As some of you may heave read a couple of weeks ago I picked up a Kimber Custom II TLE in 9mm with a Threaded barrel and new production Colt Lightweight Commander in 9mm. I liked them so much I decided to order a Colt Combat (Steel Frame) Commander & a Colt Competition 9mm (series 70). They showed up today and I promptly put some rounds downrange!

Before I discuss shooting the guns, it may seem strange that I am buying all of these 9mm 1911s all of a sudden. There is a reason. I am looking to find what I consider an ideal 9mm. Ideal for me is a gun that allows me to put up accurate shots as quickly as possible. The key is recoil, or lack thereof. My FN Five seveN is the master of quick and accurate fire. With 40% less recoil than 9mm, I can put up very fast and accurate follow-up shots with my FN. That's why it has been my main carry gun for four years. I want to have an option in 9mm as well. Though I have been known to carry a Glock 19, CZ-P07, and recently a CZ-P10, I find my lightweight polymer guns, don't come close to the Five seveN in the quick and accurate follow-up shot department. Yes I can shoot them accurately, and pretty quickly too. Just not as quick or as accurately as my Five seveN.

I figured I would try some heavier guns in 9mm; 1911s chambered seemed to make sense. Ranging from the lighter 27.9 ounce LW Commander (w/o mag), to the Combat Commander 9mm in between at 35.5 ounces (w/o mag), to the 39.8 ounce all steel Colt Competition Government 9mm (w/o mag) on the other end. I figured one would be ideal to help me attain my goal. Since I will carry this gun, I am trying to find the ideal combination of weight, accuracy, recoil-control, and speed of follow-up shots. If I can get away with the lightest one, great! If not, I will move up to the next one, and so on until I find the perfect one to achieve my goal.


Colt LightWeight Commander 9mm 27.9 ounces w/o Mag (Colt says it is 29.4 ounces w/o mag)





Colt Combat Commander 9mm (All Steel) 35.5 ounces w/o Mag (Colt says it is 33.0 ounces w/o mag)





Colt Government Competition 9mm (All Steel) 38.2 ounces w/o Mag (Colt says it is 36.0 ounces w/o mag)





It is going to take me a few months of shooting and spending time with these guns to figure it out. I already have 360 rounds through my LW Commander with all kinds of ammo; different weights, hollowpoints, FMJs etc. It has run perfectly and flawlessly. Today I put some rounds through the 2 new 9mm Colts. I picked them up, broke them down and lubed them up. Then I ran all kinds of different ammo through them. I put 130 rounds through the Government size Colt Competition 9mm, and 100 rounds through the all steel Combat Commander. Let's start with the all steel Commander. Here is the first group I shot today with some Cheap Walmart Federal Brass 115gr. Shooting was at 25 feet. My aim was a little low on the first shot so I decided to keep my POA the same for the subsequent shots.


9 Rounds at 25 Feet





I'm not ready to get into a major review of the Combat Commander or the Competition yet. I need to spend more time with them. But suffice it to say that I was able to control the recoil of the all steel Combat Commander 9mm noticeably better than the LW Commander 9mm. I even emptied a full mag rapid-fire with the Combat Commander and pretty much tore one big hole in middle of the target at 25 feet. For now suffice it to say that this gun ran the 5 kinds of ammo I used today flawlessly, including my carry load the 124gr Federal HST using both the Colt factory mag and the Kimber 9mm mags (which I prefer over the Colt mags).

Let's move on to the Colt Competition 9mm. The one I bought is the 70 Series version. In 2016 the Colt Competition models were series 80, for 2017 they switched to series 70 and dropped the series 80. They also dropped the matte blue finish for the beautiful and classic Colt polished blue finish, which I MUCH prefer! All the flats on the Blued Competition's frame and slide are polished mirror blue. Same goes for the Combat Commander BTW.


Here are the 1st two groups I shot using the same Cheap Walmart Federal Brass 115gr. I used in the Commander's first few mags. Shooting was at 25 feet.




