New-Old .45s

Well, with the economy in the dumps, but its not like I haven't been trying.  I've acquired a couple of new irons, one a carry piece, the other a cowboy action revolver that I really don't need, it was just too good a deal, yeah, one of those...

At the last Indy 1500, I picked up an Officers model Rock Island as I noted previously here.  I did a few things to it, I dropped in an STI trigger and cleaned up the area where the spring guide and slide stop reside as it had quite a bit of flashing or remnant metal that was causing the slide stop to pop out under firing (not a desired thing).  I dropped in a new slide stop as a precaution and put on a pair of double-diamond rubber grips from Kimber, something I picked up from reading Xavier's blog (oddly, he recently posted his own compact 1911).  I agree with him in that there really isn't anything comparable in grip and comfort.

So far, I've put over 600 rounds down range with it and aside from the slide stop issue and some horrible ammo I bought at the 1500 (don't buy "factory reloads") it has nary a problem that weren't on me.  Ejection and feed are positive and the gun shoots accurately enough (better than I).  I also am loving the smaller form factor while carrying, it is a very handy pistol that disappears nicely on my side (like a deck chair on the Queen Mary).

The only thing I'm thinking of doing is replacing the sights, the mil-spec sights really don't pick up well under certain circumstances, though I do find them mostly adequate.  The problem is, what do you go with?  Novak makes a rear that fits the rear government dovetail, but I don't think they make a post sight for the front.  A lot of folks rave about the Yost hardball sight, but I don't see it being much better than what's on there.  Trijicon makes night-sights, but getting that front post sight staked without breaking the vile is nigh impossible without Trijicon's $300 tool and that seems a bit steep to me.  I have found the King-Tappan form Kings Gun Works may just be what I'd like to try, it isn't flashy, but does provide visual cues to help a shooter out.  If anyone has a suggestion that won't require milling of dovetails, let me know in the comments pleast.

The second shooting iron I recently acquired is a Ruger Tank Vaquero in .45 Colt and 4 5/8" barrel.  I really didn't need it, but the price and extras the fella was offering were too much for me to pass up.  This gun was manufactured during the first year of Vaquero production in 1993.  That's pretty neat, for me anyway, it certainly was very well taken care of and certainly wasn't used in CAS, that's for sure.  My guns that are less than 7 years old are showing wear from use, but then they are Rugers, so aside from holster wear, you wouldn't know the difference.  I'm very pleased with this gun as it is beautiful for a tank Vaquero and it completes my second set of shorter barreled Vaqueros (I had a 5 1/2" version).  BTW, if anyone out there has another 4 5/8" Vaquero in .45 Colt they would like to trade for a 5 1/2", let me know, I wouldn't mind matching up barrel lengths.

All in all, its been a pretty decent month and I picked up a couple of nice guns for under $1k, guns that I'll USE more importantly.  I don't like having guns that don't have jobs.

The Deal

Rep. Mike Pence on the bailout.

"I must tell you, there are those in the public debate who have said that we must act now. The last time I heard that, I was on a used-car lot," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana. "The truth is, every time somebody tells you that you've got to do the deal right now, it usually means they're going to get the better part of the deal."

Pence’s humor aside, all I hear from the guys who want to pass this bailout is that the alternative is unthinkable. Well skippy, if you want $700 Billion to hand out to the very idiots who mis-managed this whole thing down the shitter in the first place, I’d suggest you start convincing me by laying out exactly what the alternative is because I happen to think that handing out $700 Billion to morons IS UNTHINKABLE!!!

Wild Bunch Rig

Last month I shot my first Wild Bunch match at Pleasant Valley. I had a great time and a lot of fun. I wasn't very happy with my set up so I decided to come up with something different.

I stated with the notion that a boarder town gunfighter who opted for the new wiz bang auto loader wouldn't settle for a military flap holster. So I decided to improvise just like that gunfighter and cut off the flap.

I purchased an army surplus flap holster for next to nothing ($18) along with a leather knife case ($3). I cut the flap off of both the holster and the case. I then used some leather thread and stitched the top of the holster back together and fitted the knife case to the magazine by getting the case wet and letting it dry with a magazine wrapped in plastic inside the knife case. I then cut the back of the holster and knife case open enough to except an old 3" western cartridge belt I had lying around. The rig looks western enough and the holster presents very well allowing you to get your master grip on the gun well in advance of the draw stroke. Of course now I just have to get a chance to use it. Oh, and don't pay any attention to the 1911. It's not Wild Bunch legal, but it was all I had for the picture.

Newb 101

It's important to know when you're dealing with a new shooter. I got a snort out of a post on a local gun board today when the new shooter had this to say about a handgun he tried out.

"I didn't really like the grips but everything else felt great on it."

I'm trying to restrain the sarcasm, this is a new shooter, but you HAVE to know that a proper and comfortable grip is paramount to shooting well. You need a good grip, trigger and sights, everything else is gravy.