I acquired a never fired 80s vintage Colt 1911 Combat Commander. When you pull the slide back it does not travel far enough to the rear for the slide lock to engage (probably a little more than a 1/16th of an inch short of the cut in the slide. I disassembled multiple times, cleaned, lubricated and everything appears normal. There are no rough edges, spring appears proper length and construction. I have had these apart many times, but I did consult a field strip video and a disassembly schematic just to ensure I did not miss something.

I am by no means an expert but merely a shooter. This could very well be from the factory and I have yet to swap slides from another pistol. Looking for ideas and options to try from the real experts out there.

I will bring to a qualified gunsmith or send in to Colt if all else fails.

Nothing good to say about Colt’s. Not surprised.

Thanks for the input.

You have experience with Colts I take it.

Is this an issue you have seen from the factory they could potentially remedy?

Larsline, I do not know if this is your trouble but it might be. A number of years ago when I lived in Los Angeles, a good friend of mine bought a new 80s vintage Colt 1911 Combat Commander from B&B Gun Sales in North Hollywood.. He called me later and described the same problem to me. I went to his house and examined his new Colt. It was apparent the factory had milled the slide lock notch about 1/8" too far forward on the slide and he could not get it to lock back, just as you mentioned.

The next day, he returned it to B&B. They gave him another new Colt Combat Commander. He made sure the slide would lock back before accepting it.

That might be your problem. Good luck.

L.W.

Colt certainly isn't immune from screwing thing up now and then. A buddy of mine bought one of those satin nickeled Combat Commanders back in the late '70s, and he was pretty mad when he tried to shoot it. It simply wouldn't feed anything at all. His father, who was an old retired Special Forces guy and knew his way around a 1911 starting looking closer at it. While the slide was marked .45ACP, the breechface was milled for the 9mm/.38 Super. No wonder it wouldn't work! Yes, it DID have a .45 barrel) .Some work on a mill fixed all that, but Pete wasn't a solid Colt guy after that. His dad had built him a Crown City/Colt slide gun previously, and I think he went back to that homebuilt pistol.
I've had S&W revolvers with the wrong markings on them, myself, as have others I know about. A Ruger Tanger 77 I had was sent out of the factory with a Magnum extractor in it, rather than the needed one for standard cartridges (.30/06, in that case).

Those are a small sample of screwups caused by major gunmakers that I know about personally. I'm sure there are a heckuva lot more out there.
'

Will it go back far enough to lock without the barrel and bushing installed? What about with the barrel and bushing but no recoil spring plug? Also, I assume it doesn’t have a shock buff on the recoil spring guide rod.

AND make sure it's got a Commander length recoil spring plug, a Gov't model plug is too long and that would cause your issues, too.

Yep, that’s what really needs to be checked. It is probably something simple like that. Could be from the factory or someone swapping stuff around.

Check for too long a recoil spring as well. A fully compressed spring (coil bind) becomes a steel tube and can cause big trouble. Just assemble without the spring and see what you have.

Commander spring is different than a gov spring. Don’t shoot it until the problem is resolved. Likely a spring or plug.

Thank you for the tips. All good.
I have other commander length that I will compare to.
I will tear down tomorrow and let you know what I find.
My father is a SOG guy from the Vietnam era also that I saw was mentioned above. Those guys know their way around most all weapons and he looked it over a couple times but we did not physically measure any of the components.

Lotta good tips here.

Strip the slide.
Put the stripped slide on the frame, put the slide stop in.
Will it go now?

If not, your notch is probably wrong.

If so, pull it apart, put in barrel and bushing.
Try it on frame.

If it don't work, barrel/bushing is causing an issue.

It it does.

Tear it back apart, try putting the spring assembly in.

Part by part untill it won't work, then you know what caused the issue.

I did just as suggested above and found that either from the factory or exchanged by the previous owner, the recoil spring guide rod was longer than the commander length.
I ordered a new one along with new upgraded spring and complete guide rod kit. Should fix the issue and get it out shooting.
Thank you for the help and “things” I should have thought of on my own; another set of eyes and experience really helps sometimes.

I am glad you figured it out. Always go with the least expensive "fix" first, and sometimes, usually, in fact, that'll clear things up.

I had a feeling it was the guide rod. Glad you have it sorted out. It can happen, especially if cleaning a Commander and a 1911 at the same time.

OK gents.
I replaced the guide rod with a new Wilson Combat 1 piece (long, full length) guide rod in commander length. Still the same issue.
I purchased at the same time a short guide rod (Wilson Combat but same as commander factory length). Gun still has the same issue.
I can put the slide and barrel on and locks back with no issue. I put any of the 3 guide rods in and the slide will not travel to the rear far enough. I will try and post some pictures but this site is not very intuitive for posting pics.
Any help is appreciated.

Is there a recoil guide buffer? When these get old, they get hard and can prevent slide lock. Wolfe Springs, I think specifically says no buffers.

Are you sure you have a commander spring and recoil plug?

