1911 Officer
- Thread starter Wally
- Start date
Hey thanks prproulx. That looks pretty good but I guess there isn't a steady supply from anywhere eh? So I'll ask the same thing here that I asked the fellow that PM'd me.... can you use an officer slide with a commander barrel? Don't most of the officer model slides operate without a barrel bushing?
The Kimber Compact Stainless II uses the short Officers size frame, with a 4" slide (and special 106mm barrel for Canada). Had a bunch at TSE, but all are sold now 
. Kimber made these especially for export, but not likely to see anymore anytime soon, unless some show up used in the EE.
. Kimber made these especially for export, but not likely to see anymore anytime soon, unless some show up used in the EE.
When I posted a thread like this Gunnar at Armco said he was planning to do just that. I would contact him.
My worry was getting the right mags. No one could tell me if the Kimber or SA ones would work with the Randall frame so I abandoned the project.
The Colt Officer has no bushing.
Back in the 90s, I built several Randall SS pistols up from the bare frames. About a dozen of them were built on the shorter Officer model grip length SS Randall LeMay. Some of them got Commander length slides.
I also had several of the Detonics Combat Masters, with the 3 1/2" coned barrels, and an Officer's model, that I borrowed one day to shoot a match with, and liked so much I bought it. The Detonics and the Randalls sometimes got Commander length slides, and sometimes got shorter slides. For all practical purposes, the Officer and Commander top ends can be considered interchangeable as a complete unit [ with proper fitting and set up ]. Same goes for a Glock 26 and Glock 19.
However,
while you can mix Govt frames and slides with Commander frames and slides, some interesting things do happen with these crossbreeding experiments that might actually require some serious gunsmiting.
Just for fun I once took a LeMay frame [ which is shortend at the bottom and uses a shorter mainspring housing and other bits ] and cut out and rewelded the frame where the grip safety would go [ this is how Detonics shortened their butt, which leaves the Detonics pistols with NO grip safety, but with a full length mainspring housing ].
The resultant micro .45 was cute [ as in like a tie clip ] but no one thought the grip was long enough to volunteeer to actually shoot it.
And,
while you can not drop a Glock 26 or 19 slide onto a 17 frame ... you can put the 19 and 17 fram into the chop saw to end up with shorter butts. There are no actual moving bits down in the grip of a Glock, like there are in a Govt model.
P.S?
What do you call a Detonics Combat Master top end fitted to a Commander frame??
DOLT??
I also has a few Detonics length slides on full length Commander frames.
another DOLT!!!
Mixing the short frame with the Commander length slide can be a very viable setup. The longer 4 1/4" Commander barrel and slide are slightly more reliable than the shorter barreled pistols, although some of my short barreled DOLTs were 100 % reliable IF you kept the recoiul springs fresh. I found that after about 1000 rds of IPSC MAJOR, the shorter Detonics recoil springs[ and Officers Model springs and Seecampo stye double stacked springs ] start to go soft, while the simple, single coil Commander length springs do not.
BTDT
[;{)
LAZ 1
I also had several of the Detonics Combat Masters, with the 3 1/2" coned barrels, and an Officer's model, that I borrowed one day to shoot a match with, and liked so much I bought it. The Detonics and the Randalls sometimes got Commander length slides, and sometimes got shorter slides. For all practical purposes, the Officer and Commander top ends can be considered interchangeable as a complete unit [ with proper fitting and set up ]. Same goes for a Glock 26 and Glock 19.
However,
while you can mix Govt frames and slides with Commander frames and slides, some interesting things do happen with these crossbreeding experiments that might actually require some serious gunsmiting.
Just for fun I once took a LeMay frame [ which is shortend at the bottom and uses a shorter mainspring housing and other bits ] and cut out and rewelded the frame where the grip safety would go [ this is how Detonics shortened their butt, which leaves the Detonics pistols with NO grip safety, but with a full length mainspring housing ].
The resultant micro .45 was cute [ as in like a tie clip ] but no one thought the grip was long enough to volunteeer to actually shoot it.
And,
while you can not drop a Glock 26 or 19 slide onto a 17 frame ... you can put the 19 and 17 fram into the chop saw to end up with shorter butts. There are no actual moving bits down in the grip of a Glock, like there are in a Govt model.
P.S?
What do you call a Detonics Combat Master top end fitted to a Commander frame??
DOLT??
I also has a few Detonics length slides on full length Commander frames.
another DOLT!!!
Mixing the short frame with the Commander length slide can be a very viable setup. The longer 4 1/4" Commander barrel and slide are slightly more reliable than the shorter barreled pistols, although some of my short barreled DOLTs were 100 % reliable IF you kept the recoiul springs fresh. I found that after about 1000 rds of IPSC MAJOR, the shorter Detonics recoil springs[ and Officers Model springs and Seecampo stye double stacked springs ] start to go soft, while the simple, single coil Commander length springs do not.
BTDT
[;{)
LAZ 1
I think I'll just shut my big mouth now!
i've been looking into the same thing, but my understanding ( I could be wrong) is that the officers gun needs to enter canada as a non-prohib, to make it legit. Questar was doing this with glocks, and having the longer barrels installed before importing them. They are as ###y as a black glock gets. Ive been pondering asking them if they could do the same with an Officers model for me, but the price of full length ramped barrels is allot; and you have to taper them so that the slide and barrel mesh at just the right point.
I tried to find the glock page to link, but can only find a picture of them because I think they are sold out (Whodathunk?)
I tried to find the glock page to link, but can only find a picture of them because I think they are sold out (Whodathunk?)
The Officers frame shouldn't be hard to import on it's own, imported as a frame only. I know Ed Brown used to offer an Officers receiver with a Commander slide and barrel. If you can get the Colt receiver, the remainder of the parts shouldn't be an issue, mags etc. are easy to get for the Colt.
I like those shorty Glocks. So the reason the shorter barreled Glocks and 1911s could have reliability issues is because of the sharper tilt angle of the barrel?
It would be cool if we could organize a 1911 officer group buy with a 12(6)'r and do a barrel swap north of the border. See if we could get a deal on some PA Hawgs or something.
It would be cool if we could organize a 1911 officer group buy with a 12(6)'r and do a barrel swap north of the border. See if we could get a deal on some PA Hawgs or something.
