handle such a high tech weapon of mass destruction. So I became a revolver person for many years.

Shot it a lot, and it too finally cracked at the slide stop hole.

Ruger recently came out with a LW Commander, and I grabbed one of the first ones. I probably won't use it all that much now, but dagnab it, it's mine. I do prefer the old Colt's looks, though. All business.

 

[medic15al]

Thanks to Amazon, Youtube, and an assist from Ernest and Julio Gallo, I managed to swap out the trigger for a new short one and the flat mainspring housing for a Hogue aluminum arched one.





I also discovered the slide stop was busted - it just pushed out from any position. That was an easy fix.

I may put a standard thumb safety on it if I find one cheap, but the one on it works fine and doesn't bug me.

Its off to the range where my kitchen table gunsmithery may result in a slide to the forehead.

Much Better!!!!

 

[les.b]

I concur with Medic15al!... Much better!!! That looks like a real winner. As you say, it would be nice to finish the restoration with a standard thumb safety, but that is not a big deal. By the way, I found out the hard way that both Colt and Kimber are using PLASTIC main spring housings on current production 1911 style guns. I bought a newly made, brand new steel framed Commander a couple or three years ago, and noticed after I got it home that the MS housing was plastic. Not a big deal, as I ended up selling the gun to a friend of the family, and he didn't care about it. Then I picked up a brand new Kimber Ultra CDP II, and found that the mainspring housing on it (at over a thousand dollars) was plastic. I changed it out for a nice checkered aluminum housing with a matching finish that I ordered from... Can't remember, but either Brownell's or Midway. I wasn't real happy with the stocks either, though made of really pretty rosewood or some other nice wood, and nicely checkered, the looked like they had been dipped in clear plastic. They were replaced also. I'm now happy with the result, but when you pay that kind of money for a gun, you would hope not to have to start modifying it right away.

 

[JSW]

Nice Colt ~ luv the new grips!