Ruber SR1911 CMD ...Commander

[Magnumite]

Ruger SR1911 CMD ...Commander

I recently acquired this Ruger SR1911CMD. I thought members might like a review of it. A more detailed review can be read here:

https://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=679121

I don’t care much for shorter than Government length 1911’s. I stopped in at a local gunshop to do paperwork on another pistol when I saw this Ruger SR1911 CMD, new, in the display case and asked to see it. After handling it, examining it, and observing the production nature of it, I liked it. “Pretty good”, I thought. Then I bought it. I picked it up after the Maryland 7 day wait and made a quick trip to the range, as bought. I was excited to shoot this pistol. I’ll post pics of what I did to get the bugs out of the pistol without major work, rebarreling or parts replacement. I have built several 1911’s so I didn’t want to get into a complete build or close to one. My goal was to keep the pistol as close to as produced as possible with improvement the operable word. Only three parts were replaced to get this pistol to that configuration. Original parts are bagged and in the Ruger shipping box.

Pictured is the pistol after the few improvements were made.

 

[Magnumite]

Initial observations and at the range...
The CMD didn’t have much lube on it as packed by Ruger. Mag spring tension of the 7 round mags is tight. Trigger pull was gritty, rough and long. Over travel was properly set. Grip safety spring tension was light. The white three dot Novak sights are well regulated for a defensive pistol. The pistol never missed a beat during the 60 round initial shooting. It did ding one ejected case solidly off the top of my forehead. Target shown is from a distance of 25 yards. I was okay with this pistol as a production gun.


Back home, pistol in hand, a closer look.
The finish on the pistol is well done. Lines are consistent side to side. Slide and frame meet evenly on rear of pistol. No slide/dust cover interference is evident on slide spring tunnel. All black parts are blasted to a similar texture as the frame, both of which are aesthetically appealing. Pistol is dehorned.

The grip safety fit leaves something to be desired. The underside of the beavertail to frame blend is not well done and there is some looseness of the grip safety in the frame. Fortunately, there are no pinch points. The forward corners behind the frame cause some dig annoyance, but no discomfort. Grip safety (dis)engagement is well set. There is considerable ‘structure’ in the front of the hammer cutout of the grip safety.

The thumb safety snicks on and off nicely and properly safes the pistol. In the off position the curved edge is not parallel to the frame profile. The mag catch was stiff and gritty in operation.

The mainspring housing is checkered, the amount of mainspring housing ‘reveal’ on both sides of the back strap was decent and fairly even. The mainspring housing extends below the bottom of the grip frame a few thousands of an inch.

Pushing down on the barrel chamber end HARD yielded a little movement. I shook the pistol, got a rattle, no issue for me there since I don’t go around shaking the pistol. Rear hood/slide clearance measured at .010”. Typical for many 1911's in this price range. Unlocking the pistol slightly, considerable barrel/bushing and bushing/slide free play was evident.

Grips are appealing, fill the hand well and are keepers. The Ruger emblem is aligned vertically relative to the pistol not the grip frame. Grip screw bushings extend ever so slightly into the magwell.

The gritty, rough, long trigger pull weighed in at 4 pounds 6 ounce pull'. The trigger was very loose vertically, horizontally and had no spring pressure before takeup. Overtravel was properly set.


Pictured are two initial 25 yard targets, grip safety and mainspring fit...

 

[Magnumite]

Disassembly and inspection…

Slide/frame clearances were measured and came in around .0032-.0040” both laterally and horizontally, not bad. Oddly, the slide stop pin has a flat on the bottom from the end of the pin to 70 percent of its length. This creates an effective difference in end to end diameter. The pin also exhibited bottom lug strikes only on the left side of the pin. The barrel and link were properly fitted.

The grip safety is scary like the STI which is in one of my parts boxes. The thumb safety was well formed and pin had a flat as on the slide stop pin. ??? The mainspring housing was loose in frame grooves for it, particularly at the top.

The trigger was very loose in the frame in all directions. The fire control group inspection yielded incomplete disconnector preparation, sear was only contacting the hammer hooks on one side, hammer hook faces were rough and planes uneven, typical in some MIM product, in my experience. The end of the hammer strut was beveled front and rear but not rounded. The sear spring contact points were deburred but not beveled and polished.

The mag catch had signs of hard sliding contact in two places and mag catch lock exhibited points contributing to rough operation.

Pictured is the Ruger slide stop with the flat and a new S&W slide stop with a proper round pin.

 

[Magnumite]

What I did to correct some of the shortcomings...

A few strokes of a smooth file took care of grip screw bushing protrusion into the magwell.

Touch up the high spots of the mag catch, prep mag catch lock. Square up the ends of the mag catch spring.

Clean up trigger and hammer tracks in frame. I cut and adjusted a takeup tab in the front of trigger bow. Dimpled, polished, slightly spread and fit trigger bow to frame. Loosen trigger over travel screw, warning hefty locking compound was used.

Then I prepped the disconnector interface surfaces, round and polish paddle sharp lower edge, window, form and polish NM bevel on disconnector head.

Pictured is the finished trigger and disconnector in progress.

 

[Magnumite]

Next at bat...

The sear primary and secondary sear angles were properly honed and the peak between the two was relieved. The hammer hook faces were trued, polished, and cut to desired height. The top corner of the hooks were properly relieved. The sides and edges of the hammer, sear and disconnector were deburred.

The end of the strut was rounded and polished. Sear contact checked, corrected and pull weight adjusted to 4 pounds, 7 ounces. Takeup, half cock trigger freeplay, and overtravel were adjusted and good. The thumb safety engaged smoothly and without movement when engaged and trigger pulled.

The left side of the sear spring rubbed against the left side of the frame spring cutout. I’ve encountered this in other 1911’s. The interference was corrected by filing lengthwise and deburring the left side of the spring. The sear spring leaf ends were beveled and polished.

 

[Magnumite]

Mainspring housing rails were dimpled then filed to fit to eliminate looseness. In this case, the dimpled were placed to even out the amount of 'reveal'. First one rail was fitted then the opposite to eliminate guesswork.

Slide/frame fit was left unaddressed.

I didn’t have a tighter commander bushing on hand. I did have a blue/black MGW prefit for 5” gun. Bushing ID and OD measurements said go for it….so I cut and fit it. The MGW bushing matt bluing worked with the two tone theme of the pistol.

Replaced and fit slide stop with Smith and Wesson new part. All barrel movement was eliminated. Lower lug strikes on the top and rear of the slide stop pin were then evident on both sides of the pin.

The extractor was clocking. I removed, checked and tuned the extractor. Tension was okay so no need for adjustment there. I fitted an EGW oversize firing pin stop to eliminate the clocking. I profiled the bottom with a small radius.

Pictured are the mainspring housing rail dimple, finished housing reveal, the MGW and Ruger barrel bushings, slide stops showing one barrel lower lug on Ruger slide stop and two strikes on S&W slide stop.

 

[Magnumite]

How it worked out…

The pistol was test fired and ran well with zero malfunctions. Group consistency improved, trigger good, ejection not at my head, lug strikes on stop pin good. Only minimal windage sight adjustment was required – this is a well regulated handgun. The original larger radius firing pin stop was taken along and swapped with the EGW slide stop. This was for some side-by-side shooting. The smaller radius actually took some of the harshness out of the felt recoil.

The picture of the first after work target has a mix of groups shot using different sight pictures at the distances noted on the target. Though some of the ‘groups’ were only three shots it does indicate the pistol’s consistency. The 3 dot and standard sight pictures exhibited POI which coincided when used at the appropriate distances. Using one or the other exclusively would yield sound practical hits on target as well. Not match grade but it builds confidence..

The second ‘Trident’ target was shot at 25 yards. I did throw a couple shots low left and one high right. I had called them as I did the others so I feel the pistol showed some improvement. The reader can draw their conclusions.

Last picture....using the dropper pipe supplied with bottles of lube or aerosols to depress the safety pin during thumb safety installation on the frame.

 

[DadOSix]

Nicely done!

Been wanting this same gun.

Thanks for the effort in writing this up.

 

[Magnumite]

Thank you. No problem..it was fun!

 

[Hit and Run]

Great write up!

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[dist1646]

Excellent write up and pics! Thank you!

 

[Magnumite]

Thank you for the kind words. It is a fun gun to write up. I plan on trying some spring tuning next.