Tag Archives: SDS M1911A1

Budget Commander Line Grows Further

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I’ve talked about the Commander-sized Tisas Tanker a few different times here previously and found it held up well in testing. Using a 4.25-inch hammer-forged chrome-lined barrel on a full-size frame that is crafted of forged steel, the 8+1 shot Tanker is an excellent value in the $400 range but comes with some basic sights and plastic grip panels.

The Tanker…not a bad little Commander-sized 45 at all

The new Tank Commander gives it a step up.

Standard features of the Tisas Tank Commander include a rowel style (circular) hammer spur rather than the standard spur, checkered Walnut “double diamond” style grips, wears improved serrated front and rear sights, has a rounded mainspring housing, and uses flush-fitting 7-shot magazines, shipping with two of the latter.

While the Tisas Tanker comes in plain black, the Tank Commander is offered in either a Cerakote matte gray that mimics old-school military parkerizing or what Tisas calls a “Marine” nickel finish.

More in my column at Guns.com.

Turkish Tisas Tanker Tally

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So I’ve been testing the new Commander-length Tisas Tanker from SDS Imports for the past few months. After 500 rounds, including hollow points, the subtotal number of jams/failures I came away with was four.

I say subtotal because two of the four were likely due to a weak magazine spring on an old GI mag failing to chamber the bottom round– they worked fine when loaded in another mag– while the third was a failure to eject on a dirty chamber with PMC. The fourth failure was a misfire likely due to a hard/bad primer as the round in question failed to go off when struck a second time. That leaves the final tally at one out of 500, fresh out of the box.

Not too bad, especially when you consider you can get one of these 70 series Commanders with a forged frame and slide for $400 smackers.

The Tanker…

More on the Tanker in my column at Guns.com.

$400 Forged Turkish Commander

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SDS specializes in importing quality pistols, shotguns, and accessories and, in the past few years, they have partnered with Tisas in Turkey to supply well-made M1911 style handguns to the U.S. market that have built a following through a combination of good reviews and affordable pricing. The Tanker, quietly debuted last October, is set to continue that trend.

While the “Tanker” moniker is typically applied to shortened T26 M1 Garands and similar chopped-down rifles in the same vein, the SDS version an upgraded M1911A1 Government with a full-sized frame and Commander-length– or 4.25-inch rather than the traditional 5-inch– barrel, and corresponding slide. It has lots of good features to include a forged slide and frame, Series 70 internals, a chrome-plated and lined barrel, as well as a mirror-polished feed ramp.

Plus, it runs $400 smackers, new.

I’ve been kicking the Tanker around for a couple weeks, and it is hard not to like it, especially for the price.

Check it out in my column at Guns.com.