Shameless Product Placement

Last night, after I figured out to take the King of Raceguns apart, I was finally looking at the guts of the gun.  When I disassembled the recoil spring guide rod and got the spring off, a little piece of plastic around the base of the guide rod start to break up into little pieces in my hand.  The plastic was so dry that it had finally just given up the ghost.  At first, I couldn’t figure out why there was a plastic buffer in my gun, and then I remember that some people like to add this little doo-dad to their blasters.  It’s called a Shok-Buff, and the one I had said “Wilson Gun shop” in tiny letters on it.

The idea behind a Shok-Buff is that by placing it on the recoil spring guide rod, it helps to absorb the battering that the gun delivers to the body of the pistol when shooting lots of high performance rounds.  Some people swear by them, and other people think they’re completely unnecessary.  Since the one in my gun had decayed to the point of crumbling, I just took it off and put the gun back together without it.

Now, when I was taking the gun down, I only needed one tool to completely disassemble my 1911.  Instead of having to fish around for two different allen wrenches and a couple of screwdrivers, I was able to use my Wilson Combat 1911 Versa-tool to field strip and reassemble the gun.  You can buy the Versa Tool from Midway USA, and while you can’t get it in time for Christmas, makes an excellent gift any time of the year.

I kid a bit about this being shameless product placement – I wouldn’t tell you guys that a product, whether it’s a gun, ammunition, or a tool wasn’t good if I didn’t use it and believe in its value myself.  That’s why I’m “meh” on the Shok-Buff, but 100% behind the Wilson Versa-Tool.  That little thing lives in my range bag, and goes with me everywhere I take a 1911 for competition.