If you're in the market for a Colt Combat Commander in 45 ACP... I might have some info you'd be interest in...

Damn- that didn't take long. I shared this on a few forums and they're already showing as being 'sold out'. Hopefully someone here was able to see/take advantage of the deal and snag one for themselves.

Reckon there's no harm in sharing a link to the deal I was trying to bring attention to now...


-LD

ETA: I know this looks otherwise "suspect" but I really don't have any personal interests in either company and was just trying to get the "word" out on what I thought was perhaps one of the best deals I'd seen as a self professed 'Colt Guy'. I really do hope someone here was able to snag one though because of this post.

Whelp-

I picked up the Commander and I know some folks here tend to "geek out" for this type of stuff so figured I'd try to "earn my keep" and share some pictures of the latest acquisition. I'm a bit apprehensive for tearing this down as much as I did today & fingers crossed I'll be able to put this baby back together but without further ado- here's where we're at...






Unfortunately I got a little too excited and started tearing this bad boy down and didn't get a "before" picture but figured I'd share the parts/"bits & pieces" in a "part by part" detail for those that might get a kick out of this type of thing...

-LD

Let's start with the "big parts" and focus on the slide first and foremost...






























The bluing is even and all looks consistent to my eyes. There's no perceivable tooling marks that I can see and the sharp edges are ever so slightly knocked down. The sides are beautifully polished and the serrations (while a bit "wild" from the traditional Colt style) work well and I'd say are comparable to how the Glock slide serrations "grip" and they're similar in the spacing on the high & low points but the fact that these are angled are noticed and rather nice. I also appreciate that this particular model omitted the front cocking serrations.

So thus far- all positive but I do have a minor (and visceral) nitpick I have to point out with the slide. I was personally & deeply disappointed with the roll mark on this particular model having "Series 80" etched in the lower righthand corner rather than "45 Caliber" and I've spoken on this before and I'd like to expound while I'm on my proverbial soapbox...

I absolutely hate that Colt is doing this. Believe me- I get it- they get to use the same "roll mark" on all their slides regardless of the caliber but... yeah I hate it. I think they're absolutely "cheaping" out... two fold- first they've gone away from traditional roll marks to laser engraving and truth be told- I don't like that too much either but I can live with it. But then Colt essentially "doubles down" and cheapens their product with not only using laser engraving but also standardizing the mark and omitting the caliber... I am only speaking for myself but good lord, come on... the slides are already going to be cut differently for the barrel size differences why in the world do they keep cramming these cost saving measures down the throats of us loyal customers and expect us to accept it?

I know I'm venting on a minor nitpick but I really do hate it. And had I not gotten this pistol at the price I did (I really do think I practically 'stole' it) this roll mark bothers me so much that I never would even consider purchasing a commander with it at regular prices. I really do hate it that much (but again not trying to speak in absolutes and only framing things as my own opinion).

But stepping down from the soapbox... everything else seems to be absolutely flawless on the slide (I just hate that Colt is cheaping out with this Series 80 nonsense rather than properly annotating the caliber on the slide).

-LD

ETA: I forgot to mention the sights. These are true (and marked as such) Novak sights. I dig that and have always been a fan. I know that the new 'hotness' is sights that have a ledge that you can use your belt to rack it one handed and I'm good with that (frankly I love the Heine Straight 8's) but Novak's were always designed to be "snag free" on the draw and I like that too even though that doesn't seem to get as much attention as being beneficial these days.

Moving onto the grips that come with it...










From what I can tell, these are VZ G10 grips in black cherry with the magazine scoop & Colt brand between the diamonds. The grips are absolutely fine and I don't have a single complaint to raise with them. They're absolutely high quality but I have a set or two coming in the mail this week that I want to throw on this particular model (assuming I can put it back together properly) just because I purchased this to tinker with.

-LD

My next "nitpick" as a longtime "Colt Guy"... the magazine...


















Yes- these are nothing special, just your 'run of the mill' Colt branded standard 8 round magazines. I'd love to see something like a Wilson or Tripp Research being included but that's not Colt's style and truth be told- despite the ever standing internet wisdom, I really never have had an issue with these magazines. They just seem to "work".

My only gripe is (again) I think Colt is cheaping out by only including one magazine these days but that's just a minor complaint and I knew that much going into this.

It could just be my own memory but I seem to recall this "one magazine" crap harking back to the AWB days where standard capacity magazines over 10 rounds costing something like $80-$100 (in 90's money) and the pistols at the time only shipping with one magazine.

It's very likely just a "me" thing & I get that Colt is far from the only company reducing the magazines that come with their pistol but frankly- I just don't like it and I don't like it at all. I reckon that I've narrowed down "why" I don't like it but still need to air that grievance if I'm being fair.

-LD

Next up- we've got the barrel....














I'm really not seeing much to gripe about here- truth be told I've always had great luck with Colt factory barrels and am of the opinion that typically they're about as good as they come without having a hand fitted Kart installed (your milage/opinion may vary of course too & that's fine with me).

But yeah- the barrel seems to be fine to my eye- it was absolutely filthy when I first tore it down but it cleaned up nice enough. The feet seem to be properly radiuses, the link seems to be appropriately sized, and the overall finishing seems to be quite smooth. The only thing of note that I found interesting/unexpected with the barrel is this is a new production Colt and the barrel isn't marked as being "national match".

Honestly I'm ok with that because most of my Colts don't have barrels marked as such and frankly I find it to be more grounded in marketing than objectively measurable differences but I was under the impression that all of the new production Colts had barrels marked "NM" and just pointing it out that I found it to be interesting that this was not marked as such.

