1911 Commander/Govt top end interchangeable?

[terez]

Can you use a commander length top end on a govt frame?

I want to use a 40 cal commander top end on my Colt govt ser80 45.

 

[Jim Watson]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Commander has shorter rails and recoil abutment farther back. Put a Commander slide on a G.M. receiver and slide travel will be very short. Sometimes the combination works, sometimes it doesn't. There are some gunsmithing changes you can make to give it a better chance, but I don't know them. Do a search on THR and 1911forum.

If a different caliber then you have to worry about feed ramp contour; might work, might not.

You will definitely have to change out the ejector which is pinned in and is not somthing to swap out every weekend at the range.

 

[swith]

yes, but the slide stroke will be short.

you could cut back the slide-contact area in the GM frame, to match that of the Commander frame,but then your GM slide would have a very long stroke. I recommend that you get another frame, guy. It's worth the extra few hundred bucks. Someday soon, real fighting guns are going to be either ridiculously expensive, or not available at all.