But whenever I see 1911s that aren’t all whizbang, I want to make them into my vision of an ideal blaster. Unfortunately for purists, my vision entails things like fiber optic sights, full length guide rods, and all manner of gamer modifications (it’s not a 1911 unless it has a magwell, right?).
I lol'd
At the excerpt from this post:
how to commission a custom beretta
Buy a stock Beretta of whatever model strikes your fancy. Hand it to a competent gunsmith, along with a large wad of dollar bills and a list of custom modifications. Wait a few months. Get the gun back, minus the large wad of dollar bills. (We also call this process “spending $1000 to turn a $600 gun into a $700 gun.”)
It’s funny because it’s true, especially where the Beretta 92 series of guns is concerned. I’m not saying that you can’t or shouldn’t have your Beretta customized, however speaking from a lot of experience with the platform, there is only so much custom work you can do to a Beretta before you cross in the territory of spending money to get nothing in return. Unlike the 1911 platform, the stock Beretta in it’s natural state is pretty much as good as it’s going to get. Sure, you could add some aftermarket Novak sights (I recommend this) and a hand-fitted Bar-Sto barrel and locking block, but no matter how much work you do on the gun, you can’t change the fact that it’s a DA/SA tank of a gun with an aluminum frame. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing either, because a Beretta is a robust, reliable design with an excellent magazine capacity. But if you’re looking for a platform on which to build your “dream” blaster, it’s not really a good starting point. Unless you really like Berettas, in which case I’ll tune your heater up for you! CALL FOR PRICING, GOOD RATES. SAME GUTS AS SONY.
Julie Goloski on Gun Nuts tonight!
That’s right, tonight’s Gun Nuts Radio is going to be featuring Julie Goloski of Team Smith & Wesson. As usual, the show goes live at 9pm Eastern time, and if you’re not there live, you’re missing out. So once the clock hits 9pm Eastern time, fire your browser over to www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts for what should be one of our best shows. As always, your call ins and comments are welcome, and you can take part in the discussion by calling 347-539-5436 once we start taking callers!
Anyone who’s listened to our show before will know that I’m a big fan of competitive shooting, and that’s why I’m so excited to have Julie joining us tonight – talking to one of the top shooters in the game is an exciting opportunity for Gun Nuts, and it also combines our other most popular topic of women shooters with my favorite topic of action shooting. Don’t miss it, tonight at 9pm Eastern at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts!
Point Shooting vs. Sighted Fire
This would be one of the “great” intertron gun board debates, right up there with 1911 vs. Glock and .45 ACP vs. 9mm in terms of the passion and rhetoric that is brought to the table whenever someone posts a thread on The Firing Line about how awesome/sucky point shooting is. The difference between those threads and the other flamebait threads is that for some reason, I can’t avoid the point shooting threads like I can the other ones.
Obviously, I tend to come down on the side of “use the damn sights”, because they’re on your gun for a reason. Plus, until the day when the Army Marksmanship Unit changes their CQB course and says “yeah, you don’t need those sights”; or when the instructors at Blackwater take the sights off their Sigs I’m going to keep using the sights on my gun. But that’s just me, and there are people on the point shooting side of the debate who are just as passionate about how Rex Applegate et al taught pistol shooting.
The problem that you end up with is one that any practitioner of martial arts is familiar with – “style X of chop-sockey is better than style Y”! When I was working on my first black belt in high school, and then my second one in college, I ran in to this exact same mindset all the time, probably because one of my flavors of chop-sockey is generally regarded as useless “on t3h st33ts”.
So, short of trolling TFL and Bullshido (that reminds me, I need to post over there more often) what should we do? Since I do believe that combat pistol shooting is a martial art, like the rest of the martial arts world I suggest that we get over our collective selves and just go pull some triggers. It’s not up to me to prove to someone that their technique is “wrong” or inferior to my technique. If you’re happy with your training methods and instructors, than more power to you. Since I don’t believe that point shooting is dangerous or is going to get you killed, then as long as people are pulling triggers and buying ammo, I’m pretty happy with the result. Just don’t try and preach to me that your chop-sockey is stronger than mine, okay?
