Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Who carries a Lightweight Commander

size 1911 as their primary CC gun? In all seasons.

What Brand gun?
Caliber?
Factory Loads?
Hand loads?
Practice Loads?
Holsters?

Reasons why on all the above.

Pics are welcome.

Dan Wesson CCO
Carry Load: Factory 230gr Federal Hydroshocks
Practice Load: Factory 230r UMC Ball
IWB Holster

Carry the 1911 about 50% of the time. S&W Mdl 60 for the other half. The days activities seem to dictate. I really like the XS Big dot on my Mdl 60 and 629.

Not a lightweight, but I have a Colt Combat Commander in 9mm. Great gun. But sadly looking to sell it if you are interested.

I only sometimes carry mine.

Usually it is in the summer. In fact I picked it up from another member here off of the fire, and according to them it was from a widow who's husband was a peace officer in Texas. I did a few things to make it more shootable, while leaving the "old school" parts as they were. It is a mix of modern and old, and everyone who has handled the old Colt comments favorably upon it.

It has an S&W revolver rear sight expertly installed into the slide, which was quite common in the 70s. I left that as is. I run a set of Crimson Trace laser grips which was/is a great aid to making hits quickly in low light/indoors.

I also had a full beavertail GS added, along with an S&A magwell and a long solid aluminum trigger.

Mine gets carried in an IWB Milt Sparks rig pretty much exclusively.

Sig CCO. they designate it as a C3. Added a big green fiber front sight and a fusion adjustable rear. Very accurate nice to carry. Mostly carry 230xtp and a 230 truncated flat nose. Doesn't like my favorite bullet the Saeco
#058 but I'll get it to run with it this winter.
Mostly carry appendix but will change to a chest holster when wandering the hills.

These 1st 3 are all LWT commander sized guns & I've carried one of them off & on for several years in a Brommeland IWB holster, however the last 8-9 months I've been carrying a G-19 more & more mainly because of the additional magazine capacity. Carry loads are usually Fed 230 HST's; range loads are 200 gr SWC on top of 6.5 grains of PowerPistol.

Mackay,

It's interesting that you post that Commander...............I have one very similar, but with the steel frame (last pic, below) that I carried for a very long time before I went to LWT frames. That gun is absolutely, 100% reliable & actually quite accurate considering it does not have a fitted bushing & still has the original stock barrel. It feeds the original 190 gr. Super Vel's with a very wide, flat HP, perfectly.

S&W Scandium


Dan Wesson Guardian


Christensen


Colt Combat Commander similar to Mackay's

3 season carry, fall winter spring, in the summer I carry either a PF9 or a Ruger LCP

What Brand gun? Kimber Super Carry Pro
Caliber? 45acp
Factory Loads? Speer 230 GD short barrel
Hand loads?
Practice Loads? Last case was AE 230 hardball
Holsters? Miltsparks VM

I just shoot the 1911 better than a glock and with the magazine limits in the states I travel the magazine capacity advantage of the glock doesn't apply.

Pics are welcome.

What Brand gun?...............................................................................................Colt Wiley Clapp CCO
Caliber?..............................................................................................................45 acp
Factory Loads?................................................................................................. Federal Hydro Shock
Hand loads?......................................................................................................Yes, 200 gr SWC or 230 ball
Practice Loads?................................................................................................Same as above
Holsters?..........................................................................................................Simply Rugged "cuda" ,belt and mag pouch

awesome carry gun, very light, very accurate

I have, during various periods in my nearly 40 years of carrying concealed, carried both lightweight and all-steel Commander sized 1911s. I've carried the Colt true Lightweight Commander, a Kimber version, and an Ed Brown Kobra Carry (all steel). All kinds of hollowpoint choices were carried, such as 230 grain Hydra-Shoks, and lighter faster boutique factory loads. Holsters, when I carried these, were generally Milt Sparks IWB designs.

Nothing wrong with a Commander, but I found that the lightweight ones tended to smack me in the head with spent brass. Don't know why, but every one I tried did that from time to time. The all-steel Kobra Carry didn't do it. Neither did any all-steel, full sized, 1911, which I've also carried during certain periods of time in my life.


Here's the Kobra Carry.



I carried that Ruger Speed Six back in the early 1980s.

MM,

That is quite similar. They remind me of the old Swenson guns.

More often than not, I carry a Glock 9mm of some sort, either a G19/17/34. They simply make sense for a multitude of reasons, and that topic has been beat to death. That said, when the weather gets colder I often carry a .45 of some flavor. Today it is a 4506. It shoots like a match gun, and is nice and flat like a 1911.

not a light weight, but a Series 70 Combat Commander. It's had a lot of work, and I have carried it for years. Close to perfect.

Daily since 1980.

