Colt 1911 XSE Commander- Round Count Updated from Time to Time

This is the story of one newly purchased Colt Commander 1911 XSE in Stainless Steel. 10/14/2011 This pistol will be used often for carry, target use, general fun, and a heck of a lot of handling. I will be updating this thread with round counts, events, and work done... Lets see how she holds up over the long haul

A little back story:

A few months back I decided to hunt down a centennial Colt with the "100 Years of Service" roll-mark- I didnt intend this to be a shooter.. More or less just a safe queen to bring out every now and then to serve as a benchmark against earlier Colts. Since this was for fun I gravitated toward the Rail Gun. Having been unimpressed by some earlier 80 Series products, I was a little worried about ordering in a new Colt. However, those worries were unfounded. It turned out to be a top quality product (despite a buffing blemish aft of the ejection port, and a need for deburring...) I have no plans to deburr the Rail Gun or to mess with the blemish, I'd like to keep it just as it came from the factory.



It really sucked not shooting it at first but as fortune had it, a customer who also fell in love with the pistol upon handling it, immediately ordered one for himself. A few weeks later my distributor finally allocated me three of the two-tone Rail Guns, as soon as they arrived my customer hit a straight line back into the range and invited me to shoot it too Score! The Trigger was a little stiff to break at first but got MUCH better once through a box of ammo... It grouped nicely and worked flawlessly, a very sweet shooter.

Having only owned 5" models I was pleasantly surprised a while back when another customer let me handle a few of his Commander models. (Used Commander models just don't circulate in these parts) The balance was quite nice and I didn't have to worry about that damn last 3/4" sticking out below my over shirt! Also, when shooting the Commanders, they didn't seem to kick as much to the left as the Government Models... a bit easier to bring back on target.

So, last week my Davidsons sales rep called outa the blue and said he had a couple of Colts allocated- I perked right up having sold out of the two-tone Rail Guns months ago. He had a Wiley Clap Commander and a stainless XSE Commander. The WC's price gave me pause but I figured what the hell I didnt give the XSE much thought beyond thinking that it would be an easy sell.. turned out it was RREEAALLYY easy to sell as I fell in love at first sight

I have already added Pearce finger grips and swapped out the ambi-safety for a 70 Series style.. also added an inside the pants belt clip- Nice grab and go setup.



I'm a little bummed at the safety scratches.. might try to buff those down a little at some point... gonna replace the hammer and sear pins too, those flat ones just don't look right-

This is a living record (like I attempted with a Taurus 1911 and failed- http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=588451 ) However, I expect good things from this Colt

Now, we begin- Lets shoot!

Finally had a chance to run the first two mags today (same mag for both sets) 16 rounds, one failure to feed. The failure was the last round of the first set. Not yet sure as to why... I have never seen a miss-feed where the round was nearly vertical with the case rim still in the magazine. Possible limp wrist..

The pistol shoots well, ragged 1-2"ish hole at 8 yards- I will bench rest it soon and find out for sure what it can do.

cant wait to run a few hundred rounds

Thanks SSN Vet, that's good to hear! I have had no experience with these new Colt 8 rnd mags until now..

I just snuck back into the range and ran a 50rnd box of Magtec ball (using the one, same mag from yesterday. It ran flawlessly until the "last round" of the second to last mag fill. Exact same malfunction as yesterday- the case rim never never made it up to the slide breech face's (pushing lug I guess you could call it)..

Overall I'm quite happy at the moment.. gonna order a spring and see if it helps.. who needs an 8th round that doesn't always feed

round count: 66

Note: If you want to use a belt clip attachment like I have on the commander, get a pistol WITHOUT front serrations! Its not a problem coming out but going in the waistband is rather tricky.

HAHA- I like the roll-mark. To each his own

no quarter, nice touch with the silver eagle- i'm an aesthetic fan of heraldic eagles and the one on the back of that coin has long been a favorite- right behind the kennedy half

this pistol will be matte like yours in good time... after enough scrapes and scratches it'll be on a visit to the bead blaster- a quick cheap refinish like that makes a good case for stainless steel (no slam on deep blue 'n nice wood)

Shot a little more today using an old Colt 7 round mag.
A customer wanted to try a 1911 so I let him run 6 rounds of ball ammo
I ran 7 rounds of Gold Dots and 6 rounds of Winchester HPs.
No malfunctions.

Round count: 85

Just ran 50 rounds of ball in two new Wilson mags, four old Colt mags, and one old military 1M291 mag. No Malfunctions. No maintenance or cleaning yet.

Round count: 135

14more rounds, 7 ball, 7 win HP No problems

Round count: 149

Local LEO chief was in and wanted to try it. 6 rounds of ball

another customer wanted to run a mag 7 rounds of ball

no malfunctions

Round Count: 162

Nice pistol Rock! I do like the look and feel of beavertails like yours but I gotta give the duckbill credit for allowing a quick easy single handed hammer cock- Feels a little more difficult on my Rail Gun grip safety.

50 more rounds today- Shot from the tailgate of a slow moving truck- mushrooms, mole hills, and damaged apples left on the ground... no malfunctions. Whipping the pistol around at moving targets while bouncing around was an absolute hoot

I'm about ready to deem this pistol "out of the box reliable" if you subtract the mag spring issue. The pistol has been incredible and very fun to shoot! I'm liking Commanders-

Round count: 212

Here she is as of tonight and uncleaned- Earlier this week I replaced the original wood with some expendable aftermarket grips (I had these grips on the Taurus PT1911 that I did a thread on) I also threw on a Springfield arched ILS mainspring housing.. Thats right, I added a lock! GASP*

youre right, its absolutely a mag issue- the pistol has been perfect using a host of mags proven in my other colts. the factory mags that came with the piece have very smooth bodies, im inclined to think its the springs. hopefully someday soon ill quit being lazy and order those wolf +5% springs.

Project Part 1-

I have been playing with 1911s for years- even built a number of them from the ground up- however, I have never built a high end match pistol- mostly just GI guns- I would say that I have pretty good knowledge of how they work and know what not to do and the areas to be careful of... ie. thumb safety fit and and sear issues.
A few years ago I found a pretty good deal on an older Combat Elite that had had a professional makeover- It was quality work ans I seek to reproduce some of the features on my Commander. I still have it and would like to use it as a base of study.
Before I start though, Id like to have some discussion with the experts here- I'm not in a rush, the pistol is working perfectly and I'm not too keen on fixing something that aint broke
However, the Combat Elite has the slickest slide I have ever racked- I'm pretty sure it is because the frame and slide rails were polished- It also looks like the guide rod was polished too- Id like to reproduce this but I'd like to hear some pros and cons before proceeding... Also, what is the best way to polish the inside rail grooves?

I do some work in my shop on 1911s.. mostly safety swaps and ramp polishing but Id like to offer some new services (But I DONT want to cut my teeth on a customer gun)

Anyway, this is the start- What say you 1911 experts?