Tag Archives: ATI

Weapons

ATI Commander Update

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The nice wood double diamond grips were just too nice for the ATI.  They didn’t go well with the matte black finish.  After awhile it got to the point that I found them just irritating.    So I got some nice plain old Hogue grip panels in OD green.  The matte finish on the Hogue work very well, keeping the ATI in a nice subdued scheme.

Makes me want to Duracoat the Slide OD.G as well.

The gun is north of 600 rounds now, with only one fail to feed.  Again, that failure to feed was in the first few rounds right after I got the gun, and it has never happened since.  I did replace the recoil spring after those first few rounds, because the gun did feel under-sprung.  The gun has been perfectly reliable since.  The gun shoots point of aim/point of impact at 30 feet or so… I’ve had no complaints about accuracy, only compliments from everyone that has shot it.  I’ve let a few people shoot it and no one has had a negative bit of feedback, and no one has reported any malfs.

The biggest question about the ATI is the quality of the steel.  So far, there has been no unusual wear on any of the internals.  So I am thinking, so far, that the steel is up to snuff.  I have no reason to suspect that its a lesser quality steel alloy.  I don’t think it’s anything great or special… but it doesn’t look bad at all.  The only real wear the gun is showing is on the finish, which looked suspect right from the beginning.  If you look at that photo closely, look at the muzzle end, you can see the wear.   I’ll have Joe at Crusader Weaponry give this thing a Duracoat treatment, and that will take care of the finish – no problem.   It’s a 450 dollar 1911, so you do have to cut it some slack.    And finish that shows holster wear only makes it looks like you actually use the thing… I think a gun with some holster wear looks better than a gun that looks like it’s a Safe Queen.  But that’s just me.

Crusader, Weapons

Commander, Sterling, and a P-11.

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I don’t have much gasoline in the truck, and I’m so broke I can’t afford to pay attention. But I have ammo and Ballistic Testing Zone One is practically out the back door of Ogre Ranch. So we did a little bit of shooting while the kids were doing school work.

Group is good for 50 yards iron sighted, standing. I'll take that.

The Sterling was once again… impressive. The gun was flawless, but one of the magazines was under-sprung and caused two malfunctions when loaded to capacity. Continue reading Commander, Sterling, and a P-11. →

Weapons

ATI’s AK-47

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I’ll update this post with a photo tomorrow. We got in a couple AK-47’s from ATI, the guys that have the really nice 1911’s. These AK’s are built on machined lowers, not stamped sheet metal. They are very solid and well made. The stocks look really good too. 549 for a milled AK, isn’t bad at all. If I had the money, I’d be all over these.

Weapons

ATI Commander Update

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Had some emails asking about how this gun has held up.  Well, I’ve not shot it much lately primarily because I’ve been off my feet letting my knee mend.  But before me knee issue, I’ve put a number of rounds through it.  It has about 350 rounds fired of mixed ammunition.  PMC, CCI, Speer, Cor-bon, and Remington UMC.   I did have one hiccup in the first round of firings, a failure to feed.  That was with some Remington UMC ammo…. which any time I do have a failure in any gun – it’s usually Remington UMC ammo that has the hiccup.  I really don’t like that ammo.

I put in a heavier recoil spring.  Reason being, it felt like it was under sprung.  Just a couple pounds more…. feels just right now.  Since then, I’ve not had a single failure of any sort.  Then again, I’ve not fired any more Remington ammo through it.

Ejection remains very consistent.  Accuracy, while yet to be put on paper, has been Minute of Water Bottle.  My impression is that it’s very accurate.  However I still need to paper this gun along with a couple others.  (My Springfield GI and the Sterling)  When I am more “On my feet” I’ll do that.  Until then I’m only speculating on the accuracy.

The gun shoots better than other 1911’s that cost much more.   Cosmetically, the gun remains unchanged so far… as far as Finish goes.  It’s only sporting the swapped grips I mentioned in another post.  I’ve yet to have the finish altered in any way.  So other than a spring and some wood, this ATI remains stock.

I do want some more appropriate grips for it.  The very nice reddish wood grips don’t quite look right.  They are too nice.  And I need an appropriate holster.  Simple brown leather.

I remain well pleased with this little Commander.

Weapons

Ah… that’s much better…

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Nice rosewood double diamonds, with some character.

I sold a 1911 to a fellow who wanted to install a set of Crimson Trace Grips.  So that’s what I did.   I offered 10 bucks to the fellow for his “old” grips.  He took me up on it.  So now my ATI Commander has a decent set of wood grips.  Looks much nicer… what do you think?

Compare that to the old grips…

A Commander 1911 .45... My biggest weakness.

Also, the old grips were squared off at the bottom and the new ones have a nice beveled touch to it.  Much much better.

Weapons

Crimson Decision

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We got in a demo display from Crimson Trace.  Dummy guns with the laser grip on them.  Just to see if they fit, I pulled the 1911 grips of the dummy gun and put them on my ATI Commander.  They fit perfectly and the all black grips certainly looked a lot better than the strange wood grips.  We came to the decision that they are made of Peckerwood.  But we can’t confirm that.    The all black look worked.  I had been thinking of going with a nice redish colored wood, but now I’m thinking of doing the blackout routine with this gun.  Plain, simple, all black… I like it.

But do I want to do the Crimson Trace grips?  I know Crimson Trace laser grips have some distinct advantages.  Anything that can help you get on target – advantage.  Anything that could keep you from having to drop the hammer in a stress situation – advantage.  $250 tariff, not such an advantage.  That’s a heavy price tag.  I don’t know if I want to spend that much on this gun.  This is not my defensive gun… it’s a project gun.  A tinker gun.  I might just do those cheap Ergo Grips plastic things.  After all, I have a set of those on my SIG TacOps, and it actually does very well.   The Sig deserves better, but still… the grips work.

Crusader, Weapons

ATI GI 1911 Commander, an observation

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As readers will know, last week I picked up a 1911 Commander from ATI.  “American Tactical Imports“.

I remain impressed with the overall quality of the gun.  It’s so far proven to be a great buy.  At the time of purchase, and even since I had first seen them, I had only one complaint.  The wood grips look like they are cheap plastic.  Now I have another complaint.

Continue reading ATI GI 1911 Commander, an observation →