1911 Phase II - Grip Therapy

Got two packages today, one big box (like I could fit a couple pistols in it) from Brownells with the relatively tiny mainspring housing; and a padded envelope just big enough to contain some VZ Grips 1911 grip panels, a baggy of 4 o-rings, and some pieces of grip tape.  (Bet you can guess who charges more for shipping too!)

So as previously mentioned, I went with the "Tiger Stripe" Operator's II panels.  They're a little darker and a tiny redder than they look on the site, but not badly so.

I also picked up a pack of the grip-tape for the front strap, since $7 isn't much, and is sure a lot cheaper than sending off the gun to get checkered.  Quality on the grips is excellent, and they're incredibly grippy.

The mainspring housing fit perfectly, had the flat plastic one off and the spring swapped and new steel housing on in less than 10 minutes (I think I wandered around looking for a clamp to be a third hand to hold a punch to compress the spring longer than the time to actually perform the swap...)  The effect is amazing really, the gun fills my hand much better and points even more natural because of that.  Plus did I mention the new one's steel?  I mean my usual carry gun has a frame made of plastic, but it just never felt right on the ol' 45.

Grips went on like 1911 grips have forever.  I ordered a set of the o-rings to give the screws a little more grab on the slicker G10 material, so they stick out a little more than they did on the old rubber scales, but not enough to feel noticeable.

On to the pictures.

Overall view of the gun-

It really feels like a whole new gun now.  Slightly more heft with that extra steel on back, and overall much much more secure in my hands.  These grips have a lot of bite, and that little extra texture on the formerly smooth front strap is a welcome addition.  I'm sure it'll be a fantastic change on the range too, the front combining with the cuts on the rear of the new grips should keep it well under control during recoil.

Better view of the left grip-

First off I gotta say this is one of the best looking pictures I've taken in a long time... at least in my opinion. Turned out great.

As for the grips, you can see how the front half are dimpled kind of like a golf ball.  This makes that half have a really solid grip, much like the huge checkering on the front of Dan's HK.  I know I complained about them there, but I don't mind the aggressive texture here.  I think due to the grip I use it doesn't bite my hands as much.  We'll find out if I feel that way after shooting it a bit though.

The back half has grooves cut at a 45 degree angle that directly opposes the rotational force from firing.  There's also a mag release cut out on the left panel.  So far it's possibly my favorite feature.  All around they're some fantastic grips if you like super grippy grips. (Did I mention they're really grippy?)  Hopefully I can get it out to the range (gotta restock the .45acp too... on the last box...) soon and see how it handles.

Oh yeah, the mainspring housing-

Steel, arched, checkered.  Fit on my Kimber frame perfectly with no work at all.  Fills that void in the back of my hand and helps get it up high in the beavertail.  No complaints.

Couldn't keep away...

Yeah, watched the last episode of Top Shot.  Good to see Adam douchin' it up right to the end.

Right up there with Rape Whistles...

Seriously... how well do you think this will work?



I do have a whistle on my keychain, but it's a Fox 40 Micro.  It's not a "self defense" item either, it's a search and rescue type of idea, beats the crap out of screaming in the middle of the woods for hours.

Guns & Coffee at the Movies!

Felt like stock picture was necessary...

So me and a couple buddies checked out The Expendables today (ok, yesterday...) and I gotta say, I was not disappointed.  Sly knows how to do an action movie.  Not so over the top as to have you saying "yeah right" through most of it, but enough to make it flashy and fun.  My only complaints are that their carbines could have had more and clearer screen time.  All I could tell was they were 11.5" AR types with Noveske KX3s on the end (and with crap-tastic GI mags... you'd think when your buying your own stuff you'd get good mags...)  That and the guy with the AA-12 burned up all the profits with his gratuitous use of the mini-grenade rounds.

All in all, if you like Rambo-esque action films, get to the theater.

Too True...

Rob Allen found some warning labels for newspapers.  The local paper around here could use some "possibly dated and disproved" stickers far too often.

1911 - Phase One...

Initiate!  Wolf ext. power extractor spring and action spring showed up while I was working.  Noticeably snappier slide.  We'll see how the extractor spring goes next time I hit the range.

Cursed myself.

The scheduled 8 turned into 12.  Needless to say you're somewhat busier some days in this job than others...

Apparently it's an Important Issue

I mean it's only the Second Amendment... but the role reversal is making my head hurt a little.

I love my state...

Such interesting people.  Pretty expensive statement though.

Fitting really...

