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!