Detonics Combat Master

[OLDSTER]

Any one else own one of these beautiful pistols. Detonics Combat Master .45acp. Made from 1977 to 1987. Very high quality pieces. Blued version dates from 1979, and Stainless version from 1981

 

[Barbarian-CBX]

Me! Me! Detonics Combat Master Mk VII in 9mm.

 

[David Sinko]

Are these actually reliable? I owned an early Colt Officer's Model and it was the single worst and most unreliable pistol I have ever owned. It forever soured me on the 1911 and I will never own another one. Did Detonics figure out how to get it right?

 

[petepeterson]

Are these actually reliable? I owned an early Colt Officer's Model and it was the single worst and most unreliable pistol I have ever owned. It forever soured me on the 1911 and I will never own another one. Did Detonics figure out how to get it right?

I'm interested in this, as well.
Those are well-made pistols, but my experience with 1911s is 4" bbl and up.
Someone musta figgered something out, because the market now is polluted with 3" 1911s.

 

[tlawler]

I’ve never owned one, but I kind of became a fan of them by proxy. Back in the ‘80s I read “The Survivalist” series by Jerry Ahern. It was the preferred pistol of John Rourke, the protagonist. Ever since then, I’ve wanted one, but never came across one other than on gunbroke. If I found one at a gun show, I’m sure I’d buy it.

 

[OLDSTER]

I'm interested in this, as well.
Those are well-made pistols, but my experience with 1911s is 4" bbl and up.
Someone musta figgered something out, because the market now is polluted with 3" 1911s.

Detonics, unfortunately could not keep up with demand (mainly from large law enforcement ), so in 1987 the Seattle and Bellvue factories closed. Voila; you have the Colt Defender.

 

[OLDSTER]

I’ve never owned one, but I kind of became a fan of them by proxy. Back in the ‘80s I read “The Survivalist” series by Jerry Ahern. It was the preferred pistol of John Rourke, the protagonist. Ever since then, I’ve wanted one, but never came across one other than on gunbroke. If I found one at a gun show, I’m sure I’d buy it.

I'd like another, but prices have gone through the roof.

 

[Onomea]

I remember studying up on them for a few days back about 20 years ago. An interesting pistol.

 

[petepeterson]

Detonics, unfortunately could not keep up with demand (mainly from large law enforcement ), so in 1987 the Seattle and Bellvue factories closed. Voila; you have the Colt Defender.

They're alot heavier than a Defender!
I was surprised at the weight when I handled one. Seemed to be a quality piece, though. Funny rear sight.

 

[walter o]

I happen to have a springfield micro compact 3' bbl.45 cal .Cant makew it jameats every thing from ball to flying ashtrays.It absolutely amazed me
when i got it second hand.I have had it for 12 years without a problem ,wish they still made it Liked it so much I put a set of ivories on it.I think the problems with the 3"bbl 1911 brought sbout the captive dual recoil cprings.I also have Fusion Bantam with a 3"bbl.

 

[Model 15-4ever]

Detonics, unfortunately could not keep up with demand (mainly from large law enforcement ), so in 1987 the Seattle and Bellvue factories closed...

"We were selling every gun we made, so we had to go bankrupt."

More likely Detonics folded on account of the usual suspects: mismanagement; loss of key personnel and/or skilled workers; high debt accumulated; changing market demand; raw materials issues (inconsistency of supply and/or price); end product priced beyond demand.

 

[NMPinNYC]

Any one else own one of these beautiful pistols. Detonics Combat Master .45acp. Made from 1977 to 1987. Very high quality pieces. Blued version dates from 1979, and Stainless version from 1981

I picked one up somewhere years ago, wanted to add to my "Miami Vice" series of firearms when that was a "thing". Still have a couple of 645's, 4506's, the Detonics, an S&W snubbie, but no Bren Ten <grin>. Sad to say I've never sent a round down the tube of the Detonics, but plan to do so someday, and already have a "service pack" of Wolff gunsprings awaiting it prior to range time.

Do you love yours?

 

[inspcalahan]

Are these actually reliable? I owned an early Colt Officer's Model and it was the single worst and most unreliable pistol I have ever owned. It forever soured me on the 1911 and I will never own another one. Did Detonics figure out how to get it right?

So I only have experience actually shooting just one of them. It was a seizure gun used during a robbery and we converted it over for issue as a backup gun. I had it issued to me when I was doing a good bit of plainclothes work and carried it cross draw when seated in a vehicle on surveillance. It was comforting having such a large caliber yet small gun holstered but could be hands on, as miscreants walked up to, around and along side the vehicle you are seated in for long periods at a time. The holster was an Andrews Carjacker model, appropriately named.