-LD

Starting to get into the 'nitty gritty' now...

Moving onto the Sear Spring... Truth be told- if there's something to "look for" as a sign of quality I'm not at the level to recognize it. It appears to be just fine and properly "bent" in all the "right places" but hey here's two pics of it/both sides for grins...











-LD

Next is the frame itself... similar deal- nothing much to speak of as being out of spec or extraordinarily "in spec" either... just looks good with even bluing and smooth machining. Much like the slide, I can't discern any obvious tool marks either.. It just strikes me as a well executed & finished frame is all... But you be the judge...










-LD

Getting some minor parts knocked out for the sake of being thorough...






Not much to talk about here... grip screws, mainspring housing pin, hammer pin, sear pin and plunger spring assembly... not sure what to say other than they work and all seem to work as needed.

-LD

This particular model comes with Colt's dual spring recoil assembly... so I want to take a quick "time out" to talk about this part...

First off- it looks fine. Really nothing of any note to speak of outside of what it obviously is. That said- I have a quick comment on the actual/perceivable value of this design as compared to a standard/single spring configuration. I have a few other Colts set up this way and maybe I'm just not that 'cultured' in the art of the 1911 but I really can't say that I've noticed any measurable difference in recoil with the dual recoil spring setup as compared to the single spring.

I "could" be swayed to believe that the dual spring setup would have more longevity... aka round counts between when prudent replacement is necessary but that said-as mentioned previously I plan to just tinker with this model and have an Ed Brown flatware recoil spring assembly that I'm going to try in place of this. We'll see how it works but my previous experience is of a similar mindset- not much to speak of with "recoil reduction performance" as much as it's just a spring set-up that lasts longer is all.

Time will tell but regardless- this is what will come stock and I'm sure it's fine as-is.

-LD

Grip safety... nothing I can see to complain about here... it's smooth as can be and completely solid without any rough edges/corners to speak of.

-LD

Hammer & Strut... also well finished & smooth as can be...

-LD

Some more miscellaneous parts.. plunger, bushing, and whatever that Series 80 part is that acts as a finger to depress the firing pin block plunger thing...

Not sure what to say with these parts either... they work, are in spec, and are smoothly machined... I can't see how replacing any of these parts would result in a "better" pistol to be honest.

-LD

I hesitate to call this a miscellaneous part but here's the mainspring housing. Yes- it's plastic and also- I really don't think that's a big deal deal either for what this part needs to do. Yes- I could disassemble this further and show the mainspring, mainspring housing retainer, mainspring cap, & mainspring cap pin but hopefully everyone is ok with just taking my word that they're all contained there and all are otherwise not that interesting but still important/functional/in spec. This is just getting long and I'm trying to wrap things up here before too long.

If someone wants to see this assembly expanded- fine, I can and will do that but as I've mentioned I plan on tinkering with this particular pistol and part of my parts on order/experimentation is working out an arched/steel mainspring housing from Ed Brown (also vertically serrated) and I just added the 'guts' for that while I was at it so if I do ever change my mind I'll just end up swapping out the mainspring housings rather than pillaging all of their internals.

-LD

Slide stop looks a-ok to my eye.

Safety also appears to be well finished and of good quality.

-LD

Unfortunately I'm afraid I might have "buggered" the mag release assembly up a bit more than I intended to. It's hard to capture using crappy cell phone pictures but I seemed to "stretch" the slot of the screw head just a touch trying to monkey this part off of the frame.

Either way- here be that part...

-LD

The disconnector... again looks fine to me. I struggle to see how changing this part would yield a "better" pistol.

-LD

Ok... we're almost done now (kudos if you've stuck with me thus far)

I really don't intend for this to be a pun but I think that's how it's going to have to come across...

Either way I just can't seem to "put my finger on it" but there's something ever so slightly off with this trigger assembly and truth be told I haven't figured out what it is that's throwing me off.

I personally love the long trigger, the trigger is also made of aluminum and I dig the "three hole" design of it. But.. I can't help but shake the notion that there's something ever so slightly askew with the angle that the bow meets the trigger and that's introducing the slightest bit of disharmony in my 1911 'nirvana'.

As I keep mentioning, I have a new trigger coming in (should be here tomorrow) and short of completely "geeking out" and busting out a protractor we'll see if I feel any better about the angle of the bow & the trigger intersecting with the new part. I'm trying to combine a short trigger with an arched mainspring with this particular pistol so I'm not going to devote too much brainpower into figuring out what I don't like about this particular trigger assembly but I do think something is ever so slightly off there... 100% a nuance that only the ahfficiando's would detect but before I tore this pistol down it was bothering the heck out of me without knowing what was causing it.

-LD

Huzzah- you made it to the last part of the pistol, the sear. I saved this part for last because this seems to be the part most often critized as being poorly finished and (thusly) resulting in an undesirable trigger pull... So without further ado here's the sear...


















Unless someone with a better trained eye than I have sees something I'm not- it looks absolutely fine to me. The ledge is sharp and clean, the radius is smoothly rounded, I really can't see how short of a quick& lazy polish job with some Flitz how the engagement could be improved.

-LD

So there you have it-

All the "nooks & crannies" of the Colt Combat Commander shared with you.

I hope this was of some value to someone (it took a significant amount of time to post at least so hopefully it was worthwhile).

Either tomorrow or Tuesday I'll have have another round of excitement to see if I can actually put this beast back together.

I'm a self proclaimed "Colt Guy" for my own reasons but I know that there's merit to the expression about people having opinions too. I hope that my contributions here at least gives something objective to base those opinions/preferences off of.

-LD