[Blueduck]

A primary quoted advantage of the newer polymer framed guns was the lighter weight, primary complaint about a lot of them has been that they are too thick, or genereally come in lesser calibers.

Lightweight Commander thin, major caliber, plus relativly light. While it certainly has fans here and there, the model never seemed to gather all that much of a crowd sales wise or fan wise on various forums. Even for all day concealed carry seems lots of 1911 folks recommend the full size steel version over it

Anyone else confused over why its not more popular? Something I'm missing???

[Old Fuff]

I think that some folks are uneasy about the aluminum frame, but they needn't be. I've had one since the early 1960's and it's still going strong. Colt uses aluminum forgings, not castings.

Yes, it is much more confortable to pack then a similar all-steel gun. I too wonder why more haven't used it, and I think the reason is no experience - they never tried one.

[Sean Smith]

The weight savings is nice, but aluminum-frame 1911s (especially earlier ones) had a reputation for starting to crack at relatively low round counts. Another problem is that most people are sissies :D ; if shooting .45 ACP from a 5" steel 1911 scares lots of people, shooting .45 ACP from a 4.25" 1911 that is alot lighter is 12 kinds of scary past Sunday.

A titanium CCO would be neat though. :evil:

[John Forsyth]

I carry one and it's great. I wish Colt would come out with a LW .38 Super.

[jercamp45]

When the Commander came out was right after WWII. The common concensus had the .45 auto being as accurate as a box of rocks, kicking like a mule...and then combine it with this new aluminum stuff? Naw.
Got Detective Specials and the mighty new MAGNUM!!!! Soon there after the Chief's Special. American was weaned on revolvers, and we are slow to change. And the exotic 9m/m that were war trophies. The 45 auto was rather 'ho hum' for the popular masses.
There were reports of the frame cracking, but I think most of the people that carried them were the kinda folks that really used a wepon in combat and just did not talk about it.
I talked to one gentleman in long term government service and he had bought two...one to carry and one to practise with cuz he heard they wore out fast. He said 20 years after getting his pair that he still had not 'wore out' the first one.
I got one in 1980..and it is a mighty sweet gun! Lightly modified, it has been all over the country with me in the mountains and in the cities. I replaced it with an Officer's model, though the Commander is not completely retired, just safety stashed at the moment.
The Commander just did not have the appeal to the masses, though I think Professionals appreciated it greatly.
Jercamp45

[Mossyrock]

I think the Lt. Weight commander was (and is) one of the greatest guns Colt has ever produced. I, for one, would LOVE to have one in .38 Super. 10 shots of Cor-Bon 125 gr .38 Super? Too cool for school!! Of course, this comes from a guy who carries a Colt Lt. Weight Officer's ACP every day. I MIGHT be a bit biased.

[BluesBear]

I have owned several LW Commanders since 1976 and have never been able to wear any of them out and I shoot them a LOT.

My first one was in .38 Super, 4 digit serial number, brown plastic rampant colt grips, BEAUTIFUL blue job. Man, I wish I had kept that one! I didn't know about the headspace on the rim problem with the early ones so accuracy was pretty poor, but talk about penetration. I made some loads using trimmed .223 brass and linotype alloy that would just BARK! :evil:

Since then I have owned 3 more in .45 and simply love them. I currently have an Enhanced Model that is my all time favorite. I just wish Ed Brown would do the Bobail conversion on an alloy frame.


(edited for spelling)

[Dave T]

Back in the 70s and 80s the Commander (it used to be the steel one was referred to as the Combat Commander) was the concealed/off duty weapon of choice for most professionals and those who took this business seriously. I bought my first one in 1977 when I became a detective. I cracked the frames on three of them, shooting mostly handloads that duplicate ball. The first two were before recoil buffers were available. The last one lasted longer because of the buffer (I think).
When Colt discontinued the LW Commander there was an article in American Handgunner lamenting the passing of a classic. Not long after, Kimber introduced their "Pro Carry" model with an alloy frame. I always thought the name was kind of appropriate and it was another case of Kimber kicking Colt after they had volunteered to lay down.
I have a Kimber (first series) Compact Stainless Aluminum, a kind of short butted version of the LW Commander, as a back up carry gun to my Wilson KZ-45 Compact - a kind of hi-tech "LW Commander" inspired 1911.
Oh yea! My 4th Commander, made in the 1950s, is in the safe as a back-up to the back-up.

