Colt 100 Years of Service LW Commander

[Rick McC.]

Since we’ve been on lockdown around here for the last several weeks; I decided to post this just for fun.

In 2011 I bought a stainless LW Commander XSE.

It came with the standard (at that time) sort of an “off pink” looking anodized finish on the frame, which came with scratches through the finish under the right side ambi safety, before I even fired it. Since the Colt warranty only covered cosmetic issues for a period of one year back then (I have no idea what it is now), I decided to get the frame attended to under warranty.

I emailed Brent Turchi, who many on here will remember was the Custom Shop and warranty manager at Colt back then. I told Brent about the scratches in the finish, and asked if, while he had it there, he’d swap out a standard thumb safety for the ambi it came with; otherwise I’d be having to change it out myself. (I have NO use for an ambi on a carry pistol.) He said sure, and sent a call tag for me to return the pistol.

After a bit, the Commander found it’s way back home; sporting a nice silver/grey Cerakoted finish on the frame, and a standard thumb safety.

I shot it a few times, and, after a month or so with no problems, decided to give it a good cleaning and put it into the carry rotation.

I detail stripped the gun, and, when cleaning the barrel, noticed something about the stamp on the barrel. Looking closer, I saw that it now sported “-N.M.” after the caliber designation. For those not familiar with Colts, it identifies a “National Match “ barrel. Now, a National Match barrel on a Commander is very unusual, and I can think of only two models that Colt may have put them in; one of those wasn’t made back in 2011, and the other isn’t this model!

I gave Brent a call, as I wasn’t 100% sure if it’d been there before, or not. He laughed, and said “I wondered how long it’d take you to notice that.”

Brent was a great guy, and, wherever he landed after leaving Colt; I hope he’s doing well.

I can say without reservation this Colt is one pistol that’ll never leave my collection!

[DrHenley]

Cool story, but...

[Rick McC.]

Originally Posted by DrHenley

Cool story, but...

I know, but this site doesn’t allow uploads of pics from my iPad, and I had a less than stellar experience with imgur. I have plenty of good gun and knife pics, but...

[BlackKnight]

Originally Posted by Rick McC.

I know, but this site doesn’t allow uploads of pics from my iPad, and I had a less than stellar experience with imgur. I have plenty of good gun and knife pics, but...

I think it was mentioned before, but if you use the Tapatalk app then you can upload directly onto the forum.
It’s what I use on my iPhone.

[sdmc530]

Originally Posted by DrHenley

Cool story, but...

2011...when colt was still colt!

[Rick McC.]

Originally Posted by sdmc530

2011...when colt was still colt!

What is it now?

The last one I bought was a Combat Elite in 2012.

I think I might have bought my LW Government Model XSE for the second time after that, but that doesn’t count.

[sdmc530]

Originally Posted by Rick McC.

What is it now?

The last one I bought was a Combat Elite in 2012.

I think I might have bought my LW Government Model XSE for the second time after that, but that doesn’t count.

they have been run poorly and not the same ol colt they were. I love colt, I have colt 1911's but their business hasn't been run well. When they suffer in the money they suffer in other aspects of the guns.

Now owned by Cannae Holdings, who has now gotten back into the revolvers. Thank goodness they did too, should have never stopped that market. I hope they can be as glorious as in past decades!

they need to keep their hands in the proper cookie jar so be as iconic as always.

Just my opinion of course!

https://www.thedailybeast.com/droppe...-goes-bankrupt
https://money.cnn.com/2016/01/13/new...tcy/index.html
https://www.investopedia.com/article...t-business.asp

[sdmc530]

oh our agency still uses M16 from the Vietnam era, I was really hoping they would jump over to Sig when we went to all Sig pistols and let us buy the Old Colt M16's in inventory they are really awesome. But they are sticking with what works still......

[Caleb]

Rick... use Tapatalk, it’s supper easy to upload pics on any forum. I only use it for the pic convenience.

Cool story for sure tho, thanks for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rick McC.]

I forgot about this one.

I’ll send a pic to now!