Positive on the commander length, I removed the recoil buffer.

How are you determining the recoil spring is Commander length?

And, are you sure that you are using the Commander length (shorter) recoil spring plug?

MM

You don’t have anything weird like a Dwyer group gripper in the gun, do you?

It sounds like you have a full length guide rod right now and a spring of indeterminate origin. If you have a gov spring in a commander you can get spring stack and the spring goes solid.

If it was mine I would order a commander recoil spring plug, commander short guide rod, and new commander spring. That should solve your problem.

ETA, these parts total $31 all in at Midway right now.

Yep.

MM

Curiosity would be getting me- if he has replacement springs coming there would be no harm in trying cutting coils off his current one?

Is this a dumb thought ?


Mind blowing to think a misplaced slide-stop cut out could leave a factory or, truth be told, sold by a shop.

That couldn't happen. The slide stop has to thread the barrel link while the barrel lugs are locked into the slide. There's just no way the pistol could be assembled.

If a recoil spring going solid is suspected remove the spring and see if the slide goes all the way back.

I guess just measuring factory springs from other commander length I own and new in the package springs I have purchased but found some good info here about spring length.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/recoil-spring-check.82587/

So i learned something on the springs. I am guessing this is what you were alluding to.
The puzzling part is the guide rod situation.

I did not see the second page of comments. I ordered new Wilson Combat full length 1 piece guide in commander length, 2 piece guide rod in commander length, commander spring set (heavy and standard or light), recoil spring plug and commander short guide rod. All are in my hands after the first page and round of messages and tried all of the new parts with the same issue.

The slide locks into place with just the barrel installed. When I add any of the guide rod hardware it will not lock the slide lock, that goes for stock hardware (new colt unfired) and new Wilson Combat hardware purchased.

No group gripper either, the 2 piece rod is the only thing for grouping that I thought I would try just to see if it works. I am just gaining a box of 1911 parts is all that is happening.

As far as knowing everything is proper length/size for the gun-I have multiple other commanders and government models I have disassembled to check length of guide rods, spring plugs, springs, etc. along with ordering new in the box parts from a reputable source.

Thank you for your help. I know its difficult when you do not have it your hands to diagnose.

You & we are missing something................if what you are saying is really correct, & your parts are truly correct, this just doesn't make any sense.

Since you say that with the slide & barrel only, it will move back far enough, re-confirm that, then add the short GI type recoil guide & spring w/o a spring plug & see if it goes back.

If not, your problem is the guide or spring; if it does go all the way, then you have an issue with the spring plug.

(It goes w/o saying that you need to be sure that the barrel link is in the correct position.)

Then get back to us.

But you're right, not having hands on the gun makes it near impossible.

MM

Every Colt I ever have bought has come with a fired case in a little yellow envelope. Tells me it was fired .

It sounds like the frame tunnel for the recoil spring guide might be cut wrong. If you have another Commander or two around, have you compared the cut inside the frame for the recoil spring and guides? As I pointed out in an earlier post, Colt ain't perfect, and they might have cut the frame incorrectly (for a 5" gun) and that would bugger things up as you're describing. It would be a rarity of high magnitude, but it's possible. I can't honestly think of anything else it could be.

I''d also compare the ejector position, in case they mucked that up, but it shouldn't cause the issue you're describing.

I don't think that would do it. All of the parts in question are assembled in the slide. A completely assembled slide can be taken off the pistol (carefully) by just by pulling the slide stop - similar to pulling the slide of most any semi auto. Removing the bushing first just takes the compression out of the recoil spring.

So it would be able to lock back when the barrel and bushing are installed, the slide stop is inserted through the link, and no recoil spring, guide rod, or plug is installed? If so, try the following (all with barrel and bushing installed and slide stop inserted):

1. Install short guide rod and no spring or plug. Does it lock back?
2. Install short guide rod with spring (no plug). Does it lock back?
3. Install only plug. You may have to fiddle with it (point gun down) to keep it in place. Does it lock back?
4. Install plug and short guide rod (no spring). You may have to fiddle with the plug to keep it in place (point gun down). Does it lock back?

Also, are you sure it has the shorter Commander bushing in it?

Thank you for the help. It was as simple as K1500 put it. It had the wrong barrel bushing for a commander length that I had overlooked. I installed a new one and works perfectly. I got a couple of nice upgrades out of this and learned a lesson tha tNIB or un-fired does not mean it has not been taken apart or messed with.
Thank you for the patience, insight and help.
Kyle

Glad you got it straightened out. It is always frustrating when a gun isn’t working well. Now let us know how it shoots.

Great. Always good when the fix is easy................yes, there is a significant different in the length of the 2 bushings.

MM

Great news!

Used to listen to a radio mechanic show, people would call in with a problem.
When he suggested the solution, they would disagree. Saying,
"It can't be that, I just put a new one on!"


His reply was always, "You know what new means? Never, Ever Worked."
New just means different, it doesn't guarantee that it works.