Okay – first note that I have not fired in almost a year due to medical problems and resulting blue funk. Also, that while I shot my way into “B” class in the old Kentuckiana Practical Defense League back in ’80-81 with a plain out-of-the-box nickel-plated Series 70 Government Model I’m now older and wear bifocals (the fancy kind where you can’t tell ).
I’m also digital-camera challenged, so perhaps I’ll take some “real” film photos to replace the horrid digital ones embedded herein in a week or so.
Onwards. Having been disappointed in the proclivity of a newly acquired used Kimber Gold Combat Stainless to rust while riding in a Galco Royal Guard IWB while going home from a match and picking up some groceries (about a two-hour delay) that I quickly responded to the Gunsite Gunsmithy’s email regarding the availability of the Colt Gunsite Pistols.
Gunsite sells them for $1395 – which is fair considering dealer cost (or so I hear). $1200 would be a good lower limit. Gunsite and Colt worked out the specs and Gunsite now offers the “real” Gunsite Service Pistol as a custom job built on a Caspian parts although they have been built on Colt and Springfield guns in the past. Gunsite will still, I believe, bring your gun up to GSP spec but the Colt Gunsite Pistol is what they now offer in the class package. You’d have to email the gunsmithy and ask about pricing on builds or upgrades.
This version, the Colt Gunsite Pistol (CGP vs GSP) is designed to offer some basic guns that will work out-of-the-box for those taking the full “package deal” and save the smithy time to devote to custom guns and troubleshooting student problems rather than spending all their time building guns.
It is quite nice – dehorned (well, the sights could have some edges broken), trigger is satisfactory for a carry piece, thin grips are great especially with the short trigger (you guys with big hands can adapt, us with smaller hands have to cant the weapon to the side slightly or have less-than-optimal trigger control), and the sights are basic but usable.
I think I prefer the frontstrap serrations to the checkering of the Kimbers, the checkering may help when firing one-handed but so far the difference is negligible. I’ll follow up on this after a couple of months. Maybe an addenda after taking Tom Given’s Combatives class.
Took it to Knob Creek Saturday morning and fed it a couple hundred 230gr Blazers with a few 230gr Golden Sabre and 230gr Hydra-Shok thrown in for testing (Kieslers has a nice deal on Hydra-Shok in 50-round boxes for about the 1.5 times the cost of a 25-round box [August 2004]). No problems, nada, zip.
Didn’t really have a testing schedule, put some EZ-See targets about (guestimate) 20-25 yards out and shot from seated two-handed rest and one-handed rest, standing strong-hand and standing Weaver. When I did my part the rounds went center “A” zone. Going out to the four “side” bulls and doing slow-fire on two of them I could have covered up the groups (3-4 shots) with a standard business card. The others I did some “reset” firing where I pulled the trigger as soon as I felt the disconnector reset – okay, we’ll use 2 business cards for these; and then some hammers – where, as expected, things opened up to take up the full “chest” area. Actually, at that range I’d be using Nike rather than a 1911, most likely,
I’ll be using it for this month’s match [August 2004] and will try to acquire some opinions from others. Then if I can still get into that Combatives class for August 28…..
It disassembled normally for cleaning, after another 800 rounds or so I’ll do a full detail-strip and inspection. Did not see anything abnormal other than the dad-gum full-length guide rod it somehow snuck out of the factory with – but Gunsite is making that good since Colt isn’t.
Price-wise: I’d say it’s a better deal than a Kimber Gold Combat if you want thin grips and a short trigger. If you want those and night sights it might become a toss-up…or not, since conventional wisdom suggests that one not carry a street piece with less than a 4# trigger. Considering that I was going to spend over $300 more on the Kimber to bring it up to CGP/GSP standards (i.e. Kimber’s “small-hands” package and replace the ambi safety with a standard one) and then throw away that useless magazine chute they tacked on (concealed-carry rather than open-carry)…and it would still have that problematic 3.5# trigger for the legal beagles to bay over if something happened…..
If you want a minimalist production fighting gun, this is it.
If you want to spend more, a Baer Thunder Ranch Special would be good. (Personally, I prefer stainless, so….)
If you want a GSP, send Gunsite your existing 1911 and about $400-600 to bring it up to spec or give them upwards of $2000 (depending on what you want) to build you one on Caspian parts.
Features
Series 70 firing system
Smith & Alexander metal grip safety with palm swell
Serrated flat mainspring housing
Dehorned all around
Thin rosewood grips
Gold Cup serrations on front strap
Heinie front and Novak rear sights
Short aluminum trigger with 4 – 4½ lb pull
Wilson extended safety lock
$100 coupon towards training at Gunsite
Two 8-round Wilson magazines w/metal base plate
McCormick hammer and sear
Available Models:
– O1070CGP
– O1980CGP
My first experience with a 1911 was back when I was a young kid, and my grandpa told me stories of his days in WWII with a trusty 1911 .45 ACP on his side–how he felt safe with such a sturdy, dependable piece of machinery. I remember him saying, “You could drop that gun in a mud puddle, kick it around, and still shoot a gnat’s ass at 20 ft with it.” Well, his words stuck with me, and I’ve dreamed about the day that I would own my own Colt 1911 .45 ACP style pistol. Two years ago, I went and applied for my Concealed Carry Deadly Weapons license, and I needed a good gun, light-weight, accurate, and with enough “knock-down” power, should I ever have to use it.
My first thought was towards one of those pocket rockets, like a derringer or small auto, .380, .32, .25, .38 Special, 9mm or even a .22 mag. But none of those performed by the numbers like what I was looking for. I looked in all the latest gun magazines searching for “my” perfect gun, within “my” price range of course. At least one that wouldn’t get me kicked out of the house, and into the dog house.
I was looking through a magazine called Shooting Times, and right there, on the inside back cover, was an advertisement for Colt’s new 90 Series Colt Defender. The Defender has a 3″ barrel, aluminum and stainless construction, Commander-style hammer, Combat Hogue Grips, competition snag-free sights, weighs 23 ounces, and holds 7 rounds–almost everything I was looking for in a CC gun. I knew as soon as I saw that beauty, I was going to do everything in my power to acquire one of them. I saved up a little, all the while, still looking for “my” perfect gun. I looked at Kimber, S&W, Wilson Combat, Para-Ordnance–all of them–but my thoughts kept going back to that Colt Defender.
I purchased that Defender 3 months later, and the first thing I noticed was the plastic trigger (arg!). I can only assume it was used to help lower the weight of the gun. Well, I know that these new polycarbonate guns are dependable, and hold up to some of the most toughest tests. I still didn’t like it, not on a 1911.
So I set my sights on looking around for anything that I could add-on or customize on the 1911. I found one website, http://www.colt380.com/defender.htm, that would anodize the aluminum frame, gnomekote the stainless steel, de-horn the gun better than it already was, add tritium night sights, bevel the magazine well, knurl the front grip strap, and put a high-grip beavertail on it. So I knew that what I was looking for could be done.
I ended up getting a skeletonized aluminum Wilson Combat, Competition Match grade trigger. I installed it myself, adjusted the pull to a VERY crisp action, which was very simple, and, with basic mechanical knowledge, anyone could do it.
I carry this Colt Defender every day. I have a Dillon Precision black leather “Master” series, high-ride holster with matching solo mag. pouch, which fits very comfortably on my belt, and hugs the gun closely to my lower back or side. The holster is “formed” to match the contours of the gun, and allows for a very fast draw. I have two other Master holsters by Dillon, 1 for a Beretta 9mm, and one for a Glock 21 .45 ACP. They are “the” best holsters I’ve ever owned.
I also purchased a belly-band specifically for the summer months, where I can put it under a t-shirt, or under the waist band in a pair of shorts. I don’t need a belt with this. This combination is surprisingly comfortable, even for a gun as large as the Defender. It’s a small gun for a .45 ACP, but it’s still large compared to some of the titanium revolvers and smaller caliber semi-autos out there.
The accuracy out of the box on my Defender is amazing for such a short barrel. I can’t wait till I save up enough for a full-size 1911. I’m never letting go of my Defender, though. It’s a keeper. My next adventure will be to put tritium night sights on it…then it will be “my” perfect gun.
My Colt Defender was one of the first to come into my favorite gun store. From the moment I first saw it I was taken with it. I knew I should not pick the thing up and play with it because I knew that if I did I would want to own it. But I did play with it, and I bought it on the sport even though I could not afford it. The result, other then my being broke for the next two months, was a really great carry gun in my safe.
