Colt Commander Lightweight Thumb Safety

**JenniferG** · February 6th, 2023, 04:49 PM

A friend of mine has a 45acp Colt Commander Lightweight and after she did her qualifying for her New Mexico CCW she went to clean the pistol and about a third of the pin of the thumb safety had separated and fell out on her cleaning mat. I perused some of the 1911 forums and it seems to be a problem of these thumb safeties being cast. It seems to be a fairly common problem with more modern 1911's made in the 21st century but according to 1911 forums Colt has been using cast thumb safeties since the 80's.

I checked around to see who has machined thumb safeties and there are a few, EGW, Ed Brown and Infinity Firearms. Has this happened to any of you? Did you replace with another cast piece or install a machined piece? I understand it is an individuallly fitted part and the best practice is to have an experienced gunsmith fit the piece. I have a Springfield full size 1911 of about about the same vintage as hers about 2007-2009 and have about the same amount of rounds through it, 1200-1500 or so. I may replace mine if I determine that it is a cast piece. What say you?

**Ronin** · February 6th, 2023, 06:13 PM

Replace it with a quality machined safety. Contact CDI here on the board. He does top notch 1911 work and he's a relatively short shot up the NE extension.

**JenniferG** · February 6th, 2023, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by Ronin

Replace it with a quality machined safety. Contact CDI here on the board. He does top notch 1911 work and he's a relatively short shot up the NE extension.

When I'm ready to have mine done I already knew I'd be taking it to him. I also found Wilson Combat has a machined piece too. My friend in New Mexico is taking hers to the gunsmith on Thursday and I recommended she have the machined version installed. I do feel a little put out by all of this because I helped with choosing a 1911 with her and said Colt was very reliable. The gun has failed after only about 1500 rounds. I had a Series 70 full size in the late 70's until about '91 and it was still shootable after more than 20K rounds, many reload rounds too but it was pretty worn out and nothing ever broke even though it wasn't always meticulously taken care of or always handled nicely.

**jthrelf** · February 6th, 2023, 07:02 PM

Colt ain't what it used to be. After following the 1911 market pretty closely for awhile lately you're, no joke, almost best off buying a Turkish 1911 for $400 or going up to a semi custom like Wilson. I know that sounds ridiculous but Springfield isn't much better than the Turks, Dan Wesson has issues occasionally and Colt is just not competitive at all with their new offerings.

Back on topic, a Wilson bulletproof part fit by a good 1911 'smith will do the trick!

**JenniferG** · February 6th, 2023, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by jthrelf

Colt ain't what it used to be. After following the 1911 market pretty closely for awhile lately you're, no joke, almost best off buying a Turkish 1911 for $400 or going up to a semi custom like Wilson. I know that sounds ridiculous but Springfield isn't much better than the Turks, Dan Wesson has issues occasionally and Colt is just not competitive at all with their new offerings.

Back on topic, a Wilson bulletproof part fit by a good 1911 'smith will do the trick!

I haven't read too many complaints about a basic 1911 from Rock Island either. The Filipinos apparently make a pretty decent plain pistol. I don't know about the fancy schmancy ones. My Springfield has a Imbel forged Made in Brazil frame. Probably better than the Colt at that point in time apparently.

Besides the obvious consternation about the part failure in my friend's Colt I thought I'd post about it so others could take notice because let's face it if you are carrying a 1911 in Condition 1, as Jeff Cooper designates, the last thing you need is a thumb safety failure, the grip safety is also dependent upon the thumb safety's through frame pin.

**cdi** · February 6th, 2023, 09:10 PM

Egw makes excellent replacement thumb locks for 1911. I think Cylinder and slide has some good quality replacements as well.
The best cast and mim thumb locks are probably as good as the earlier parts. I replaced the thumb lock on my son's early 50's Govt. model a few years ago- it sheared at the axle.

They can fail, I've replaced more than a few over the years. I would not say it's a common failure. There is a pretty high stress load on it when the gun cycles. Also be advised, they need to be fitted carefully. There is very little wiggle room to get it right.