One More Thing...

...only my PLAY guns ever get taken to the full 100%!

My working guns are limited to basic functionality tuning and a basic "street" trigger (no less than 3 pounds!).

That's because I may have to defend every single modification of the basic gun in a court of law!

For a carry gun, I want it as close to ready to go from the box as I can get. I want any modification of the gun to be "defensible" — trigger smoothing to make the gun easier to shoot precisely, but not anything that could be described by an unscrupulous attorney as a "hair trigger;" higher visibility sights to assure that my sight picture is as good as it can possibly be in an extreme situation; functionality tuning (usually called a "carry package") to guarantee that the gun works properly and reliably; grips that fit my hand.

The perfect example of this is my carry gun, the SIG 225. I bought it from my local gunstore, put a few hundred rounds through it and put it in service. While I was up at SIG, I had the master gunsmiths at the factory replace the fading nightsights with current SIG nightsights, smooth out the SA & DA trigger pulls (and they did a MAGNIFICENT JOB OF IT!!!) and do a quick functionality tune-up (keeping in mind that the gun has NEVER had a single malfuction).

I also got a beautiful set of Nill walnut grips for the gun. If you recall, it had Nills on it when I got it, but that set was 'way fat (as well as 'way phat, for that matter). If I wanted 'way fat, I'd carry a 228 hi-cap as opposed to the 225 single stack. These Nills are virtual copies of the plastic grips and fit my hand perfectly. I'll put a hundred rounds through it and put it back in service (my LS-9's been picking up the slack).

I'd be comfortable walking into court and explaining that I was carrying the same style gun and ammo as half the Feds in the country, the SEALs, the guys from Homeland Security, blah blah, and that all work on the gun had been done AT THE FACTORY by factory technicians.

The only thing I hate about the 225 is that Crimson Trace DOES NOT make Laser Grips for it, because it's an out-of-production model! I've got Laser Grips on my bedside 226, and I am an unconditional supporter of those red dots!!!