[Pilot]

The Colt LW XSE Commander may be my next gun. Either that or a NRM Gov't Model. Can't decide, so I'll probably end up with both.

BTW, I shot a friends LW XSE Commander and loved it. Wonderful trigger, the recoil was lighter than I expected and it was very accurate.

[Zak Smith]

The solution to the aluminum cracking problem is Titanium. Talk with Caspian.

I'm having a custom titanium-framed Commander built for CCW. It should be done in Mar/Apr.

-z

[1911Tuner]

Colt did make a limited run of LW Commanders in Super Thutty-Eight,
dubbed the Super Light. Rumor has it that they will reintroduce it
soon. It is to hope. The .38 Super is both underrated and under-loaded,
unless you go with Cor-Bon's fire-breathin' stuff.

The cracking issue with Commanders in .45 seemed to vary from
gun to gun. I've heard of some going as high as 50,000 rounds
without cracking, and some as low as 5,000. Pretty likely that
being diligent about changing recoil springs had an influence
on it, though about half the cracks appeared adjacent to the
slidestop pinhole...The one that cracked on me started there first,
at the bottom...at the 10,000 round mark. I check-drilled the
crack and carried on for another 10,000 before one appeared
at the junction of the rails and the dust cover on the port side.
Check drilling stopped it again. 15,000 rounds later, another one
on the opposite side, and again the little drill bit salvaged the frame.

The little pistol fianlly bit the dust somewhere between 50 and 60
thou..not to cracks, but the frame rails were so worn out that I
could nearly get the slide off by prying up on one side.:D The
slidestop pin hole was egg-shaped and I retired it. I still ahve it.

The slide is still in service, though the barrel wore out. Hammer and sear
were refurbished, and all other small parts are around here somewhere.
I don't know if that was just a good frame, or a fluke. I do know that
a crack can be stopped if caught in time, and doesn't hurt a thing except
the appearance. I've never shot another LW Commander as much as
that one, reserving them to the "Carried a lot and seldom shot" category.
In short, I don't think that there's a better out-of-box carry pistol for
the money than the LW Commander. Love'em!

Tuner

[Dr.Rob]

Haven't cracked my 50's vintage Commander, though the Colt wood grips didn't survive a magazine full of steel cased Korean war vintage ammo.

Looks lime by my understanding that only about 100k Commanders were made between 1949-1978. It's almost always been a 'cop' gun.

Maybe the finest Colt auto ever.

[jercamp45]

Titanium frames are the way to go for a custom piece!
The CCO, Officer's frame in titanium-commander slide(preferably in damascus) sounds like a sweet piece of machinery too me!!
Jercamp45

[Mike Irwin]

I handled one of Colt's limited edition Light Weight Commanders a few years ago and fell in love with it.

I simply couldn't afford the $750 that the gun wanted at the time.

[Drifting Fate]

Honestly, it's for the same reason the Walther PPk/s is more popular than the PPk.

Not nearly as many people carry as claim to. They buy a gun to shoot, and want it to do two things: look cool and be comfortable on the range. Since the Combat Commander and Commander (LW) look the same, it's pretty easy to figure where the sales are going to be.

[Gordon]

Most people are morons- oh that ain't kind Gordon. The frame might crack , but this won't hurt a thing. Lets face it you won't shoot the thing more than 200rnds a week will you? If you shoot 30 times a year thats 6000 rnds, time to change buffers about 4 times and recoil springs at least once. If you do I 'll bet you won't have ANY problems at 5 years of that rate, at which time you'll want a Pro built gun as you should be an E ticket shooter from all that practice! I carried a .45 Commander from 68-88, most days. I did wear out a .38Super one that was set up for Competition shooting by Mister Swenson in late 70'S and some Bastado stole it in 89 or so, it was retired to a desk gun at the time:mad:

[1911Tuner]

LMAO:D

Sorry about that stolen pistole'...I had a
sweet LWC stolen out of my trunk at a
gun show in Greensboro NC...The guy watched
me drop it in, picked the door lock, pulled the
little "hidden" trumk release, and made off
with my pistol in broad daylight.
Lesson Learned: NEVER leave your gun in
a car unnattended. That was in 1986, and
I've abandoned all hope...

