Story and Photo by Mike DettyBack in the olden days, if you wanted a compact

1911, your choice was limited to exactly one. BeforeColt offered the Officers model, long before Kimberexisted and produced the Ultra, and when Spring-field Armory’s only 1911 was a full-size pistol – theonly true compact 1911 was the Detonics CombatMaster. Many of us have forgotten just what a trend-setter this pistol was.

With its radically reduced grip frame and short3.5” conical barrel (without a bushing…no less)was – by far – more compact than anything else of-fered when first introduced in 1977. It used a multi-ple-spring recoil system, had a lowered ejectionport and possessed a dramatically sloped slide rearthat facilitated thumb cocking of the single-actionhammer. In fact, it’s the Detonics Combat Master’sdistinctive profile that makes it so readily identifi-able. Everyone who needed a small, easily conceal-able gun, chambered for a potent cartridge, clam-bered to get a Combat Master.

Unfortunately, financial problems and misman-agement forced the original company into bankrupt-cy in 1987. Shortly thereafter, the New Detonics wasformed and moved to Arizona where the companyproduced guns for a few more years before slippinginto terminal slumber in the early 1990’s.

Original Detonics Combat Masters have a cult-like following; consequently, prices have soared. But,if you feared that you missed your opportunity to ownone of these unique little guns, worry not. In 2005the newest permutation of Detonics, Detonics USA,began producing the Combat Master. Led by notedgun and science fiction writer, Jerry Ahern, DetonicsUSA has the financial backing and commitmentneeded to produce guns of the highest quality.

“I was never a fan of the 1911, but I had achance to shoot a salesman’s sample at a policeseminar and was impressed,” said Ahern. “In my 22-book series, The Survivalist, my character, JohnRourke, carried two Combat Masters. It’s a gun that

so impresses me that I don’t think there has been aday that I haven’t carried my original gun.

“When the company closed, I really lamented itsloss and about seven years ago I decided to get seri-ous about resurrecting the Detonics line. After a fewfalse starts, we delivered our first Combat Masters justa couple weeks after the 2005 SHOT Show. With sol-id financial backing, Detonics USA has no worriesabout staying in business. Our concern is buildingthe finest pistols possible.”

Between 1977 and 1987 Detonics produced ap-proximately 17,000 Combat Masters. Unfortunately,nearly 10 percent were returned for warranty work.One of Ahern’s first moves was to track down theoriginal Detonics’ pistolsmith, Peter Dunn.

“Before I signed on with Detonics USA, it wasunderstood that I would have the ability to makechanges that I saw necessary,” said Dunn. “The guythat fixes these pistols is the same guy that knowshow to build them better.” It’s no surprise thatDunn’s remedies for the old guns were incorporatedinto the new-production guns.

Detonics USA builds the new Combat Master en-tirely from stainless steel for corrosion resistance. Ac-cording to Ahern, the only parts that aren’t stainlessare the sights and grips. The original Detonics wasone of the first gun companies to solve the gallingproblems with stainless that afflicted most gunmak-ers. The lessons learned back in the 1970’s haven’tbeen forgotten, and modern metallurgical advanceshave also been incorporated into the gun.

“Today we have better stainless steel,” Dunn ex-plained. “That allows us to get a much better frame-to-slide fit and a better slide-to-barrel fit. It’s much easier tohold tighter tolerances with the current stainless steel.”Detonics USA does not use any Metal Injection Mold-ed (MIM) parts on the Combat Master – all of the partsare machined and made in the USA.

My test sample displayed an exemplary degree offit and finish. The slide-to-frame fit was ideal with no

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