got my Commander:D

[BoomerBSG]

i couldn't wait till this Sunday, so i got up (well stayed up as i was stoked to get it) to the store at 9am when they opened, and grabbed my Colt Commander i put in lay a way Tuesday... longest 3 days of my life lol.

its not the light weight.. which i really didn't want anyway.
i got her used at Carters Country in Spring, TX (ask for Bo, great guy sells me all my guns). i also purchased a regular Kimber mag as mine only came with one colt mag, and i got some Hogue wrap around finger grooved grips as well.

they have a deal going till the end of this month, they give you a free 50 rnd box of ammo with the purchase of a firearm... so i got a box of Blazer brass.. which i actually like that ammo so i was cool, and they let me slide on range fee's and offered me a lane.
normally i dont shoot any gun till i take it home and break it down and clean it.. and i normally dont buy used guns, but this colt was clean, looked hardly past its break in period.
my neighbor is into colts.. more over 1911's and he was darn surprised to see how little wear it showed.. not even in the grooves of the slide where it mounts to the frame. he also hooked me up with a Serpa Holster for $25 that he didnt care for.. and its growing on me.

so i took my lane (7 yard), loaded her up, and it breezed right through that box of 50 BB lol. i went back in and purchased some federal hydroshocks, and brought her home, loaded up the mags with the fed's and put her next to my bed on the night stand.

its my first 1911, my first colt, and i'm totally in love.. which makes all the remorse of selling my Springfield XD 9 go away.
here she is:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/7858/rightsideae2.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rightsideae2.jpg)

and i posted more in the picture thread here
http://forum.m1911.org/showpost.php?p=502454&postcount=3345

any recommendations on night sights? will they just drop in, or do i need to have them fitted? also...
i read somewhere that theres something you can do to the bushing (or maybe its the spring plug) so i dont need a bushing tool to tear the gun down. or i may have read wrong.

i like the feel of the hogue grips, but man i love the look of wood.. so i may swap em back out. any recommendations in that area also? anyone try the wood wrap arounds?

thanks for reading this far if you made it.

cheers!

[villachaise]

Boomer,
congrats on your Colt. To be honest I didn't know much about the Commanders when I came across one, now I find tons of info. on them. Hearing all this about alloy frames (I see yours isn't) I don't know whether to pop away with it or not...

I think I'll shoot it and enjoy it. If I wear it out or crack the frame or what not I'll be content that it didn't sit in some safe it's whole life, but actually got used!

Hope you enjoy yours as well.
Mark

[BoomerBSG]

Boomer,
congrats on your Colt. To be honest I didn't know much about the Commanders when I came across one, now I find tons of info. on them. Hearing all this about alloy frames (I see yours isn't) I don't know whether to pop away with it or not...

I think I'll shoot it and enjoy it. If I wear it out or crack the frame or what not I'll be content that it didn't sit in some safe it's whole life, but actually got used!

Hope you enjoy yours as well.
Mark
thanks, it wasnt for fear of cracking frames or anything. i just like a weighty yet compact .45. does wonders for recoil.

i just did my first cleaning of it, and found it wont cycle the Federal hydrashocks i got:(
and i have no other ammo till sunday, till i go to the range. i'm hoping winchester makes WWB hollow points like i used in my 9mm. i loved those. i'm gonna do some ammo searches here on the forum and see what i turn up.

cheers

[elijdub]

Congrats on your XSE, BoomerBSG!!! Great choice. I'm partial to Commanders myself.
I doubt the bushing is so tight that it will require a bushing wrench to take it down.... The wrench is usually used on particularly tight bushings that are set-up that way deliberately for accuracy (often found on custom builds, etc.).
As for wood grip panels, the best in the biz, IMHO, are Esmeralda's (http://www.esmeralda.cc/)

For the record, it's mostly a myth about alloy frames cracking. Colt has been producing them for almost 60 years and even the early one's are still going strong. I wouldn't worry about LW Commanders...

[Rio Vista Slim]

i just did my first cleaning of it, and found it wont cycle the Federal hydrashocks i got:(
and i have no other ammo till sunday, till i go to the range. i'm hoping winchester makes WWB hollow points like i used in my 9mm. i loved those. i'm gonna do some ammo searches here on the forum and see what i turn up.