Cheers!
Tuner

[Zeke Menuar]

I have been using a LW Commander as my #1 pistol for five years. No frame problems. Installed a Ed Brown wedge mainsping housing to help fit my hand better, add a little weight and take some of the snappiness out of the recoil. Most accurate pistol I ever owned. I use it for concealed carry, pin shooting, IDPA style matches and even IPSC from time to time. Bought it used for $300.

ZM

[HankB]

Over the years, Colt's quality control has been spotty, and some - not all! - LW Commanders bit the dust early . . . this gained them a bad rep. And with Kimber and others doing a generally better job than Colt's, there's not much reason to pay extra for the pony other than nostalgia.

Also, now that hollowpoint ammo is much more common, there are reports that the feed ramp in the frame tends to get chewed up. This has prompted some manuafactureres to go to ramped barrels in their alloy frame guns. (IIRC, Les Baer is one of these . . . but I wouldn't swear to it.)

[tex_n_cal]

This is a 9mm LW Commander I built on a .45 LW frame. It is sweet:D

The LW Commander I think is especially well balanced for the recoil of the 9x19, or the Super.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?s=&postid=157180

[sm]

My first personlly owned centerfire was a Combat Commander, in '73. The "fever hit" had to have LW Commanders...fever became worse, mulitples of each including full size. Darn pony fever...;)

I never had a problem with any of my LW. Inspect, maintain, heck I may have even cleaned them. I believe the "wondernines" coming out, diverted some interest. Newer "modern-wonder designs" , movies, TV, Law enforcement, IIRC was transitioning from revolvers and the capacity slow/fast...blah arguments really heated up. I'm thinking for so many years the Military used the 1911, and most people were familar with 1911 and revos. New generation coming up without a war and the marketing went to new stuff, new shooters. I don't think we that grew up before all this became all caught up , but a new crop of shooters did.

I was frowned upon for shooting 1911 and k frames when the smith 39 came out. I'm still frowned on for shooting 1911 and k frames today.

[Andrew Wyatt]

the only problem with them is i can't get a milspec type one in california, all of the aluminum framed ones cost an arm and a leg and have all the goofy stuff hung off of them.

[1911Tuner]

re1973 said:

I was frowned upon for shooting 1911 and k frames when the smith 39 came out. I'm still frowned on for shooting 1911 and k frames today.

Surely you jest!! Those are two of my all-time favorites. Maybe
the frowners just never got the chance to get to know those
two intimately...:cool:

I've grown rather fond of the L-frames in the last 10 years...

Tuner

[jercamp45]

In 1986, the wondernine's were starting to be all the rage...
I went to a range in Kansas on a once every five year visit to ye ol' homestead.
A young boy went from lane to lane watch people shoot...... magnums and new Beretta's....when he got to me and saw my Commander and Government...he looked confused and said...'what kind of gun is that?. 'They are .45 automatic's' I replied. He said 'My Dad says you can't hit anything with those'.
I pulled the sillouette back from 15 yards and there were some fairly nice groups in the chest and head.....I said...'seems to work for me'.
While I was loading my mags, I accompanied him back to his Father's lane, and saw 'Dad', a rather round fellow, shooting his new nine rapid fire at 7 yards and the bullets were all over the target!
I leaned down to the young lad...and said...'it is the shooter that hits or misses, not the gun'. His eyes grew wide, as if he understood and I went back to my lane....when I finshed I gave him my target...with the above quote written on it and went on my way.
It was funny at the time.
Jercamp45

[BluesBear]

LOL jercamp,

Every young lad should have a role model.
Tis a good thing you were there for him.

[sm]

LOL indeed. Yep eight 45 holes from a LW in a tight group beats spray and pray anyday.

1911 Tuner
Now that I think about it, I seem to gather frowns with or without guns:uhoh:
Oh well, us CWGs just don't care, LWs, 1911 style, K frames...etc. Reliable and tight groups don't make ME frown.;)