As for shooting it - it's a handful! The weight helps and mine was very reliable with ball or Federal HST duty ammo at normal get off me distances. I used a Wilson Officers size magazine, instead of the normal Detonics magazine, simply because the gun didn't come with one. Never had a malfunction, although I'd say I only put a few hundred rounds through it in those years, not thousands like I would a normal duty gun.

 

[Mike in Reedley]

I’ve had three. The first one was about 1983, great gun. I sold it to buy something else. The second one was about 1986. Accurate, but I had the top right rear corner of the slide fall off while shooting it. Detonics replaced the slide quickly. I carried it in an ankle holster and have the knee surgeries to prove it. Again as a young cop, I had to sell one thing to buy another, so it went away.

The third one was about 2003 and it was an older blued model. By then I had much better choices for off duty/ back up carry (3913) so it sat in the safe. A non-LE buddy just had to have and kept throwing money at me.

They were old school cool, but there’s much better choices. They’re heavy, only have a magazine capacity of six and have quite a bit of felt recoil. They were basically a custom conversation (the first ones were milled down Colt slides), so any major part repair/replacement is going to be a major problem.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

I have a Detonics Combat Master and a Colt New Agent. The Detonics has a softer felt recoil to me.

 

[45Smashemflat]

The odd rear sight arrangement was to facilitate thumb cocking. I don’t have a Detonics (not from lack of shopping vs budget) but I do have a Kimber Ultra Eclipse from the late 90s that scratches that itch for now.

 

[hdfinder47]

Me! Me! Detonics Combat Master Mk VII in 9mm.

A friend had this in 45ACP - always liked it. IMO makes a statement with no sights. Kinda like a custom V-Twin with no speedometer.

 

[petepeterson]

I carried it in an ankle holster and have the knee surgeries to prove it.

You're my hero. I always wondered how Sonny Crockett pulled that off...

 

[stansdds]

Detonics, unfortunately could not keep up with demand (mainly from large law enforcement ), so in 1987 the Seattle and Bellvue factories closed. Voila; you have the Colt Defender.

"We were selling every gun we made, so we had to go bankrupt."

More likely Detonics folded on account of the usual suspects: mismanagement; loss of key personnel and/or skilled workers; high debt accumulated; changing market demand; raw materials issues (inconsistency of supply and/or price); end product priced beyond demand.

Likely a combination of insufficient production capacity, management, and Colt introducing their Officer's ACP in 1985. Colt, with their mass production capability, was able to churn out plenty of copies of their re-imagined version of the Detonics Combat Master. Colt also had a huge network of dealers to showcase and sell their firearms.

 

[45Smashemflat]

What about the .451 Detonics? Anyone have any experience with that loading?

 

[Mainsail]

I was perusing the various State auctions and spotted this low serial number Detonics Combat Master for sale. It was surely a seizure, sticky, dirty, and the hammer was wrong. The hammer was so wrong that when my dealer racked the slide on receipt it bit him good. It came with one magazine, and thankfully it was an original factory (.45 A.C.P.) magazine. Numrich at the time had plenty of Triple K mags so I got several of those.

I found a factory hammer and replaced all the springs and got it running about 80%. I think I could get it to 100% with new mag springs and just some more shooting- I've only put 100 rounds through it altogether. I had it listed for sale but no takers (admittedly I priced it high because I know I will never see another).

 

[Mainsail]

...but I had the top right rear corner of the slide fall off while shooting it. Detonics replaced the slide quickly.

Apparently that was common. I saved this pic from a gun auction that shows the damage (this is not my gun):

This IS my gun, and it looks like it had the same damage and was repaired. It doesn't affect the operation, just a bit unsightly.

 

[Rock185]

Many years ago, one of my fellow officers bought a new stainless Detonics .45 Combat Master. He asked me to go to the range with him to try it out. I was prepared for it to be an inaccurate Jammamatic. Wrong!

There were no malfunctions, and accuracy out to 25 yards was surprisingly good. Years later, I knew two guys who had Colt Officer ACP .45s. Both with chronic malfunctioning issues, even with quality factory hardball. Go figure..

 

[OLDSTER]

They're alot heavier than a Defender!
I was surprised at the weight when I handled one. Seemed to be a quality piece, though. Funny rear sight.

Defender is part light weight alloy. Detonics is solid steel.

