The Detonics Combat Master: initial thoughts and observations

A couple of months ago I posted a Miami Vice-themed thread about my new S&W Bodyguard and a poster mentioned that I should pick up a Combat Master to fill out the collection. I was intrigued, posted a WTB ad and picked this one up this week. I do like classic pistols of the 1970s and 1980s and this is a cool little example. I believe mine is a Mark VI model (that’s what it’s registered as) although research I’ve done online suggests that model has polished stainless slide, whereas mine is brushed.

The history of the pistol dates from the early 1970s when a gentleman named Pat Yates was experimenting with 1911s to see if it was possible to build a compact but reliable model that would offer more power than the comparably-sized .380s and .32s that were more common back then. After developing a prototype he sold the rights to Detonics (an originally an explosive company whose name comes from combining the words Detonate+Physics) in the mid-1970s. I believe that the pistols were made from 1975 to 1987, when the original Detonics was sold and became The New Detonics but only lasted until 1992. It was resurrected in the mid-2000s but I believe it is no longer in business.

Now—onto the details.



Mine has Pachmayr grips—quite fitting for the vintage (and I must say I do like the feel). This picture shows the enlarged ejection port, too. It's a chunky little beast weighing in at 34 ounces.



The trigger is narrow and deeply grooved.



The front sight is plain stainless.



While the rear sight is a plain, generously-wide black notch. This picture shows probably the most visually distinctive element of the Combat Master’s design—the placement of the rear sight well-forward of its usual position, with the slide top gradually sloping down to the hammer. This was done to facilitate easy access to the hammer to allow for manual cocking if the pistol was carried hammer down on a live round. In fact, one of the early pre-Detonics prototypes had no manual safety at all. This shortens the sight radius some, but this pistol was not intended as a bullseye match shooter! The hammer spur is also a little more vertical than usual, to help eliminate hammer bite.



And here’s why you can see that hammer bit might be a problem for some—there’s no grip safety or beavertail. The grip safety is fairly small, too.





The pistol has a 3.5” bull barrel, with no barrel bushing. On mine the serial number is electro-penciled on an unusual flat area on the bottom of the barrel



The captive recoil spring assembly is unique to the pistol—this one has three separate springs while some earlier models had two.



The pistol has a unique six-round magazine, although full-size ones can be used in a pinch.



Initial impressions are very favorable—this looks to be a well-made pistol. I'm looking forward to getting it out to the range.

I realized that the pictures of the Combat Master really don't give a good impression of how small it is—here it is next to the diminutive J-Framed Bodyguard. It's certainly a bit chunkier but also packs seven rounds of .45ACP instead of five rounds of .38 Special

I had a chance to take the Combat Master to the range earlier this week and what blast—literally and figuratively! It was great fun to shoot—the recoil is a pleasant sort of punch that let's you know it's a .45 but not the least bit objectionable. I had a few failures to lock back on one of the aftermarket magazines but the factory mags worked 100%. Since the sun was almost directly behind me the a good sight picture was a little tough to get—especially with the stainless front sight—but it was enough to know the pistol shoots pretty good. I'm very pleased with it!

bannockburn said:

I didn't feel that the recoil and muzzle flip were all that bad for such a short barrel and slide. Kind of made me think of it as having more "Bark than Bite”!

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That’s it exactly. Between the weight and the Pachmayr grips it was very manageable. I had my S&W Bodyguard out as well and between its lighter weight and hard VZ boot grips its recoil was more noticeable.