The Defender is an officer-sized aluminum framed gun with a 3 inch bull barrel. With the bull barrel there is no bushing used in the slide so the problem of bushing breakup that some Colt officer-sized guns have experienced is now a thing of the past. This style of barrel also puts a bit more weight forward in the gun. The trigger pull was fairly clean for a stock gun with a little take up and a weight of around 5 pounds and almost no grit to it. The trigger reach is about the same as most “long” triggers such as those from Videki or Kimber. The front sight is dovetailed into the slide which is a big step in making for long term reliability and is the only way to make sure that the sight will stay where it should. The rear sight is a copy of the famous Novak Low-Mount. Both sights have white dots in them and they were well adjusted and the sight picture is very good even for my poor eyes. The over all fit and finish on my gun was one of the best I have ever seen from Colt and is a marked improvement over what they were putting out just four or five years ago. One thing on the gun really impressed me, the grip safety. My hand is not all that large so with most grip safeties, I sometimes don’t get full activation when getting my firing grip. I’ve tried a bunch of different grip safeties over the years and this is the first one that has worked every time. I liked this safety so much that I am converting all my 1911s it. By the way, this “speed bump safety” is available from Caspian for a lot less the Colt wants for it.
Right from the box the Defender ran great with only two failures to feed in the first box of ammo. After that, it ran 100% of the time with any and all ammo I tried in it. 165, 185, 200, and 230 grain hollow points, ball, 200 SWC, it just did not matter. It ran it all, and it did it flawlessly. For the 3500 rounds that I owned this gun, it never failed to feed or failed to extract after the first 50 rounds. There was only one real problem with the gun, it would not run at all with one of the two supplied magazines. It worked great with every other magazine I tried in it, just not that one. Speaking of magazines, my normal backup mags when carrying this gun were the eight round Shooting Star. To use them with the shorter officers sized frame I would slip a Round Edge officers adapter over any full sized mag. These little plastic spacers are needed to keep the longer full sized mag from going to deep into the gun when reloading from slide stop. I already had a large stock of full sized mags and with these adapters I did not have to buy a bunch of extra mags just for this gun.
In the year and a half that I owned this gun, I only made two changes to it. The first was to replace the stock main spring housing with a curved one. I shoot much better with a curved housing, and all my full sized guns use the curved housing, so this was a no-brainier for me, if for no other reason than the fact that the basic feel of the Defender would be the same as what I am used to. The second change was to replace the wrap-around grips with smooth wood panels from Hogue. The stock grips made the gun feel too fat in my hand to shoot well with, and besides, the Hogue grips just looked so much better.
At this point the reader must be asking why I sold the gun. It worked as it should, has the best grip safety I have ever tried and the trigger and sights were good, so why sell the gun? That is a good question, and not an easy one to answer, but there were several points that came to light for me that put sold on that gun. Simply put, it all boiled down to a question of weight balance. I like a gun with a lot of weight towards the front. A gun with a good bit of weight forward helps me point it better and also brings it back to point of aim faster from recoil, and this gun is any thing but muzzle heavy. A gun that is about an inch longer and also has a bull barrel is a better choice for me in a compact 1911. Weight balance was also a problem for me when carrying the Defender. With every holster I tried the gun felt like it was trying to flop out at the top, even with a good inside the pants holster. I have found that muzzle heavy guns are better in this respect and longer barrels are also better, to the point that I found little improvement in over all carry when compared to a full sized 1911 with a good holster. Where the Defender shined was when carried in a fanny pack or shoulder holster, but I don’t use these forms of carry very often, and a Smith & Wesson J-frame Airweight is even better for these carry modes. So, I sold the Defender to a friend who is madly in love with it and who carries it in a shoulder rig.
I wasn’t really looking for it. I guess you could say that it found me. I was looking for a project gun, like a Sistema or a beater M1911A1 for a project gun. I stopped into Oakwood Guns in Louisville and scanned the display case. It just jumped out at me – a blued Colt Commander. I asked the man behind the counter to show me the gun. He said, “I’ll tell you something neat about the gun. It has a Series 80 serial number but it’s one of the early ones that didn’t have the damned firing pin block, like a Series 70 for a Series 80 price. And, it’s not a Commander; it’s a Combat Commander – all steel frame.” I have since been told that these guns are actually Series 70 guns which got the “80BS…” serial numbers because of record-keeping issues at Colt, and not because they are actually Series 80 guns. It has no Series 80 parts or characteristics. The price tag on the gun was $549. He handed it to me. It had the bottomless bluing of Colt’s golden age. No scratches, no holster wear, and the only flaw I could find with it was that someone had removed the original walnut grips and replaced them with a set of Pachmayr wrap-arounds. Well, it was love. A swipe of the credit card and the infernal NICs check, and it was mine.
1950 Colt Commander
There is something a bit magical about the guns built by Colt before they had their troubles in the mid-80’s and early 90’s. There’s a certain solidness and fineness of fit and finish, the legendary mystique of the rampant colt, and other intangibles that most of the newer guns just don’t have, be they Colt, Kimber or whatever. In my sojourn with the 1911, I have come to the conclusion that the Commander format is the ideal setup for me. The 5″ guns are a little slow to get on target for me. The Kimber Compact is a great CCW gun (if a bit heavy) because of the short Officers’ size grip, but at matches, I have had times that I missed the extra round and have suffered lousy times because of a reload that others didn’t have to make. The full-length grip of the Commander is also a bit steadier and more comfortable in the hand. I had decided that my next “nice” gun would be a Kimber Pro-Carry HD, their all steel Commander-format gun, but they have added the bloody firing pin block and I’m not at all taken with their design. (You have to remove the rear sight to get the plunger out. I don’t like it. It is essentially a resurrection of the Swartz safety developed for Colt before the Second World War.) With the big name manufactures going to lawyer-friendly firing pin blocks and integral safety locks, I’m seeing the 20-year old pure 1911 in a new light.
Wilson Drop On Beavertail
Brief History of the Commander
Shortly after the Second World War, the United States Government began sponsoring a series of tests to find a new pistol to replace the Colt M1911A1. One of the key requirements dictated at the time was that the pistol was not to exceed 7.0 inches in length or 25 ounces in weight. These tests were conducted at Aberdeen Proving Grounds as well as at Fort Benning, Georgia. The pistols submitted at this time were the S&W M39, the Colt Commander, a modified Inglis Hi Power, a FN Hi Power and the T3 trial pistol, all chambered in 9mm Parabellum. Proposed at the end of 1949, the Commander was intended to fill a military need for a lighter handgun intended for officers. None of these pistols were selected for the Armed Forces during this round of tests, but Colt wisely decided to go forward with commercial production of the Commander and it proved itself to be a popular and successful design. It was available in several chamberings including the 9mm Parabellum, .45 ACP and the .38 Super. Prior to 1970, Commander frames were made in a light aluminum alloy, called “Coltalloy®”. It was the first time that any name-brand auto pistol manufacturer had used an aluminum frame in a regular-production big-bore gun. Another first for the Commander was that it was the first Colt 1911 designed specifically with the 9mm Parabellum cartridge in mind. In 1970, an all-steel version was introduced under the name of “Combat Commander”. From 1970 on, the Commander was referred to as the “Lightweight Commander.” Colt has continued to build Commander-style pistols through its successive design permutations. The Gold Cup, MKIV Series 80, M1991A1, and XSE series have all included Commander and Lightweight Commander models.
Wilson V-Grip
Modifications
Box stock, the gun seemed pretty much perfect except for one glaring problem: after a hundred and fifty rounds of quick draw and speed shooting exercises, I had a bloody hole in the web of my hand. The original Combat Commander has the stubby grip safety of the old M1911. It wasn’t hammer bite that was causing the injury but rather the left bottom edge of the grip safety tang was digging into my hand during the recoil cycle.
I was told that Wilson Combat made a “drop-in” beavertail for the Commander that fit pretty well, and not really wanting to cut the frame of the pistol, I ordered the Wilson drop-in and flat mainspring housing. When the order arrived, I found that I had been sent not a flat mainspring housing, but the Wilson V-grip mainspring housing. The V-grip is interesting. It’s flat but it flares at about a 5-degree angle from the grip. The theory behind this geometry is that it tends to force your hand to a higher grip. This does seem to be the case. It also seems to counteract my tendency to let the front sight drop. Although I hadn’t ordered the V-grip, I figured it was probably kismet that I received it and the concept was interesting. Consequently, I installed the drop-in beavertail and the V-grip.
The “drop-in” beavertail was pretty much “drop-in” insofar as it fits into the gun without cutting the frame. There is a very small gap between the beavertail and frame but it’s not large enough to call attention to itself and it looks nice. It was not “drop-in” to the extent that we had to trim the trigger stop to get the trigger to work. You would think that a “drop-in” beavertail for a Colt Commander would fit in a genuine Colt Commander without a lot of trimming, but I guess not.
