Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Colt Commander

...no, it is really Hell in that I can never decide which one to take out and shoot... I get confused, fustrated and then just don't go....

Bob

That's quite a problem you have there.

Ditto ! E

Why do ou need adjustable rear sight on a Colt's 45 Semi-auto? Within 25 yards the target is stopped. 230 grain full jacket bullet get's the target's hurt going on. The speed of a 45 hollow point is not enough to open up to do much more than a full jacket. Who cares when one is shooting a .45 thousandths of and inch projectile. The target is going to lose fluids and tissue.

After 25yards one best be having projectiles flying towards oneself. Then one get's a slug shotgun or a highpower rifle or a very good Lawyer. One does not go into a shotgun/rifle fight that is past 25 yards with a handgun if one can not find cover or dial 911 for backup. If one is shooting past 25 yards; one will have to reallyyyyyy explain why one shot at the target past 25 yards, in a Court of Law.
..

Don't you mean 45 one-hundredths of an inch?

I much prefer fully adjustable sights on all of my handguns because one never knows just what use I may have for them, what load I may choose to use, or what kind of shot I'll need to make. Getting that particular load to shoot just where I point that thing can be very important, even on the street.
That said, my "house gun," thanks to modern laser based sighting gear, shoots it's new fixed sights dead on at 25 yds. with my choice of 230 HP load.
Modern .45 ACP ammo expands and much improves the killing power of the .45 ACP round over all of the FMJ stuff. BTDT.
As far as the rest of your post, it really makes no sense to me. E

I know lusting is a sin, but those gorgeous Colts have me drooling away!! Very nice collection!

Sight picture, for one reason. Bomars offer an excellent sight picture, one that should be copied by all makers. The adjustability is useful for different loads, but mostly for sight picture. There are some fixed sights available that offer something "close", MGW sold one, and I think Wilson does, but as far as I'm concerned, nothing is better, and most all the others flat-out suck in comparison.

99...I generally agree with you as to "fixed" sights on 1911 CarryGuns. The only two of the above guns that get carried daily are the #1 blue Commander and it's replacement the #5 full hard chrome. #1 was carried from 1980 to 2007. After #5 was built and tested it took over the duties because of the almost impossible to rust finish and the MMC Tactical Adjustable Nights sights.

The sights on #1 are the MMC Classics which is a very compact rear fixed sight with white outline and a ramp front sight with a white line and cross pattern. Very easy to pick up with the eye under low light conditions. They were installed on the gun with no modification and if you look several of the other Commanders also have those same sights.

The sights on the #5 require a Novak cut be made to the slide and look like a Novak on steroids...they are drift adjustable for windage and click adjustable for elevation. The pattern is Bar-Dot-Bar and I find it much faster than three dot sights. What is nice is that the rear blade is protected by wings so it has all the durability of a fixed sight but one can fine tune if one has to change loads. With fixed night sights one can not trim a front blade to obtain perfect POA/POI like one can with a plain blade ramp.

The two-tone #7 gun with BoMars is the gun I usually use when teaching CC classes. It has a tritium dot just on the front sight as does stainless gun #6. The #6 gun is being worked on for a field carry gun to give the #5 gun so time off. Also I carry 100 grain CorBon Pow'R Ball ammo for CC in the #1 and #5 guns and want a heavier bullet for field carry.

The #3 gun with the bolt-on Novak was a GM size Colt Custom .38 Super in high polish stainless...I am just not much of a GM shooter so it went down the road. The #4 gun is a Super Elite that saw a lot of IPSC Competition work from 1986-1995 when I stopped shooting IPSC. It is outfitted with 9mm and 9x23 barrels as well as a 7" Super barrel that also shoots 9x23 like it was made for it..well into the 1500s velocity wise.

The bottom picture is my friend's gun...a new .38 Super XSE Commander with an extra Nowlin 9mm barrel and Fusion adjustable night sights. A great carry gun...

Bob

ps...thanks for the compliments on the "collection"...it started in 1980 and is about done...just a little tweaking on a few of the guns is left.

Spanokopitas, if it's an aluminum frame Commander you might put a new recoil spring in it. I believe the 19 or 20 pound spring is what is recommended these days. It will improve the durability of the aluminum frame. Other than that, maybe some better sights and a trigger job and then enjoy it.

I think you have a lot of preconceived notions. Things evolve quickly and as much as some people would prefer them to be in nice and neat packages, with lots of defining characteristics, the reality of it is that things can go from a fistfight in a living room to throwing shots in the street or a field in nothing flat.

Last night, I had an unexpected and unknown threat that I needed to cover with the issued sidearm I was wearing. I ended up being on the outside of the "Internet fact-25 yard zone". No lawyers were needed.

Very early this morning I was covering a K9 officer and another uniformed officer from a position where I was tucked back into some bushes at the edge of a yard. This time, I was using an issued M4 type carbine. I was actually just inside 25 yards. Yard lines don't mean much to me. Having the ability to put my projectiles exactly where I want them do. If I can get fixed factory sights to hit where I aim at the range I want them to, I will be glad to use them. If not, a heavy duty set of adjustables is in order. To each their own.

Fortunately in each of these situations from last nights shift, a seasoned officer's demeanor and people skills kept potentially ugly situations from going south.

In May I was involved in an Officer involved shooting, that was just officially cleared in the last 48 hours. I was not the shooter, just present during the incident. It involved victims being shot in a house, a car chase, spikes deployed, a subject threatening to shoot up a local hospital,etc, etc. It violated many of the absolutes that people adamantly believe.

You don't get the fight you want, with the tools you prefer. You just get what you get, then deal with it.

Great looking pistols by the way!

Cheers all!

Lots of info to digest. Mine is a steel frame. Now I'm leaning towards adjustable sights.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=296291


You might take a peek at this sight set, you'd have the sight picture of the incomparable Bomars, and the strength of a good fixed sight. Some "purists" don't like the overhang off the back of the slide, but it helps a lot. I like the MMCs noted a few posts back, too, but this sight fairly leaps at you. Nice.

I opened up the dovetail of a Browning HP and put a set of these sights on it. Made an excellent gun even better.
I like a dovetailed front sight much better than the staked-in jobs, but both work, the dovetailed sights just stay there longer.....