All sorts of dark, gloomy, rainy. Kinda right for Friday the 13th.

I just hope things stay quiet here at work, the less I have to get out of the car, the better.

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PMags

Somebody asked about some broken ones on ARFCOM, and one of Magpul's guys mentioned how many they actually get returned.

Broken PMAGs are actually extremely rare with a return rate of only 0.025% (2-3 per 10,000) on average. However, defective ones do pop up now and again (this has nothing to do with the Impact Covers).

That's pretty dang impressive really.  Oh, and they're replacing the broken ones.

More from Jackson County

It looks as if Jackson County Corporate Counsel Mark Skolos is pushing for authorization from the County Board to prosecute the weapons cases DA Fox won't.

It looks like it may force Van Hollen to commit to an opinion, and given his past leanings I'm pretty optimistic.

There's also a couple opinion letters to the Jackson County Chronicle in support of Fox's decision.  Always a welcome sight.

EDC Kinives

I guess it's that time of the year again, The Munchkin Wrangler wrote a post about his, Tam linked to it, and it made me realize I've never mentioned mine on here.

I'm sure most of you have had moments where somebody has had the "why do you need a knife?" moment, although I can't actually say I have.  I guess the kind of people I surround myself with fully expect it (hell, it's one of the first things my boss tells a knew hire they should have when at work, that and a pen) and I do kind of have the rep of being that kind of guy.

Much like Marco, I've been rocking the Kershaw wares for a few years now.  I picked up a half serrated Kershaw Leek a while back to replace a Gerber Air Ranger that mysteriously grew some legs and walked off (some boy scouts are less than trustworthy apparently.) The Gerber was great, super-lightweight and sharp, and held an edge fantastically, but they've been long discontinued.  The Leek is almost as light, and the assisted opening is all sorts of awesome, especially the last few summers when I was teaching rock climbing.

Since then I've picked up a black, non-serrated one.  The black is less obtrusive when I'm in my work clothes, and the straight edge gets snagged up in stuff a lot less.  I still prefer the serrated one for climbing, as serrations will get through a rope much faster and easier, but for just cutting stuff the straight edge is better in my opinion.

The finish also makes the black one a tiny bit more grippy, my only real complaint about the design.  On the other hand, I've never had any grip issues with it anyway, and it doesn't bring half my pocket out along with it.  It's also incredibly durable, the only real wear marks are along the edges of the pocket clip where I tend to bump into stuff (I'm big and a little clumsy, deal with it.) and that's after a year of carrying it daily.  I don't baby my pocket knives either.

Of course another great thing about Kershaw knives is the last little bit of that blade mark...

Far too many knives these days say China or something similar there.

The Leek is still super-light too, mine weighing a whopping 3.04 oz.  If I forget it in the morning I won't realize until I reach for it (and then feel naked until I get home...)  It's also great at holding an edge, I think I've only gone over it with a stone once since I've bought it.

The other great thing is that the design fits with pretty much any outfit I'd ever wear, anything between jeans and a tux.  Ken Onion knows how to design a good looking knife.

All that for about $50, I'd say it's a damn fine knife.

1911 Facelift inbound

I ordered a set of the "Tiger Stripe" G10 Operator's II panels from VZ grips, will definitely be posting pics and thoughts when they show up.  I ended up going with the Tiger Stripe color partially because it seemed to get the most votes (here and in talking to people) and it looks like the Hyena Brown are all out anyway, so kind of a default win.

Wolf extra power extractor spring is on it's way as well, as I feel the heathenistic external extractor could use a little boost.  Need to pick up some more Wilson Mags and some decent single mag holders too.

ETA: Got shipping notice this morning too! Great turn around.

I blame Canada

Apparently karma didn't like me ragging on the Canadian chap who's M&P15-22 blew up on him, and decided that mine would try it's best to emulate his today.  Last round of my last mag, extra loud BANG! and a lot more smoke close to my face than normal.  I'm fine, but bummed that my favorite range toy is broked.

The bullet continued on it's merry way downrange, scored a decent enough hit, and the bolt locked back on the empty mag as designed, however the extractor went on it's own merry way to the FSM only knows where without so much as a "dear John" letter to the poor dejected bolt.

Yeah, it's gross.  That's 1,000+ rounds of .22lr worth of general crud, and to the benefit of the little Smith, it was still running great until the KB.

Ammo was Winchester Xpert22 bulk ammo.  I normally don't like un-washed .22lr, but it was free.  The round does have a firing pin mark.

