Government length 9mm vs Commander length 9mm

[farscott]

Thanks for your reply! I stay with .45 ACP for traditional 1911's but the 9x23 and the .38 Super seem to run well and are in the range of about 4mm longer you mentioned. For 9mm 1911-esque guns I go to the EDC X9.

I am much the same, preferring the EDC X9 in 1911-pattern pistols in 9x19. That being said, the 9x19 is so seductive. It just never delivers on its promises.

I think Colt was onto something with the original Commander slide with the lightening cuts. I find it telling that Colt's original design for the Commander was in 9x19 with the slide cuts on each side of the disconnect rail so that the extractor was visible. I assume Colt had a good reason for the extra machining operations needed to remove mass from the slide. It could have been just to make a weight target (the spec for the 1949 RFQ included a 25 ounce weight limit), but I believe it was to also increase slide speed. I remember Commanders and Combat Commanders chambered in .45 ACP with the lightening cuts.

[Joe in PNG]

It's one of the reason I picked up a Hipower.

[Robinson]

I've gone down the 9mm 1911 road a few times. Most of my guns were Commander-size Colts, and for the most part they ran okay. For a carry gun, the Commander length makes more sense for a 9mm gun IMO.

Now I stick with 45 and 38 Super. If I want to shoot 9mm it will be in a gun designed for the cartridge.

[FNFAN]

It's one of the reason I picked up a Hipower.

I love the Hipower. To get anywhere close to the right span between trigger & backstrap for my hand size I had to use a covered backstrap and none of the grips that do that felt good or look right. I gave my little Bro the T-Series family heirloom and my son my .40 Hi-Po. He's got similar hand size but it's not his primary gun so he's quite happy to bang away with it from time to time. Were my hands smaller I would have bought a pair of Novak's and called it good!

[Joe in PNG]

I love the Hipower. To get anywhere close to the right span between trigger & backstrap for my hand size I had to use a covered backstrap and none of the grips that do that felt good or look right. I gave my little Bro the T-Series family heirloom and my son my .40 Hi-Po. He's got similar hand size but it's not his primary gun so he's quite happy to bang away with it from time to time. Were my hands smaller I would have bought a pair of Novak's and called it good!

Mine fits me well enough. I still get a bit of a nip from the hammer, but it's not that bad.

[SW CQB 45]

I onced owned a DW Valkryrie 9mm Alloy Commander. A+ on carry all day, low recoil, superb accuracy/reliability, fast follow up shots.

D+ on the mags.

CMC 10s were great 9 round mags. 10 rounds was a bich to seat. I sent my mags back and they sent me new bodys.... still hard to seat. I cut some spring coils which seemed to improve.
WC were hard to load and strip the latter rounds
Tripps were the exact opposite. The top round was sliding out.
Metalform 9, the top round would slide out of the mag.

If the mag never left the gun.... A+.

if you did a tac reload, it would strip off the top round in the mag as friction caused it to move forward.
if you had to down load a mag by hand, the nose of the round would dip.

I fixed my problem by switching to 45acp.

Seriously, the gun ran fine.... I prefer dealing with .45 mags.

Nice gun but I sold it. The front strap checkering ate away the plastic mag base pads on the CMC mags, which caused an over insertion.

[Lon]

My last 1911 was an STI Spartan IV (Commander length) in 9mm. Ran like a scalded dog with any 9mm I fed it using Wilson 10rd mags. Shot the Single Stack Nationals w it in ‘15. Good times.

[Tokarev]

My last 1911 was an STI Spartan IV (Commander length) in 9mm. Ran like a scalded dog with any 9mm I fed it using Wilson 10rd mags. Shot the Single Stack Nationals w it in ‘15. Good times.

I made A class Limited 10 shooting a 9mm 1911. Fun gun!

Sent from my SM-A505U using Tapatalk

[JAD]

Just for fun, I typed up my favorite to least favorite currently owned* 1911s. Looking at it, I think that the message to me is there's no reason to screw around with 9mm, and that the steel GM and LWC will always tie for my two favorite guns.

2012 Dan Wesson CCO .45: Gets carried a lot. Wearing it now under a polo in an SME in a moderately NPE. Absolute confidence in its reliability and my ability to place good hits quickly with it.
2005 Colt LWC .38: Moderately customized by Wilson. Delightful to shoot. Doesn't always lock back, I should replace the mag release, but other than that is 100%. Gets carried a lot particularly in winter.
1968 Colt LWC .45: Worked over as a 'retro' by MARS. A little painful to shoot and won't run FGM, runs everything else and is a cool gun. Gets carried a lot.
2016 Wilson Commander .45: Beautiful gun, shoots very well. The steel frame makes it hard to prefer versus the aluminum guns. Should sell.
2014 Springfield Range Officer 9x19: I've shot it a lot and it's pretty fun, but I'm not learning much by playing with it. It hasn't been out to play since 2015. Never carried.
2018 Dan Wesson Pointman Carry 9x19: Seems like a very nice gun. Only 100 rounds through it -- it was silly for me to buy another steel 9x19 and I should sell it.

* Technically owned but off the list for the moment is a 1982 Series 70, at MARS becoming an AXIOM (still). I sincerely hope and expect it to rise to the top and be the winter carry gun.

Previously owned 1911s include a 1998 Springfield MilSpec that I won at an IDPA match and traded for a J frame, which was stupid; a 98 LWC .45 which was customized at Robar and was the nicest gun I've ever owned, given as a groom's gift in 2006; and a 98 Kimber Custom Classic that was given to a friend in need a couple years ago after achieving a high five figure round count and convincing me that carrying a steel GM is a) not that hard and b) worth it.

[awp_101]

This is not inspiring confidence in my plan to grab a blem Dan Wesson Vigil when the funds get freed up...😳