Am at the Austin TX Airport waiting, as they say, for de plane de plane, and I've got a lot of catching up to do. Let's bullet-point it:
-- BIG OLE CONGRATS to Mike Seeklander, who with the SHOOTING GALLERY cameras rolling, won the inaugural IDPA Back-Up Gun Nationals at S&W last week. Neither Mike nor I have seen official results, but we got a text from IDPA marketing guy and old friend Paul Erhardt. In a world of brand spanking new mini-9mms, Mike won with a decidedly Old Skol Rock Island Armory compact 9mm 1911.
-- The IDPA back-up gun format is just spectacular. Five - shot strings, no holsters, intelligent stage design clearly built around Real World problems, only 2 divisions...semiauto and revolver, a simple straightforward wan to integrate a buck-up gun match into a regular IDPA match. This is yet another home run for Joyce Wilson and IDPA.
-- I shot my ancient STI LS9, a platform I'll have some more info on in a minute. I remembered belatedly there were a couple of small things I was going to do to the gun when rotated the gun "out of service" years ago, and they came back to bite me. I did have a wonderful time, and I remembered how great the little gun shot. I may be doing a bit of shuffling on my carry guns as a result.
-- Jesse James is a very nice guy, and quite frankly his inaugural guns look great. Obviously, you don't get a chance for any serious gun-handling at a party, but his launch guns handled great and showed showed what one might expect from a master machinist...an intense, relentless attention to detail.
-- The first 2 guns to reach the market from Jesse James Firearms Unlimited will be the stainless steel Cisco 1911 .45 and the Nomad 5.56 AR.
-- The 1911 is being manufactured by STI...you guys already know what I think about their guns. I believe I've called them the best about-of-the-box guns in the world. At last night's party I talked at length to both Tim Dillon, CEO of STI, who's factories are 20 minutes from Jesse's house, and Jesse. Both are very happy with the relationship and happily admit that both butted heads about the 1911 specs.
-- The AR line is based on Jesse James' spec 'd uppers and lowers from Houlding Precision Firearms in Cali (?!?!), a family company with a reputation for high-end precision (and expensive) ARs. Once again, I talked at length to Todd , the company's founder, about James' input into the design process, and Houlding said it was extensive. The Nomad features a James-designed muzzle brake, a Wilson Combat barrel and a full line of top-end parts.
-- Jesse and I talked extensively about his new and patented AR suppressor design, which looks uncannily like a sweet potato (yes, I'll get pixs loaded when I get to my my office at the Bunker). "Dude," he said, "what have I been doing for my whole career? Building intake manifolds and exhaust systems...I understand exploding gas." The specs on the suppressor are truly impressive, and who wouldn't want a sweet potato on the end of their gun? Seriously, I'll be back in TX in a month and have a chance for hands-on with all the guns and the silencer.
-- There will also probably be a Jesse James signature FNH FNX-45, which I'm pretty much down with. the heavily engraved proto they showed at the party absolutely rocked, and I told Tabor Bright from FNH that I'd be standing in line for that one.
-- There will also be a JJFU full custom shop, which I suspect to be swamped with work from Day One. The cherubs and him tell me that History Channel is sniffing around for a JJFU gun series, but I threw my hat into the ring anyway.
-- You can see the guns at SHOT, and, yes, they will be the Higher Priced Spread.
--Tim Dillon and I talked STI SHOT Show releases, which I can't get into for now. He did promise me hat the LS9, which he and I 100%agreed was a gun before its time, will eventually be back in the line-up in its "perfected" form, that, is with a skinny light-weight aluminum frame ranther than the beefy steel of the original (I called for in the beginning!). I believe that will be a home run gun, but I'm prejudiced.
-- Austin has gone to hell on cowboy hats...hipster culture mandates fedoras...I, of course, have nothing against fedorss...I have many. But come on! Texas? Austin? My love of cowboy hats started when I was hanging around the Austim music scene Back in the Back When. One hipster girl quizzed me so much on my hat (a Sunday-Go-To--Meeting Ritch Rand western fedora in a cream color) that I wished I had an order blank for her.
Sorry for the crappy pixs...we'll have real video on DOWN RANGE ASAP!
14 comments:
"The cherubs and him tell me that History Channel is sniffing around for a JJFU gun series"
Well, there's a shocker.
"Jesse James: Cocked & Loaded!" Sponsored by Brawndo, the Thirst Mutilator! It's got what plants crave!
Tell me how does a raging drug addict get approval as a gun dealer? "I'll have a nice suppressed 9mm with a side of meth please ".
Sometime around 1987, Motely Crüe showed off their custom bikes in the "Girls, Girls Girls" video.
Say what you want about their music, (Me, I'm more a Hüsker Dü fan...), but that was the first time to my recollection that a custom bike became a thing that a rock star must have.
Flash forward ten years, and "Motorcycle Mania" is a HUGE hit for Discovery Channel, kicking off a dozen years of chopper-related reality TV, and it made custom bikes accepted by the mainstream: There's at least two in the garages of my sleepy suburban street.
If that same sense of "cool" starts being applied to firearms, that a customized AR-15 is something EVERY cool person should have, we win.
We'll win because we'll have changed the culture, and no law can stop that.
To clarify, I agree 100% with KevinC...we are in this game to win, not enforce some notion of purity. James has been a stand-up guy and has no history of drug abuse. His 18 year-old daughter went into rehab for drugs earlier this year. That's his issue, not ours.
He is a brilliant craftsman, and in all my contacts with him over the years he has been nothing but thoughtful and helpful.
Can't say the same for you, Anon.
mb
Darn dude. Wish I'd known you were coming to Austin, I live here and would be glad to buy you a drink. I recently got a STI Escort in 9mm for my primary carry gun. LOVE it.
"Austin has gone to hell on cowboy hats...hipster culture"
This is why most of native's of Austin I know have moved out to the Hill Country.
In truth, I try to be a little vague in my whereabouts, although it breaks my heart to miss drinks with friends...
RE: Hipsters...I supposed every generation has to go through it. Ironically, it was Doug Sahm who explained to me in his rapid-fire rap that cowboy hats were the ultimate counterculture statement...
mb
I would love to see a gun show on every channel. 2 or 3 would be even better.
Yep. Sweet potato.
Hey, c'mon! I started to boil a sweet potato this AM for the parrots, and the first thing I thought was that it looked uncannily like a suppressor!
mb
Scary how your mind works. ;)
RE: Jesse James. Sorry, I'd never do business with a low-life who cheats on his wife. Saying "It's his private-life" makes one a Clinton apologist.
If Obama starts selling cool guns, should we promote his endeavors too?
John 8:7: "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."
mb
PS: I'm having a bit of trouble equating personal moral failings with the intentional. calculated destruction of the Constitution of the United States! LOL!
I have two handguns for target shooting. To improve my accuracy i regularly go to gun club and spent two hour in shooting. Earlier have some problem in handling and it safety but now i well know the rules of shooting.
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