From the Detonics Combat Master to Now: All things 1911 Subcompact-ish...

[FNFAN]

I have had three Combat Masters, 2 blue and 1 SS. Agree with those who suggest the recoil spring needs care at about the 500 round mark. Also the mags are more sensitive to any debris and the mag springs need to be top notch in order to keep serving rounds on these fast cycling guns. All 3 of mine were reliable, one needed the feed ramp polished in order to feed the 'Flying Ashtray' jhp's popular back then. I never felt I had the right holster dialed in and found carrying a lightweight Commander more comfortable. All three were very accurate little guns!

[JSGlock34]

The Detonics Combat Master does get some 80s style points.



Not sure it'd be a great ankle gun though...



The new Staccato CS has similar vibes in a modern package.

[JAD]

I don’t have direct experience with <4” guns; a buddy has a well aged defender that works great, another a C&S Adventurer that… works.

I find the Dan Wesson CCO to be the best balance of shootability and AIWB comfort of any pistol ever. Carried it all day today, shot multiple classes with it, just bought a duplicate to put a dot on.

[1911Nut]

I have a Colt Series 80 Officer’s ACP pistol. It was built by Wardell Precision in Phoenix, who at that time was listed as one of "American Handgunner" magazine's "Top 100 Pistolsmiths". It has a match barrel, custom checkering, custom trigger, titanium firing pin, custom Woolf springs, custom extractor and ejector, Gunsite stocks, and Trijicon night sights (which are almost burned out now).

I actually had good luck regarding functionality with this pistol as long as I stayed with 230 grain round nose hard cast or jacketed bullets. Haven't shot it in a few years, as it was too heavy for an EDC. But when I purchased it, there was far, far fewer EDC gun options.

Coincidentally, I purchased this pistol in Phoenix about a year or so following the purchase of a Government Model 1911 built by Tom Kilhofer of TK Customs. I had the OACP pistol for a few months before I discovered that it had an identical serial number as the GM, differing only in that one pistol has an "SS" prefix and the other a "SF" prefix in their otherwise identical serial numbers.

[Evil_Ed]

Supposedly, Metalform may still make magazines - they made the magazines for the Arizona and Georgia built guns. A call to them may reveal if their 6-round mags are Detonics sized or not.

Triple K also makes Detonics magazines and has them listed. Undoubtedly the springs and followers are trash but what you really want is the flush-fitting magazine body. Fill it with a Wolff mag spring and a good Metalform follower (for an Officer's Model) and see if it runs.

I have zero doubts that the springs, followers AND mag body from the Triple-K mag are trash..I've never gotten a mag from them that was in spec in just about any dimension. Annoyingly they're not exactly cheap enough to do a whole lot of testing with, either.

Wilson sells their "Sentinel" magazines which are allllllmost the correct size...slight tiny gap, but it fits way better than an Officer's size mag.

I bought a few of the Metalforms back when the last run of guns happened in Pendegrass GA - I haven't seen them since. Their primary difference from the factory mags, were that on the Metalforms the baseplate was flush with the rear of the mag and the follower did not stick out of the bottom. The "factory" mags (also clearly made by Metalform), the baseplates were not flush with the rear, and a fully loaded mag had a little stub of it's follower sticking out of the bottom. If Metalform is still making them, then they're not listing or advertising them...I've been looking for more for a decade+ now. Not to say that they don't - they might be able to spin up a batch for a bulk purchase, which could explain why there's none out there - would you want to be on the hook for a large quantity (figure minimum of a thousand) of Detonics magazines...which if you're lucky you might sell in a decade? Oof

[SAWBONES]

I find the Dan Wesson CCO to be the best balance of shootability and AIWB comfort of any pistol ever.

I have had similar experience with a Colt CCO; maybe not the best possible option, but certainly one of the best in .45ACP, and I carried mine daily for years.

[fatdog]

personal datapoints

-Late 80's, bought the Colt Officer, 45 ACP never got it to run, two different gunsmiths could not cure it
-Colt Defender, 45 ACP after about 500 rounds it was running fine, but I got to believing the short barrel did not make most JHP's work as intended and dumped it
-Dan Wesson CCO, 45 ACP ran flawlessly, just not my thing, sold it to a friend
-Dan Wesson ECO 9mm, ran flawlessly as well, sold it, just seemed too heavy, bulky, sharp edges when loaded for 8+1 compared to the other options

The Dan Wesson CCO really liked Nighthawk branded magazines which were really 7 round ACT magazines, those worked just fine, but I had problems with the 7 round 45 ACP Wilson mags in that gun. Factory mags ran fine.

I was always tempted by the Detonics, but never talked to anybody I met who had one who claimed it ran and they trusted it.

[Evil_Ed]

personal datapoints

-Late 80's, bought the Colt Officer, 45 ACP never got it to run, two different gunsmiths could not cure it
-Colt Defender, 45 ACP after about 500 rounds it was running fine, but I got to believing the short barrel did not make most JHP's work as intended and dumped it
-Dan Wesson CCO, 45 ACP ran flawlessly, just not my thing, sold it to a friend
-Dan Wesson ECO 9mm, ran flawlessly as well, sold it, just seemed too heavy, bulky, sharp edges when loaded for 8+1 compared to the other options

The Dan Wesson CCO really liked Nighthawk branded magazines which were really 7 round ACT magazines, those worked just fine, but I had problems with the 7 round 45 ACP Wilson mags in that gun. Factory mags ran fine.

I was always tempted by the Detonics, but never talked to anybody I met who had one who claimed it ran and they trusted it.

Sample size of one, but the two Detonics I had and bought to the range (the stainless one above, and a MkVII which I moved on) - both of those would run, feed, extract, and eject just fine - so long as the mag springs were up to speed. I haven't had that blued one to the range yet, even though I've been sitting on it for the last year or so

The stainless one above I used for a carry piece for a long time - the only real maintenance I needed to perform was swapping out mag springs in carry mags every 3-6 months. The Wolff springs would take a set after a while and just not feed the rounds fast enough for the slide's cycle speed; that was really it's biggest hangup, for me.

Again, sample size of 1...if you find a used one, especially with the 3 spring setup, the recoil springs are probably fine - they should last the life of the gun. Swap out the mag springs first thing for all the mags you have, and give it a shot. Can't speak for the 2 spring setup that came about after the original Detonics was sold and moved to AZ..

Edit to add - the stainless one above - ran both ball and 230gr ball-shaped JHPs (like Golden Sabre) - I haven't tried HST through it...I should do that some time. The MkVII I only ran ball through it.

[RevolverRob]

Because I am a Spherical Cow Slaughterer:

[Glock17JHP]

Seattle made, 1 mag w/weak spring (mag was loaded for extended period). Sent for 3 Wolff mag springs. Recoil spring still very strong ! ! !