I've sent an email to S&W, along with the pics, so we'll see what they've got to say.  All I really want is a new extractor so I can get it back out to the range.

I currently do not plan to sue.

For those of you just joining in (I still get visitors over from TFB at least every-other day): It's all been fixed, with a few updates stuck in.

Rubber Band Follow-up

Cro took it out to the range again on Sunday and put another 250 rounds through it.  I asked what happened, did it just loose it's bounciness? Melt into a puddle of goo?

nope, I ran out of ammo at the range.. didnt expect it to last that long, it was just way too dirty, when it got hot from rapid fire the polymer cases melted.. but its still going strong

(He was referring to the polymer coating on the Tula rounds he was firing.)

Really makes you wonder...

Meh.

Got called in to work last night.  Probably will hit the range as soon as the rain lets up, then crash and burn sometime in the early afternoon.  Probably not a whole lot of blogging gonna happen between any of that, save for some world changing catastrophe.

Slight Pet Peeve

Afghans are people, Afghanis are a monetary unit.

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I blame the Interwebs

It seems as though we Americans are causing a run on Bacon.

(Via Tam)

New York Marksmanship

So the blogosphere is pretty well flooded with posts about the shooting in Harlem on Sunday where an individual was struck 21 times, and expected to live.  Crazy indeed, and a paltry display of why the NYPD needs to increase their training budget or take some guns away from some of their own guys.

The big problem is that not only where none of those 21 rounds fired good center-mass fight stoppers, but those 21 rounds account for less than half the total shots fired by the police.  Pretty much anybody who has spent more than an afternoon doing any serious shooting knows you are responsible for every single projectile sent downrange.

As more information becomes available, more and more of those rounds are being accounted for, and it's not helping their case one bit in my mind.

The police said that the man, Luis Soto, 21, was shot during a frenzied encounter — they said he was fighting with another man when one of the two drew a revolver and witnesses reported hearing one or two shots. The man Mr. Soto was fighting with turned and fired on a responding officer, and four officers returned fire, the police said.

 Apparently they can't definitively say who's rounds struck Soto, as they all passed through.  However it is highly likely that some, if not all, of those were fired by the police, as witnesses say they only heard one or two shots before Alvarez fired on the police.

So the guy gets into a fight, the guy pulls a gun on him, and the cops show up and simply light everybody in the neighborhood up.

Three other people, believed to be bystanders, also received minor gunshot wounds. Although it was not immediately clear who fired those shots, all but 4 of the 50 shots fired in the melee came from the police, officials said.

 Oh, wait, not just the locals, but hell, each other.

The first officer to fire was Douglas Brightman, 31, a uniformed officer who has been on the force eight years. He fired two rounds, one striking the bullet-resistant vest of a plainclothes officer, Michael Tedeschi, who was shot in the chest.

Another officer was struck in the hand as well.

I would be appalled to be part of that Charlie Foxtrot.  You show up because a couple guys get into a fight and one of them pulls a gun, and rather than protect, you go ahead and off the guy for the shooter.  Apparently if somebody pulls a gun on you in NYC the last thing you want is for the police to show up.

All I can think of is the scene in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls where Richard gives the HKL cop his gun back after flushing all his rounds down the toilet.  (Paraphrased, the book's at home) "It still serves the same purpose, and if I would have let you keep the bullets you probably would have hurt somebody."

1911 Grips

So I'm pretty sure I want a set of the VZ Operator's II scales to slap on the ol' Kimber, but I can't decide between the "Tiger Stripe" and the "Hyena Brown." What do you think?

Rappeling on the Blackhawk! CQB

So the other day I alluded to a somewhat irregular product review.  I headed up to camp and while I was there I decided to see how the belt handled itself in a more vertical aspect, since its abilities as a gun belt have been pretty well gone over by everyone else.

First off, some of you may recall I won a $50 gift certificate for Blackhawk! from Hell in a Hand Basket a few months back.  I picked up a pair of kneepads they were clearancing for $10, and a tan CQB Rigger's Belt (tan being authorized for wear with ACUs.)

Now for it's main use, a belt that'll keep your pants and gear off the floor, it works fantastically well.  It's constructed of some pretty stout webbing, and the hardware is all "parachute grade" cast metal (don't know if it's steel or aluminum, don't have a magnet on me... I'll fix that when I get home.(ETA- it's Steel))  The tail end has a decent amount of hook & loop to keep it out of the way, and to back-up the main buckle.  I really like this sort of setup, since it seems that my waist size is always right between the holes on any leather belt.  It also has no issues holding up my loaded Sig with it's light and a spare mag.  It is pretty darn good for all day outside-the-waist carry, assuming you're in casual clothes.