With the V-grip and the beavertail installed, I was definitely beginning to like the way the gun was looking. However, with the new parts installed, a new problem emerged. The trigger was gritty and noticeably heavier than it had been with the stock mainspring housing. At first, I thought there might be a difference in the well in the V-grip housing causing greater mainspring tension, but a friend on the 1911 Tech Talk list suggested that it was not a mainspring but a sear spring issue. He suggested that the V-grip was slightly deeper inside the grip and therefore causing more pressure on the sear spring.
McCormick Slim Grip
There were really three options for lightening the trigger: (1) replace the mainspring with a lighter one, (2) bend the sear spring, or (3) replace the sear spring. I didn’t want to bend the sear spring and I had a Chip McCormick sear spring handy. Visually comparing the McCormick sear spring against the Colt spring, it was immediately obvious that the McCormick spring was considerably lighter than the Colt spring. The McCormick sear spring seemed to be the path of least resistance so I switched it in.
Why am I allergic to bending the sear spring? This is one of the two places where you can make a 1911 dangerous. The other is the sear hook/hammer hook interface. Since I am not a Colt certified armorer and have never been taught the correct procedure for tuning a sear spring, I prefer to leave it alone if I can get by with it. An excessively light sear spring and/or improperly cut sear and hammer hooks can cause a gun to fire when you don’t want it to, burst fire, and even go full auto. These features may be cool on an M-16 when you’re expecting it, but they’re not cool on a .45 pistol when you aren’t expecting it.
The new sear spring gave about a pound reduction in the trigger pull, getting it back into the acceptable range, but it was still crunchy and a little loose in its tracks. The trigger itself is a short, M1911A1-style trigger and I have grown accustomed to the longer M1911-style trigger, so I replaced it with a McCormick skeletonized aluminum trigger. I stoned the edges of the trigger bow to make sure they were totally smooth and slathered it with Mil-Comm grease. This last mod rendered a smooth, non-wiggly 4 1/2 lb. trigger. The trigger could definitely be made lighter by tuning the sear spring, but there is such thing as too light a trigger. Mil-spec on the M1911A1 was a 5.5-6 lb. trigger pull, not 2.5 lb.
The finishing touch was a set of McCormick “Slim-Carry” rosewood grips. These grips are about 50% thinner than standard grips and require shorter stock bushings which come with the grips. These grips are a rich red and make an attractive contrast with the deep blue of the metal. The thinner grips feel good and further enhance the concealability of the slim M1911 frame.
Springs
Crimson Trace Lasergrips on a Commander
No refit of an M1911 would be complete without some attention to the springs. With the exception of the sear spring which came from McCormick, the spring set selected was from Wolff Gun Springs. For the mainspring (a.k.a. the hammer spring), a reduced power 21 lb. spring was selected. This weight was chosen to slightly reduce the sear-to-hammer-hook pressure which lightens the trigger pull perceptibly. Factory spec from Colt is 23 lbs. for the mainspring. It was replaced by a 21 lb. Wolff spring. This is not a big change, not big enough to affect ignition reliability, but just enough to lighten the trigger pull just a bit. Interestingly, factory spec from Kimber for the mainspring is 21 lbs. but Colt specifies 23 lbs.
For the recoil spring, I replaced the stock 18 lb. Colt spring with a 22 lb. Wolff spring. This is a choice based on reliability concerns. I have found that a stiffer recoil spring tends to reduce feed failures. I always shoot full power and +p loads. I would not use this heavy a spring for target or powder-puff loads, but I don’t shoot that kind of ammunition. A stronger recoil spring also reduces the battering of the slide against the frame when shooting hot loads.
For the firing pin spring, I installed the Wolff extra-power firing pin spring. While concerns about dropping an M1911 perfectly on its muzzle and causing an inertial discharge are mostly theoretical and approaching the level of myth, the true M1911 does not have a firing pin block and the additional insurance of the extra-power firing pin spring is probably not a bad thing.
To summarize the mods: Wilson beavertail and V-grip mainspring housing, McCormick sear spring, trigger and grips, and Wolff mainspring, recoil and firing pin springs. The result is a very comfortable and shootable gun that doesn’t eat up my hand, looks good and conceals well.
Ammo Testing
For match testing, I took the Commander to a Kentucky Defensive Pistol League match. It ran flawlessly with highly rewarding accuracy. Double taps were tight and I found the factory sights surprisingly easy to use. The mag release is too tight. I had to really punch it hard to get it to release. (I watched a hot dog with a $2000 race gun accidentally dump his mag during a stage by brushing his mag release, so maybe this isn’t too terrible, but I resolved to lighten it up a bit.)
I went out to Higginbotham’s for his shoot and to do some hollowpoint reliability testing. I tested Remington Gold Saber, Federal HydraShok, Fiocchi JHP, S&B hardball and the new Taurus all copper hollowpoints. The Remington, Hydrashok and Fiocchi ran fine. Jim pointed out that he has an original 1912-vintage M1911, completely unmodified, and HydraShoks run fine in it too. The Taurus loads were a different story. The first magazine ran OK, but on the second magazine, I got two feed failures. Accuracy on the Taurus stuff was also dismal. We shot the rest of it in a Springfield Mi-Spec as a sort of control and didn’t have any more problems with it. This ammo is not worth $24 for 20. I won’t buy any more. I got one feed failure on the S&B hardball when shooting from behind a barrel. Jim was watching and said he thought it was the way I was holding the gun rather than a gun problem. I didn’t have my arms extended and was holding the gun fairly close to my face and allowed it to “short stoke.”
Accuracy
Accuracy for the Combat Commander is about average. One can expect 2.5″ – 3″ groups at 25 yards. This pistol is set up for combat reliability, not match grade accuracy. With the hammer cocked and no magazine in the gun, you can make the slide rattle on the frame by shaking it side to side.
Conceptual Issues
One student of Colt’s offerings suggested that the Combat Commander is “the best pistol Colt ever built.” Others have suggested that the Commander configuration – full length grip with the 4″ or 4.25″ (true Commander) barrel length is the optimum setup for the 1911 platform. The legendary guru of the modern pistol method, Jeff Cooper, liked the Lightweight Commander but criticized the Combat Commander because he didn’t see that the 6 oz. increase in weight in the all-steel Combat Commander was justified. Another criticism lodged against the Commander configuration is that the shorter barrel length results in lower muzzle velocity in the .45 ACP cartridge. Different guns and loads return different test results, but generally, the loss of velocity in the .45 ACP cartridge comes out to somewhere between 50 and 70 feet per second per inch of barrel length, so that a cartridge that delivers 830 fps in a Government Model may give 780 fps in a Commander-length barrel, and remember, the 4.25″ measurement is breach to muzzle. Part of the 4.25″ is taken by the chamber so that the Commander only has about 3.5″ of real barrel. When using hollowpoints, the expansion threshold is fairly high, so muzzle velocity is an issue. Perhaps it’s less a concern in the .45 than in smaller rounds, but people still worry about it. For hardball 230 grain FMJ, there is really no significant difference in bullet performance between 780 and 830 fps. For those who want to insure reliable expansion of hollowpoints in the shorter barreled guns, 185 grain +p ammunition is recommended.
Returning to Col. Cooper’s criticism of the Combat Commander – that the weight increase over the 28 oz. Commander (a.k.a. the Lightweight Commander) is not justified – is there a good reason to take on the 6 oz. of extra weight in the Combat Commander? For that matter, in this day of highly successful polymer-framed guns with high capacity magazines, is there any justification for an all-steel 34 oz. pistol that tops off at 9 rounds? Well, as hard as it may be for the combat Tupperware set to understand, some people just don’t like plastic and aluminum alloy guns, especially for range and match shooting. This is a matter of personal taste and not altogether rational, but it’s a fact. When everything else is equal, heavier guns kick less than light guns. This can become an important factor for people who like to shoot high round count matches and training classes. Steel is easier to refinish than other materials and it is also quite durable, although the durability record of the Lightweight Commanders has been surprisingly good.
Heavier guns settle down on the target quicker for hammers, double taps, controlled pairs and other kinds of follow-up shots. IPSC Unlimited Class shooters find all sorts of ways to add weight to their guns, such as compensators, optics, full length dust covers, full length guide rods, and weighted magazine bases. Their collective experience in accurate speed shooting tells us something. Lightweight guns suffer from worse muzzle flip than do heavier guns.
As to round count, more is always better, but in the real world, a problem that can’t be solved with 9 rounds and a reload probably won’t be solved by 11 rounds and a reload either. Some have argued that the superior speed and accuracy of the 1911 more than compensates for the somewhat lower round count. Nevertheless, carry a spare magazine.
