Commander
Carbon Steel, not stainless, or with an aluminum frame
GI style slide serrations
No FCS
Series 70 ignition system
Bushing barrel
Basically the carbon Colt 1991 except not series 80. I can’t believe I haven’t seen one.
Baer Commanche…serrations are slanted not vertical
Vintage/retro stuff. It’s called a Combat Commander.
Yeah. I know. I meant current production. Sorry, I should’ve clarified.
Yep. That’s almost exactly what I meant. But I’m looking for one to build off of. Not one that’s already built, and built by a company that I’ve heard some pretty bad things about. (CS wise.)
(I actually forgot about the LB gun when I posted this. I had basic guns like the Colt Series 70, or Springfield GI in mind.)
Order a fitted barrel, slide and frame from Caspian. You can spec it your exact specs.
I will end up doing that. Sans barrel. Gonna use a Kart.
Whelp. I guess I am where I was before. But still. Glad I started the thread.
Why doesn’t anybody use integral plunger tubes, by the way? Or integral magazine wells? Something wrong with them?
It’s a conspiracy with the gunsmiths…j/k.
Caspian does both actually.
Since you’re going to use it as a build, who cares about CS. It would make a nice base as Tim Brian has shown. Option B: Go with Sinister’s idea, which from a value stand point makes the most sense.
I know, but nobody else does, which seems weird to me.
Why is that? Wouldn’t building from scratch be cheaper?
I’m painting with a broad stroke by saying in general I believe a Colt base gun for a full house build is more valuable. A Pony build wets the lips, be it often ever so slightly, of even the most die hard Colt snob.
Find something like this (Colt M1991 ORM) or a new Colt Combat Commander and dump the S80 parts. It’s pretty simple to do.
Building from scratch may not be cheaper unless you can do the work yourself. As always, YMMV.
Buy a used one. The used market on Baers is…not a sellers market 
It’s like buying a great slide-frame-barrel kit!
Probably because of the extra manufacturing costs. Most frame forgings aren’t wide enough to allow an integral plunger tube or mag well to be machined from them. New forgings mean new forging dies plus the extra machine time. Caspian solves this problem by using one casting for all of its frames that includes a rail, plunger tube and mag well (there are some photos online somewhere) but they are the only company that does this as far as I know. They machine the extra material off for most of their frames.
As for the GI-style vertical cocking serrations, there aren’t many companies that use them. Colt is one of the few OEM companies that uses this style unless you include some of the Philippine made pistols. You can order a Caspian slide with them or order a bare slide and machine them yourself. Including slanted cocking serrations such as Springfield Armory or Baer broadens your pool.
BTW, Baer Commanche frames are not a true Commander frame. They are a Government frame with a shortened dust cover. They need some machine work to convert them to true Commander specs but it’s still a viable option.
I thought Caspian frames are forged?
As for the GI-style vertical cocking serrations, there aren’t many companies that use them. Colt is one of the few OEM companies that uses this style unless you include some of the Philippine made pistols. You can order a Caspian slide with them or order a bare slide and machine them yourself. Including slanted cocking serrations such as Springfield Armory or Baer broadens your pool.
I’m actually open to the slanted ones.
BTW, Baer Commanche frames are not a true Commander frame. They are a Government frame with a shortened dust cover. They need some machine work to convert them to true Commander specs but it’s still a viable option.
I actually knew about that, and forgot about it. I participated in a thread here about it actually. Thanks for reminding me. Not sure why they’d do that.
Caspian slide - carbon steel, commander length, vertical Colt style serrations, no FCS, no rollmarks
Caspian frame - titanium
Get a good pistolsmith like mine 
(John Harrison) and you can have anything you want.
You’ve tempted me with that gun before! (And I almost plunged/am still considering a 9x19mm 1911 because of it.)
Nah, they are cast. But Caspian seems to be quality so I wouldn’t cross it off your list as an option.
Why not hunt for a used Colt Commander that Billy ‘Bubba’ Jones is selling? Or just get a S80 Colt Commander new and have your 'smith use the little filler parts if having a forged frame is something you want?