But I'm also a BSA certified Climbing Director, so when I noticed that all the hardware is parachute rated, and the webbing is good for up to 7,000lbs, the little greasy gears started turning.  So finally, on the last week of camp for the year, I was able to get up there for a visit, and it so happened to be a rappel day for Climbing Merit Badge.  That last part is important to the plan, as I sure would not want to take a hard fall on just an unpadded waist-belt.  If you fall during a rappel, it's going to be much less of a shock (assuming your belayer is awake;) and an emergency rappel is really what you'd be using it for anyway.  It is not a replacement for a harness.

Seeing as I'm not completely suicidal, I did have my harness on, and ran a Prusik Loop from the belay device to my belay loop, my biggest worry being the buckle on the belt loosening.  The device (a Rescue 8 with ears for those curious) was clipped directly through the triangular buckle on the belt though.  So I hooked it all up and slid down the rope.  It's about a 45 foot decent on our face.

It works.  I also grabbed my little mini-tripod and some duct-tape and rigged up a "helmet cam" with the up-armored camera.



Like I said during the first run, it's not too bad, but it is definitely less comfortable than my padded harness.  You don't realize how much weight actually gets distributed through your leg loops until you're not using them.

After two rappels the belt had not loosened whatsoever, and the heavy-duty double webbed construction kept it from rolling or folding when weight was placed on it.  I'd feel quite confident using it for an "oh crap get me down from here" situation, or simply as fall protection in a high angle environment where a harness is not available.  It boils down to "while you may never actually do it, rest assured that you can."

If you've been contemplating picking one up, do it, you won't be disappointed.

Taurus Judge in SWAT Magazine

I just read the review of the Taurus Judge in the Sept. 2010 issue of SWAT Magazine.  In so many words, the Judge kinda sucks at everything and is really good at nothing.  Pretty much confirms my suspicions.
On the other hand, SWAT has a good record of honest guns and gear reviews.  This is far from the first time I've seen a review of a gun where the writer really tore into it and decided it's really not that great in their magazine.  Refreshing really.  Pick up an issue if you haven't yet, despite the title, they cover far more than just police specific stuff.

As for the Judge, if the upcoming carbine has a smooth bore barrel I may still be interested, as that would help the accuracy problem a bit.  The Steampunk fan in me likes the looks.

#9 Air Freshener

Coming Soon.  It is one of my favorite smells.
(h/t: SayUncle)

Teaser

New(ish) gear review in the next couple days (actually Monday sounds good.)  Let's just say it's something I know quite a few of us shooters use... but I'm not at the range...

Ignited

Take a few hundred pictures and you're bound to get something cool.

Modern muzzle loader at the moment of firing:

Slow Bloggin'

Just not feeling it today, had a huge stack of comics and we hit the range later in the evening.  Working third shift tonight and heading up to camp for the morning at least to do some rappelling and say hi if nothing else.

On the other hand, checked out a new (to me) range today, has all the standard "the public can't be trusted so here's a bunch of arbitrary" rules, but you can stretch out to 300 yards.  You kinda forget how far that is if you don't shoot it that often...

The Springfield did pretty darn well too.  I managed to keep most of them in the black of a "NRA 50 Meter slow-fire" target as long as I took my time.  Gonna have to get up there more often I think.

Oh, and a couple more mags went through Cro's AR, rubber chunk is still holding up...

Mmm... Coffee...

One of the great things about small locally owned coffee shops.

I'm currently sitting about 10 feet away from the roaster, and it's running.  It sounds really cool when the beans pop (like popcorn... except a five gallon bucket's worth) and the smell is fantastic.

Embody's up to his old tricks again...

It appears that he's suing over getting his carry permit revoked.  Couldn't have happened to a greater guy in my mind.

If you remember back a ways, he's the guy who was detained for a bit after OCing an AK pistol across his back in a local park. Oh yeah, and he had painted the muzzle nut orange to "keep people from hassling him." I don't disagree with the principle of the idea, but that last bit is what throws him clear into Category I Asshat in my book.

(h/t Uncle)

More BattleComp Goodness

Cro shooting it for the first time.  There is a slightly dirty word at the end if you're the kind that get offended by that though, be warned.



I unknowingly stopped recording where the clip ends there (new camera... still figuring things out...) so I missed him saying "it's everything it's advertised to be..."