Second Best Handgun in the World!

For the last 2 years I have been working outside of the country. No big thing, just hanging out most of the time waiting for something to happen.

But during my time to contemplate I always come back and start thinking of things I miss most while I'm away from my safe. (No, wife and dog thoughts are for my other blog, lol.)

I have to say that I miss my Glock 19. For a short time I had one as a work gun, and it changed my perspective entirely. Originally I would have fought you tooth and nail that a Wilson CQB 1911 was the end all and be all. That if it did not have 4 & 5 in it you were crazy.

That was until I was issued a Glock 19. I proceeded to carry it to the range, and everywhere else for about a year. I was so impressed with it on my first trip home for some time off I took in a Glock .40 and traded it for a Glock 19. I then proceeded to add little things that I had already added to my work blaster. A Vicker's magazine release, a grip plug, and blacken out the sights with a black felt tip pen.

For those of you saying, why didn't you just get new sights, I thought at the time that it needed to be as similar to my work blaster as could be. And for all intents and purposes it was.

Suffice it to say I took that Glock 19 with me everywhere when I got home. I shot IDPA with it, I carried it concealed(thank you North Carolina), and I shot it at least once at week when i went to the range with my range buddy.

Like crack to a crackhead I was a newly reborn Glock-ster.

It's not like I have never owned a Glock. I had 4 already in my safe. The second pistol I bought was a Glock 21. I had enjoyed the plastic blaster until I had fallen head over heals for my all metal 1911.

But there was something different with this blaster. Like Excalibur rising from the lake it awakened something inside me. I had been spoiled by a quality 1911. I had assumed that all triggers broke at 3 1/2 pounds, and that 8 rounds was the end all be all.

So when I first started firing the small plastic blaster I was surprised I could not shoot as well as with my 1911. And that challenged me. I was not going to let this little blaster make me look bad. I was going to master it.

Several hundred rounds later I finally started to start placing little holes where I wanted them.

But then I left to back to work. And this time when I returned to work and was returned my duplicate blaster the green suiter's had shut down our range. And I was left dry firing for 6 months.

I guess my love story could have ended there. Six months later I could have gone home, found that dry firing had only done so much and put the plastic back in my safe.

BUT, it did not get me down. When I pulled the trigger for the first time in six months I was hooked again.

I was again challenged to master this strange little black plastic brick. And master it I did, for another 30 days before I packed it up and went back to work.

I'd like to say that this story has a happy ending, that I get to carry something similar. That I this that or the other. But no.

I pick up this same blaster every time I go home and I study, call me stubborn, call me thick headed, call me what you would like.

It did paid off, one day as I was waiting for the next days events at CRC, I had to go to the range and qualify. I swear I shot a 40, they counted 39. I'll live.

Oh, and they had us use Glock 19's.

It's not a 1911, but its a close second.

Colt model 6721

This was the first Colt blue label I purchased. The Model 6721 is a 16" heavy barreled AR-15 with "mil-spec" features like a bolt carrier, MP tested bolt and barrel and buffer tube/adjustable butt stock. It is apart of Colt's Blue Label or Law Enforcement/Military line of rifles. During the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban these weapons were not available to be purchased by civilians, but with the ending of that foolish ban Colt now sells their near M4 spec rifles to civilians in free states.

My 6721 has gone through as many changes, modifications, and upgrades that I can do(for now).

When I first assembled the rifle out of the box I had a 7" Free Float Rail installed, a plain Vltor butt-stock, and an EO tech with a Rock River Dominator mount. I think the only thing that has stayed the same is the black Blue Force Vickers sling and a Tango Down pistol grip. I have added and subtracted a Grip-Pod, changed out the Troy 7" rail for a Daniel Defense 12" FSP lite weight and switched out the flash light a couple of times.

Three modifications I have kept and enjoy are the Vortex flash suppressor from Smith, Matech back up sight that I picked up overseas, and the PRI Gasbuster charging handle. All three came from a 'tactical' set up that I find work well.

The major motivating reason behind my transformation for the rifle was that everything I put on the rifle, for an optic, EO, Acog, and now Leupold was that the 16" heavy Barrel on this rifle is so dang accurate.

At first I thought the 4x power ACOG would be the ticket, until I had the opportunity to but a 1.5-5 power Leopold off a co-worker. I had already been searching for a variable power scope to keep up with the "Short-Dot" fad and was leaning toward another Trijicon product (mostly because of price). When a co-worker asked me if I'd like to buy his scope.