The slide failed to lock back on a number of the mags I shot with cheap Federal ammo, regardless of magazine used. The slide locked back fine with stouter defensive loads. I have been told that 9mm 1911s are way over-sprung, and I believe it. I may put some lighter springs in this one, or break it in a little more. The lighter cheaper Federal loads didn't eject very proudly either. I also had a number of failures to feed with my favorite defensive ammo the 124gr HST. Based on what I saw with the ejection, I am pretty sure some break-in time or a lighter spring will solve this issue. We will see as I put more rounds downrange over the weeks to come. Since it is a 5" barrel I may move to 147gr Gold Dots for a defensive round in this gun anyway.

I should mention that the fit and finish on both of the pistols is EXCELLENT! Exact same beautiful polished blue finish on both. That's all for now. I will keep everyone posted in the weeks to come as I spend more time with these pistols.


ADDED A BUNCH OF PICS:

I use a 14 lb recoil spring and metalform 10 rd magazines no issues on locking the slide back in the 700ish rounds of fed.

Some say a 12lb is the correct spring, don't really know as 14 was the lightest I had in stock at the time so in it went. Still see no need to change it out.

nice looking pistols,  I have a 13 flat wire wilson spring for my rock island 9mm.

seems to work ok,  may order a 14 pound just to compare

Look forward to additional review info, can we get some idea of accuracy potential at 25 and 50 yards please? 25 feet does not give me much of an understanding what these pistols might or might not be capable of.
I have been thinking of a Colt 9mm myself and continued updates on reliability and accuracy are appreciated

Very good write up OP, thanks.

Any of these barrels have an integral feed ramp barrel? Versus the frame and barrel ramp combo?

The alloy colts of the old days used to get frame ramps chewed up by hollow points

Are they tight or rattle traps.

COLT IS ALWAYS THE SAME. NO RAMPS.

The are super tight! The Alloy Commander makes more noise because of the alloy I have realized. It may be a touch looser than these two, but it is really the alloy that makes it sound they way it does.

I will give you updates, but I can't give you 50 yards. I don't have time to spend the day at the outdoor range. 25 yards will be max. I will keep you posted on everything.

I have been eyeing them for a while.   Kind of want a range toy.

Great write up.  The Competition Colt has my interest, looks like a lot of gun for not a lot of money.  I wish they'd spec'd it with a magwell but for what they're selling them for you really can't complain.

Cool. Confirms my experience with brand new 9mm colt commander today. People are going to start thinking this is some wierd colt advertising shill campaign

Damn those are some nice guns. I don’t have a 9mm 1911. I’m jealous.

Nice, I just ordered that odd colored army green/black Lightweight Commander in 38 Super. I bought it pretty sure that I'd have it sent off, some sort of scalloping done on the front strap, then anodize it black, and get some of those black cherry double diamond grips with the Colt logo on it.

I would have just bought a lightweight commander like yours but I wanted a 38 Super really badly, but those look really really sharp I think!

Yeah but a Kimber 9mm Threaded Custom II TLE that I bought first two months ago kicked this off!

OP HERE:

Since, as I discussed above, I had some minor issues with the Colt Competition 9mm on its first trip to the range, I wanted to run some different rounds through it today. In the first session the slide often didn't lock back with the weaker Federal Walmart Brass 115gr I was using, and I had a few failures to feed with Federal 124gr HST. When I got home I looked at the profile of the 147gr HST and decided it would probably feed batter than the 124gr in the Competition model.

I brought a bunch of different 147gr ammo with me today and ran a few mags of each through the Colt Competition 9mm. It ran flawlessly. It really seemed to like all the 147gr ammo. Here is what I ran: 147gr Fed HST, 147gr Remington Golden Sablers, 147gr Speer Gold Dots, 147gr Winchester Ranger T, and 147gr AM Flat Nose FMJ. It ate it all! I tired both the Colt and Kimber mags with each type of ammo, and they both worked great.


Here is a pic of the first group of 147gr HST I ran through the Colt Competition today. I shot it quickly to make sure it fed well. And it did. Shooting was 9 rounds at 10 yards. My first four shots were on the red :)




Both the Combat Commander 9mm (Steel Frame) and the LightWeight Commander 9mm (Alloy Frame) have run flawlessly. However, I decided to see how they ran with the 147gr HST. Why not just use the same defensive round for all my 1911 9mms. I put a few mags of the 147gr HST through both guns and they ran flawlessly. So 147gr HST for them all!

