1911 Commander Pistols

[Amin Parker]

Hi all.

Commander sized pistols are very rare in my part of the world. You can find full sized 1911 pistols everywhere but Commanders are scarce. This is the reason for my lack of knowledge.

I have found one and would like to know the following.

1) will the full sized 1911 barrel fit in the slide and frame? ( i know it is longer and will protrude if it does fit )

2) will full sized 7 round 1911 magazines fit and function.

3) are mainspring housings, sear, disconnector, triggers, firing pins, ejectors, extractors etc interchangeable with full sized parts?

4) i am a 1911 tinkerer. If i order a standard full sized 1911 pin set, will it fit or are there different pins?

5) how about grips?

I thank everyone for taking the time and effort in reading and replying to my posts. All help is appreciated.

Kind Regards

 

[Sarge]

Commander sized pistols are very rare in my part of the world. You can find full sized 1911 pistols everywhere but Commanders are scarce. This is the reason for my lack of knowledge.

I have found one and would like to know the following.

1) will the full sized 1911 barrel fit in the slide and frame? ( i know it is longer and will protrude if it does fit )

2) will full sized 7 round 1911 magazines fit and function.

3) are mainspring housings, sear, disconnector, triggers, firing pins, ejectors, extractors etc interchangeable with full sized parts?

4) i am a 1911 tinkerer. If i order a standard full sized 1911 pin set, will it fit or are there different pins?

5) how about grips?

I thank everyone for taking the time and effort in reading and replying to my posts. All help is appreciated.

Kind Regards

Hi Amin,

Please keep in mind that there are Commanders and then there are Commander knock-offs.

A Commander or close copy will have a 4 1/4 inch barrel and conventional bushing. This is what I am basing my answer upon.

The Commander also has a shorter dust-cover and the recoil abuttment in the frame is located slightly further back. Full-size barrels will fit, but protrude as you noted. All other frame components, excluding the ejector, should interchange.

 

[Jim Watson]

As said, there are real Colt Commanders and some guns that just look somewhat like a Commander. I am familiar with the real Colt product.

1) will the full sized 1911 barrel fit in the slide and frame? ( i know it is longer and will protrude if it does fit )

I knew a guy who said it would and he did. But I have checked the layout and there is some risk of interference between the barrel contour ahead of the front locking lug and the bushing and the link lug with the recoil spring guide. That can be fixed if a 1911 barrel is all you can get.

2) will full sized 7 round 1911 magazines fit and function.

Yes, the butt length of a Commander is the same as a Gov't Model.

3) are mainspring housings, sear, disconnector, triggers, firing pins, ejectors, extractors etc interchangeable with full sized parts?

The Commander has its own ejector, other action parts are standard.

4) i am a 1911 tinkerer. If i order a standard full sized 1911 pin set, will it fit or are there different pins?

Standard.

5) how about grips?

Standard.

 

[RickB]

1) will the full sized 1911 barrel fit in the slide and frame? ( i know it is longer and will protrude if it does fit )

I knew a guy who said it would and he did. But I have checked the layout and there is some risk of interference between the barrel contour ahead of the front locking lug and the bushing and the link lug with the recoil spring guide. That can be fixed if a 1911 barrel is all you can get.

This is the most important part. The recoil spring guide rod is seated approximately .10" closer to the barrel in a true Commander than in a Government Model, but not all compact "1911s" have the Commander configuration. The skirt of the Commander barrel bushing is shortened so that it doesn't clash with the barrel when the slide is fully rearward.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

1) will the full sized 1911 barrel fit in the slide and frame? ( i know it is longer and will protrude if it does fit )

Already covered, but if the pistol you are looking at is a true Commander frame, with the frame abutment surface set back 1/10-inch compared to a Government model, there WILL (not "may") be an interference problem. The flange of the recoil spring guide will be impacting the barrel feet.

If you look at the underlugs of a Government barrel, the feet/legs/lugs slope up toward the front of the barrel on an angle. Look at a Commander barrel, and the forward faces of the lugs are vertical. SIG ignored this when they first introduced a Commander-size pistol, and they were busting barrel bushings on a daily basis until someone clued them in.

2) will full sized 7 round 1911 magazines fit and function.

Yes.

3) are mainspring housings, sear, disconnector, triggers, firing pins, ejectors, extractors etc interchangeable with full sized parts?

As already noted, Commanders use an ejector with an extended nose.

4) i am a 1911 tinkerer. If i order a standard full sized 1911 pin set, will it fit or are there different pins?

All standard

5) how about grips?

Standard

 

[1911Tuner]

Commander

A point on the barrel that hasn't been addressed...

Due to the last 3/8ths inch or so being larger in diameter...a spinoff from the Series 70 "Accurizer" barrel design...installing a 5-inch barrel in a Commander will result in a very sloppy barrel to bushing fit. Accuracy will suffer as a result.
Much of that can be corrected by installing a bushing with an undersized bore, but it still won't be as close as it should be. The answer is to contact George Smith at EGW and give him your minor barrel diameter so he can make one to fit.

Wait! You're not finished yet.

With a close-fitting bushing, you'll also need to turn the barrel down about .006 inch, starting behind the point of bushing fit in order to provide drop clearance for the barrel, or risk crashing the upper lugs when they don't disengage from those in the slide.

As noted, there's a guarantee of a bushing to barrel lug extension crash unless the extension forward of the third lug is removed. The forward contour of the lower lug must be made vertical also.

Sig isn't the only clone maker who learned about these Commander nuances the hard way. Dan Wesson was another one that didn't take the time to look at a Colt Commander and do a little reverse engineering. These manufacturers never considered the sage old advice:

"If you want to make life simpler...listen to those who know."

It seems that it would have occurred to them that since Colt not only pioneered the Commander, they've been building them successfully...non-stop...since 1949. It only follows logic that they've got a handle on it...but I guess that would be too simple.

So...Armed with information...proceed, suh!