My Little Pony...

[azredhawk44]

I've been wanting one of these for quite some time. At least 6 years, in some form. Finally decided that I wanted an alloy lightweight about 2 years ago, and held out as long as I could:

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p17/azredhawk44/100_0388.jpg

Colt Lightweight Commander. :D

I don't have time to shoot it until Sunday at the earliest, maybe Monday. But it truly felt "right" in my hand. Even better than my Sig GSR (weird vertical ridge on grip safety).

Rosewood grips on it are breathtaking.

Gotta get a good IWB holster. This gun is screaming for some decent leather... my two IWB's I have right now are kydex (CompTac CTAC and MTAC).

Hooray, me! I now own a true Colt!

[luvsasmith]

Very nice

[David the Gnome]

An excellent gun, it will serve you well for the rest of your life. :)

[Creature]

I like it. All except the full-length recoil spring guide rod. And those serrations near the muzzle. But its a great gun regardless.

[ktmbigfan]

Don't drink all that whiskey & shoot the place up again.:D

[Jason_G]

Don't drink all that whiskey & shoot the place up again.

Yeah. Just so we can ensure your safety, you should send either the Bushmills or the Colt to me. I'll even be nice and let you pick which. :D

Jason

[ElectricHellfire]

Theres a gun in the pic? I was looking at the Whiskey.

Just kidding. Great score on the Colt.

[Officer's Match]

Any day that results in a new Colt in the stable is a good day indeed. Enjoy it in health, sir.

[Jason_G]

Any day that results in a new Colt in the stable is a good day indeed. Enjoy it in health, sir.
Indeed. Salut! ;)

Jason

[dbgun]

AXREDHAWK44,

I just bought my first Colt (Commander XSE Lightwieght, SS. .38super) at the HGCA gun show in houston last month. I finally took out to the lease and put a box of 130 gr, FMJ (Fiocchi) through it. Great gun, you won't regret your purchase, IMO. Enjoy.

[azredhawk44]

I finally got out to shoot it... life's been hectic recently.

Wow, is this a keeper!

I headed off to Ben Avery with my new unfired Colt and:
50 rounds of 230gr FMJ WWB
100 rounds of 230gr LRN reloads
100 rounds of 230gr Berry's plated reloads
50 rounds of 230gr Speer Gold Dot Hollowpoints

I started off at 25 yards with the factory WWB ammo, resting my forearms at the bench and slow fire. I've never claimed to be a great pistol shot... I gave the targets a 6 o'clock hold and let a round go every 5-10 seconds or so. I kept them in a six inch circle, which is good enough for how I shoot. I know I do better with my Sig GSR or my 5.5" Redhawk, but I also have thousands of rounds through them and they have longer sight radii. For my first few magazines through a new gun, I was happy and know there is room for improvement.

Everything after this point was shot with a standing 2 hand hold, at 5 yards / 15 feet. This is intended to be my primary carry gun and I wanted to see how it performed at real defensive distance.

After the WWB, I transitioned to the plated reloads. These immediately struck me as "hotter" than the WWB, which is something I've never noticed before. They were not SAAMI max loads... they were Titegroup, about 0.2gr below max (Titegroup has a 0.4gr variance from min to max loads for 230gr 45acp). Perhaps relative pressures are more apparent from a shorter slide? I don't get this feeling from the larger Sig GSR.

While shooting the reloads, I brought the target in to the closest posts at Ben Avery, 5 yards. I wanted to see how quickly I could bring this gun down from recoil and control double or triple taps. Results were very good.

After about 50 rounds of plated, I switched over to the lead reloads. These were loaded to the same powder charge and OAL as the plated. The Colt ate these like match ammo... it seemed a marriage made in heaven. I was using masking tape to repair my targets, leaving several 3/4 inch squares. I started using these squares as targets. I found I could punch these squares out with 3-4 shots, and watch the tape fall to the ground. The lead also felt "smoother" in the gun when firing. Anyone have any insight into that? It was very odd. I found myself really enjoying how the lead ammo felt though, and I could pick numbers on the target and literally cut them from the paper, making them fall to the ground below.

After about 50 rounds of the lead reloads, I switched to some Gold Dots. The Colt sucked these into its chamber and spit them out with gusto, without a single failure. Gold Dots have a huge hollowpoint design and I've found if a gun will feed the GDHP profile bullets, it will feed anything else you throw at it. This gun passed the test flawlessly.

The only failures encountered appear to be magazine related... I had several failures to feed off of an old magazine I have... the original magazine for my Marlin Camp 45. I also got one failure to feed on one of the 8rd Novack magazines that came with my Sig GSR. Both Colt magazines, a Kimber magazine and a Wilson magazine I have fed 100% reliably.

(Funny thing is, the Camp 45 loves its original mag and hates the Kimber mag. The Sig GSR loves all 4 of my Novacks as does the Camp 45. Everything loves the Wilson Combats, so I think that will be the magazine of choice going forward here.)

Now that I have a feeling for this pistol and it isn't a complete stranger, I'll try shooting from a rested 2-hand position again and see if I can shrink those 25 yard groups down to something that this pistol should merit.

No problems from the FLGR. I brought it home, cleaned it up all pretty again and loaded it with the same GDHP ammo I shot at the range, in the Colt magazines.

[Jason_G]

Sounds like you got a winner. Congratulations. :cool:

Jason

[Playboypenguin]

!911's are things of beauty...and nothing beats Colt...the real deal. :)

[Creature]

I love my Colt Commander...

http://i73.servimg.com/u/f73/12/63/91/01/comman10.jpg

I would sell everything else before I sold her.

[Father Time]

A Colt 1911 and a bottle of Irish whiskey... 2 of my favorite things:cool:

congrats