The Combat Commander is a beautifully balanced pistol. It rests in your hand well and points naturally. It lacks the muzzle-heavy feel of the Government Model and does not suffer from the muzzle flip of the shorter, super compact pistols. I find that I get on target quicker with the Commander-length gun than I do with Government Models, but the sight radius is still long enough to get good accuracy at longer distances. The full length grips of the Commander give you a better hold on the pistol than the shorter Officers’ sized grips. I’m one of those who find the Commander configuration to be the optimum 1911 for shooting. It feels good, looks good and shoots well. I doubt that the Combat Commander and clones will ever become wildly popular for concealed carry. At only .75” shorter than the Government Model, it’s still a fairly large and heavy gun by today’s standards. Yet, for looks, good shooting, and quality, it’s a contender for “the best gun Colt ever built.”
That the 1911 series of handguns remains one of the very favored by shooters for self-defense is evidenced in the prolific number of companies making essentially the same pistol, albeit in wide variations. Many, myself included, believe that this pistol is the yardstick by which other defensive arms are measured. One popular version of this “yardstick” is the Commander.
In other writings, one will see the term “combat accuracy” used, often when a gun just flat doesn’t group. Feel free to disagree, but I have little use for a “combat accurate” pistol. I want an accurate one. For me, “accurate” doesn’t mean that it has to shoot groups worthy of respect at Camp Perry, but it does mean that I cannot outshoot the capabilities of the pistol.
If I can outshoot it, I don’t want it.
That’s simply my standard and certainly may not be yours.
Whether or not a particular arm is “meant” for shooting paper or not, I think it is important to be able to make the thing group if for no other reason than to see what can be expected under calm conditions in the hands of a reasonably fair shot. It might give some kind of “benchmark” by which to judge how well one might or might not do with this type arm under the stresses of a defensive scenario.
The Pistol: This pistol is a personally-owned Colt Commander bought in the early ’80s from a friend. It has been customized to meet my perceived needs in a defensive pistol. Gone are the smallish, military fixed sights; they’re replaced with a melted King-Tappen rear sight and a serrated ramp front sight, silver soldered to the slide by gunsmith, Lou Williamson. It’s been zeroed by me @ 15 yards for Winchester 230 gr ball.
Customized Commander from the front.... Those are not nicks and scratches, but residue. Picture taken after some shooting was done.
Lou fit a thicker than normal bushing to the slide and bbl of the pistol. He left the bbl 0.582″ for the last quarter-inch the bbl, but turned down the rest to 0.571″ so that the bushing’s fit was really tight only for the last quarter-inch of lockup.
The gun’s aluminum frame had the frontstrap checkered 20LPI as is its aluminum, arched mainspring housing. Originally, the short Commander grip safety was replaced with a dished-out GI, but I replaced this with a Pachmayr beavertail and a stainless, lightweight hammer from Springfield some years later so that I’d not have to have the E-nickled frame refinished after having a wide grip safety fitted.
On this gun, I prefer the short trigger and arched M/S housing. The slide was black parkerized while all other steel parts were hard-chromed. Stocks are the originals, but have been refinished a time or two over the years.
The trigger on this pistol breaks at a clean 4lbs or slightly less and it’s been shot MUCH over the years. The magazine well has not been beveled. Others may disagree, but I felt on my gun, it could lend itself to cracking as it thins the aluminum too much.
Here's a view of the "melted" rear sight and the Pachmayr grip safety. This gun also has a standard, Colt thumb safety. The brownish color of the sight's just the way it came back to me.
Ammunition: Today, the pistol was fired with 4 different rounds. One was a 200 gr handload while the other three were all in 230 grains. Two of these were FMJ with one being a standard pressure JHP.
Shooting: Today’s shooting was done at 10, 15, 25, and 50 yards.
The 10 and 15 yard groups were fired w/2-hand hold from a standing position. The 25 and 50 yard groups were fired seated and with my wrists rested.
10 Yards: Four sets of controlled-pairs were fired from a low ready position. This was not timed, but done as quickly as I could get a “flash” sight picture. I’d estimate roughly 1-sec per shot. I make no claims at being any kind of speed shooter and leave the “practical” critiques of this arm to those more qualified. I do think that one can easily defend himself with this pistol.
Front sight made by the gunsmith...
15 Yards: These slow-fire groups consist of 5 shots each.
25 Yards: The gun was fully-loaded with a 7-shot Randall magazine and a round in the bbl twice for this 16-shot group fired, rested, at this distance. (I have found that the old Randalls are excellent, stainless steel magazines if you don’t mind its not being an 8-rnd. I don’t. The gun runs fine with Wilson 7 and 8-rnd magazines as well.)
The gun shoots tighter than I can as evidenced by the errant shots.
50 Yards: Again, two complete “gunsfull” of the handload were fired at this distance. My shooting’s not the greatest and I do believe the pistol will do tighter than what’s displayed.
Observations: The very things that make this pistol great for lawful defensive carry work against it for a range gun to be used on paper. The shorter sight radius compared to a Gold Cup and the lighter overall weight make getting tight groups a bit more difficult than with those 1911s with steel frames, target sights, and so forth. However, the pistol is not “bad” at the range. While felt recoil is very subjective, I think many might be surprised at how little the Commander kicks relative to a full-size steel gun. To me, recoil’s sharper and there is a bit more muzzle flip, but it’s much more pleasant than full-house .357s out of a K-framed revolver.
Frontstrap.... The Commander's an easy to carry, comfortable pistol.
I will provide chronograph data from this 4.25″ barreled pistol with loads I’ve chronographed from the 5″ guns. Difference is usually not great, but can really begin to drop off with the 3.5″ or shorter barreled 1911s. I prefer not to go under 4,” but others prefer the shorties.
To me, from the holster, the Commander’s extremely quick to bring to bear on a target, quicker for me than an all steel full-sized gun or a Browning HP.
The feed ramp on this pistol was “throated” as the original configuration was only for ball. It was e-nickeled with the rest of the frame and has held up very, very well. However, I do recommend that users of these aluminum-framed 1911s use only ball, CSWC, or JHPs having rounded ogives to avoid gouging or denting up the softer-than-steel frame portion of the feed ramp. One’s also well-advised to use magazines that don’t let the round’s “dip” and feed straight against the ramp.
Though common now, the ejection port was lowered and "scalloped" by gunsmith, Lou Williamson.
The question always comes up about aluminum’s longevity. I don’t believe it to be as long as steel in most cases, but with standard pressure loads, a proper recoil spring (I use 18.5lb), and perhaps a buffer, frame life can be long indeed. I can only estimate the number of rounds fired in this particular Commander at about 15 to 20 thousand. This one’s made an excellent self-protection pistol and is one I can recommend for the shooter willing to practice.
Left to Right: PMC 230 gr ball, S&B 230 gr ball, Remington 230 gr Golden Saber, and a 200 gr CSWC loaded over 5 grains of Bullseye.
Oh, yes. The “scientific mud expansion test” result with Remington’s Golden Saber in 230 grains….
I’ve used this gun in law enforcement both as a primary and backup pistol and have toted it for several years off and on. I think I’ll keep doing it.
Best.
Copyrighted by Stephen A. Camp, 2002. Article used by permission of the author.
Five years have passed since Kimber of America, known for their production of a small selection of a small number of fine rifles, began their bold talk about providing a fine line of 1911’s. When it came to features, the talk got bolder. When it came to price, sane folk rolled their eyes and concluded that Kimber’s bold talk was just that. Bold talk.
Kimber Manufacuring, Inc. backed up the bold talk with a bold walk. According to the front page and centerfold article in “American Handgunner” (September-October 2000), Kimber now has a 40% share in the venerable 1911 market.
Kimber Pro Carry
My first Kimber was a used “Custom Auto Pistol,” an as is out-of-the-box .45 ACP with a five inch barrel. Its original owner was an eastern Kentucky divorce lawyer (a profession which must rank in the top ten “most dangerous ways to earn a living” category). The attorney had traded it in for a Kimber Gold Match model. It continues to be an excellent gun.
I next acquired a Kimber “Pro Carry” with a four inch barrel. A first rate pistol which has performed flawlessly for over 6,000 rounds.
I then purchased an “Ultra Carry” with a three inch ball joint spherical bushing-less cone barrel. I experienced feeding problems which were not alleviated by a trip to Kimber. I was about to send it back for the second time when I saw a Kimber “Ultra CDP” (Custom Defense Package). It is a handsome gun- meltdown treatment, night sights, ambidextrous safety, frosted silver stainless steel slide atop a black frame, front strap checkered at 30 lines per inch, rosewood grips, etc. I quickly convinced myself that I needed that gun. The dealer with whom I had discussed the problem with the “Ultra Carry” was quick to suggest that I trade up to the “Ultra CDP.” I did. I understand that a new dual recoil spring system cured the “Ultra Carry” of its feeding problems.
Kimber Ultra Custom Defense Package
The dual recoil spring system is the key component which permits Kimber to produce a .45 ACP with a three inch barrel. If I have my facts in order, this approach was originated by Larry Seecamp for his small .32 ACP pistol. This system (Kimber uses a Wolff spring system) retards the speed of the velocity of the slide, in order to allow time for the magazine spring to properly position the round to be chambered.
