Saturday, May 14, 2005

The Genius of John Browning


EGWFPS
Originally uploaded by The Third Way.

You can tell a fella is the real thing when lesser folks seek to "improve" upon his work and perhaps cure one perceived problem while exacerbating others. This happens because when a really smart and knowledgable guy designs something there is a lot of what I call "density of design", meaning that a lot of parts or design elements serve more functions than it would initially appear. I stumbled upon an example of this today on a 1911 forum.

See, the military decided the 1911 had a too stiff initial manual slide retraction. No doubt some soft handed general abraded himself while enduring qualification with the 1911. A design change was issued and this little part
got changed.

Note the blurry one in the foreground has a bevel on the top right while the rear one has a pretty sharp radius. This one little change to what is called the "Firing Pin Stop" can result in any number of malfunctions. Since this was implemeted folks have come up with all kinds of fixes for the resulting problems it caused; treating the symptons and not the disease.

That one dimension started a whole chain reaction of differences in the way the pistol functioned, from felt recoil, lock timing, slide to frame impact, feeding, to ejection reliability. I other words it didn't work anymore. Whole industries have been founded on solutions to problems this change caused.

Design Density.

Friday, May 13, 2005

The Return of the Pocket Watch

Seen any old movies lately? Folks checking on the train or somesuch by diggin' a two inch diameter clock out of the bib pocket of their overalls, flippin' the cover open, shading it from the sun and squinting at it. I found myself doing this very same thing the other day with my cellphone.

Yeah, I wear bibs sometimes. Did you know they have a special watch pocket on the outside of the bib pocket? The watch (cellphone) slides in sideways right to left. It is the perfect size for the newer compact flip phones, the antenna snags on the way out sometimes, but it is real handy. Theres even what appears to be a useless buttonhole that is for attaching a watchfob to keep you from droppin' your $300.00 phone onto the pavement.

You're not still wearin' a watch are ya'? Luddite, those things are going the way of dinosaur blogs (newspapers) and the network newscast.

Get hip. Get bibs.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Thompson 1911C Target


Thompson 1911C Target
Originally uploaded by The Third Way.

Here it is. The Evidence. That is a three inch target spot. That's @ 25 yards rested on a bench. Measure yourself - and remember, Gregg, those are 1/2 inch holes! I was unable to do any better than 3" on my hindlegs though.

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The Best Defense or "Why a .45?" Well, Grasshopper....

I have been a CCW holder and habitual user for about 7 years now. I started off with a Makarov in .380. I was poor but I found a 'custom' in hard-chrome with target sights. Walther PP size, ate anything, couldn't make it misfire; indestructable. I bought some Franchi ammo one time that was full of half loads and was pure junk. It cycled all but the one round that fell apart chambering. That's right the bullet fell out of the case. I liked the gun alot. Then I saw a show on TV where some nut was holding a girl hostage and shot her about 8 times with a .380. She was on her feet and attempting to evade him as he pumped lead into her. The scene lasted about 5 minutes and ended with her walking to the ambulance. About two weeks later I had a dream about a 'home invasion' and the same sort of thing happened in it. Shoot the bad guy - nothing happens. I traded the Mak the next week off for a Ruger Super Redhawk brass beltbuckle. I wear it to this day and get lots of compliments.

I upgraded to a KAHR Arms K40; all steel, heavy, tough, powerful, accurate, and compact. What a trigger! Butter smooth, but about a 1 1/2 inch pull. Not much use for shooting games and such. You can impress folks by ringing a 100 yard steel with your 4 inch compact semiauto, though! I still love this gun, and use it if small size is critical to a carry situation.

I never thought I would own a "plastic" gun, but I got to lookin' at the CZ100 one day at a local gun store and identified some interesting features that sparked my interest. I asked to see it and the clerk handed it over, offer to make a deal. I handed it back when I realized it was a puny 9mm. He was persistent though, and eventually asked for an offer. I low balled him with half the marked price to shut him up and damned if he didn't take it! What are ya' gonna do? I bought the gun. It shoots great, I carry it most often even though it is a full size duty weapon because it is so light you can forget you are wearing it. I just plan on having to make head shots.

In between the Makarov and the KAHR I bought a book called, "The Best Defense" by Robert A. Waters that is filled with stories of regular folks successfully defending themselves and their loved ones with a firearm. In this book is the tale of a woman who was stalked for fifteen years by a former coworker at a bank. She, her husband, and children even moved away to get away from the ass. No help from cops, of course, they are only there to clean up the mess; not prevent it or intervene. Eventually the guy goes off completely, makes a 'death list' and begins showing up on the doorstep of former coworkers and killing them, though one survived and was able to get police to warn the other former coworkers that he was on a rampage and was wearing a bulletproof vest. Now, the above stalked woman's husband had purchased a .45 and learned to use it. He prepared for the coming attack. The coward shows up on his doorstep pretending to need help. The husband got his family on the floor and when the psycho figured out his ploy didn't work he shot the lock off the door and came in shooting at the children on the floor. Dad rests the .45 on the refridgerator at puts a .45 slug on target. The cops picked the psycho up later, begging for help for real this time, whimpering on the ground from the trauma caused to him by one .45 round to his chest. Through a Kevlar Vest. The round didn't penetrate, it just hit so hard he wished it had. I knew I would eventually purchse a .45ACP 1911 the second I finished reading that tale.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

My New 1911!

Oops! OUR new 1911!

Follow THIS to a review of the gun (Thompson Custom 1911 review is the first review listed in the "Reviews" links) - Note the 25yard accuracy data. I was able to duplicate these results today at the range. These numbers are usually reserved for $1500+ firearms. Thompson is owned by KAHR Arms, makers of the most reliable, accurate, and potent hideaway (CCW) guns available. I own a KAHR in .40S&W and have found it to be of amazing dependibility, accuracy, and quality, so I took a gamble and bought one of the first hundred 1911 Customs they have ever manufactured.

It's new and the chamber is a bit tight, so I had a couple of failures to eject. And the guide rod is shedding some kind of coating, but I can't bitch until at least 200 rounds have been fed through it. I'll call KAHR tomorrow and get a new guide rod shipped out and tell them how accurate their pistol is.

I showed my groups to the Mrs. and her reaction was, "I can't believe anyone would BUY a gun that wouldn't do that...". I explained to her that 2" at 25 yards was exceptional, the 1.5" groups I got today was amazing, and that we had no right to spend less than $700 on a 1911 and get that kind of result. We buy this company's guns because of this. They do not play when it comes to accuracy.


See me smilin' ?!