P.S. 1911s are better than Glocks.
Home on my Range
Hit the Gun Nuts Radio Blog for information on my home range and favorite gun club – Atlanta Conservation Club. It’s one of the top shooting facilities in Central Indiana, and they’re currently doing a lot of work to develop it into a premier shooting facility.
Magazine Sale
No, not door-2-door sales, I mean the kind you feed your pistols with. MidwayUSA has Chip McCormick 8-round Power Mags on sale for $19.99 per mag. This is a great deal on a top-notch 1911 magazine.
Why everyone should shoot competitions
I firmly believe that everyone who carries a pistol for defensive purposes should make a regular habit of getting out to their local club and shooting IDPA/IPSC/Steel Challenge/Bowling Pins/whatever for a multitude of reasons. Obviously, stress inoculation is one, but honestly the number 1 reason why I feel this is a “good thing” is because it increases familiarity and proficiency with the firearms you’re shooting. Any IDPA stage, for example, will require the shooter to load their gun, put it on safe, holster, draw, engage targets, and then unload the gun. All this is done under the watchful eye of a Range Officer, whose specific job it is to make sure you don’t do something unsafe or stupid. Tam has a post that demonstrates why I think competitive shooting should be mandatory.
Shooting competitively builds up a level of knowledge and proficiency with your carry guns that can’t be found by jus blasting away at the range (it can be taught in gun school, as well – so if you’d rather go to Thunder Ranch or Blackwater, that’s cool too). You’ve all seen someone like this, a person who handles their firearm as though it’s an extension of their arm. They chamber check their guns without even thinking about it, and when the RO calls the range cold, they drop their magazines, clear the chamber and lock the slide back all without a moment’s hesitation. In a perfect world, everyone would have these kinds of gun handling skills; because everyone would shoot competition and go to Gunsite to get training.
Ultimately, what I’m saying is that when I’m on the range, don’t point your gun at me. Watch those muzzles, people.
The answer is no
I’m poaching from TFL this morning, because some times it’s just a fantastic gold mine of bloggable topics. A poster asks:
Ive read a few of the stories on here where some of you have been held at gunpoint by wary police (usually for opencarry or CCW). Some of the more disturbing cases were when its mentioned that the police officer has his/her finger on the trigger! We’ve all seen the mistakes with this one.
Now, I was trying to figure out, is there ever a good way to suggest to a LEO in that situation to ‘please keep your finger off the trigger’ without escalating things?
No. There really isn’t. If a cop is fired up enough to have his gun pointing at you, keeping your damn mouth shut is probably the best idea. There are only two questions you should be asking: 1) Am I under arrest, and 2) If I’m not under arrest, am I free to go? And even then, you should only be asking those questions when there are no guns being pointed at you.
To make it 100% clear, you cannot talk your way out of an arrest, but you most certainly can talk your way into handcuffs.
You know
Back when I was a “regular” job holder, and not a freelance writer, I had employees. In every position I held, I had people that were accountable to me for their performance. Part of having those employees was to conduct performance reviews during their 90 day evaluation period, and if they weren’t measuring up, to terminate their employment.
If I had an employee who in their first 60 days on the job had managed to insult our best client, go on television and insult mentally handicapped people, and then send a letter to the former CEO of a client we were trying to do business with and snubbing the current CEO of that client, I would fire this employee so fast it would make your head spin.
However, it seems that media doesn’t feel that way, because in the first 60 days of Obama’s presidency, he has unintentionally insulted Great Britain,then he went on the Tonight Show and made not one, but two disparaging remarks about mentally handicapped people, and now has managed to snub the President of France.
Uncle, from whence I found the link comments that there is absolutely no sound on this coming from the Legacy Media. The only places that are reporting on it are French Media outlets and conservative blogs. You and I both know that if George W. had done this, it would have been on the front of CNN.com, and those harpies on The View would have been going on and on about it. But, it’s the Chosen One. He can’t be a walking, talking gaffe machine because he’s from Chicago, and he’s so suave and urbane.
The great pursuit
Where will my quest take me today? Well, here’s hoping that it leads to some quality 1911 magazines in .45 ACP with basepads.