I had one very interesting observation from today. Of the 3 pistols, the Combat Commander steel framed 9mm handled the best for me. For some reason it recoils less for me than the Government sized Competition 9mm. The weight different between the two guns fully loaded is only 3 ounces. It is hard to explain but the longer slide of the Government sized gun has different recoiling characteristics than the Commander. Whatever it is, the all steel commander is just easier for me to control from shot to shot, and I can shoot it faster and more accurately then the Government sized model. I will be messing around a lot more over the weeks to follow and see how this plays out. But for now I shoot the all steel Combat Commander 9mm the fastest and most accurately out of the lot.

When I finished playing around with the 1911s today, I brought along one of my hi-cap polymer 9mm pistols, my CZ P-07 Suppressor Ready model. I absolutely shoot the lights out with this gun. It is not uncommon for me to put several rounds in one hole with this gun. Today was no exception, but I was amazed how much more recoil this gun had compared to all three Colt 1911 9mms I have been shooting. The difference is really shocking!

As usual, more to come as I spend more time with my stable of 9mm Colts :)

Thanks for the narrative, OP. I appreciate threads with pics about ranges more than any other.

I have the Competition in 9mm, and I had to send mine back to Colt because it spit empties straight back into my eyes. It came back perfect.

Post some more results about both of the new Colts. I am considering them.

Great review, I am considering the Competition myself.

Do these guns have checkering on the front and rear grip straps.

No and in 9mm pretty much not needed. I personally hate checkering and would prefer the smooth surface

All three of my new Colts have vertical lines on the Mainsrping Housing.

The LW Commander has some lines down the front.

The Combat Commander and Competition do not have anything on the front.

Here is an updated review of all 3 of my new 9mm Colts:
Three 9mm Colt 1911s - Three Weeks - 968 Rounds – Initial Reflections

Did you consider the nighthawk or Wilson Combat?  What do they offer if anything over the colt that costs 2 k more?

I didn't consider Nighthawk or Wilson because of price. I would barely get one gun from those guys for what these 3 cost me.

They are custom to semi-custom guns, and most of the parts should be handfitted. They don't use MIM or many/any cast parts. They should be top quality forged parts many of which are handfit.

Think of the difference like this, Kimber's are super tight guns. Why? They are mostly MIM parts which can be machined to exact tolerances and everything fits together perfectly, no fitting needed. The Wilson's and Nighthawk's are super tight or tighter, but had to made to fit that way by hand. Tight 1911s will often jam up pretty easily, but the high dollar ones are genewrally done so well that they will run longer when dirty.

Colts are not handfitted much anymore, HOWEVER, Colt only uses 4 small MIM parts, that are known to be of excellent quality. The Colt's slide to frame fit is definitely looser than the Nighthawk and Wilson, but that is why Colt's are reliable they don't choke so easily on dirt and grime because there is room to keep going. That's the real difference. Colt has the reliability built in with a little looseness, NH and Wilson have to work hard to achieve that reliability by fitting the parts together tightly by hand, if that makes sense. Is it worth $2K to $3K more? Not to me right now. Maybe someday :)

Nice guns. 

I use McCormick mags in my 9 and 45.  They have run in anything I use them with. 

I used to run a heavy recoil spring only with hot 185 gr SWC loads. 

My 9mm Competition with Rosewood grips.

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Nice. Looks like the 70 Series? I say that because it has the flats on the slide and frame are polished blue. The 80 Series were matte blue. Looks like Colt discontinued the Series 80 at the end of 2016  and replaced it with the 70 series in 2017.  Personally I much prefer the polished blue finish.

Those grips on that pistol look sharp

@Harris, what is the lightweight frame made of?    Do you like it or the steel better?

A aluminum alloy

It is the standard Colt Alloy Frame. It is known for being durable.

I prefer to carry the LW Commander. I prefer to shoot the Steel Commander, barely any recoil, stays on target. The LW is pretty good in this respect too, but the Steel is better!