ATI Commander

[private snowball]

I am curious to see if anyone has spent a significant amount of time with an ATI Commander. I am thinking about buying a commander sized 1911 and would like to start on the lower end of the price spectrum.

Thanks guys.

 

[MDI_Weapon]

I had one and sold it after a barrage of issues. Within 50 rounds, the ejector broke - the holes in the frame had been misaligned and they just hammered the ejector into them anyway which greatly weakened the pins on the ejector so that one broke really quickly. Other than than, the sights were not that great and the rear dovetail is not a standard cut so you would have some trouble finding one that would fit without a decent amount of gunsmithing. If you want a lower cost commander, I would look elsewhere.

 

[private snowball]

Thanks MDI. Extremely helpful.

 

[Combat Engineer]

Yes, took a chance and bought one.

Without a doubt the tightest 1911 I've ever experienced, there is no movement (side to side) or extra space visible at all, when looking from behind the hammer where you always see gaps even on the most expensive 1911s.

It is 8+1 and shoots accurately with 100% reliability. Price was $367. Bargoon.

Given what MDI_Weapon said, I must have totally lucked out.

Took a chance and it worked out for me.

 

[Liberty1776]

my experience reflects what Combat Engineer said, and mine has a very good trigger, too.

 

[MDI_Weapon]

Combat Engineer - I am glad to hear you got one of the good ones. There definitely seem to be some of the ATI Commanders that are bargains but others that just start falling apart within a very few rounds down range. Mine was also very tightly fitted and I wondered if that had somehow contributed to the ejector failure until I closely examined the holes for it in the frame which were way out of spec. In fact, the hole drilled horizontally across the frame which is for the pin which is supposed to hold the ejector in place by the notch cut in the leg of the front ejector pin did not even line up with the hole for the front pin in the frame for the ejector -- the front pin hole in the frame was that far off.

I also had problems with the grip bushings and the firing pin stop. The firing pin stop wasn't tight enough and it would allow the extractor to clock one way or the other quite a bit which caused some screwy ejection issues even after replacing the broken ejector.

 

[zdc1775]

My experience is like Combat Engineer's and Liberty1776's. Mine currently has approximately 7500 rounds through it. I had 2 or 3 mag related failure to feeds within the first 100 rounds after that no other issues until around 6500 rounds or so when it started intermittently not fully returning to battery. Replaced the recoil spring and have had no further issues. Mine currently does full time duty as my CCW weapon and shoots at least 125-150 rounds a month.

 

[dusty14u]

I can't say anything bad about mine. My serial number is under 300 and I have a few thousand rounds through it with no issues. I have shot nothing but my reloads through it with hollow points consisting of the last 500 or so.

I did have to replace a grip bushing. Cost me almost $3 to repair it.

 

[mes228]

I have one that had a feeding problem. They sent me a label for return. I expected a ramp polish and maybe a new mag. In 3 weeks I received the pistol back WITH A FEW HUNDRED DOLLARS WORTH OF CUSTOM GUN SMITH WORK. The polished the chamber, polished the feed ramp, throated the barrel, installed and tuned a new ejector. The thing now runs 100% with ball and HP ammo and is about as accurate as my Les Baers and Full Custom 10X. They put as much money into making this inexpensive pistol PERFECT as the pistol cost. I have not a bad word to say about these SAM Philippine pistols. My cost was zero, nada, zip, not one penny.

 

[handloader357]

^^^ This...

I had a very similar experience to mes228 with an ATI Fatboy Lightweight. Bought it because it was relatively cheap and cute, but had a ton of problems. They paid shipping both ways to Rochester NY and tuned the extractor, adjusted the plunger tube, throated the barrel, and polished everything up inside. It was gone from my hands for just under 3 weeks and came back like a champ. It even feeds my cheap LSWC reloads on mixed brass now. I guess the recoil springs/guide on the shorty 1911's are prone to failure with ATI (and it did seem kind of flimsy to me) so I replaced it with a Kimber assembly before it came apart. I'm plenty happy with the work they did and they clearly stand behind their products in my opinion.

 

[private snowball]

Actually sounds like a decent buy. Might have to look into one.

 

[MDI_Weapon]

Glad to hear that some have gotten good ones. Getting the lemon would be my average luck so I may have just gotten a bad one. Still, there is apparently a bit of a risk with them. There are quite a few complaints about them if you dig a little.