I'm very excited! - Colt Commando

[R040607]

So I'm very excited about a new pistol that I just purchased, and since my wife could care less, I thought I would talk about it here. Maybe some of you will care more than she does.

I just purchased a Colt 1911 Commando. Although I have never own an Officer's ACP pistol before, this one excites me. The commando has Colt's Commander-sized, lightweight aluminum frame mated to a stainless steel Officer's slide. This combination brings the pistol 27 ounces (Only two Ozie more than the new, raved-about Springfield XDs) and it still retains an 8+1 capacity! All this in a package that was designed and built in Colt's Custom Shop. It already comes with a flat-top slide, full dehorning as well as their reliability and tactical packages. Damn!

I'm anxious to take it to the range and run some rounds through it. Hopefully the pistol will feed Hornady Critical Defense or Speer GDSB flawlessly.

I have not been this excited about a new gun in a while. Well, at least since I purchased my Christiansen Arms AR anyway. But I do need to fund the project, so sadly I will be parting with my '69 Colt Commander .38 Super. That was a cool pistol too! Hopefully it will bring enough on Gunbroker, that way I don't have to stress.

Range report and pictures to come.

I'm big 1911 fan based on the ergonomics of the pistol.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Brad426]

Congrats! I anxiously await the pictures and report.

[DefConGun]

Congrats on the new addition. Waiting for pictures soon! ;-)

[R040607]

Thanks guys. Being a fan of the 1911, this sounded like a fun idea. After doing lots of searching on the internet, I figured that this might be a good CCW

If the Lightweight Commander draws quickly due to its light, full-size frame, and the Officer's ACP draws quickly due to its short slide, this would seem to be the best of both worlds.

[R040607]

Forgot the link. ...

http://www.gunblast.com/Colt-LightweightCommander.htm

[QKShooter]

Colt makes an incredibly tough Aluminum alloy frame.

[SmokinFool]

Congrats. That's a very cool pistol. And it's a Colt, so you know it's a quality piece.

[pogo2]

I presume the OP is talking about a Colt Lightweight Commander, and not a Colt Commando. The term "Commando" has been used by Colt on products, but not on a 1911 to my knowledge.

[OD*]

They have used the term "Commando" on a limited run.

[ghost tracker]

Yep. If it's an Officer's length slide on an aluminum Commander frame from the Custom Shop, it surely can be a "Commando".

[R040607]

Well, The pistol arrived just a few days ago, and I thought I'd post an update along with some pics.

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I can't say enough about the quality of this particular pistol. I am very particular and I was not let down at all. The quality, fit and finish are all on par with my Ed Brown 1911. Yes, it's that good!

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, when these were manufactured in Colt's Custom Shop, they received a list of upgrades including: an undercut trigger guard, flat-top slide, flared ejection port, reliability package, and full dehorning. You can see some of this in the pictures.

I am particularly impressed with the way they use a cone barrel yet still mate it with the slide via a match bushing. It allows for lockup to be very tight.

[KBSR]

Good for you. Hard to beat a Colt 1911.

[Boozehound]

Nice score......I like it.

I'm excited even if the wife is not!

Hope all works out well fer ya.

[R040607]

Since I intend to use this as my CCW, it was important to take it to the range to test accuracy and reliability prior to strapping it on. Over the course of an hour or two I fed the Commando 100 rounds of Speer Lawman FMJ (230g), 100 rounds of WWB FMJ (230g), 100 rounds of Federal Champion FMJ (230g), 20 rounds of Hornady Critical Defense (185g), and 25 rounds of Federal HST +P (230g).

Although I am in no way recoil sensitive, the pistol handled extremely well with all loads. There were no FTF or FTE; there were no feeding or extraction issues of any kind. This remained the case even when I loaded different rounds consecutively in the magazine. The Hornady CD had the least blast and kick while the Federal HST +P had the most of both. All other loads were equally split between those two in terms of flash, blast, and recoil.

I was concerned with the ability to perform clean follow-up shots, so I ran a drill: five quick shots as fast as I could pull the trigger at 21'. Below are the results. As you can see the Hornady CD is closer-grouped, but the Federal HST +P was not too bad.

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Not while the above two groups would not be considered acceptable under just about any circumstances, but I am pleased with them considering this is the first time I've shot this pistol. Keep in mind that this was rapid-fire. (Normally I would be in one ragged hole with the Ed Brown or HK Expert at slow-fire, but I'll work on it. I don't want you guys to be disappointed in me.)

[R040607]

By the way, the point of aim was not the same on this two groups.