Clark Meltdown Commander

One of the curious things I have found on the innertubes is that there is very little mention, and almost no photos of a custom modification done at Clark Custom called the "Meltdown." Heck, even on Clark's own website, the pictures are hard to see and don't show very much.

Recently, I picked up a Colt Commander that I had Jim Clark Jr. work over. In the interest of letting folks know what is available, here are some pics.

Before:



After:





I had mine refinished in hard chrome, afterall, it's a concealed carry piece. Clarks will perform a Meltdown on any number of guns. At present, I am having a S&W 649 melted and bead blasted. It will get a Trijicon shotgun bead dovetailed in as a front sight and have the rear notch opened up to accomodate it.

Karen, the idea behind the Meltdown is to make the pistol more comfortable to carry. that, and it's kind of hard to describe, it just "feels" better.

You know Irish, I own an identical Commander with no melt...... If I can locate an accurate scale, I will weigh them and compare.

The Meltdown was $225. The hard chrome job was another $225. I'm a Clark gun afficianado with enough 1911s to have a variety of choices. I never owned a Clark Meltdown though. I was already carrying the Commander, and hard chrome is the time tested choice in the heat and humidity of Louisiana. By going through Clarks, I could just drive it over, and pick it up when it was ready. No shipping hassle for me. This Commander needed refinishing anyway, so there wasn't much question of what I would have done, just when.

The pistol was already stone reliable, and more accurate than myself, so I did not want the barrel, bushing or anything else concerning thebarrel lock-up messed with. Clark radiused the outer edge of the bushing, hard chromed it and left the rest of the action alone. The trigger job, Nowlin hammer, checkered aluminum mainspring housing and Ed Brown thumb safety were done by myself. I was pleased that Jim thought the job was up to his standards and satisfactory enough to leave alone. The sights came on the gun when I bought it as a used 1911 for $650 at a gun show. It is a Series 70 Commander with the lightened slide. Two Wilson magazines with low profile baseplates were hard chromed to match the gun.

It's not to everyone's taste, I understand that. The 1911 itself is not to everyone's taste. Custom guns are not created to everyone's taste. If they were, they would not be custom. This pistol was already altered when I purchased it, and I own another electroless nickel Colt Commander that is all original. This one is, however, an example of an economical path to a true custom gun.