AridzonaShooter: Ramblings

As previously demonstrated, I don't have a handle on the news.

I don't have access to the TV networks or local news, thanks to Mr. Murdock, which leaves only CNN as a source.

Is there an internet news outlet which is reasonably unbiased which covers a fairly wide selection of what is actually going on in the world?

When a person stands up and publicly uses racial or ethnic slurs and epithets, he is, to my mind, demonstrating that he's a bigot.

Can there be any question about how Mel Gibson feels about Jews, his apologies notwithstanding?

So when a person supposedly on "our" side calls a part of the gun-owning public "terrorists," what are we to think about his real beliefs?

Dunno about you folks, but when a fellow calls me a terrorist, he can apologize all over himself, but I'll not accept his weasle-words. Piss on Mr. Zumbo. Unless he's on fire.

Oops. I'm informed that the officer did in fact engage the goblin.

Apparently, however, he missed...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/14/national/ap/main2476179.shtml

Thanks, Jeff.

I haven't looked at news sites, and I don't get network TV, so I may have missed something, but...

I'm doing my normal quick-scan of the Anna Nicole Smith...er, CNN channel and in between sensationalism ("Is your dog psychic?") and commercials, there's a report as part of the follow-on coverage of the Trolley Square shooting in SLC.

Seems a local police officer, off duty, who was shopping at the mall with his wife is being referred to as a "hero." Apparently when he encountered the goblin he identified himself as a police officer, called out for people to "Get down!" and engaged the goblin by hollering at him. Apparently his verbal engagement caused Mr. Goblin to...pause in his application of carnage upon the citizenry.

Nowhere in the story is there any mention of this officer having engaged the goblin with a firearm.

He hollered at the goblin.

Excuse me? While the Salt Lake metropolitan area is one of probably the safest places a person can go about his affairs, surely there is some criminal activity, so surely there are police officers who are armed in the course of their employment. Surely Mr. Off-duty Cop has a gun...

But apparently not with him.

Utah has a reasonably unrestrictive CCW system. Utah has a fairly high percentage of the population who have obtained CCW permits, and a fairly high percentage who own guns. Where were our armed brethren?

Even in the safest of locales, stuff happens. The pistol is a worthless means of protection for oneself and one's family if it's left home in the sock drawer.

For some time I'd been lusting after a "Commander" -size 1911. Over the years I've owned a few, both "real" (Colt, lightweight) Commanders and Combat Commanders. The Commanders are a 4 1/4" barrel length variant of the venerable 1911 platform; the frame size is the same size as the government model of that designation. The frame of the original Colt product was an aluminum alloy: "Coltalloy." It was later produced as both the lightweight model and in standard steel.

Many folks prefer the balance of the somewhat shorter barrel and slide.

In today's world, Colt pistols can be hard to obtain new, are relatively pricey (imo), and have objectionable features, specifically the Series 80 trigger mechanism. They don't seem to appear on the used market with any regularity.

I owned a couple, Colts, in the mid-to-late 90s; one I picked up used, and one purchased new. Neither got me all that excited, and were swapped off in fairly short order.

In the last 10 years or so, it seems as if the 1911 pistol has enjoyed an explosive growth in popularity. In any event, more manufacturers are entering the market with all sorts of variations on the design. Shorter. Longer. Lighter. Poly-freaking-mer frames, for gosh-sakes! Custom, semi-custom; pricey, cheap; fancy, plain: just pick your flavor.

The Springfield Armory pistols are to my mind a very good value. You can get just about any level of enhancement at a reasonable price. No, they're not custom guns, but for most shooters I believe they'll do an excellent job.

In the late 90s I'd picked up a "Lightweight Compact" model from Springfield Armory. This was the Officers ACP model-size frame (shorter by one round than the standard 1911) in alloy with a 4" barrel and slide. It's been shot a fair amount over the years, but not extensively. Lightweight with the shorter grip frame, it isn't the most enjoyable gun to shoot. It is very comfortable to carry and easy to conceal. The gun came from the factory with a reasonable level of enhancement. I wasn't real happy with the trigger, Chip McCormick was very happy to sell me a drop in replacement trigger group. As well, my eyes are getting dern near as old as the rest of me, so I've added a fiber-optic front site. That latter works extremely well, in anything other than complete darkness.

I'd been contemplating the various offerings from the manufacturers. As mentioned above, there's a wide variety available. I had a general idea of the enhancements I wanted, but couldn't settle on whether I wanted to build, or cause to be built, a custom, something semi-custom from one of the major manufacturers, or...just exactly what.

I like the balance of the 4" slide, but I enjoy shooting so...time for (yet) another Commander-like gun. So when one of the wholesalers "my" shop deals with showed a Springfield Armory "Compact" (their designation for the 4" barrel and slide) in stock, I ordered it. This is an example of their "Government model" line. IOW, it's pure 1911A1, with no enhancements. Spur hammer, teeny-tiny sights...GI stuff. Just like Grandad's ole government model, except with the shorter slide.

That took place some time in 2004. When I went through Chama, NM in '05 I arranged with a gunsmith there to do the work I decided the gun wanted and sent him the gun in the fall. We went through the catalog and made choices. As I've mentioned before, I'm not impressed with S/A triggers, so that was a necessity. My eyes are old, so some form of more visible sights were considered; I decided to go with Ashley Express tritium night sights. Moderately extended mag release and thumb safety, flat main spring housing, trigger group with Commander style hammer, which necessitated a beavertail grip safety, which necessitated some whacking on the frame.

For reasons of reliability any other internals of the MIM variety were changed out. Probably not necessary, but...I'm some anal about some things. I consider reliable to be a Good Thing.

No fancy slide serrations. No additional checkering. No "melting." Nothing was done that didn't directly impinge on enhancing function or reliability.

I'd picked up the gun from Mr. Smith last September when we last drifted through Chama. I managed to get out into the desert briefly last fall to function test the gun. All went well.

Here in Deming there's an outdoor range. I've gotten the gun out a couple of times, with the total round count now in the high 400 range. 90-ish rounds were various flavors of premium JHPs. The gun has demonstrated 100% reliability. I'll shoot a match with it this Sunday, and if it continues to run smoothly it will be cleaned and accepted for serious use.

Hasn't taken all that long...

As to the economics of this little exercise, I'd advise anyone contemplating something similar to just go out and buy a gun from one of the name manufacturers with a level of enhancement that you want. It just plain doesn't make economic sense to do this the way I've done it. I was able to buy the gun at dealer invoice, I was able to do some swapping for some of the work, and I was able to get the Ashley sights at wholesale. If I'd had to pay retail, cash money, I'd have been better off to just go buy a Kimber.

Moving day. We'll be outta pocket for...hours? days? Dunno.

Later.