The Colt Commander......

[Xfuzz]

Lightweight....
Joined the PD in 1972 noticed a lot of the
older coppers packed Colt 1911's.
Quite a few were Korean, WWII and Nam vets.

Bought a Government model soon as I got off probation.
Shortly after that I was introduced the the Combat Commander.
Promoted into soft threads and old heads there still packed the 1911
or BHP's.

Old Detective that worked the front desk was always armed.
Kept what I assumed was a Colt Combat Commander in his waistband.
Later learned it was a Colt Commander.

Never bought one until many years later....as usual it was traded
for something else.
Picked this one up this week from a retired coppers daughter.
Looks like a 1979 vintage....very hard to tell if it's been fired....ANIB.

 

[dandyrandy]

Lightweight....
Joined the PD in 1972 noticed a lot of the
older coppers packed Colt 1911's.
Quite a few were Korean, WWII and Nam vets.

Bought a Government model soon as I got off probation.
Shortly after that I was introduced the the Combat Commander.
Promoted into soft threads and old heads there still packed the 1911
or BHP's.

Old Detective that worked the front desk was always armed.
Kept what I assumed was a Colt Combat Commander in his waistband.
Later learned it was a Colt Commander.

Never bought one until many years later....as usual it was traded
for something else.
Picked this one up this week from a retired coppers daughter.
Looks like a 1979 vintage....very hard to tell if it's been fired....ANIB.

I like the Colts but they always got under my skin for the abundant amount of machine and chatter marks under the hood especially when the much cheaper import 1911s are completely void of any machining marks in the slide and frame. Colts lazy childish answer to that is that they are "production guns" but why is everyone else able to make a cheaper 1911 and they look so much better than the Colts???

 

[arjay]

I have a few older gms and 3 70s era Colts. A gm,a combat commander and a Gold Cup,but I need a Commander! How much? ;-)

 

[luvsmiths]

The other vendors could make them "look so much better" , because they cared.

Colt didn't.

Where is Colt now?

 

[dandyrandy]

To really bring the point home I need to get a side by side comparison picture of my Colt 1911 Government slides and my Communist Tokarev slides. The Colt has almost the same amount of disgusting machine marks as my Tokarev. I mean I can understand the $199 dollar used military surplus mass produced Tokarev. They probably have made millions of those Toks all over the world but the $1200 dollar new commercial Colt and how it looks is unacceptable to me. I have been avoiding Colts because they are just going to disappoint me. I have different standards though so to each is own but I believe you should get what you pay for especially on firearms.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have 2 Commanders, a 45 and a 38 Super. (I also have 4 GM's and a couple of PARA LDA's. I am a disciple of Saint John Browning!)

Ivan

My accumulation is a little light since I gave each son a GM for his 21st birthday, and sold off a few Springfield's.

 

[Narragansett]

Lightweight....
Joined the PD in 1972 noticed a lot of the
older coppers packed Colt 1911's.
Quite a few were Korean, WWII and Nam vets.

Bought a Government model soon as I got off probation.
Shortly after that I was introduced the the Combat Commander.
Promoted into soft threads and old heads there still packed the 1911
or BHP's.

Old Detective that worked the front desk was always armed.
Kept what I assumed was a Colt Combat Commander in his waistband.
Later learned it was a Colt Commander.

Never bought one until many years later....as usual it was traded
for something else.
Picked this one up this week from a retired coppers daughter.
Looks like a 1979 vintage....very hard to tell if it's been fired....ANIB.

Sure looks like a beauty to me. Never had a commander. Had a nickel 1911 series 70 new. Still have an Officer's ACP I bought new in 1985. Enjoy it!

 

[retrieverhunter]

Back to topic (drooling over theOP’s gun). That thing looks like brand new! Congrats!!!

I lusted after a lightweight Colt Commander for years and finally dropped the hammer a year or so ago on a 1976 model, but it’s not quite as clean as yours.

 

[4T5GUY]

I only have one Commander but it its nice one. Maybe not cosmetically but functionally and accuracy wise it’s great.

I got my 1997 vintage .45 Colt Commander in @ 2000. It was a also a Deputy’s pistol. I’m not sure why he sold it but I snagged it right away.

It was perfect, (it had Wilson Combat sights,) and was already worn. I added/exchanged/fit a few of my favorite aftermarket Colt parts and now it is one of my preferred Colts.

Jim

 

[Beauetienne]

I would be very happy with your Commander. Looks great !
One from 2018 lives with me.
Interior chatter marks or not, it will more likely bring more resale value than other comparable brands. All factors considered it is probably a fine investment.

