Posted: 7/31/2007 11:20:28 AM EDT
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I have a kimber TLE/RL II that I use as my main carry sidearm, I am thinking of customizing it by having a commander slide and bull barrel made for it, it already has night sights, mag well funnel, and springfield armory sand paper type grips. I shoot a lot of IPSC and do a lot plinking. My question is by losing the inch of barrel what am I going to be loosing, will I lose the effectiveness of the 45 round? I want to still be able to have the stopping power of the 45 and I do not want to not have enough power to knock down steel poppers in matches. Is this a bad choice on my end? Or should I go for it? |
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Honestly, I don't see the point of the Commander profile. The barrel isn't the hard part to conceal, the grip/frame is. All you do by going to the Commander is lose ~50-60fps of muzzle velocity that a 230gr. JHP could really use. Now, a Commander barrel/slide on an Officers frame makes some sense, but a Commander slide on a Govt. frame I just don't get. JMHO, YMMV, APSTC. CO |
Buy a Commander yourself, or carry a friend's for 3 days and you'll find out. -Does having a full grip with 8+1 capacity appeal to you? -Are you able to carry a 5" 1911 without printing excessively? -Do you like carrying your 5" until you sit down, to find the barrel digs into you or hits the hard surface of the seat? If you answered "yes" to these questions then a Commander might be THE gun for you. The action is a little quicker, the sights are quicker to align, it draws faster than either a 5" or a compact due to full grip and shortened slide, and some find them aesthetically more balanced and attractive. I recall being a dissenter until I actually looked into the platform and considered it carefully. Now I have one in my collection and keep my eyes peeled for others. As to the OP Aside from a few top shelf examples (like the Desert Warrior), the Kimber was made as the "poor man's semi-custom", nothing more. Back in the 1970s and 1980s people wanted more from their guns and the only solution was to take their Colts, Springers, Auto Ordnances, etc. over to a smith, who would mod them out for "bells & whistles" performance carry. Today the Custom Smith is obsolete from the POV of "necessity". Instead, he is more of an artisan than a mechanic from ages past. People still send off Colts for custom works of art in a nostalgic tribute to the days gone by where this was the only way, but this is done as a personal choice to have the finest looking most unique platforms, since the same (or similar) functionality can be achieved by a Semi-custom outfit. Now sucessful smiths like Bill Wilson and Les Baer, make a product that covers what most smiths did back in the day, only in an organized, uniform fashion, and outifits like Kimber do the same on a lesser scale for the Po' folks (or the cheap asses, or the "smart buyers"... YMMV). You can trick out a Kimber, or a Para, or any 1911 if you wish because you love THAT sidearm and want to do something unique and special. Nobody here can tell you what is right for YOU. But if you do that to one of these guns, it will be considered wrong and an abomination by most others, particularly given the options you have available here today. Frankly, I would sell the Kimber and apply the money towards starting your project off the right way from the ground up. If you love the Kimber, keep it and save up for a semi-custom. But doing a full house with a different slide means you will be overspending WAAAAAAY too much on a gun that will not give you the same return on aesthetics or resale had you gone with a semi-custom, or done a full-house custom with a more traditional platform. |
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You shouldn't lose enough velocity to make much of a difference. My Commanders will put down pepper poppers with authority. I haven't chronographed Commanders lately but the last time I did, the difference was only about 30 fps if I recall. I wouldn't bother with a 4" top end. The benefits just aren't worth the cost, unless you happen across a top end cheaply somewhere. |
Dosen't make a lot of sense, you'll spend more money than actually buying a TLE/RL Pro. I guess I'm not 100% sure with the Kimber railed frame, but you can't put a Commander slide on a Government frame. Commander frames are shorter in the dust cover. |
I pretty much agree... if you want a Commander built I would recommend starting with a different platform.
One other consideration, once you convert a Gov't frame to Commander dimensions it stays that way as there is more done to the frame than just shortening the dust-cover. |