Greetings,
I recently received a new .45 ACP Commander and thought I would share. Pics can be seen at http://www.1911forum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=399563#post399563
The pistol's specs are as follows:
1. Built by Cylinder & Slide
2. Stainless steel Caspian cast frame and bar stock slide, fit and lapped
3. Bar-Sto barrel throated and polished for hollowpoints
4. Smith & Alexander magwell
5. Ahrends rosewood grips, pin covered, full checkering, fit to magwell
6. Ed Brown beavertail grip safety with memory bump
7. Novak lo-mount rear sight w/white dots: staked in place
8. C&S dovetailed front sight w/white dot; fully contoured
9. Three-hole custom-milled trigger w/overtravel screw; 4-pound trigger pull;
10. Light carry beveling, which eliminates all sharp edges but keeps classic profile
11. Satin polish (400 grit) entire gun
12. Wolff springs
13. C&S heavy-duty tactical hammer, sear, extractor, firing pin, firing pin stop, pins, disconnector, etc.
14. Slide stop pin shortened and countersunk into frame for no-snag profile
15. Full-length guide rod
16. Ambi tactical safety
The gun was ordered with no checkering or serrations, and it looks great! While the slide to frame fit is tight, I have no difficulty racking the slide without the serrations. The grips also have sufficiently sharp checkering that the lack of fronstrap and mainspring housing checkering does not prevent me from getting a solid grip on the gun.
IWB Holster by Tucker
Here is the promised range report:
Day 1:
This gun SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have tried 5 different brands of magazines, 9 different factory loads, 2 versions of reloads, 4 different shooters and after over 1000 rounds and 3 cleanings it continues to fail to feed, fail to eject, ejects cases back into the shooter's forehead, stovepipes, etc.
I need time to do a further cleaning and think about these problems, but for now I am LESS THAN PLEASED!
Day 2:
Well I have thoroughly cleaned the gun for the 4th time and can find no specifice indications of the reason(s) for these malfunctions. At first I though it was an ammo problem, as I was using my 230 gr hard cast lead reloads. These loads have been shot in many 1911s to the tune of over 100,000 loaded, but, hey, maybe this gun just didn't like them. Switching to other reloads of mine, and several jacketed defense rounds did not relieve the problem. Then I thought maybe the gun is just too dirty to function. But each time I cleaned it, the following function was no better. All the while this is going on I was changing from Wilson to Les Baer to McCormick magazines (7 and 8 rounds) but with no indication that this made matters better or worse. Then I started to ask other experienced shooters to try these various mag/ammo configurations, and they too had the same problems.
As this is a relatively tight fit Stainless Steel gun, though not nearly as tight as any of my Les Baer (which have NEVER malfunctioned), I was very careful to thoroughly lube the gun to prevent any chance of galling. No galling appears to have taken place upon inspection.
I will take the gun back to the range soon to run another 1000 rounds through it, and see if the problem disappears. If not, then it will go back to C&S.
Oh, the reason for the gun being "Bald" was because the gentleman who commissioned the gun from C&S was going to have some engraving done later, after he shot it, but something came up where he needed to sell it before he even had a chance to shoot it.
The bald gun did not slip in my hand at all, even during the many clearance drills I needed to do.
Day 3:
Well another 1000+ rounds later I think I have this pistol figured out.
I started the day with several new Wilson 8 round magazines and a Cartridge Case Gauge to check all my rounds (230 Gr. Hard cast ball). I discarded some reloads in that the outside of the case head had nicks from the extractor from prior firings. The guns seemd to finally come alive and function well. I had almost no malfunctions.
Next I tried loading some factory defense rounds and they functioned fine to, UNTIL the last round in the magazine. Without fail, the last round would either hit the inside roof of the barrel hood and stop, or it would create its own stovepipe. After many rounds of various factory defense ammo, and many different brands of magazines, I could not get this last-round problem to go away.
Finally I picked up an unidentifiable magazine I had lying around and tried it. It functioned perfectly for dozens of firings! Now all I need to do is find out what brand of magazine it is!!!
Please check out the following link http://www.1911forum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47812 for pictures of this magazine and one of the malfunctions I was experiencing.
My confidence in this pistol will be complete as soon as someone identifies this magazine for me.....
PS: It appears that the feed-angle of the round when in the properly functioning magazine is closer to horizontal than all of my other magazines.