Not sure what I was getting I picked up the scope and was impressed with the magnification and clarity. I was sold. Coming home I found a Larue 1.5 SPR mount, and a beefier Vltor EMod stock for what i thought was going to be a heavy scope and rail combo. I again was surprised as the rifle was still lighter than expected when i weighted it against a friends AR 10 at the range.

I guess you could say my proof of concept was when i took this same rifle to a 2 and 3-gun match and got a chance to run it under stress.

Lessons learned from this rifle: From it I was able to figure out what would make a good ACOG set up, another blog on that later. And the benefit of the adjustable low power scope.

Last note, I just decided to add the Surefire 300 to the front of the rifle after reading some other more knowledgeable blogger, now I only need a night match to try it out...

What's new with this Blog?

Greetings,

If you have attempted to read my other blog, My Confession, your going to ask, what's different with this one?

And to answer the question, this one is about Blasters, a subject that I love to talk about when I'm home or at my local range or toy store. My other Blog, My Confession, was more of a chance to do some creative writing about personal experiences. While this blog will be focused on blasters!

Yes, by now if you haven't figured out my reference, blasters are code for firearms. I started to use it after Dave at Shooters said it to me one day and I couldn't find a better term for my bag of toys i was there to see them about.

So, hopefully, this blog will be just as interesting and better written as I work on my writing.

Thank you for your patience!

-Zef M.

My Response: (Reprinted from My Confession)

Suggested iTunes: "You Can't always get what you want"
-Rolling Stones.

Army 'Excited' About New Subcompact Gun

October 16, 2009

Military.com|by Christian Lowe
http://www.military.com/news/article/army-excited-about-new-subcompact-gun.html?col=1186032325324

My Response:


Who knows what the army will eventually do, its taken since the army's original inquest asking about a replacement for the M4 till now for them even to consider a new carbine for regular forces. And still USSOCOM is the first to take the lead and adopt the SCAR as a replacement for the aging M4. For a sub-compact carbine/Gun there are several options already on the table from the commercial market that demonstrate modern firearms technology.

Knight's Armament Company out of Florida, makers of the Army's SR-25/SR110 semi automatic sniper rifle and all the rail systems on the legacy M4, has the PDW in 6x35mm. This shortened M4 shoots the stubby 6x35mm round out of the 8" or 10" barrel that is said to be effective out to 300meters. The PDW uses a modified AK47 piston system that gives it a folding rear stock that could fit into any vehicle.
http://www.knightarmco.com/

LWRCI, known for its propitiatory "patented self-regulating short-stroke gas-piston system", offers the PSD chambered in a bigger than normal 6.8mm SPC. LW's piston rides on top of the 8" barrel venting the harsh free radicals up and not into the receiver unlike the M4 that jams the system. Similar to an M4 with an adjustable stock and operational controls there is no retraining, just new ammo and magazines.
http://www.lwrifles.com/Products/PSD/tabid/87/Default.aspx

Or maybe even the Fabrique Nationale de Herstal P90? Its almost 'retro' that big army would be looking at a 'Sub-gun' and not look at the FNH P90. After the Army shelved the last official one back in WWII(the Thompson sub-gun) and never looked back the P90 might be a look forward. Granted the P90's not a new weapon system, in service with the Secret Service, its been nick named the "Stargate" gun after its role in the Sci-Fi TV series its chambered in FN's favorite little caliber the 5.7x28mm. With 50 rounds of 5.7 in 8 different variants FNH(USA) is already a government favorite with contracts to build 4 major weapon systems already in use to include the SCAR, the M240 medium machine-gun, the M249 light machine-gun and the full-sized M16A4.
http://www.fnhusa.com/mil/products/firearms/family.asp?fid=FNF012&gid=FNG007

But what about the SCAR? The P90's younger cousin in a shortened 10.5" barrel , the SCAR MK 16 CQC is just as much if not more a contender now that USSOCOM is buying it!
http://www.fnhusa.com/mil/products/firearms/family.asp?fid=FNF054&gid=FNG020

But in the end, the Army just might do what the Navy did and go with a shortened 10.5" barrel for the M4. Like the Navy, It is already in the system with a National Stock Number(NSN). The Seals already had it and were using it, and best of all there's no changing anything but an upper receiver from the existing M4/M16...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_Quarters_Battle_Receiver

My Father's gun... (Reprinted from My Confession)

iTunes Selection: "My Father's Gun" -Elton John

As Elton John’s song “My Fathers Gun” says, ‘...from this day on I wear my father’s gun...’ I’m sure he had a different take on it, maybe he was telling someone that he was taking up his father’s cause... I don’t know. I just thought the song spoke to me and this pistol.