After the initial 1,500 rounds using a wide variety of ammunition I am delighted with the gun. A borrowed Ransom bench rest produced flawless results. My own efforts have been better than I expected. I cannot really differentiate between the recoil from the “Ultra CDP” and the “Pro Carry.” I would say that the trigger has a smooth break but I think the preferred terminology seems to be “crisp.” Whatever. The “tuned” ejector (“tuned” = extended) hasn’t once bonked me in the forehead with a spent case. The undercutting below the trigger guard works well with the checkering for me and I am able to regain target acquisition with minimal effort… an impressive claim for a twenty-five ounce gun. I like the Tritium dot system- two rear dots on a McCormick sight with one dot on the front work well for me.
The “Ultra CDP” is a wonderful pistol. I have looked at the “Compact CDP” with a regular frame and the “Pro CDP” with a shorter frame- both are equipped with four inch barrels and this option may be more appealing to some. Since the frame is the difficult to conceal portion, the “Pro CDP” should attract those who are leary of the three inch barrel.
I find the Ultra CDP carries well in a Milt Sparks Mini Max (MMX) IWB holster. This well designed holster is about as minimalist as feasible and has the additional benefit of being designed to securely holding the five, four and three inch barrel models. This holster has a reinforced metal mouth with a front sight channel and leather backing which covers from muzzle to the top of the slide. I haven’t seen much publicity for this holster but I think it is a best buy.
(The “Ultra CDP” is adequately concealable for a .45 ACP. I haven’t heard about the possibility of a “bobtail” grip, but, if feasible, it would enhance the concealability. A politically correct but unnecessary Cylinder and Slide Safety Fast Action System might be in the works.)
I recently made the decision to sell my Race gun & go totally Standard as that has been my preferred division since 1994. I wanted to try out a Polymer framed gun but my budget did not stretch far enough to build or buy a STI/SVI framed gun. So I was left with a couple of choices, either buy or build another Para or take a chance with the relatively new kid on the block, The polymer framed 1911 style Bul M5.
So I contacted Dale Anderson at GI services who proceeded to surprise me with the very attractive pricing on all of the Bul M range of product’s. So we came to an arrangement that we were both happy with & I sent my cheque away & waited in anticipation for the pistol to arrive at my local dealer (The Adelaide Gun Shop) so I could at least check it out while I waited for the 28 day period to elapse. I happened to be in the shop when the parcel from QLD arrived & when we opened it up I was pleasantly surprised.
The fit & finish was very good & when I picked it up the shape of the grip felt very comfortable, someone once described it as a cross between a CZ & Para & having shot both of those pistols extensively I can only agree. The pistol seemed to “point” well for me & that helped pick up the excellent sight picture quickly. The pistol I ordered was from the old stock that GI services had on hand it’s model designation is HSIP that indicates it is their High Standard IPSC model & it came packed with features such as, Chip McCormick Internals, Match hammer, sear ,disconnector etc, High rise beaver tail grip safety, ambidextrous thumb safety, Adjustable rear sight, dovetail front sight, front & rear cocking grooves, guide rod, stainless steel barrel & aluminium match trigger. Bul M describe the frame as a precision injected, fibre reinforced polymer(that feels just like plastic to me!) that is moulded around a stainless steel insert. It has checkering moulded into the front strap & comes with a plastic checkered mainspring housing.
When I finally got the chance to try it out at the range I was again pleasantly surprised, I initially shot the pistol as it came straight out of the box & it was pretty good. It was on par with a stock Para as far as muzzle flip & felt recoil was concerned. The only concern I had was with the barrel in this model as it comes standard with a unsupported barrel. But this has proven not to be any problem at all in the 1500 or so rounds I have put through the pistol so far. In fact the barrels come with what seems like a match grade chamber that is very tight. The only modification I have made to the pistol since I have had it is having the chamber reamed out so I can load 200 grn projectiles to 1.200″ or just under & so I won’t be troubled by slightly oversize projectiles that won’t chamber in the close tolerances of the standard chamber. The pistol is very accurate at all common IPSC ranges out to 50m, while I haven’t done any formal accuracy testing I can safely say the pistol will shoot better than I can!
This is aided by the slide to frame fit & excellent trigger pull that Greg Toms of GT Custom Guns did for me. Dale told me that the trigger pull out of the box was quite acceptable but as Greg was going to fit the custom Bul mag well she said I should get him to “slick up” the trigger while it was there & Iam glad I did! The 2 magazines that come with this model are only 14 round capacity but the new model magazines that I bought as well, take 16 rounds.
I ordered a couple of Arredondo followers from Ed Danko at JPP Imports that gave me 17 + 1. I have found the “shootablity” of the Bul to be on par with my Custom Para P16, the main difference is in the felt recoil the plastic frame seems to soak up some of the felt recoil a bit more & the overall lighter weight seems to aid in target to target transition a bit better. I have been using a Harrt’s recoil reducing guide rod in my Para for several years now & find it to be very effective so I put it into the Bul & found it to be equally as effective in making the pistol more comfortable to shoot but I had been talking to a shooter in Norway (via email) who has been shooting a Bul M for a while & he recommended I try the Sprinco Tungsten recoil reducing guide rod. So I contacted Sprinco in the USA & had one sent out. It works well but probably not much better than the Harrt’s rod. Either system would serve you well.
I was told that the new model Bul M5 will be fitted with supported chamber barrels & come with 3 16 round mags for under $2000 dollars represents pretty good value for money as far as Iam concerned. The only extra’s you need would be at least 1 more Magazine, mag well, extended mag release & a recoil reducing guide rod if you wanted one, still have change from $2500 & have very competitive Standard Division pistol. They are available in .40 cal (like mine) .45 & 9mm.
For further information contact G.I.Services on 07 3252 8212 or email [email protected]
I have been a revolver shooter for many years, and I always had doubts on the reliability of one of those new fangled auto pistols. Their metallurgy was questionable for a few years, and the reliability was also a big question in my head.
With a revolver you could get 6 you could count on.
Then along came technology, new metals and research into galling of like metals and ways to prevent it. As a toolmaker, I have spent the last 27 years in machine shops, so I have a fairly good idea of the properties of metals and other machinable materials.
I trained hard with my wheel gun. I actually carried two, a S&W model 10 in .38 special and a snubby of Charter Arms manufacture, or more recently, a model 85 airweight from Taurus. I became an NRA pistol and personal protection instructor. I attended many classes at the Firearms Academy of Seattle (FAS), not just for Firearms but for knife-counter knife and OC spray and any other topic I could take from them. I had the privilege of helping teach and safety for a few classes before I stepped up and took a class from a nationally recognized trainer, Massad Ayoob. What a great class, and being offered at my favorite training center made it easy to take. After the 2nd class with Mas, and the 3rd class that I worked the line for, he asked me to teach the Revolver portion of the reloading section of his class, an honor indeed. My belief in “Stress-Fire” was alive and well.
At FAS, I was introduced to an instructor that was to become a life long friend and mentor, Mr. Jim Cirillo, NYPD, Stake-Out Unit, retired. He left NYPD and went on to work for U.S. Customs and designed their Firearms training facility and updated their firearms program.
I have taken many of Jim’s classes and spent many an hour listening and learning from a man that has been there, seen the “Elephant” and gone home to his family. This isn’t theory or arm chair BS; this is Life on the street.
He used a wheel gun, and every chance I had to train with him in a class or privately, we worked on my skills with a round gun. With a lot of practice and help from Jim, I finally fired a perfect qualifier and went on to finish 3rd in the state in a stock gun championship. Finally technology caught up with him. After researching many weapons Jim moved on to a Glock, he found it worked for him. Me? I didn’t take to the Glock too well. I bought three and sold three, in 3 years. Each time it was a new size and/or caliber that I had hoped would take me there.
Technology was to the point where I felt I could put my life on the line and that of my family. I insisted on 100% reliability and a good set of sights. I had this with a revolver but as age caught up with me so did my waistline and the daily packing of a couple of wheel guns was getting a bit too much for the pants. I dug my old 1911 style Government Model out of the case and dusted it off. It felt good in the hand as only the 1911 can feel. It was flat and held more rounds then my round gun, and with the right magazine it held as much as both my wheel guns together. (I still carry a back-up; it just got moved).
I was comfortable with it. I researched ammo designs and felt that .230 gr. Hardball was the way to go. I bought a bunch, to be reloaded later, and down to the range I went. I put about 300 of the factory rounds thru it and had no malfunctions, so I felt it would be reliable on the street.
