Photo of the Day: Visiting with an Early 1911 Build

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Today’s photo of the day is one of my early projects from almost 10 years ago. I built it on a Colt 1991A1 with all the Series 80 parts in tact. I spent a lot of time on the trigger and adjusted the timing of the S80 parts so that they are transparent to the shooter. After about a year, the original Ed Brown thumb safety sheared, so it was replaced with a strong side only CMC unit that I had in the pile. I also replaced the slide stop with an early 10-8 unit for good measure. All the parts were addressed by hand, including removal of all machine marks from the frame and slide, thorough dehorn, and polishing of all the pins. The S&A magwell was also blended by hand with external recontouring inspired by a build I had seen from Larry Vickers. I can’t take credit for the scallops; they were done as a favor to me by Stan Chen back in the day. This pistol has some good honest wear on it, which looks nice on the satin blue finish. Bluing doesn’t protect nearly as well as modern polymer finishes, but boy it looks a lot better when it wears. Just don’t keep it around salt water.

Review: GA Precision’s GAP-10 Semi-Auto Precision Rifle

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I was first introduced to GA Precision through the precision rifle community 9 years ago. GA Precision was founded in 1999 by George Gardner to support local high power and long range shooters. This N. Kansas City, Missouri company has since grown into one of the premier custom shops for tactical, Mil-Spec, F-class and hunting type rifles. GA Precision also serves numerous law enforcement agencies such as FBI SWAT,  FBI HRT Team Quantico,  ATF SRT , Illinois State Police HRT Team, Kansas City, KS P.D., Escondido P.D., CA  –   and many others. The gunsmiths working under the GA Precision roof, exhibit their experience in the extraordinary consistent quality of the rifles they produce.  My military background carries into civilian shooting competitions with my demand for both precision and unfailing reliability when choosing a rifle. Continue reading →

The 1911 For LE and Special Team Use

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From 1986 to 2010 I was issued, qualified with, or authorized to carry a 1911—even got the POST certified SWAT Academy training for the 1911. While I had no problems maintaining my personal 1911′s, go ahead and try to keep nearly 100 1911′s from a large full time metropolitan SWAT team up and running. The 1911 is not a logical choice for general LE issue, including SWAT team use, in this era given the increased fiscal outlay they require. In addition, for years I thought I shot a 1911 better than any other pistol. However, when run across a wide variety of tests based on objective times and scores, rather than subjective feelings, that did not turn out to be true. It turns out I run an M&P or Glock just as well.

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Wilson’s Tactical Elite: Now and Back In The Day

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With permission of WC, here’s what a Tactical Elite looks like now in its basic configuration.

Meet the Wilson Combat (WC) Tactical Elite (TE), a really nice full size 1911 with a unique flanged cone barrel.  The claim of softer recoil and faster shot-to shot-recovery (due to almost two ounces additional weight) is not a false boast.  I base this on the comments of friends who have shot my TE, and from personal experience.  There are a couple of pistols in WC’s expansive current offerings I now might like better, but that in no way diminishes this rather unusual iteration of the 1911.

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Photo of the Day: Goldmember’s 1911?

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While visiting my buddy’s local gun shop, I saw this in the repair bin and knew I had to share it. The pistol appears to be plated with actual gold, and fully engraved. You get exactly ONE guess as to what caliber for which the pistol is chambered. You’ll notice even the sights are plated. Just goes to show you that the taste some people have exists only in their mouth.

Photo Of The Day: Smith & Wesson Model 15-2

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During a recent Women’s Only Handgun Selection Seminar, I allowed the students to shoot my S&W Model 15-2. I decided to shoot it after the class, as I don’t often get the chance since I usually shoot and teach with semi auto pistols. It was a walk down memory lane so to speak, and also good to see that I could still run a wheel gun pretty well.

My introduction to the Model 15 was in 1977 upon entering the USAF Security Police. As it was the policy to issue a different weapon at each duty assignment, I had eight different Model 15’s over the years.  I was again issued a Model 15 when I joined my current department in 1988, carrying it until 1989 when we converted to semi auto pistols.

My fiance bought this one as a Christmas gift after I talked about having one as my first duty weapon. (She’s A Keeper).

Mine has the narrow grooved trigger and hammer spur. As I recall my Air Force issues had the wide target trigger and hammer spur. They had seen a lot of ammunition and some hard usage, but they always shot and were accurate, despite the appearance.

I installed a Wolff spring kit and polished the internals, as well as adding the Ahrends Cocobolo Retro Combat Stocks. I wish my duty guns had those modifications back in the day. It has some holster wear, but other than the spring kit and stocks, it’s original and in great shape.

I would compare the S&W Model 15 to the Glock 19 of today. Both fit the niche of a very effective fighting handgun without unnecessary weight or complication, and will get the job done as long as the user does his or her part. There was something about being armed with a revolver named “Combat Masterpiece”.

