Couple questions about new Colt Commander

[greatnw]

FIXED - Thanks everybody!

Took the plunge and bought a Colt Commander today. Been wanting one for awhile and the LGS got one in so I brought it home. Anyways, I have a couple silly new guy questions I'm hoping to get some clarification on or atleast be told to stop being a baby and go shoot the thing :D

First up the safety doesn't have the postive "on" click that the other guns I fondled had. It does have a positive "off" click but when swiping it on I get a faint click that leaves me here:

http://i46.tinypic.com/dvimvl.jpg

It takes a bit of force to get it fully up and there isn't another click from the position shown in the first pic:

http://i45.tinypic.com/35k01lh.jpg

I did field strip the gun and clean off the packing oil but I didn't detail strip it. Any ideas? Does it just need time to wear in or is it bigger then that?

The second thing I noticed while cleaning it. One side of the...barrel lug?...is pretty rough and has a raised line on it. I'm pretty sure this is a :who cares it won't affect function" thing but wanted to be sure. First pic shows the rough spot with raised line, second pic shows the other side for comparison.

http://i45.tinypic.com/2h4ygkz.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2zfmp0i.jpg

Thanks for any help and info and don't be afraid to tell me if I'm just being a baby about my new gun. I'd actually rather it be that then find out I have a problem ;)

[HackerF15E]

Neither one is a big deal IMHO. Some stones and emery paper could clean both up if they are really bothersome for you.

[BBossman]

First, congratulations on your new Colt. Colts are mass produced using quality components by trained assemblers with little to no hand fitting. If a part doesn't fit or function as desired, they grab another part from a bin on their bench. That being said...

Your safety will become easier to engage with use. You could pull it and dress the lug lightly with a file to make it engage more smoothly. If you go that route, make sure you understand how the sear and safety interact before you proceed.

The barrel is kind of ugly but shouldn't cause any problems. Again as with the rest of the pistol, the barrels are essentially "drop in" and not hard fit. As with the safety, you could take a file and dress any burrs that may be there, just don't take of enough material to change the dimensions. If you put a hundred or so rounds through the pistol the barrel lower lugs will begin to show a wear pattern on the slide stop. The wear pattern should show a reasonably even contact pattern between both feet.

In any event, Colt will look at it under warranty, but I'd shoot it first to check for any other problems.

You could contact forum member "bjt72", Brent Turchi, he's Colts Custom Shop manager. He can give you advise on how to proceed.

Sent from my Proctor Silex Toaster Oven using Tapatalk 2.

[greatnw]

Thanks guys. I will shoot it and see if there is any trouble before I do anything else. If all is well after putting some rounds through it I will call it good. I appreciate the info. Now to find some ammo.

[wetidlerjr]

The advice you have been given is right on. You must remember that this is not a Colt Custom Shop pistol but, as already said, if it bothers you too much then contact Colt.

[greatnw]

The ugly barrel thing doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't affect funtion or wear on the pistol. I will fire the gun once ammo becomes available and in the mean time practice dry fire and safety manipulation and hopefully that will smooth the safety engagement out. Thanks for the reply.

[Dave Berryhill]

...It does have a positive "off" click but when swiping it on I get a faint click that leaves me here:

http://i46.tinypic.com/dvimvl.jpg...

Do I understand you correctly that the thumb safety doesn't travel fully upwards and only stops in the position shown in your photo?

Try this: remove the thumb safety, remove the plunger and spring and then reinstall the thumb safety. With the plunger taken out of the equation, will the thumb safety move fully upward (with the hammer cocked)?

If the thumb safety still won't travel all the way up then it would appear that it wasn't fit properly. If you understand how the thumb safety lug should block the sear, you can confirm this by removing the grip safety, reassembling the pistol without the grip safety, plunger and spring and looking into the frame.

If this is the case then you should have a qualified gunsmith fix it. The existing safety will likely be usable. It just needs a little more material removed.

[greatnw]

Thanks for your input Dave. The safety will fully engage as shown in the second photo in my post but it clicks to the half engaged spot first then seems to get hung up and takes some force to get it fully engaged. Im trying to research as much as I can but dont yet feel comfortable with my knowledge of the platform and its individual parts to start removing any metal on anything.

[Dave Berryhill]

With the plunger removed, a properly fit thumb safety should move to the full "up" position with little effort.

[greatnw]

Thanks, I will pull the safety, remove the plunger and spring, replace the safety and see if the resistance goes away. I will report back.

[greatnw]

So with the plunger removed it still stops at the half engaged spot shown in the first pic and if feels like it's taking even more force to get it to fully engaged. I even put the slide back on with plunger still removed for fear I was pushing the safety up to much because of the force needed to get it to fully engaged. It moves up and down freely between disengaged and the half engaged spot but to go from the half engaged to fully engaged it takes some good pressure and it's not like it free's up once fully engaged, it's more like it's stuck up there and I have to really push to get it back down as well.

[Dave Berryhill]

It sounds like not enough material was removed from the safety when it was fit. A qualified 1911 gunsmith should be able to fix that.

[greatnw]

Thanks, that makes sense. Unfortunatly I don't think I have a qualified 1911 gunsmith local to me. Before I pay to send it to one I guess I will contact Colt and see what they say.

[greatnw]

Watched a WC YouTube vid on installing a thumb safety about 10 times and got up the courage to take a couple careful swipes at it with the file. Reinstalled the safety and it was noticeably better, repeated a few times and it works perfectly now. Safety checked it and it's good to go. Thanks for all the help, if not for this thread and in particular Dave's comments I probably would have just lived with it for who know's how long hoping it would fix itself :lol: