PSA has the Colt Combat Commander back in stock and I’ve been wanting one for awhile. But now that I have my Tank Commander I don’t know. Looking at the two side by side I much prefer the Tank Commander. It looks like it means business. I love the grey color, the non beavertail, the short solid trigger and the grips. Don’t get me wrong I still think the Colt is a beautiful firearm but now I can’t bring myself to spend the money since I have the Tank Commander. The only thing I like better on the Colt is the flared ejection port and the sights. I don’t know how either performs as I still haven’t got to shoot my TC. I have the rounds just trying to find a good day to go to the range when the wife is off since we like to shoot together .Here are pics of them next to each other. Which do you prefer looks wise and why?
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Tisas Tank Commander vs Colt Combat Commander
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SCCWP
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It's funny for me, seeing this discussion, as way back when I chose a budget pistol over the Colt Commander, and snagged one of the Norinco Compacts that showed up under the wire before Der Slickmeister banned them from import. The Norks were getting good reviews back then and the price was right. I put a flat MSH on it, got rid of the innertube grips and it's been a good shooter and trusted protector ever since. In hindsight I wish I'd bought a dozen, or at the very least a full size to go with it. Got nothing against Colt, I own one of those too.
Fast forward a decade or three and the 1911 bug has bit again, and I hear the name Tisas getting the same sort of positive reviews my lowly Chinese "copy" did many years ago. When the WWII clones become available from Tisas, I'll be placing my order. Not going to miss this boat this time.
While I'm waiting I've been casting my aging eyeballs over the GI size three dot sights that came on the Nork, and thinking it'd be nice to have something a little more visible...and found that because it's kind of a rare bird in the USA that altering it may actually hurt the value (I've kept all the original parts, including the stinky grips). My memory is dim, but I think I got the thing for dealer cost plus a few bucks (worked at a FLGS at the time) and I've found examples sold online for three times and more what I recall paying for it. Wonder what a Combat Commander cost when Clinton was President, about $600? They going for $1800 yet?
So, the moral of the story?
Fast forward a decade or three and the 1911 bug has bit again, and I hear the name Tisas getting the same sort of positive reviews my lowly Chinese "copy" did many years ago. When the WWII clones become available from Tisas, I'll be placing my order. Not going to miss this boat this time.
While I'm waiting I've been casting my aging eyeballs over the GI size three dot sights that came on the Nork, and thinking it'd be nice to have something a little more visible...and found that because it's kind of a rare bird in the USA that altering it may actually hurt the value (I've kept all the original parts, including the stinky grips). My memory is dim, but I think I got the thing for dealer cost plus a few bucks (worked at a FLGS at the time) and I've found examples sold online for three times and more what I recall paying for it. Wonder what a Combat Commander cost when Clinton was President, about $600? They going for $1800 yet?
So, the moral of the story?
- Budget guns may or may not "hold value" like a name brand gun, supply and demand still matter. Today's cheapie might be tomorrow's "don't alter that, get a new one!"
- Perhaps pride of ownership, thought the Grinch, doesn't come from the store...Yes, having a Colt means you have a Colt, but use and abuse and the rolling years spent together can make plain Jane look like a supermodel in your own eyes, if she never lets you down. Try selling that story along with the gun, however...
- Logic and reason are often trivial factors in these important decisions. I know a guy who seems pretty level headed, but he's gonna get him a GI style 1911 with those famously teeny tiny unusable WWII sights all while he ponders swapping out a very similar set of post and notches on his current 1911 'cause the new Buzz Lightyear fiber optics have got to be better, all while never having tried to shoot a fiber optic sighted anything.
- Tisas vs Colt is a trap. I want a world where Tisas and Colt live in harmony, swimming confidently in different streams of prestige and price point, with the Colt owner knowing that Bucephalus on the slide means the Gods will protect him because he hath tithed heavily, and the Tisas owner instead trusting in the genius of John Browning to shine through as long the basics of metallurgy and fitment are solid and saves himself some coin for...another 1911, of course.
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Many years ago, I had a Colt 1991A1 Commander with the BIG roll mark on the slide. A flat finish about like the Tank Commander as best I remember. Steel frame, small sights. Sorry it was a long time ago, and I don't remember a lot of the details now, but it was a pretty good shooter as I remember. I had a half dozen magazines, of which one would give me trouble jaming the last round. The others shot just fine. I was just getting into the idea of a concealed carry gun back then and concluded the Colt was too heavy for edc, and traded/sold it off for something else.
Still many years later, I still wanted a commander size 1911, and bought a Tisas Tank Commander in 9mm, that shoots fine, but it was the Sting Ray that really caught my eye. It had all the stuff the "cool kids" put on their 1911's back in my IPSC days...skeleton hammer and trigger, flared and lowered ejection port, higher visiability sights, extended and flared beavertail, amberdextrous safety, flared mag well....well, you all know this better than I do...Oh, and a lightweight aluminum frame...That was the one I wanted....Then I saw the B45B...basically the same gun, but in 45acp. Naturally I eneded up with both of them, plus the tank commander.
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I've got a little more invested in the three of them as a NIB Colt Commander would have cost. I shoot the Sting Ray the most. I reload 9mm, and it's just a really shootable gun. What I always thought a lightweight Colt Commander would be. The others shoot fine, but the SR is my favorite.
But that little red haired girl (a REAL Colt Commander) kept winking at me from the gun store case. OH, I was tempted! I actually put it on layaway for a short time, but decided NO, I had enough 1911's so I canceled the layaway, and someone came along and bought the Colt and removed that temptation...at least for now.
Still many years later, I still wanted a commander size 1911, and bought a Tisas Tank Commander in 9mm, that shoots fine, but it was the Sting Ray that really caught my eye. It had all the stuff the "cool kids" put on their 1911's back in my IPSC days...skeleton hammer and trigger, flared and lowered ejection port, higher visiability sights, extended and flared beavertail, amberdextrous safety, flared mag well....well, you all know this better than I do...Oh, and a lightweight aluminum frame...That was the one I wanted....Then I saw the B45B...basically the same gun, but in 45acp. Naturally I eneded up with both of them, plus the tank commander.
I've got a little more invested in the three of them as a NIB Colt Commander would have cost. I shoot the Sting Ray the most. I reload 9mm, and it's just a really shootable gun. What I always thought a lightweight Colt Commander would be. The others shoot fine, but the SR is my favorite.
But that little red haired girl (a REAL Colt Commander) kept winking at me from the gun store case. OH, I was tempted! I actually put it on layaway for a short time, but decided NO, I had enough 1911's so I canceled the layaway, and someone came along and bought the Colt and removed that temptation...at least for now.
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Colt has always been what works best for me. I’ve had Kimbers, Taurus, and S&W. And any Colt I have ever adopted has worked well straight out of the box. I know there are better brands of 1911’s out there. However Colt is what works for me. You might like the other brand better than Colt. Only YOU can decide what works best for YOU. Maybe eventually you will have both. Why choose only one? Best wishes on whichever you choose.
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I had the Colt, then bought the Tank Commander. Sold the Colt, and added the Tisas US Army... plus 600 rounds and a lanyard loop arched housing for the TC.
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Both are great guns. Add to the price of the Tisas a set of sights, couple hundred bucks, and the prices that much different.
I would go the Colt. Not a Colt fanboy. The grip safety and flared ejection port, and sights.
For me the low sights do not work. Cannot consistently hit with carry sights. Plus, never had a 1911 bite me, but owned one with 70 series grip safety, the reissue Colt of 1918 or whatever. It came close a few times. The chance of a stovepipe makes the flared port a big plus.
But I thinned out the safe. Sold all four Colt 1911’s at local gun shows. Plus others. Only kept a Sig RCS which is my carry gun. It is not a range gun. Alloy Officer frame and Commander slide. Thumps more than my 10mm Tanfos.
For me the low sights do not work. Cannot consistently hit with carry sights. Plus, never had a 1911 bite me, but owned one with 70 series grip safety, the reissue Colt of 1918 or whatever. It came close a few times. The chance of a stovepipe makes the flared port a big plus.
But I thinned out the safe. Sold all four Colt 1911’s at local gun shows. Plus others. Only kept a Sig RCS which is my carry gun. It is not a range gun. Alloy Officer frame and Commander slide. Thumps more than my 10mm Tanfos.
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Picture = 1000 words
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Colt. Have a nickle 1973 Colt Combat Commander that belonged to my Dad, then to my older brother and now to me. Great pistol. I trade or sell pistols from time-to-time as the charm wears off something I own but the Colts always stay. Pony never loses his charm.
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Which one is a series 70? I have a Colt Commander series 70. It is a great gun!
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I bought my first 1911 in 1972, and since then have bought and sold many of them , mostly Colts. I prefer the Commander size. However today. I own a DW light weight bob tail Commander in 9mm (Guardian) and several (3) Tisas models, two .45acp and one in 9mm. The two in .45 acp work very well, but the Carry B9 9mm is giving me issues with extraction. I sent it back to Tisas a month ago and they said they "fixed it. Well, reliability improved from approx. 6 failures per magazine to about 3 or 4. Progress, i guess? LOL, so now I have to decide whether to send it back again or just have it fixed. In all other respects in it is a nice pistol. I was hoping the Tisas rep that is on this forum would chime in?
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Colt will always be my sentimental first choice. I own 3 Commanders and carried a Nitex customized Colt for years. One Colt is still NIB. But my Lt.Wt. PARA gets carried the most these days. It wasn't very pretty out of the box, but it's gotten a few beauty marks since then. 🤩
A new Colt is like a shiny new black Corvette. Expensive, but they don't really get used on daily basis. They stay in the garage or safe, driven on nice sunny days,😎 and whoa is the day ya get that first nick or scratch in it! 😭
BTW, is that the coils of the recoil spring I see thru a gap between the slide and frame of the Colt?
Don't see that on the Tisas!
A new Colt is like a shiny new black Corvette. Expensive, but they don't really get used on daily basis. They stay in the garage or safe, driven on nice sunny days,😎 and whoa is the day ya get that first nick or scratch in it! 😭
BTW, is that the coils of the recoil spring I see thru a gap between the slide and frame of the Colt?
Don't see that on the Tisas!
That is a nice looking pistol.They both seem to be good choices. I picked up a nice Combat Commander satin nickel and had it NP3'ed at ROBAR before they went belly-up.
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