I recently received a new .45 ACP Commander and thought I would share. Pics can be seen at http://www.1911forum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=399563#post399563
The pistol's specs are as follows:
1. Built by Cylinder & Slide
2. Stainless steel Caspian cast frame and bar stock slide, fit and lapped
3. Bar-Sto barrel throated and polished for hollowpoints
4. Smith & Alexander magwell
5. Ahrends rosewood grips, pin covered, full checkering, fit to magwell
6. Ed Brown beavertail grip safety with memory bump
7. Novak lo-mount rear sight w/white dots: staked in place
8. C&S dovetailed front sight w/white dot; fully contoured
9. Three-hole custom-milled trigger w/overtravel screw; 4-pound trigger pull;
10. Light carry beveling, which eliminates all sharp edges but keeps classic profile
11. Satin polish (400 grit) entire gun
12. Wolff springs
13. C&S heavy-duty tactical hammer, sear, extractor, firing pin, firing pin stop, pins, disconnector, etc.
14. Slide stop pin shortened and countersunk into frame for no-snag profile
15. Full-length guide rod
16. Ambi tactical safety
The gun was ordered with no checkering or serrations, and it looks great! While the slide to frame fit is tight, I have no difficulty racking the slide without the serrations. The grips also have sufficiently sharp checkering that the lack of fronstrap and mainspring housing checkering does not prevent me from getting a solid grip on the gun.
IWB Holster by Tucker
Here is the promised range report:
Day 1:
This gun SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have tried 5 different brands of magazines, 9 different factory loads, 2 versions of reloads, 4 different shooters and after over 1000 rounds and 3 cleanings it continues to fail to feed, fail to eject, ejects cases back into the shooter's forehead, stovepipes, etc.
I need time to do a further cleaning and think about these problems, but for now I am LESS THAN PLEASED!
Day 2:
Well I have thoroughly cleaned the gun for the 4th time and can find no specifice indications of the reason(s) for these malfunctions. At first I though it was an ammo problem, as I was using my 230 gr hard cast lead reloads. These loads have been shot in many 1911s to the tune of over 100,000 loaded, but, hey, maybe this gun just didn't like them. Switching to other reloads of mine, and several jacketed defense rounds did not relieve the problem. Then I thought maybe the gun is just too dirty to function. But each time I cleaned it, the following function was no better. All the while this is going on I was changing from Wilson to Les Baer to McCormick magazines (7 and 8 rounds) but with no indication that this made matters better or worse. Then I started to ask other experienced shooters to try these various mag/ammo configurations, and they too had the same problems.
As this is a relatively tight fit Stainless Steel gun, though not nearly as tight as any of my Les Baer (which have NEVER malfunctioned), I was very careful to thoroughly lube the gun to prevent any chance of galling. No galling appears to have taken place upon inspection.
I will take the gun back to the range soon to run another 1000 rounds through it, and see if the problem disappears. If not, then it will go back to C&S.
Oh, the reason for the gun being "Bald" was because the gentleman who commissioned the gun from C&S was going to have some engraving done later, after he shot it, but something came up where he needed to sell it before he even had a chance to shoot it.
The bald gun did not slip in my hand at all, even during the many clearance drills I needed to do.
Day 3:
Well another 1000+ rounds later I think I have this pistol figured out.
I started the day with several new Wilson 8 round magazines and a Cartridge Case Gauge to check all my rounds (230 Gr. Hard cast ball). I discarded some reloads in that the outside of the case head had nicks from the extractor from prior firings. The guns seemd to finally come alive and function well. I had almost no malfunctions.
Next I tried loading some factory defense rounds and they functioned fine to, UNTIL the last round in the magazine. Without fail, the last round would either hit the inside roof of the barrel hood and stop, or it would create its own stovepipe. After many rounds of various factory defense ammo, and many different brands of magazines, I could not get this last-round problem to go away.
Finally I picked up an unidentifiable magazine I had lying around and tried it. It functioned perfectly for dozens of firings! Now all I need to do is find out what brand of magazine it is!!!
Please check out the following link http://www.1911forum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=47812 for pictures of this magazine and one of the malfunctions I was experiencing.
My confidence in this pistol will be complete as soon as someone identifies this magazine for me.....
PS: It appears that the feed-angle of the round when in the properly functioning magazine is closer to horizontal than all of my other magazines.
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