Now the only thing left was to scratch an itch that most folks with .45 hardball don’t get – I wanted a round that would match the stats of the street proven .357 magnum. OK now, relax. All you folks that are ready to write me a letter to explain what an idiot I am because .45 hardball has been working for 90+ years and what the heck is my problem, please remember I’m a toolmaker, and toolmakers are tinkers by nature. Besides, the weapon was a Norinco, and if I ruined the barrel in my trials I could put a “Bar-Sto” in it and it would shoot better anyway.
Why did I pick a Norinco? Well, I had read that Bill Wilson would work on Colt’s, Springfield’s and Norinco’s and I could get one for about $200, so I went for it.
After much research and a little luck, I arrived at my caliber (See Historical Notes) and pistol of choice – a 1911 style pistol shooting a necked down .45 ACP case with a wadcutter .357 Golden Saber bullet. Why the Golden Saber? Because the FBI has had good luck with it, as have some of the police entities around where I live.
The ballistics are 1450 FPS out of my 5” barrel. I also use a 20 lb. main spring and a shock-buff. The advantages of this caliber and bullet style are that a flat nosed bullet has less of a chance of ricocheting off of another round object. It will penetrate car body metal at a greater oblique angle, and it opens up in to a rectangle due to the split that I put in the bullet (see accompanying photo). I arrived at the powder charge I’m at now, by working with many powders and weights of powders to try and get to 1500 FPS, while keeping the pressure down to what I knew the 1911 could handle. I used the 125 grain .357 HP bullet because that was the round that posted the stats I was trying to copy. I arrived at 1450 FPS and felt that would achieve the results that I wanted. I’m now beginning to experiment with a 90 grain bullet to achieve 1700+ FPS, because it is my understanding that at that speed a bullet will continue on its original trajectory, no matter the shape of the surface it might hit.
Another advantage of using a 1911 launching pad is that all my Government Model holsters and mags work just fine. If I went with a 38 super or a 9×29, I would have to change slides and mags.
To arrive at the ability to shoot the .357 bullet out of a .45 ACP weapon, one must buy a .38 super barrel and have it re-worked to hold the necked down cartridge in the chamber. I did this by building a reamer that matched the profile of my finished round and carefully reaming out the new, 3.8 Super barrel.
I got to go pack now. Cirillo is flying out, to FAS, for another class this year and I get to go do some more training with a friend.
I’d like to thank Jim Cirillo, Massad Ayoob and Marty Hayes of FAS for all the years of help, training and understanding as I took this journey.
Historical notes on the .38/.45 Safestop
My search for the best personal protection ammunition for me began with finding the historical notes below. These notes are taken from the 6th edition of Cartridges of the World.
First we have the 38-45 Auto aka. 45-38 Auto Pistol and the 45-38 Clerke.
The 38-45 Auto was designed by Bo Clerke of the Armory gun shop, Burbank, CA and was first announced publicly in the October, 1963 issue of Guns and Ammo magazine in an article by Howard French. The 45-38 Auto is based on a .45 ACP case necked down to accept standard .357 bullets. Super 38 ACP barrels are reamed out to the new caliber and used in the 45 Colt Auto pistol without any other changes.
One of the inherent faults of most semi-auto pistols is their inability to digest cast or swaged lead bullets. Much time and effort has been devoted to correcting this, and the individual hand loader can effect considerable improvement. The necked down design of the 45-38 eliminates any and all feed and chambering problems with light or standard loads. With a straight case, such things as bullet shape, seating, depth, hardness of alloy, etc. are highly critical. With the necked case this can be ignored. The idea behind the 45-38 was to produce a satisfactory target round that would function with any type bullet and any load sufficient to operate the mechanism. However, it should also be an excellent field cartridge because it will allow the use of hunting type bullets. There is a definite need for an improved auto pistol hunting cartridge. Case configuration is the same as the 38-45 Hard Head but the loading data is not interchangeable.
The 38-45 Hard Head is nothing more than the 45-38 Auto in a different dress. The 45-38 Auto is based on the .45 ACP necked down to 38 caliber. The 38-45 hard Head is the same thing but instead of using the standard 45 ACP case with it’s 19,900 CUP pressure limit, this one uses the 45 Winchester Magnum or the 451 Detonics case both of which are rated at 38,00 CUP. It allows the use of hotter loads without the danger of case failure.
The idea originated with Dean Grennell, of Gun World magazine fame, who was working on improving the performance of the 1911 Colt auto pistol for some years. The 38-45 Hard Head was fully reported in the November, 1987 issue of Gun World magazine.
Velocities of 1500fps were achieved with a 124-grain bullet from the 5” barrel of a modified 1911 type pistol.
General Comments: Attempts to upgrade the ballistics of cartridges fired in the 1911 Model Colt auto are fraught with frustration because of two limiting factors: the weakness of the partially supported case and the strength of the action. If you push the cartridge too far, it will fail, and if you put too much strain on the action, severe damage can result. The answer is a stronger case and stiffer recoil springs, something that Dean Grennell has used successfully on a number of occasions and has done so again here to upgrade the 38-45 Auto and develop sort of a super .38 Super auto. The 38-45 Hard Head was also tested in a T/C Contender with a 10” barrel and developed velocities of over 1700 fps with the 124-grain bullet. Bullets used in testing were .355-.356 inch diameter (9mm).
After getting permission from Jim Cirillo to use his wadcutter style bullets for my personal use, I started to wonder what I could do to push the .357 diameter bullet to the speed necessary to produce similar stopping effects that can be found with the .357 Magnum revolver round. I could just keep using my wheel gun but I wanted something that was flatter and held a little more ammo. So I went back to carrying my 1911 style .45 auto.
I could not stop thinking about the possibilities of pushing the .357 bullet out of a flat 1911. I then started researching the possibilities. The .38 super was the first cartridge to come up, that would work but I heard a few things about the cartridge that I did not like and it looked like I would still have trouble feeding Cirillo’s wadcutter bullets. I then checked out the .357 SIG. Same issue – it was available in a 1911 pistol but it would not reliably feed the wadcutter bullet I wanted to use. Another issue for me was that I wanted a true .357 diameter bullet not a .356 diameter (9mm). I know this is one small thousandth of an inch. The point was I wanted to push an actual .357 revolver bullet not a 9 mm.
So I started to try necking down the .45 ACP case. I did not then know of the others work, mentioned above, at that time. After many failures, I put the project on the back burner while I concentrated on making and selling the Cirillo style bullet, now known as the ”Safestop” bullet.
Just recently I saw an article in one of the gun magazines about the new .38 Casull, I have respected Mr. Casull’s work for a long time and was interested to see what he had come up with now. What I found was what I’d been looking for. A beefed-up and necked-down case to fire 9mm ammo (.356 dia.) from a 1911 type pistol. Dick had designed a new case and beefed-up John Browning’s designed 1911, lengthened the barrel to 6” and he was flying.
I took my project off the back burner and was ready to try again. I contacted Casull and found out that brass was available thru him or Starline brass. The first lot manufactured uses large pistol primers, and it is my understanding that the next batch of brass will be using small rifle primers.
After I got my brass and ordered a set of RCBS dies (from Mr. Casull) for the new Casull round, I started to experiment.
Many tries later I finally got my round perfected. A .357 diameter 125 grain bullet out of a bottlenecked .45 case. These rounds are traveling a little less than 1500 fps. The other nice part is that I can still use all my .45 mags and holsters. The only thing I changed was my re-bored barrel. While Casull uses 9 mm bullets, I use the .357 Speer Gold Dot (125 grain) and the Hornady XTP (90 grain). I have no velocity info on this round yet as I have just started to work on it. As we speak, I’m using powder from Western Powders. They have worked very hard to help me in this project and offer a great assortment of powders for those who need it.
Realizing that Cirillo patented his bullet in the 60’s and Bo Clerke had his design published in 1963, you could say this is a rebirth of an old design.
There are other articles out about Cirillo’s wadcutter design that I find so effective and I’ll tell you more about that elsewhere.
Over the summer the “rec.guns” newsgroup on the InterNet’s usenet had a series of message threads called “You just might be a gun nut”.
Many of them were worth keeping so a couple of gun nuts sat down and put most of them together as a single list. An attempt was made to group them by common interest. Some were changed to make them more universal to most gun owners. We did not keep the names and email addresses of the original posters to the group.
The list starts off with a note from the moderator of the “rec.guns” group whose user name really is MAGNUM.
[Lessee, the sun workstation I use on faculty is called “xring” (which lots of students think has something to do with networked windows systems…). My Gateway on the subnet is “emmagee”… we have both “smith” and “wesson” in my widget lab, with student machines “doubletap”, “highpower”, “crosshare” (used to have a rabbit motif) … the little mac over in the corner is registered as “smallbore” and we have “rimfire” hooked in right underneath the official Barney target. Yeah, I think we have another way someone might be a Gun Nut …. ]
And, with that out of the way…..
