Drawing aggro

Serious question to you guys – everyone knows that I have a 9mm 1911 that I love to death, and in my search for a “gun buy” that makes logical sense, I want a duplicate gun.  This follows rationally along the 2 is 1 and 1 is none school of thought, and also helps keep cost down since I have holsters, mag holders, etc for a single stack 9mm 1911.  Anyway, here’s the part where I draw aggro from 1911 fanboys:

From Gun Nuts: The Next Generation

I have the opportunity to buy the gun pictured. But if I do, I’m going to have it modified with Novak rear sights, a fiber optic front sight, skeletonized speed trigger, beavertail grip safety, etc. Yes, it’s a pre-70 series Colt Commander, but in the configuration as pictured, it’s nothing more than a blank slate on which to create a gun.

My other option is to simply buy another Para LTC in 9mm from the factory, which already comes in the configuration I’d want it in, save it lacks the fiber optic front sight, which is remedied easily enough. Thoughts? Hate mail?

18 Comments

  1. #1 – screw what other people say. This is you and your gun. Get what you want and what works and wants for you.

    #2 – Do you want something out of the box that works? The the Para. If you want something you can tinker and customize and play with, or just want a cool historic piece, then get the Colt. Since it’s your 2nd 9m 1911, you may be more willing to have a piece to work on.

    But, my opinion? well, #1 applies to my opinion as well. 🙂

  2. I think the simplicity of buying a gun that you know works out of the box, without having multiple points of failure in all the work that’ll be done (I had a guy drill and tap a hole for a front sight on my Marlin 60… He drilled it crooked!) is a huge benefit…

  3. You’ve just hit one of my buttons. You disrespect to you, but…

    Buy the Para.

    Don’t destroy a perfectly good, classic pistol like that Commander to put needless bells and whistles on it to feed your ego.

    Yes, that’s a harsh statement, but too many of these pistols are being destroyed for no other reason. Buy the Para, it’s new, and already mostly like you want it.

    If I had the opportunity to buy the pistol pictured, I’d keep it just like it is—a perfectly functional pistol designed for carry and self defense.

  4. If everyone left their old Colt 1911’s unmolested, if no one upgraded the crappy electronics and tuners on old Fender Strats to make them playable, if nobody’s Mom threw out their old comic books…

    There would be no collectible market because there’d be a glut of pristine NIB products.

    For stuff with real historical value, I might suggest keeping it original – I know I appreciate the long ago gun dealer that talked my dad into buying a Remington 700 rather than drilling out Grandpa’s 1940 ’94 for a scope – but it’s your gun. Do what you want with it!

  5. Get the Para.

    Everyone else’s comments are great but I will draw a sports analogy for you. I play hockey and have since I was 5. Now, I am an okay player (I spent some time in the Vancouver Canucks system back in the day). I learned:
    a.) you need to carry spare equipment
    b.) it needs to be the same as your normal equipment.

    If I carry 4 sticks into a game they need to be the same. There will naturally be some performance degradation through wear so it is never an identical switch out. But if I switch for a stick that is an inch shorter, or the curve of the blade has a different twist my shot (and motion to get the shot) has to change. When you are placing a small object onto a small target at speed, you need to minimize the change if you have to switch out equipment.

    If a sight breaks off during a stage, you need to be able to have the same confidence and feel in your backup equipment so that it minimizes the psychological impact of having to make the switch.

    Ultimately it boils down to: Are you buying this for competition or to have a piece of history?

  6. Your gun, do what you want. But maybe, for the $ you could buy the pieces and make your own. Essex frames are inexpensive (as are many others) and good quality. You can do stainless or black. And you’d have the satisfaction of putting all new, exactly what you want pieces together the way you want them.

    Unless the Colt is $400, in which case do the colt.

  7. Buy them both!! Keep the Commander as is, it’s perfect the way it is. Trick out the Para. That’s the best of both worlds.

  8. Thor=correct.

    I think a near-identical backup would be the most appropriate choice for competition. I’d love to own either of the guns on your list. The Para is the logical choice though.

    Of course, I have yet to compete, and I have an illogical collection of almost 100% completely different and incompatible firearms – but that’s my problem! Buy them both if you can.

  9. buy the Para or STI Trojan in 9mm and you know you’re getting something that shoots right out of the box. the commander is or would be a project gun requiring some not insignificant work.

  10. Do what ever you desire… piss on the rest of us… YOU are the one that will be carrying/shooting the pistol!

  11. I understand the allure of satisfaction one gets from finishing a project, but I think in this case you’d be better served taking a nod from the world of physics and following the path of least resistance. Para.

  12. I believe:

    You have already made a choice and are really looking at our comments to justify your choice. So, it really doesn’t matter what we say. That’s just the way the human mind works.

    That being said, if you are looking to have two of the same 9mm 1911s, buy the Para, but the Colt sure would be cool…

  13. Downsides to the Colt:

    1) Fitting a beavertail just like the one on your Para to that alloy frame is a chore easily botched by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

    2) If you’re planning on putting a high round count through an alloy framed gun, I’d have it cut for a ramped barrel. Which requires a ramped barrel to be fit. Which requires…

    You’ll wind up spending more money on the Colt than you would just buying the Painted Ordnance, and that’s not counting the price of the gun itself. As much as it physically pains me to say this: For what you want, the Para would be better than the Colt.

  14. Same issue here, trying to find another LTC in 9mm, I really like the one I brought back from BW, and nothing wrong with a second one. Thought I had one last week , but it fell apart, the deal not the gun.

    Right now with ammo where it is, makes sense to have a 1911 in 9mm, if that’s what you are carrying, you can always switch over to 45, by just changing mags & gun, same holster, same mag pouch, same controls all in the same place. I like my 45’s but right now I still shoot a lot more 9mm

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