 

[Eddietruett]

I have a Lightweight Commander in stainless that’s not bad to carry and is a real shooter when I do my job. My favorite 1911 is a Competition 9mm in Stainless. I can somewhat agree with a few of the above post about the cheaper 1911’s out there. I bought a stainless Tisas a year or so ago because several of my normal shooting crowd had bought the Matte or Parkerized versions because they were cheap and functioned great. The stainless version has Novak type sights and a better trigger. It’s a great shooter and I would trust my life with it. The holdback to the cheaper or off brand guns is resale value. The Colts always hold their value much better than the cheap guns but there is a market for all of them

 

[Rodan]

I've always been a Commander fan. Carried one on duty until I switched to the M&P a few years back. Still my go to for off duty.

One of these days, I want to pick up a 60s vintage Colt... have been without a Colt for a while.

 

[Grayfox]

This lightly modified 1959 Colt Commander has been my primary carry for close to 25 years now. Couldn't ask for a better carry gun.

 

[Straightshooter2]

1989 Combat Commander

2011 Commander

 

[LEO918]

That's a great find. Had a bunch of Commanders over the years. Here's the two I have at this time. A .45 and a 9mm with Ivory.

 

[dandyrandy]

IMG_0747 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr
I brought up the Commander guns at exhausted length in another post. I tried out just about every "Commander" gun on the used and new market and at the end of that very long Commander pistol rainbow I found out some things. To make a long story short I like to pay and get what I pay for on that gun. Not just for resale value but for the overall quality I get at the end of the day with that pistol. The first Commander gun I tried out was an 80 series Colt in stainless. I liked the gun a lot and was easy to upgrade. The best thing about it was how utterly reliable it was. I never had a problem with it. Luckily all my Colts have been reliable however the craftmanship is still much to be desired. You pay a lot for that name. Put it like this why pay Dan Wesson 1911 prices for a Colt that isnt a Dan Wesson and never will be??? It just dosent make sense to me. The shut up and give me your money and take our lousy warranty too that aint worth a flip dont complain because we are Colt just dosent buy it for me. So I pay Dan Wesson prices for the Dan Wesson because Im going to get an outstanding pistol inside and out. The Ruger SR 1911s are okay I guess and the only reason there okay is they tend to be reliable however there "cast investment" frames is just a fancy way of saying we cheated ya out of a nice forged frame for this cheapy cheap frame but your paying top dollar for it if you like it or not! That dont blow me over either.
The Kimbers arent any better.. They used to be real fancy back in the day but new productions guns once again much to be desired. Kimber has now jumped on the same shut your mouth because these are mass produced production guns so dont complain band wagon as Ruger and Colt have. One good thing is the Springfield Armory Commanders have gotten nicer over the recent years and I recommend the Ronin. The Smith and Wesson 1911 Commanders are very nice and I think you get a quality weapon for what you pay for if and thats IF you can find an S&W Commander. I do have some other honorable mentions that blow Colts and the other big 3 out of the water for the same price is the Magnum Research line of 1911 pistols and the Bul Armory 1911s. Interestingly both of those are Israeli built guns and there cast frames are waaaaay better than any Ruger SR1911. They tend to have bull barrels though in the Commander size which isnt a problem for me.
IMG_0730 by Dandy Randy, on Flickr

 

[Murdock]

My two lightweights. The .45 wears mastodon and the .38 Super sports elephant. The Super is 2nd year production. Milt Sparks carries them for me.

 

[hemiram]

My Commander was one of my all time "nightmare" guns. I bought it brand new in 1981. It was, for many years, the most expensive gun I had ever bought, with my Beretta 92's being the next most expensive. But the Berettas WORKED. I never have had an issue with a Beretta made gun and for a while, they were the only new guns that had no issues.

Had just horrible machine work, and getting it to fire more than 2 rounds without a jam was a fantasy. Went back to Colt twice with little improvement. I found a local 1911 guru who after messing with it a while, got it running 90% or so with hardball ammo, soaking wet with oil. His comment when he saw it was, "It's total garbage and should never have gotten out the factory door! They should have just replaced it as it's never going to be right!". I lucked out and found a 1911 fanatic who wanted it, problems and all, and sold it to him for a surprisingly high price. Hey, he offered it, and I wanted it gone, so I said yes! I've owned a total of 3 1911's and I will never own another one. I have several non-1911 .45 pistols and I trust all of them. None of them cost much more than half what the Commander did.

 

[Kansasgunner]

Satin nickel Colt Combat Commander shipped in 1977. I had a gunsmith add the Novak sights, also has had trigger work done along with larger beaver tail and a new hammer. Runs 100% with every 45 ACP load I’ve put through it. One of my favorite carry guns.

 

[Babysitr]

only one I have is a Gold Cup. love it,shoot it, but it is a handful.....that is a beautiful pistol