You Might Be A Gun Nut If…
MOVIES
~you can’t remember the plot of the last movie you saw, but you can name the model, caliber and finish of every firearm in the movie.
~you reflexively count the number of shots fired by every weapon in the film, then gripe to your friends when the actors exceed the magazine capacities.
~you watch old WWII movies and can identify and look at all the rifles and handguns but can’t remember who stared in the movie or what it was about..
~if, when you watch a WWII movie, you have to get out th’ old Garand and 1911 and help John Wayne shoot the Japs and Krauts. Even when he’s in the Navy.
~if, while helping John, you’ve ever actually shot the TV. (“Is this thing loaded?”)
~you see pictures of war on T.V. and all you can think about is that you want to be there so you can pick up the BRASS.
~it bothers you more when 007 runs out of ammo than when the BOND girl dies.
~you watch La Femme Nikita just to see the HK MP5s.
~your only criteria for renting a video is what guns it might have in it.
~while watching the movie “Terminator 2” you have to leave the room in tears and mornful sobs after Arnold Swartzenneger throws the CAR-16 off the moving tractor trailer and it goes bouncing away~.
~everytime you see the finale of the Sam Peckinpa movie “The Wild Bunch” you think to yourself “what a waste of brass!”.
~your friends refuse to see ANY films containing firearms with you.
WIFE/FAMILY
~when you met your wife’s parents for the 1st time you arrived at their house riding a motorcycle and wearing a S&W DA/Auto on your hip.
~you and your new father-in-law go to a gun show on your wedding day.
~your wife’s bridal registry was at the local gun shop.
~you have spent more on guns in the last 6 months than you did on your wifes engagement ring.
~your fiance didn’t want a ring, she wanted an M1 carbine. And, you bought her one.
~you use a lathe to turn a nice ring from the appropriate size case. You engrave it with a few hearts and then nickel plate it and add gold inlay. She’ll love you for having the “personal” touch, being careful with the family money, and from knowing you’ll be able to keep her guns in tiptop shape.
~have traded the wife’s wedding ring for a shotgun, and she let you.
~you take your wife on vacation to a gun show for your 10th Anniversary and she is as excited to go as you are.
~you let your wife go out and blow all kinds of money on junk she’ll never use just so she won’t gripe when you buy that latest piece you really need for your collection.
~your mother-in-law asks what new gun junk you want for Christmas this year.
~you remember important family dates based on when you purchased a firearm.
~you build a gun rack in your bedroom and it’s closer to you than your wife.
~your wife tells you that you can’t subscribe to any more gun magazines until you do something with all the old ones you’re keeping.
~you have Trijicon Night-lights in your bedroom.
~your teenage daughter’s next date is introduced to you while your sitting at the loading bench cleaning your M-1.
~if half the guests at your daughter’s wedding are shooters and their wives or husbands had fun talking.
~your wife says to buy a gun she would like you to sell one first.
~your wife wants to wear black leather so you buy her a carry holster.
~your gun safe cost more then your dining room set.
~you get rid of the microwave to make room for the brass tumbler.
~you or your wife do the wash, several spent casings fall out of your rolled-up sleves.
~it is very common in your household to step on BBs, spent and live primers, and the occassional .22 rimfire with bare feet.
~your wife often vacuums-up live primers you dropped in the carpert.
~you both enjoy the excitement when she does vacuum.
~you find some live primers laying in the driveway.
~when daughter was growing up hand her boyfriends a 45-70 round and tell them you have lots more where that came from.
~you introduce yourself to your daughter’s suitors as “a very good shot” and you have a copy of Guns And Ammo in one hand and are wearing your NRA Life Member hat. A holstered large pistol on your belt is optional.
~after being introduced to the new boyfriend you quote from “Clueless” by saying: “Young man, I own a .45 and a shovel…don’t make me have to use either one.”
~your wife/girlfriend starts using Hoppes No. 9 instead of perfume to get your attention.
~your wife/girlfrind thinks that aura of Hoppies #9 is your favorite after shave.
~you use Hoppes No. 9 as a room or carpet freshener.
~you are asked by a waitress what cologne you are wearing. You just got done cleaning your guns.
~you think a shotgun wedding is what happens when a fellow gets overly fond of his 12 gauge.
~you consider naming your unborn child Winchester.
~you name your first-born boy MAK90.
~you name your first-born girl LadySmith.
~your kid’s huggies come in camo battlepacks.
~your wife threatened to leave you after finding 400 muddy shotshells soaking in the bathtub for the tenth time.
~you find out that the dishwasher does a MUCH better job but your wife threatens to leave you because she is tired of fishing em out from under the heating elements.
~you go to a marriage counselor, he asks you which you like better, shooting or sex, and you think it’s the stupidest question you’ve ever heard.
GUN SHOP/GUN SHOW
~you buy a gun at a shop only to find out you used to own it a couple of years ago.
~the largest gun store in your area *calls* you if they need something they can’t get elsewhere.
~when buying a new gun, you plead with your gun shop to keep it until you have space for it.
~you’ve ever sent a scope (that was never dropped) back to Leupold for repair.
~factories ask *you* how well their guns hold up.
~Hornady’s largest midwestern distributor informs you that you’ve bought over half of all the Vector ammo they’ve ever had in stock.
~your standard Sunday-afternoon question to guys selling surplus ammo at gun shows is “How much for all of it, so you don’t have to lug it home?”
~you shoot enough Berdan-primed ammo that you are on a first-name basis with your local scrap metal dealer.
~you are on a first-name basis with every major tire shop owner within a 25-mile radius.
~upon seeing your 1978 wildcatting project (a .375 on a .50 Sharps 3 1/4″ case, 3340 FPS with a 300 Sierra boattail), Elmer Keith says “You’re nuts!”
~Keith Francis (at JGS, the chambering reamer company), answers your phone calls “What have you dreamed up *this* time?”
~you own a firearm listed in the Guinness book.
OTHER
~you put a Hogue Grip on your car’s parking brake
~you have a magazine loader on your key ring.
~you use a .32-20 casing for a pen cap.
~your key-ring fob is a converted .50BMG cartridge.
~your collection of AR back issues, Gun digests and reloading manuals cost you a premium the last time you moved. (or maybe that is a sign that you are an OLD gun nut!)
~Peter Alan Kasler owes you a lunch because you caught him out on an obscure fine point of firearms law, you just might be …
~every time one of your friends goes to buy a new gun they check with you first, since you’ve probably had one already, and because they know you have ammo and gun parts sitting around for guns you no longer own.
~spend 3 days going through the SGN looking through ALL the ads to get the COMPLETE kit for a weapon and then order through the 30 or so mail order companies that are needed for this and then build it. Just because you can.
~you slip and almost fall out the second story bathroom window because of the Guns & Ammo you left in front of the throne.
~if you get a flat and realize that you’ve got 400 pounds of shot, a Hefty bag each of wads and empty hulls, and enough primers to re-open the main shaft of the Lost Dutchman on top of your spare tire.
~if the Bible you read every night before bed is the Shooter’s Bible.
~you take your guns out of the safe each night and handle them, just so you can wipe them off before putting them away.
~you keep a loaded gun hidden in every room in the house, including the bathroom and kitchen, “just in case”, and then keep one on you at all times just in case someone breaks in while you’re in the hallway.
~you named your pocket pistol “Little Guy” and your 12 guage “Big Jake.”
~you wash your hands BEFORE taking a dump so you can take a piece of your collection in with you and not get salty sweat on the blue.
~you make $15 per hour at work, but spend 30 minutes on your knees at the range looking for that last piece of 40 S&W brass.
~you have to decide the difference between a gun nut and a firearms enthusiast? Is it 1,000 rounds per day or week?
~you read that “Brady II” would outlaw possession of more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and think “I have more than that rolling around loose in the trunk of my car!”, you just might be a gun nut.
~you could identify on sight all rifle bolt-faces as in – “that’s a Ruger, that’s a Savage, that’s a WInchester ..”
~you can identify gunshots from faraway as to caliber, whether from a rifle or pistol, brand of gun, grains of powder used, *what* powder and at what speed! Then you realize you can tell if it is blued or stainless.
~you work for the military and have more shooting experience then the guys in uniform you work with.
~when you go to the magazine rack, you check the Guns and Ammo cover to see if there are new guns as compared to checking the Playboy cover to see what it is offering.
~you have a callus on your shoulder.
~you’re in the army reserves, and they can’t figure out why every time they send you out to shoot the M60 with 100 rounds, you return with a shot-out barrel. It never dawns on them you’re bringing your own ammo.
~you spend more time choosing which guns to bring with you on a trip, as well as holsters, and belts, than it does to pick out the clothes you will wear.
~you approach total strangers and ask if they’re going to keep their brass, you just might be a gun nut.
~friends and family ask what you want for Christmas “Other than gun stuff.”
