How are these? I’m looking for a quality railed 45 and saw one of these locally and liked it and the price is fair. I want a TRP Operator to match my 10mm but I’m not going to pay $600+ over retail for one.

Other than the barrel length, how are these compared to the TRP? Will it handle shooting underwood +P?


*Range Update*:

I swapped the factory grips out for some VZ Operator 2's that were on sale and are actually marked Dan Wesson too, I believe they're the grips that come on some of the Specialists. I took it to the range and shot it with those grips and a TLR-7A (not much weight). All I have to shoot is the 185gr +P JHP Underwood ammo and overall it ran great. Considering that tighter 1911's like these tend to have a 500 round break in period and 185gr JHP's are iffy in 1911's I think it did really great.

I tried Wilson ETM HD/+P mags, Wilson 47D's, Wilson 10rd mags, and the DW factory mags. Any of the mags if I released the slide by hand would fail to feed but the slightest bump or flicking the gun forward would feed it and go into battery. Releasing with the slide release it always went home dropping it on a fresh mag. On one of the 10rd Wilson mags it failed to feed twice while shooting it, again didn't take hardly anything to go forward, but the gun stopped. This was towards the end of shooting it and I ran one more 10rd mag through it that was a different mag and it ran fine. I'm comfortable chalking the feeding from a fresh mag to most likely a combination of being new tight mags, a new tight gun, and the bullets, but the mag that malfunctioned twice while shooting I think is probably a dud.

With 47D's it did lock back but it didn't fully engage the lever on the slide. The first mag it actually dropped the slide when I released the mag because of how little it was engaged. This isn't uncommon with these on the faster running shorter slides especially with +P so I'll just stick to the ETM HD's and the 10's since they seem to be fine.

The brass bead front sight sucks ass. I don't know who thought that was a good idea especially on something intended as a carry gun. It will be getting the Trijicon front that Ed Brown sells and the aftermarket rear U notch with tritium. The factory rear is good but I'd rather have tritium to satisfy my OCD even though I'll likely never carry this gun.

With this ammo the gun was a handful and the grips were a little too stabby (well beyond grippy) for how much it recoils. I may put the factory grips on, I may explore options, or I may just deal with it since I likely won't be shooting it a whole lot and hopefully one day can find 230gr FMJ for a reasonable price.

If I was going to carry it I would definitely do the full break in or otherwise iron out the initial feeding issue before I'd carry it. It was fun to shoot though, it was very accurate, and overall I'm happy with the gun.

Just be well aware, the TCP is an aluminum frame.

Can you elaborate more on this?  I'm also interested in this pistol and loved the feel of it.  I will be buying one one day.

The OP was asking about durability comparison between TCP and a TRP.  TCP has an aluminum frame, TRP has steel frame.

It's my favorite pistol (mine is in 9mm). Dead reliable, shoots wonderfully, you can carry it if you'd like, light rail gives it addtl capability particularly as a carry or duty weapon.

Worth every penny in my mind. Happy to answer any specific questions you have. I don't beat on this pistol as I do some of my others, but I also don't baby it. Haven't had any abnormal wear issues in the 5k or so rounds I've put through it - it does not see much +p, for context.

Well I ended up doing paperwork on it. Can’t wait to get it to the range. All I’ve got for it is Underwood 185gr +P so hopefully it likes it.

I loved the way it felt in my hand and pointed. I think with a small light like a TLR-7 it’s going to balance great. I doubt I’ll carry it since I have better options for carry, but I think it would make a good carry gun if I ever did.

My favorite aspect of the pistol is how it points and balances. With a light, it's a perfect, neutral feel in the hand. Not at all nose heavy. Add in the classic 1911 grip angle and commander length slide, and you have a pistol that is truly a pleasure to use. I think you'll love it.

Who makes aftermarket sights that will fit this? Trijicon HD’s or HD-XR’s would be ideal if they do them. At the very least I need a front because that brass bead sucks in no/low light.

Ed Brown carries the correct HD XR https://www.edbrown.com/product/hdxr-front-sight/

I'd do the front only at first, then shoot it and check POA/POI. If a rear sight is needed, it's hard to beat Harrison Custom.

Thanks, I actually saw that last night and was going to order one.

Do you know if DW will sell sight sets? The ones on the two tone Vbob the dealer had looked to be Trijicon HD's. That would be perfect.

Yes DW will sell sights, however they aren't Trijicon HDs. I have a VBob with the new factory orange DW sight and it looks every bit as good as the Trijicon HDXR I have on my Valkyrie.

How’s the post width on the HD XR compared to the DW orange site? The HD XR’s are pretty small compared to the original HD.

Do you know what comes on the specialist? I’m thinking about picking up a specialist commander 9mm.

Range report in original post.

Appreciate the RR. I’ve been eyeing one of these for a few months now; just waiting for prices to return to reasonable levels.

My Specialist came with the Heine Straight Eight Slant Pro. Mine is a 2017 model so I'm not sure if the new ones have the same.
https://www.heinie.com/dan-wesson-1911/commander-slantpro-straight-eight-sight-set.html

Glad to hear it's working out well for you - mine took a two range trips to get sorted out but 9mm 1911s are a bit more finicky to begin with.

Agreed on the front brass bead; it didn't do much for me so I went the RDS route. The TCP is a tremendous pistol and worth every penny.

My 9mm Specialist took about 300rds to get reliable. It still doesn't care for WC mags though and I can induce failures while using those mags.

I'm not an expert on this platform by any means but I think the 9mms can be a bit tricky when it comes to feeding and general follower+feedramp design. I don't think I've ever had a failure to eject or extract, the issues (which are exceptionally rare now) always involve a nosedive into the bottom of the ramp, and the slide just doesn't have enough juice to force the round into the chamber. 300 rounds +/- sounds about right for my TCP as well.

Nothing beats my Sig Mk11a1...It took - and I'm not exaggerating - 1,000 rounds before it would reliably eject brass clear of the slide. Factory gun, factory mags, Fiocchi 124 ball. It was a stunning fail and the only firearm I've owned that I simply did not trust.