Remington 1911 R1 Carry Commander CT

It is cold in Maine; hovering around zero on the Fahrenheit scale, with sharply gusting winds building for a heck of an afternoon range session. A heavy cast iron stove is keeping the shop warm and a bunch of old songs are in queue on my PC. At the moment, Three Dog Night’s “Never Been to Spain” is playing…. oddly enough, written by Hoyt Axton, with Boz Scaggs “Lowdown” to follow. OK, Joe, what is the point here? No point, really. I was just defining personal happiness and enjoying the facts that happiness does not require smoking pot or working for large corporations. Ain’t life grand?

Writing about 1911 type autoloaders can go one of two ways. Because the design has been around for so long, and because there are so many brands and models, writing about a mediocre example is like authoring twenty different articles about twenty identical claw hammers. Writing about good 1911s is different as they always have unique design elements to highlight and shooting them is time well spent. Fortunately, the Remington R1 is an excellent 1911.

The trigger is lightweight aluminum to minimize the trigger bounce and the chance of doubling. The hammer is lightened and bobbed to reduce lock time and stress on the sear surfaces.

The Crimson Trace Grip mounted laser sights project a bright, stable red dot that is fully adjustable for windage and elevation. Within 50′ +/- there is a choice of using the pistol’s laser or metallic sights depending on ambient light conditions and reflectivity of the target.

A little more detail…

The presence of the Crimson Trace laser grip does not compromise concealment. Its width extends no further than the thumb safety and its minor bulk resides above the grip panel. The Crimson Trace employs a Class 3R visible light diode, the most powerful allowed for consumer products. The sight is rated by the manufacturer for 15′ to 25′ visibility in bright sunlight. I had no problem finding the red dot on a light target stuck in a snow field in bright sunlight at 25′.

Windage and elevation adjustment can be done in fine increments, but the overall range of adjustment is much greater than any practical requirement. I was able to easily compensate for point of impact shifts between 114 grain high velocity ammo and 230 grain standard velocity ammunition with several feet of adjustment to spare.

A momentary switch that activates the laser is located at the top of the front strap. The pressure switch requires only a normal grip to switch the laser on and it switches off when pressure is removed. A master on/off position switch is embedded in the left grip panel that activates or deactivates the entire laser system.

The entire laser system in contained within the grips which means a gun owner can replace the laser grips with conventional 1911 grip panels if desired or even move the grips to another pistol. The black plastic shown over the grip frame is a gasket that seals the system when installed. The Crimson Trace grips are classified weather resistant to the extent it can withstand rain storms and snow.

Putting the grips back on… so I would have something to hand onto, but field stripping the rest, there were no surprises to be found. A stub guide rod, an unramped but cleanly chamber radiused match barrel and a little spring loaded detent near the rear of the slide that identified the R1 as a Series 80 type pistol; it has a trigger drop safety that prevents forward travel of the firing pin unless a finger is depressing the trigger.

A personal Commander is fitted with a full length guide rod and spherical barrel bushing as well as a ramped barrel… and demonstrates no performance edge over the subject pistol, but it does feel different in a way that I like. I’ve never had a properly radiused non-ramped barrel jam because it wasn’t ramped. During live fire a variety of bullet tip types that might be classified as round, square and goofy. None produced jams or failed to cycle or fire.

Shooting personality

Electing not to put laser sights on any of my personal pistols and not having an interest in reviewing many, led to some awkward moments. Initially, I was trying to consciously manage the laser’s momentary contact switch, which led to some interesting claw like gripping and mauling. So I paused, put the pistol down on the bench and silently question the centering of my life. Then I went to the Crimson Trace site, watched their training videos and read anything applicable. Things got better.

I learned that picking the pistol up with a natural grip reliably activated the switch and no further conscious thought process was required to keep the laser reliably powered. My next criticism of the laser was that it wandered and shook, until I realized it was my hold that was wandering and shaking and the laser was merely going along for the ride… even if it was off the road and into a ditch, metaphorically speaking.

With an unloaded pistol, I practiced my grip, breathing and trigger squeeze until I could reliably place and keep the little red dot steadily in the proximity of a bullseye.  I’m not sure how this advanced the goal of reviewing the Remington 1911 R1 Carry Commander CT or the Crimson Trace grips, but the exercise and focus did wonders for correcting some bad shooting habits and improving my pistol marksmanship skills.

Shooting from a rest, slow firing with a two hand hold, the laser was the more precise of the aiming systems on the Carry Commander; metallic or laser out to twenty five feet. The Novak and Trijicon were more precise, or at least more visible out to twenty five yards and they were faster overall, although that could be more partially my issue rather the pistol or laser.

Laser windage and elevation adjustments were easy to make and settings stayed put. After a some concentrated shooting, the laser projection appeared a bit… scattered in bright sunlight at a distance, while still retaining its size. A little Zeiss eyeglass cleaner, applied with one of the swabs included with the pistol, restored a crisp image.

If I can stop obsessing over the laser for a moment… The Remington 1911 R1 Carry Commander CT all steel construction gave the pistol a bit of steadying heft and recoil was significantly dampened. The grip is hand filling and because of its length and all of my fingers found a home. Between heft and grip, the Carry Commander was very easy to control. The Novak rear sight and Trijicon Tritium front sight makes for an excellent paring; highly visible and quick sight centering.

The groups below were shot from 25 feet with the laser and from a rest. They are, left to right and measuring center to center, Ruger ARX 114 grain 5/8″, Remington Ultimate Home Defense 230 grain 3/8″ and cheapo Federal American Eagle 230 grain ball 1/4″.  They are all approximately a half inch tighter than I could do with metallic sights alone. Hmm… maybe gaining greater proficiency with the laser would be a good idea?

The 4.25″ barrel gave up little in velocity or terminal performance. We have previously gel checked each these bullets and all with the exception of the FMJ Federal expanded fully at the indicated velocities and delivered approximately the same level of penetration. The data on the table below was based on shots fired at fifty feet using metallic sights rather than laser and also from a rest.

Closing arguments…

For folks who like and appreciate quality 1911s, self defense, power, and accurate and reliable firearms, the Remington 1911 R1 Carry Commander CT is a good one. For folks who like quality laser sights, even better. For folks who think lasers belong in Sci-Fi space epic movies or at corporate Power Point presentations, the same pistol is available sans laser grips and at a reduced price… $1,067. They will both shoot better than the shooter, regardless the sight system of preference.

I like the pistol’s aesthetics, balance, trigger and sights… all of them. I think the fit and finish is excellent, the controls are positive. If there is one change for the wish list it, would be the design of the rear cocking serrations. While smoothed and radiused grooves look quite snazzy, as my Dad used to say, they aren’t much to hold onto with a heavily sprung Commander length 1911. But then I am pretty old, so maybe that’s just me. Certainly has not stopped me from owning one.