Commander hammer
I was wondering and for the life of me I can't figure out what purpose did/does the commander hammer on a 1911A1 serve over the traditional style hammer?
I figure it had to be for a purpose since our military did it.
Rmocarsky
The 1911 and 1911A1 always and only had spur hammers. Whether they were made by Colt, USS, Remington Rand, etc. as a military sidearm the military in the U.S. wanted a spur hammer. The originals were wide and checkered. Similar, in ways, to the hammers on the Colt Single Action Army and their da revolvers. During WWII to save time in production, these were narrowed and left flat sided and became serrated rather than checkered.
The Army wanted a spur hammer on their pistols. They decided this early on in the 1890s as the U.S. began a search for a semi auto handgun for the first time. Colt and Browning offered them other options but they went with the spur hammer. They were used to spur hammers and they were easier to cock and de-cock for them, so they figured. This despite that they almost adopted the Luger and it's hammerless toggle link design.
In 1949 Colt first placed a rounded hammer on the gun when they introduced the Colt Commander. The military had not asked for a rounded hammer but Colt figured it reduced weight a tiny bit and they had substantial feedback and experience and figured it would be better on this gun.
The pics below show two Commanders from 1949 and 1950 with their original hammers.
The Commander was never adopted by the U.S. military.
All rounded hammers after this on 1911's acquired the name "Commander" hammer simply because Colt was the first to make a 1911 in this size and with a rounded hammer. Rounded hammers in general on pistols began to be called "Commander Style" at least in the U.S.
From the 1890s on pistols were made with both spur and rounded hammers. It was mostly a matter of what an army wanted or the makers opinion of what the gun's purpose was that decided the difference.
For example, when Colt offered the Browning designed Model 1900 military model to the U.S. Army it had a spur hammer like this M 1902 does...
A year later Colt offered the Browning M1903 Pocket Hammerless in 38acp to the commercial market and it had a round hammer. It was for pocket carry...
The hole in the Commander hammer was to reduce weight and not for strings to go through.
The original Mauser pistol had a rounded hammer. etc.
tipoc