I've been looking forward to the Ruger Lightweight Commander 1911 since I bought my first 5" steel SR1911 back in '11. I got the first one through the door at my local shop this afternoon, and I'm happy and impressed. The fit and finish out of the box are excellent: no burrs or sharp edges where they're not supposed to be, and the machining is crisp and the finish tasteful. Barrel to slide lockup is tight, and barrel to frame fit is smooth with just a bit of sideways wobble when the slide is down which is just fine by me.

It was nice weather this afternoon so I went to the range. I dry fired the gun a few dozen times, sprayed it with Ballistol (it came from Ruger pretty dry) and loaded up the two 7-round magazines Ruger had included. Long story short, 100 rounds of 230gr FMJ (Winchester white box) went down the pipe and there were no failures of any kind. The sights are right on at 10 yards, and once I adapted my hold to the very slim factory grips I was able to hold pretty decent groups given the sights (three dot Novak's: quality pieces but I can't stand dots on a rear sight). The only bobble from the gun was a slight loosening of the grip panels, but a quick twist with a hex bit solved that issue. The grooves on the front strap, while not as grabby as checkering, are pretty good at settling the gun down and by the end of the range session they'd worn a bit of a welt on the third finger of my right (gun) hand.

All in all a nice lightweight Commander at an afforable price. If you're in the market for one, it'll be hard to beat. Unlike comparable Kimbers, it has the standard guide rod and the Series 70 fire control system, both of which I prefer over the Kimber/Swartz and full-length guide rods of the Kimber Commanders.

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