Hand cycling will often cause failures to return to battery, which won't happen during the actual shooting of the pistol. However, since you stated the gun is used, consider getting some replacement recoil springs for your Colt. Those springs are a cheap insurance policy against many types of malfunctions. Additionally, magazines can most times be the root cause of difficulties. As a case in point, I fired my Colt New Agent yesterday, and had seven out of eight cartridges which failed to allow the gun to return to battery. Swapped out the mag I was using for one of the Tripp Research CobraMags I own, and the problem went away.
any recommendations on night sights? will they just drop in, or do i need to have them fitted? Brownells (sponsors' panel at the top of this page) offers a wide variety of sights with tritium inserts. I would recommend that a competent gunsmith install any new sights.
i read somewhere that theres something you can do to the bushing (or maybe its the spring plug) so i dont need a bushing tool to tear the gun down. or i may have read wrong.My Commanders all have the conventional guide rod, spring, spring plug, and bushing. I understand Colt puts a full length guide rod in some (if not all) the XSE Commanders now. If the FLGR is causing the issue, a bushing wrench (or the nylon handle of a toothbrush) can depress the spring pressure to help align the bushing.

i like the feel of the hogue grips, but man i love the look of wood.. so i may swap em back out. any recommendations in that area also? My good friend elijdub makes the same recommendation as I would. :)

[TattooPaul]

Congradulations on the XSE Commander! Looks great. Do beware that the front serrations will tear up a leather holster so if you have a valued favorite take care as my full size XSE put some gouges in my favorite Milt Sparks with just a few draws.

I'm sure you'll love range time with it and I, too, am partial to the steel frame unless it is a piece that will get lots of concealed carry time. Alloys are proven and are very nice for wieght saving but I do feel that unless you need that extra weight loss, a steel frame will endure more extensive use not to mention aid in recoil stability. I have alloy frames and have no gripes but am aware to keep an eye on the anodizing for wear, as the alloy underneath is rather soft. They are proven, though, and not something to worry about.

With the FLGR I do find that a wrench makes take-down easier but you cab do it with your thumbnail pushing on the edge.

Enjoy!

[Kim]

Nice looking pistola Boomer. If it is going to be a nite stand gun a set of carbon fiber Crimson Trace laser grips would look pretty good on a stainless steel Commander ;)

[magnaed]

i couldn't wait till this Sunday, so i got up (well stayed up as i was stoked to get it) to the store at 9am when they opened, and grabbed my Colt Commander i put in lay a way Tuesday... longest 3 days of my life lol.

its not the light weight.. which i really didn't want anyway.
i got her used at Carters Country in Spring, TX (ask for Bo, great guy sells me all my guns). i also purchased a regular Kimber mag as mine only came with one colt mag, and i got some Hogue wrap around finger grooved grips as well.

they have a deal going till the end of this month, they give you a free 50 rnd box of ammo with the purchase of a firearm... so i got a box of Blazer brass.. which i actually like that ammo so i was cool, and they let me slide on range fee's and offered me a lane.
normally i dont shoot any gun till i take it home and break it down and clean it.. and i normally dont buy used guns, but this colt was clean, looked hardly past its break in period.
my neighbor is into colts.. more over 1911's and he was darn surprised to see how little wear it showed.. not even in the grooves of the slide where it mounts to the frame. he also hooked me up with a Serpa Holster for $25 that he didnt care for.. and its growing on me.

so i took my lane (7 yard), loaded her up, and it breezed right through that box of 50 BB lol. i went back in and purchased some federal hydroshocks, and brought her home, loaded up the mags with the fed's and put her next to my bed on the night stand.

its my first 1911, my first colt, and i'm totally in love.. which makes all the remorse of selling my Springfield XD 9 go away.
here she is:
http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/7858/rightsideae2.th.jpg (http://img91.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rightsideae2.jpg)

and i posted more in the picture thread here
http://forum.m1911.org/showpost.php?p=502454&postcount=3345

any recommendations on night sights? will they just drop in, or do i need to have them fitted? also...
i read somewhere that theres something you can do to the bushing (or maybe its the spring plug) so i dont need a bushing tool to tear the gun down. or i may have read wrong.

i like the feel of the hogue grips, but man i love the look of wood.. so i may swap em back out. any recommendations in that area also? anyone try the wood wrap arounds?

thanks for reading this far if you made it.

cheers!
Congratulations on your new Commander !! You will love it !!

