Detonics Combat Master

[Mainsail]

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.

 

[ContinentalOp]

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.

 

[stansdds]

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

 

[03hemi]

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.

 

[Mainsail]

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.

 

[03hemi]

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.

 

[Mainsail]

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.

 

[inspcalahan]

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.

 

[majick47]

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.

 

[Marcruger]

Detonics

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

 

[Mainsail]

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.

 

[growr]

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

If not they should have been!

Randy

 

[stansdds]

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.

 

[03hemi]

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

If not they should have been!

Randy

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.

 

[OLDSTER]

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!

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.

 

[stansdds]

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.

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

 

[OLDSTER]

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.

 

[ladder13]

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.

That didn’t take long

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

 

[OLDSTER]

That didn’t take long

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

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.

 

[Mainsail]

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.