When it looked like this year’s 1911 Round-Up would only have eight contestants, Gunsite’s Ken Campbell came to the rescue again and provided us with a sample of their Colt Gunsite Lightweight Commander chambered for .45 ACP. Without hesitation, Campbell pulled the unfired gun from Gunsite’s Pro shop inventory and allowed us to shoot groups, some steel reactive targets and take a run through the Fun House with it. This gun is the embodiment of Jeff Cooper’s philosophy that a fighting handgun should have everything you need and nothing you don’t.
Accordingly, the pistol is outfitted with a single, strong-side Wilson thumb safety and an upswept beavertail grip safety with a memory bump. Colt’s Custom shop builds these guns for Gunsite using a Series 70 alloy frame for weight savings, and the front strap is undercut for a high hold grip. For comfortable carry use the gun is equipped with thin grips. A fixed Novak rear sight is used, and the front sight has a tritium lamp for low-light shooting.
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Colt tunes the national match hammer and sear for a sensible 4.25-pound trigger pull. In keeping with the concealed carry theme, the gun is completely dehorned and given a no-nonsense, bead-blasted matte finish. Like I said, this pistol has everything you need and nothing you don’t! In the right hands, this pistol will handle any defense scenario!
I tested the Colt Gunsite Lightweight Commander for accuracy at 21 yards and it proved to be very accurate. Federal’s 230-grain Syntech Training Match loads produced a five-shot group just a hair over 1 inch! The aggregate group size for the three loads tried was just 1.09 inches and, of course, there were no failures.
