Commander slide on full size frame

[parsonm1]

Hi all,

The club I shoot in is starting a "carry" side match at our monthly practical matches. I would like to fit a P13 or commander style slide to a para P14 that I have as a backup pistol.

Can you shorten the bottom of the slide (recoil spring tunnel) and the recoil spring plug and expect the gun to function OK?

Thanks in advance for information tendered!

[tightloop]

If it will fit on the frame and yu have shortened the dust cover, and use a shortened spring guide,  technically, it should work.

As soon as I post this, there will be 25 folks with another idea, but basically it should be a go.

[2alpha]

You can put the slide on with no other modifications if it fits the frame rails.  It will have a little less slide travel than a true commander but shouldn't be a problem, just don't use shock buffs.  The frame dust cover is a little longer on a gm than a comm but that will just be a cosmetic issue.  If you cut it off if would leave the recoil spring exposed when you put the gm slide back on.

[benny hill]

A comm. frame is .100 shorter than a gov. model. it will not work unless you cut the frame rails & guide tunnel back .100th's. on the gov. model

[Tuner-1911]

Re-greetings all...

Since my post got lost in the transformation,

You will need:

A full-length guide rod for a 5-inch pistol.

An extended ejector

A 16 pound recoil spring for a 5-inch gun, cut to fit...usually 23-25

coils. Some guns will work with 18# springs, but 16 seems to give the

best function. You can't use a shock buffer with this set-up.

Patience.

In a lathe, reduce the thickness of the guide rod head to .065

and face the butt-end of the guide rod to clear the link and lug.

Part off the front end of the guide rod to match a Commander full-

length rod.

Shorten the ejector just enough to allow for live-round ejection.

You may need to reshape the front of the ejector to get the brass

out in the right direction. Extractor tweaking may also be required

if you occasionally get beaned between the eyes.

You may need to shorten the recoil spring plug about .010 inch, and

adjust recoil spring to prevent stacking or binding. Some need to

go as low as 21 coils, but 23 to 25 have been the norm for me.

Check slide travel with witness marks on frame and slide, and cut

a half-coil at a time until they align...Then cut another half-coil to make sure.

I can provide dimensions if you elect to go to a machine shop, but the

machinist will need to pistol on hand to do the final length on the guide rod.

Good luck,

Tuner

[Patrick Sweeney]

Yea, one of those "maybe the dimensions will work out close enough" conversions, unless you cut and fit. For the work involved, you might as well take a GM slide and shorten the front, recutting the bushing notch.

Or buy another gun. But gunsmiths are always of two minds on subjects like this. Another gun is fun to build (and there is always one in the safe, or parts in the drawers) but the technical challenge of making something into something else is always attractive.

[Tuner-1911]

Mr. Sweeny wrote:

Another gun is fun to build (and there is always one in the safe, or parts in the drawers) but the technical challenge of making something into something else is always attractive.

Exactly why I gave it a go. A local pistolsmith said that it would work, but

that the pistol would never run reliably...Malfunctions related to short-cycling,

and things of that ilk. After some measuring, I saw that the slide travel could

be adjusted to the point that the breechface would clear the disconnect,

which would get it very close to Officer's Model specs, but with a heavier,

slower slide. Should work...DID work very well, and without complicated

machining in the frame's spring tunnel area.

As of Monday, I'm 3 for 3 on this mod. I did the first one on an Auto-Ordnance

frame,(JEEZ!) and cut the dust cover to make it look right. The second one

was done on an old GI Colt (1942) frame, and the dust cover left intact.

Now I have the option of either slide length with just a top-end swap.

My neighbor and sometimes range pard checked out the job, and wanted

one for himself. I got the slide from Brownell's Monday morning, finished

the project Monday afternoon, and ran 500 rounds through the pistol

Tuesday. Other than an occasional premature slidelock, (inertia bounce)

there were zero function problems. A small dimple in the slidestop cured

the glitch, and a little reshaping on the ejector face got the brass out

at 2 O'Clock and slightly to the rear.

Since he elected to go with a Commander barrel, rather than cutting a

5-inch barrel to fit, the operation took all of an hour, including fitting

a match bushing.

Cheers!

Tuner

[Tuner-1911]

Update pertainig to this thread:

I talked to the folks who supply Dan Wesson Arms with slides and

frames. I was told that the Commander-sized DW 1911's have

GM-length rails and shortened dust covers. They shorten the rails

only when a customer specifies Colt spec Commander frames.

Just FYI

Tuner