Among the pieces that I inherited on my father's passing (1943-2016) is the Colt Combat Commander that he purchased in 1976 from a fellow Idaho State Trooper. Manufactured in 1974 it started life as a blue steel model. In 1978 dad sent it off to Texas and had a hard chrome finish applied which still looks great after forty-three years. I started shooting in 1980 and this was one of the first handguns dad started me out on.