Gun #1 from 1980-2007
1952 Colt Commander. BarSto barrel, Colt Ambi-safety, MMC white crossbar front sight with W/O rear, Vedici trigger. I was born in 1952 and just happened to buy the gun from a co-worker. As to why the Commander, just carries and points like nothing else.

.38 Super. Found I could shoot faster and better over a .45...far less recoil even with hot loads.

Carry Load:
From 1980-the early 1990s when CorBon brought out their line of .38 Super I carried a handload of a 115 grain Sierra JHP going mid-1400s. When CorBon brought out the exact same load I carried it until the mid-2000s when I switched to CorBon PowR'Ball. Reason for switching is that I was having the occasional FTF with the very flat Sierra HP.

Practice Competition Loads: 124 grain Hornady TC or the same in a hardcast. When the changeover to 100 grain PowR'Ball occurred then changed to the Berry's 100 grain RN-HB bullet to duplicate the recoil and POI of the factory load.

Holsters:
Rarely carried the gun in a holster. Just stuck the gun in the wasitband support side butt forward. That is how it got carried 99% of the time for 27 years. When a holster was used it was a Bianchi Askins Avenger.





10 rounds at 10 yards...after 25 years of being carried and shot






Gun #2 from 2007 till right now
1952 Colt Commander. Found at a gun show and in 2006 had it customized by Jody Joseph at JoJo's in Connecticut. Same as gun #1 but has a Officers ACP hook type grip safety, MMC Tactical Adjustable Night Sights and full hard chrome finish by Accurate Plating.

.38 Super...worked for 27 years why change a good thing.

Carry Load: CorBon PowR'Ball from 2007 till last year. Now have the magazine inter-spaced with 90 grain Underwood Xtreme Defender. PB runs 1530 fps and the Defender 1560.

Practice Ammo: Same...reload with Berry's plated 100 grain RN-HB

Holsters:
Started off with none but a problem developed in that the new night sight has a sharp corner the wore a hole under the left pocket of my jeans. Wore a Bianchi #6 for many years but the Mr. Chamberlain posted about the REMORA holsters and I have been using them ever since. I do also now often carry the gun in a DeSantis Speed Scabbard. Switched from the Askins Avenger because the holster is available for almost all my guns and it sits just slightly lower on the belt.

Lot of nice guns here.

The commanders size seems to be a happy medium for some. Good calibers, full size magazines, less weight, reliable barrel length without being picky on ammo and most important to me is the thin profile. Good for IWB and shoulder rigs. Goods ones are very accurate.

smith PC Commander here....

Years back I carried a Series 70 Lwt. Commander and once for a short time I packed a Kimber version. Carry load was always the best 230 gr. hollow point at the time. I did dally with the 200 gr. Speer Flying Ashtray for awhile also. Practice ammo was usually either 200 gr. SWC or standard 230 gr. ball. I really like that genre of 1911!

I've carried a LW Commander as my primary CCW in one brand or another for most of the past 25 years. I started out with a original 1970's Series Colt LW in 45 acp, a 1960 year of mfd Colt in 38 super LWC, and several different Kimber Commanders, and a couple of Springfields and Les Baers.

That being said, I probably only carry a LWC 1911 60 % of the time nowadays. When I'm working at the Ranch or running errands in town, carrying a 1911, and a BUG of some type, I feel pretty well healed. As of late, I've been packing a brand new Kimber Custom Carry Model full size 1911 in .45 with a lightweight alloy frame. I find I can conceal it just as well as any of my Commanders, and the extra barrel length is easier for me to shoot. It's got night sights and a set of Crimson Trace Laser grips. And I love it.
When it's light jacket weather here in TX, it rides in a Galco Concealable OWB holster or a Galco Miami Classic Shoulder holster. Both work great for CC with a jacket or a vest. And for carry loads, I prefer the Speer Gold Dot 230 gr JHP.

The other 40 % of the time, I've gone back to carrying my old faithful Glock 32 in 357 sig, when traveling to the big cities like Houston, DFW, San Antonio, or Austin, due to the increased threat of a possible Muslim attack and all the BLM bullschitt.

EDCs are either a Colt Wiley Clapp CCO 45 ACP or a Ruger SR1911 LWT Commander now in 9x23 Winchester.

Carry loads in the Colt is Federal 230 grain HST +P. For Ruger Winchester factory 9x23 JSP loads with the bullets replaced with Speer 125 grain GDHP 357 Sigs. MVs for the 9x23 loads run about 1475 fps from the Commander bbl.

Single dot tritium RS and HD Trijicon FS on both pistols, both carried in a MS Criterion IWB.

Nice shot Hunts

230gr HST +P and 9 x 23 ?

That's is some serious firepower. Do you use shock buffers in the aluminum frames?