Just my opinion but I would wait for a little while before I put night sights on it. I had a set of Trijicon night sights installed on my Government Model 45 about 14 years ago and they worked great at night. ( I never fired the gun in the dark though)

The Trijicon sitghts were guarenteed for ten years and they glowed for about eleven years now they don't but they are stil fine in the day light so I haven't bother to change them.

One last thing: The first set of Wood Grips I ever owned came on my Combat Commander ( made in 1971) and they were the Colt Double Diamond Rosewood type. No Colt emblem on them.

They are to this day stil the finest grips I own.

Congratulations and happy shooting.
Magnaed

[BoomerBSG]

Congratulations on your new Commander !! You will love it !!

Just my opinion but I would wait for a little while before I put night sights on it. I had a set of Trijicon night sights installed on my Government Model 45 about 14 years ago and they worked great at night. ( I never fired the gun in the dark though)

The Trijicon sitghts were guarenteed for ten years and they glowed for about eleven years now they don't but they are stil fine in the day light so I haven't bother to change them.

One last thing: The first set of Wood Grips I ever owned came on my Combat Commander ( made in 1971) and they were the Colt Double Diamond Rosewood type. No Colt emblem on them.

They are to this day stil the finest grips I own.

Congratulations and happy shooting.
Magnaed
thanks for the comments guys! and i'm already planning on some of the wood grips from esmeralda's... great link!

i didnt know about the hand cycling being a problem, good to know.. but i fixed it lol.
i grabbed some 1400 grit sand paper, and some rem oil, and polished up the feed ramp a bit.. they hand cycle fine now, and feed right through.
my neighbor who hooked me up told me about doing that, and it worked. he's selling me a couple of chip mccormic power mags as well for a good price (both 8 rounders).

i'll be heading to the range tomorrow (sunday) with a few hundred rounds, and see how she feeds. if she eats up the federal hydrashocks, i'll go buy some more.
i've always liked stock piling ammo, but generally i keep enough HP's to load all my mags, and then stock up on ball ammo (which gets used the most obviously).

i just made my next b-day and xmas alot easier on the mrs... i told her this year.. just get me ammo... lots of it.
i do have an FLGR in here, and am thinking of going to the other/original design, with the shorter guide rod, and spring cap. my neighbor has one, and i can just press it in with my finger and rotate the bushing. i just dont want to have to use a tool to take my gun down. just one less thing i need in my range bag.
if i'm wrong about that, and you always need that tool handy, let me know.

cheers!

[BoomerBSG]

Nice looking pistola Boomer. If it is going to be a nite stand gun a set of carbon fiber Crimson Trace laser grips would look pretty good on a stainless steel Commander ;)

its actually going to be my carry piece once i get my CHL.. i already keep it in my truck from time to time now. as well as pulling night stand duty.

cheers

[daveohno]

You can never go wrong with a colt Commander. I too, have rubber stocks on many of my pistols, it just takes a beating and doesn't look any worse for the wear. But for beauty, wood is the way to go. Wood requires more care to keep looking good, but it sure looks good on a pistol.

Let us hear how your outing at the range turns out.

[lindermant]

...i like the feel of the hogue grips, but man i love the look of wood.. so i may swap em back out. any recommendations in that area also? anyone try the wood wrap arounds?

thanks for reading this far if you made it.

cheers!
pachmayr makes a pair of rubber/wood wraparound grips (http://www.lymanproducts.com/pachmayr/pistolgrps.htm#American). Not my cup of tea, but they may be just what you're looking for...

http://www.lymanproducts.com/pachmayr/images/colt.jpg
*photo courtesy of lymanproducts.com

congrats on the Colt!