 

 

 

Building the “Do it All” Carbine Part II

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Marvin Pitts from Nefarious Arms did an amazing job on the barrel treatment

The heart of building my “Do it all” carbine is the barrel. In order to get what I was looking for in a very lightweight and handy carbine that carries and shoots like a light M4, but offers better penetration and performance than 5.56mm and hits like a light .308. I also wanted to avoid the many issues of a short-barreled 5.56mm or for that matter, a short .308 (excessive blast, recoil and accelerated wear). I was fortunate to locate the perfect person to get my new little carbine to where it has a near perfect level of length, weight, and balance. Continue reading →

Armed Self Defense And Stand Your Ground Laws: What’s New Is Old

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I previously wrote a two part “primer” (posts of 12/29/2012 and 1/14/2013) on the use of deadly force, which included a brief explanation of Stand Your Ground (SYG) laws.    As I write this, a criminal jury is being chosen in a well-known Florida case. (A Neighborhood Watch volunteer shot and killed a teenage guest in the residential community he was patrolling).  Although almost all of the prospective jurors interviewed so far in the jury selection process have denied knowledge of the case, I suspect readers of MSW who carry a handgun daily, whether LE or private citizen, are rather familiar with the case and the widespread press coverage of it.   Continue reading →

D&L/Cominolli Glock safety

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As previously noted, I have long preferred having a manual safety on my pistol, as I have twice seen officers’ lives potentially saved when another person gained control of an officer’s pistol, but the engaged manual safety prevented the weapon from firing –I don’t like to think about the outcome if the pistols involved had been a Glock, Sig, XD, revolver, etc…. In the incidents I have witnessed the officers had NO way to mitigate the threat prior to losing the pistol, despite adequate training and good quality Safariland retention holsters. All the DT/retention techniques in the world do not help when an officer is on the ground unconscious/semi-conscious. A manual safety can give officers a brief respite to neutralize the suspect using disarming techniques, access back-up weapons, and allow cover officers the opportunity to react and engage. Continue reading →

Our Take on Online Firearm Resources

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GunUp Magazine represents the new generation of sophisticated gun owners and is run by those who truly care about the people who read their membership and the content they provide.

As with all technology, the good always comes with the bad. With modern advances in communication technology, we are more connected to each other than ever before in human history. Information exchange can take place with fewer barriers and we are not at the mercy of publishing companies to get the word out when we want to say something important (or not-so-important.) But with this comes a downside. Now, anyone with an Internet connection and beyond 3rd grade writing capability can start their own website or start posting on an online forum as if they are an authority on any particular subject. Unfortunately, firearms topics seem to draw out some of the worst the Internet has to offer.

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The Forgotten Military and Police

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My last piece I wrote was about service pistols going back 20 years, the Smith and Wesson 10mm series of pistols.  The 10mm was created as an ideal police cartridge to bridge the gap between the 9mm and the .45 ACP. This time we’re going back another 20 years (closer to 30, actually) to a rarely remembered Smith and Wesson M&P.

Today, when we mention the Military and Police in many circles, it conjures the image of a sleek auto pistol chambered in 9mm, 357 SIG, .40 and .45.  But the term Military and Police goes back to around the year 1900 when Smith and Wesson set the world on it’s ear with a hand ejector revolver that would be marketed to law enforcement.  And it would go on in one shape or fashion to rule what was in police holsters for the better part of that Century.  The .38 Military and Police had many variants from from about the year 1899 and later became a modeled number of the Model 10.  Modeled numbers were introduced in the late 1950’s.  There were different versions of the Military and Police.  One was chambered in .357 Magnum as the Model 13. Continue reading →

The Real Truth About 1911s

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This photo was taken from a 1911 course we taught in Bellevue, WA. Three quarters of the 1911s experienced failures during the test firing phase of this class, which is about average for our courses. We make it a point to get all these guns working reliably by the end of the class, and barring a dimensional issue that requires machine work (which is beyond our the scope of our mobile class format), we are usually successful in reaching this goal.

Recently, another blogger has apparently taken offense to the statement I made in a previous article. I wrote something to the effect that those who have been around 1911s know that they are finicky and requires a dedicated end user and strict maintenance. Before I go into a few technical details, I’d like to point out a few facts. Despite my comment, believe it or not, I am a 1911 fan. It is safe to say that I love 1911s and there are more of them in my safe than any other pistol I own. It was a revolutionary design that was way ahead of its time. The 1911 has influenced nearly all modern service pistols subsequent to its development. That being said, the gun is over 100 years old, and believe it or not, we have learned one or two things about building reliable, affordable pistols for duty use in the last century.

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Rogue Corps

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The men (and Stanley the wonder dog) of Rogue Corps on the final day of instructor training.

On any given day at the academy I have the distinct pleasure of meeting people from all walks of life and with greatly varying levels of firearms experience.  Every once in a while I am taken off guard by one or two of them.  This past week, knowing fully what I was getting into, I was still taken aback and once again honored and humbled by the men from Rogue Corps. Continue reading →

Colt M45 CQBP: Shooting the Gun (Does it work?)

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The Colt M45 is fitted with a National Match Barrel which yields very good accuracy. I shot this group at 20 yards, standing, freestyle. I was fighting a nasty flinch from all the function testing earlier.

Earlier this week, Hilton published a series of articles that gave us a detailed look at the Marine Corps’ new M45. This begs the question, how does it shoot? Those of us who’ve been around the 1911 platform know it is a finicky gun that requires a dedicated end user and strict maintenance schedule if it is to be relied upon. Many 1911 style guns on the market won’t even work well out of the box. So how does the Marines’ new 45-caliber pistol fare? Continue reading →