This is my father’s Gun, a Norinco 1911. He purchased it back before some of the more interesting gun laws that restricted the sale of foreign made firearms. I got the call one day from him asking if I wanted it. His new wife had known some people that had lost a son from an negligent discharge and she didn’t want any firearms around. I offered to take it.

When the pistol arrived it was just bone stock, similar to what the 1911 looked like while it was in military service. It had a Blued finish, plastic grips, low sights, and small controls. Those many years ago I thought it would be a perfect pistol to customize.

Not knowing very much about working on them I found a local guy that said he might be able to add a few parts here and there, and hopefully get it to work. Not realizing what I was doing I gave him a few parts at a time to add on. Each time I enjoyed the slight changes and wondered what else could be down. After about 6 months I had a majority of the work down and it was looking good.

Some time later my wife (at the time) came back from a deployment and asked me what I had been buying while she was gone. I guess I should have explained it better, but at that point I didn't tell her about the pistol.

A few days later I came home from work to find my bag with my stuff in it empty and the contents of my range bag spread out all over the back porch. I'd been robbed! I started to panic.

Nothing. The rest of the house was in perfect shape, TV still in the living room, DVD’s still on the shelf, and doors still in one piece.

Eventually my wife came home and informed me that she had stolen it. She had taken my stuff to the police and turned everything in. I was frantic, I called the police department, sheriff’s office, everyone I could think of. No one could tell me anything. Holding onto what little mind I had left I calmly tried to speak with my wife and find out more.

Long story short our conversation did not go well. I ended up sleeping in the guest bedroom after a prolonged fight that exploded into an all out war. The next day I again called the proper authorities and asked if “my-soon-to-be-ex-wife” had turned anything in?

Half way through the next day at work I finally got a call, not from a police station, but from my brother in-law that lived with us.

“ah, dude, did you loose your stuff?”

I was like, “ah, yeah, you might have heard us yelling last night.”

“ah, dude, i think i found something... looks like a gun, its ah, all buried in the garden...” He said in between drags off his cigarette.

Speeding home I half prayed that what he had found was my stuff and half prayed it was something else.

When i got home I ran to the back yard. There buried in the flower garden was my father’s gun. There was the 1911, red with rust and coated with mud like it had just been pulled out of a French trench from World War I. Tossing it into the back of my jeep I was so full of anger that when my wife drove up smiling and trying to apologize I heard nothing of what she said and I turned and yelled at her “THIS IS ME FATHER’S GUN!!!”

I jumped back into my jeep and went back to work. A co-worker helped me out and took it home and dropped it off at a local gun store that promised to see what they could do to clean it up. A few days later I picked up the pistol, no longer red with rust, it was just pitted with spots from where the rust had gotten into the metal. It looked old, and not in a good way. A couple of days later my wife asked me, “what’s with this charge from the gun store?”

I calmly told her it was her cleaning bill.

I never brought out anything firearm related again, never discussed them around her, and always kept everything locked up and hidden from her. I no longer trusted her.

About a year later my father and brother came out to visit me and I took them to the range. My father was sickly looking, already starting to look and feel bad from what would later take his life. He commented on how old the gun looked. I couldn’t bear to tell him what had happened to it.

Less than a year later my father died. I hadn’t taken out the pistol since I'd seen him. Several weeks later I received some money from his estate and I promised myself I'd fix his pistol. I called Novaks Sights and asked for a quote. Sights, reliability job, and a new paint job. I mailed them the pistol and wrote them a quick note.

Enclosed is my father’s gun. He recently died and I want to fix it up.

Two weeks later I got a note on my door from UPS, I needed to sign for a package from Novak. I drove there after work, signed for it and went out to my truck. I couldn’t wait, I had to see it.

I opened the box and carefully opened the plastic case. Inside was a note that thanked me for my business, and one brand new looking 1911.

I actually was afraid to touch it, i didn’t want to smudge it. I didn’t want to harm it, I didn’t want to do anything to it. And then it happened, I started to cry. The gun brought back all the memories of my dad taking my brother and I to the range as kids. Showing us how to shoot, spending time with him and my brother.

I originally didn’t want to do anything to the gun, maybe frame it and hang it on the wall. But I finally decided I needed to shoot it. I cut out some skate board tape for the front grip, found some wood grips from a Colt and asked a different local gunsmith to smooth out the trigger for me.

I can’t say it’s the best pistol I own, but I can say its the most valuable pistol I'll ever have.