~you’ve ever run out of film photographing your guns for insurance purposes.
~you’ve ever photographed your entire gun collection, but “insurance purposes” never entered your mind.
~you try taking one big ‘family photo’ of your gun collection, but just can’t fit them all in one frame.
~you have Brownells on speed dial.
~you hand crafted a base pad for your Hogue monogrip out of a hockey puck.
~if you install a speed dialing device on your gun safe~.
~you own a BAYONET for a gun you haven’t bought yet.
~you buy some checkering tools, checker all your gunstocks, and then start in on the bedposts~
~you practiced on the bedposts first before you did the guns.
~the custom door lock pulls on your Jeep are .223 Rem cases and the gear shift knob is a .50 BMG.
~you have guns in your safe that you can’t for the life of you remember how you came by.
~you consider it a point of honor to only buy factory ammo if you need the brass.
~when you hear or see the numbers 221 you automatically think “fireball”, 257 you think “Roberts”, 218 “Bee”, 4570 “government” etc., etc. and can’t stop.
~your pickup is subject to search at any given time because, in your state, empty cartridge cases rolling around the floor are considered probable cause.
~years in history are inextricably linked to firearms development in your head. 1860… 1903… 1911… 1921… 1941… 1957… etc.
~your telephone number is: 223-2250 or 308-3006 or 303-3040 or some other combination of three + four digit calibers.
~you think there is some special significance when you glance at a clock and it shows 3:08, 3:57, 2:23, etc., no matter how many times you see it.
~when you hear “Winchester Catherdral”, you think of the “church of shooting”.
~you use a spot on the windshield as a targeting sight on that idiotic driver in front of you.
~you start wondering if you should spread out your ammo boxes to more evenly distribute the weight on the floor.
~you start eyeing the floor space around your gun vault wondering if you could fit another one there along side it.
~you even had the thought ” I wonder what scale that little kids Animal Crackers are, compared to Regulation shilouttes?”
~you buy a Remington 700 BDL Varmint in .308 just to get a supply of 308 cases to make brass for your .44 Auto Mag.
~you carry pictures of all your guns with you at all times in order to show off your “babies”.
~you spend more on ammo each month than on food.
~your guns are worth twice as much as your car.
~even one of your guns is worth more than your car.
~you list your local FFL dealer as a dependent on your tax return.
~a topless joint with free admission is half a mile away, and instead you drive 40 miles to the shooting range on a Saturday night.
~you alternate silvertips and hydra-shocks in your magazines because they look prettier that way.
~you guess range and windage whenever you look at road signs.
~the highlight of your week is discovering that 6 .40SW hollowpoints fit perfectly in a plastic 35mm film canister. (5 up/1 down in the middle).
~you retrofit a laser sight to your TV remote control.
~your favorite NBA team is the Boston KelTecs.
~your mailbox has a Weaver Rail on top.
~you can’t figure out why your non-shooting friends laugh when you say “Bushmaster”.
~you drive 300 miles just to ogle (and fire) HK-MP5s (and Stens, Uzis, BMGs and whatever else shows up at Knob Creek)
~you go to three different gun shows within a month and your excited every single time.
~you’re guns are cleaner than your house/apartment.
~you have 5 different guns being DROS’d at 3 different FFL dealers.
~4 local gun shops know you by name.
~you’re friends with 90%-100% of the employee’s at every one of those shops.
~when you stop in, the ask you questions like “how was work?”, “how’s the wife and kids”, “we’re gonna order some food, ya want in?”, etc.
~you can wallpaper your house with old issues of Shotgun News, Gun List, Guns & Ammo, etc…
~you’re a computer specialist and you have more issues of Shotgun News and Gun List than MacWeek and PCWeek.
~you bought 7 or more AK-47’s just so you could have different ones from different countries (Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian, Yugoslavian, Egyptian, Chinese, etc.)
~you’re phone number, license plate, extension at work, etc. relates to some kind of bullet caliber…ON PURPOSE.
~you have framed targets hanging in your bathroom, hallway, etc. with tight groups that you have shot.
~you can read the same issue of SGN/GL/etc. everyday until a new issues comes out.
~you own enough guns to arm everyone on your block.
~you own 4 AR-15’s configured EXACTLY the same but by different manufactures (Colt, Bushmaster, Olympic Arms, Armalite, etc.) just because you can.
~the last 5 guns you bought are never to be fired.
~you’d rather have a $10,000 PSG-1 and drive a $600 car rather than drive a $10,000 car and have a $600 gun.
~you preach how stupid gun laws/bans are at work when you work in a predominatly ANTI-gun company.
~you rather ban alcohol than hi-cap clips/mags.
~you actually consider buying the camo sexy underwear advertised for your sweetie in some gun catalogs.
~you learn that in the house your buying someone committed suicide using a firearm and all your interested in is the make, model, caliber and condition of the firearm that was used.
~your kids, once in said house, determine that the broken window was a result of that firearms slug after it left the skull cavity of the victim, and they understand why you bought the house.
~your brothers-in-law only come to visit so they can shoot your guns.
~your gun dealer owes you $500 bucks rather than the other way around.
~you consider concealed carry every time you shop for clothes.
~you take a dolly or hand truck with you to gun shows.
~you buy a gun safe much larger than you think you’ll ever need and still fill it up.
~you need yet another safe for all of the ammunition.
~you have to structurally reinforce your house due to this hobby.
~you buy a .25 Beretta to keep inside your Bible cover. Everybody needs a “hideout church gun”.
~your drive to work is filled with reverie about why Ed’s Red actually works.
~when you talk about the best piece you ever had, if you mean a pistol.
~you get real good at drywalling your gun room once a year.
~you spend more on the gun accessories than the gun.
~you know the cyclic rate of a 1928 over-stamp Thompson.
~you spent hours trying to design a device that hands you bullets the right side up.
~you identify the gun on the cover of Dillon’s “Blue Press” before you ever notice the girl.
~the first thing you notice is that she is actually holding the gun correctly.
~your license plate reads: “DBL TAP”
~your license plate reads: “GUN NUT” and the wife’s car had “GUN NUT2”.
~you have these plates and the Sheriff stops you to ask about finding a part or to sell you a used gun.
~you are Canadian and have the audacity to own a gun.
~you spend more than the cost of a new Glock to travel to the GSSF/Glock matches on the chance that you might win one as well as to shoot at someplace new and different.
~you never miss Monday Night Football because it is reloading night. That’s because you went through a whole week’s ammo the day before, while everyone else was home watching the regular Sunday games.
~you bought a barrel of Garand clips for the Garand your going to buy.
~you bought a mauser 98 barrel and are now looking for an action to which it can be fitted.
~you find a set of 8×57 dies and 3 boxes of brass for a good price and then spend $200 on a Persian Mauser and $99 on a Hakim to shoot the 8×57 reloads with.
~you carry a brush gun like a .35 Remington for close range shots and a .25/06 slung across your back for those long range shots when you have plenty of time.
~you have a Ruger M-77 in 7mm-08 because you had an excess 3X9 by 40 scope.
~you buy a used holster at a show for $5.00, and then spend a few hundred on a gun that fits it.
~you look in your dealer’s used gun case and most of them once belonged to you.
~and you start buying them back.
~take your gun parts to work to do your customizing even though it may get you in trouble.
~you’ve ever conducted dry-fire practice while riding the porcelain ponny.
~if your local dealer comes to your house to shoot rather than the local range.
~if you collect empty cartridges that you can’t use on the off hand chance that you might some day be able to trade them for something that you can use.
~you buy a set of grips for a pistol that you hope to get in the future.
~the dealer knows what you collect and calls you whenever he gets something new in (a Mk IV .455 Webley or anything Brittish).
~you call a friend long-distance just to discuss if a 3 gr. varience in cast bullets will effect accuracy.
~you were the only kid in the 8th grade who know how to field strip an MP40.
~you spend more time at the range on your knees in the bushes looking for corroded .25 ACP cases than shooting?
~you pick up even such useless items as .22 rimfire and steel Berdan primed military cases.
~you know they used those spent .22 cases for guilding material in swaged bullets during WWII.
~you stand next to shooters with semi-automatic firearms with a cardboard box, hoping to catch a few ejected empties.
~you concentrate more on where your .45 ACP cases are landing than on the target.
~you can concentrate on the target because your wife and/or kids chase the brass for you.
~you wander about in front of the firing line in search of that elusive 30/06 case even when others are firing.
~you make trips to the local range on cold, wet days just to search for a few old semi-crushed .38 Specials.
~you worry if you lose just ONE empty when shooting?
~you have cases in your pockets, car, bedroom, kitchen, office and garage at all times.
~your basement looks like an ammo dump.
~you scrounged brass before you ever owned a gun.
~your favorite euphemism for sex is “concealing the weapon,” you just might be a gun nut.