 

[stansdds]

Many years ago, one of my fellow officers bought a new stainless Detonics .45 Combat Master. He asked me to go to the range with him to try it out. I was prepared for it to be an inaccurate Jammamatic. Wrong!

There were no malfunctions, and accuracy out to 25 yards was surprisingly good. Years later, I knew two guys who had Colt Officer ACP .45s. Both with chronic malfunctioning issues, even with quality factory hardball. Go figure..

I think the Colt Officer's ACP's reliability issues stemmed from Colt clinging to the use of the removable barrel bushing. Detonics ditched the barrel bushing in favor of the reverse recoil spring plug and a barrel with a very large outside diameter at the muzzle end. I think the bushingless design allowed for the barrel to be at a better angle for reliable feeding when unlocked.

 

[BB57]

I'm interested in this, as well.
Those are well-made pistols, but my experience with 1911s is 4" bbl and up.
Someone musta figgered something out, because the market now is polluted with 3" 1911s.

One of the things that prevented me from getting one back in the day was the reported poor reliability.

——

I had a similar experience with poor reliability in a Colt Officers model about 20 years ago and I came across one the ther day in a local gun shop. It was a long, long way from smooth when manually functioned. It has issues.

Kimber however did get it right with their Ultra carry. I carried one for nearly a decade and shot it at least once a week 50 rounds per session. Even conservatively reducing that to 40 weeks a year that’s 2K per year and 20K total.

After an initial break in of around 500 rounds it was incredibly reliable not just with FMJ but also 185 and 230 gr Golden sabers as well as 185 and 230 gr XTPs. It was also surprisingly accurate. I still own it but it’s semi retired as it’s alloy frame is likely getting close to the end off it’s fatigue life.

One observation I have made with commander and officer frame sized 1911s is there’s no room to mess around with them.

With a full lemgthn1911 there is plenty of slide over run so you’ve foot room for unnecessary items like shock buffers and you have a lot more latitude to install lighter or heavier recoil springs.

On a commander sized frame that slide over run decreases to around 1/4” and you have a lot less margin to play with before you start creating reliability issues.

On an officer sized frame you have no margin at all. Everything is very precisely engineered so don’t mess with it,

Recoil spring life is also critical and on my ultra carry it had an 800 round spring life, so basically 3 new recoil spring assemblies per year.

I also didn’t mess around with magazines but stayed with the stock Kimber mags. Feed lips on a 1911 magazine are an integral part of the design of the feed system and are also point shape dependent. Kimber uses a “hybrid” or “Colt commerical” feed lip design and it works well with most FMJ, round nose, and hollow points. Semi wad cutters can be problematic depending on length and point shape.

Other companies have also gotten it right. I carried an officer model sized Citadel in 9mm for a couple years and it was also extremely reliable. It’s probably the best bang for the buck in a 1911 I have ever encountered.

The Star BM isn’t exactly a 1911 or quite officer model sized but it’s a right sized 9mm 1911 esque pistol that has also proven to be very reliable.

 

[Lonestar57]

I like the little blasters. They have a unique history in firearm development. Way ahead of their time.

MKVI
MKVII / Mag Na Ported

 

[45Smashemflat]

I’ll have to work on a photo of my Kimber Ultra. It’s the all stainless Eclipse model. I’ve found it to be very reliable as well.

 

[BAM-BAM]

I’ve never owned one, but I kind of became a fan of them by proxy. Back in the ‘80s I read “The Survivalist” series by Jerry Ahern. It was the preferred pistol of John Rourke, the protagonist. Ever since then, I’ve wanted one, but never came across one other than on gunbroke. If I found one at a gun show, I’m sure I’d buy it.

Remember reading that series......lots of cool guns and "stuff"!

I went the route of the "cool kids" in the mid 80s;a Colt 1911 CCO; officer model frame mated to a Commander slide. Long gone but came across a Sig C3 about 10 years ago; which is basically a factory CCO.

 

[BB57]

Remember reading that series......lots of cool guns and "stuff"!

I went the route of the "cool kids" in the mid 80s;a Colt 1911 CCO; officer model frame mated to a Commander slide. Long gone but came across a Sig C3 about 10 years ago; which is basically a factory CCO.

That was the appeal for me of a Kimber Custom shop Compact CDP II.

A commander (ish, 4” versus 4.25”) length slide on an officer model sized frame. It was 10 years old a few years ago when I bought it new old stock in a shop where the owner was retiring and liquidating many of his personal collection pistols.

When I choose to carry a 1911 in .45 ACP this is the one.