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The Colt Commander had provided a more compact 45-caliber handgun, but there was interest in a .45 in an even smaller package.

In 1975, the Spanish firm producing the big Star pistols brought out the Star PD. The new small Star was a shortened and lightened .45 with an aluminum frame. With its 4-inch barrel and weight of 25 ounces, the Star was, for a short time, the smallest .45 available.

In 1976, the year of America’s Bicentennial, the 1911 was miniaturized in America by the new firm calling itself Detonics. Originally using Colt parts modified by them, and then manufacturing their own, Detonics brought out a compact steel .45, weighing 31 ounces. It was of innovative design, and had a 3-1/2-inch barrel. The Detonics pistol introduced the cone-barrel positioning system, orienting the short barrel in the slide without a bushing.

Until the 1970s, Colt had been the sole source of newly-made traditional U. S. 1911-style pistols, but during that decade, the market for similar .45s made by other firms grew.