Durability and Shootability of Colt Commanders?

What’s the year of production?

I have 15k on an aluminum framed Kimber Commander.

I traded for a Colt LW commander once. When I got home, I noticed the slide stop pin hole on the right side was way loose! The guy traded me back thankfully, and think he had a bushing installed later to fix it. I’ll stick with steel frames from now on with 1911s! Lol

Skeeter Skelton cracked a Commander frame 4500 rounds or so.

Chuck Taylor said his was still sound at 30,000.

Mine is not a high volume shooter, but my Springfield Mixmaster is lasting.

Not much help, I'm afraid.

Geez, I've fired thousands of rounds through at least four (pre Series 70 and current model) lightweight Commanders with no issues. As well as a couple Springfield Armory LW Loaded Champions and a Kimber CDP Pro.

The XSE LW is one of my favorites.

Jim Watson said:

Skeeter Skelton cracked a Commander frame 4500 rounds or so.

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I'm surprised it lasted that long given Skelton's passion for pushing limits.

I don't recall Skeeter pushing the limits anywhere near what Elmer Keith did.
As I recollect, the article not on the www that I can find:
In this case he set out to shoot a Commander and a Gold Cup 5000 rounds each of hardball to confirm or deny the Conventional Wisdom that the Commander was light duty and the Gold Cup suitable only for light target loads.
The Gold Cup did fine, with only the not-unusual broken rear sight roll pin, no degradation in accuracy.
The GC got commercial ball, factory match for an accuracy check every thousand.
The Commander got mostly grubby surplus, but still just hardball.
At 4500, its frame showed a crack in the dust cover at the recoil spring abutment, the which I have seen in a steel framed gun, too.

It might be a straight forward question but it's not really a simple question to answer. Based upon the 10 response so far you are looking at a round count somewhere between 4,500 and 30,000+.

If your looking for a gun you can shoot 100's of rounds through on a weekly basis I'd choose something else. If you're looking for something to shoot 100's of rounds on an annual basis you should be fine.

Question on the earlier Lightweight Commanders; picked one up at a show, some years ago, simply because it was a really handsome, minty gun. I've other, steel, 1911s and Commanders, to shoot, so this one has been a safe queen.
Aside from the alloy frame, this pistol also has a slide that is noticeably lighter than the one on a Combat Commander.
It was news to me; any thots?
Moon

The Commander was originally designed as a 9mm for the Army; the slide was lightened for the smaller caliber. But a lot of the .45s are, too(?). They later quit bothering.

Hmm, Jim, that is an interesting connection.
Thnx

Jim Watson said:

The Commander was originally designed as a 9mm for the Army; the slide was lightened for the smaller caliber. But a lot of the .45s are, too(?). They later quit bothering.

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Round nose ammo slldes right up the feed ramps. Some hollow points are pretty hard on the aluminum as I found in 5000 rounds about half of whisch were various hollow points in the 80s. I had a steel feed ramp insert installed in the early 90s and it shot well. I traded it away in the 90s .

Another thing you may need to watch with the aluminum framed guns is the followers on your mags. I had an early Kimber Ultra Carry that the steel followers in the factory mags were tearing the ramp up on the frame and wearing a pretty good groove in it.

Solved that problem by putting Wilson's plastic followers in the mags.

Palladan44 said:

This is exactly what I thought.
It's well used, been fired a lot. The bluing and finish is in very good shape, though. No telling how many rounds it's seen in her nearly 50 years of life. I just don't want to get into only a couple hundred rounds or less and have a cracked frame, or expensive (or impossible) to fix problem. I'm likely going to pass on this deal, because I don't seem to have good luck with unknown variables, hoping they will be ok and then.....bam....a problem that well off-sets the cost of the "good deal" in the first place.

What comes to mind the most are shooter grade Revolvers that lock up and timing is great when I look at them, then go out of time after a few hundred rounds.

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When in doubt, don't buy it. True for any used gun

trackskippy said:

Another thing you may need to watch with the aluminum framed guns is the followers on your mags. I had an early Kimber Ultra Carry that the steel followers in the factory mags were tearing the ramp up on the frame and wearing a pretty good groove in it.

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This is a common complaint typically limited to the use of mags with the Devel/Shooting Star follower most often used in the Chip McCormick (CMC) line-up of mags. It is unlikely other followers, whether steel or polymer, would cause this problem.

For the OP, a reflection or two. Had a stainless/alloy Commander, and it was tiresome to shoot. Had a .45 Defender that was really tiresome to shoot. Both were great to carry; how much shooting do you want to do?
The steel iterations of both guns are a whole different animal for actual shooting.
Moon

Palladan, I think passing on a well used alloy frame Commander is prudent. My new alloy .45 Commander, purchased new around '81 IIRC, cracked the frame at way less than Skeeter's 4500 rounds or so. But in fairness, I have seen more than one steel-framed Government model that suffered a cracked frame. In one case, a cracked frame and a cracked slide on a high mileage Government model. I prefer the steel-framed 1911 type pistols..

A late buddy, who had forgotten more about guns than I'll ever know, vastly preferred the steel Govt for shooting the .45 ACP.
For those experiencing frame cracks, in either model, what form did it take? The crack above the slide stop notch is common on older 1911s, and it has simply turned into an open notch on newer models.
Moon

Over the years have had both lightweight and "combat" Commanders. I don't see much difference in their longevity. Currently have a Wiley Clapp Commander and I don't see much wear or looseness. I think it will outlast me!

The ones I have seen, both alloy and steel frames, were cracked vertically near where the slide impacts with every shot fired. Saw one Government model that cracked from the disconnector tunnel/hole rearward. Only visible when the slide was removed. A Colt Government Model slide cracked in the ejection port area.

I stop-drilled the crack in my alloy Commander, but it eventually cracked vertically on the other side too. Attached a photo of my old Commander, and the hole where I stop-drilled the crack is visible just forward of the slide stop.