Thursday, March 19, 2015

Sorry for Playing Hooky!

I've been in metropolitan Berryville, Arkansas, this week at Wilson Combat, sifting through new products for 2015, shooting a bunch of Wilson guns (especially the .308 rifle...expect more on the podcast) and spending some time with Bill and Joyce. Absolutely amazing how the place has grown! My first visit to Berryville, back when Bill and I were putting together his landmark book, THE COMBAT .45 AUTO, Wilson Combat was 2 gunsmiths and Bill, working out of a converted garage next to Bill's house. The multi-building new facility is a state of the art firearms factory, with more than 100 employees being supervised by Ryan Wilson, Bill's son. You'll be getting an intimate tour on SG 2016.

Wilson's Beretta 92 initiative has been a HUGE success, and having now shot some of the guns I much better understand why. I've never been a 92 sort of guy...I had an Ernest Langdon-tuned Vertex, but got rid of it to a competition shooter with bigger hands. The tuned Wilson guns DA trigger clocks in at 6 pounds, smooth as you can get. The Vickers combat sights are perfect.

Since you can consider Wilson Combat sort of Stonehenge built out of 1911s, I was insulated from the massive geopolitical EMP of my pal Iain and RECOIL Magazine jumping the Glock NDA on the BIGGEST SECRET IN THE HISTORY OF FIREARMS ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BATTLE OF PAVIA AND CHINESE GUYS WITH FIRECRACKERS! Still, I fell to my knees and wept with joy, Saul on the road to Smyrna GA, so to speak. Luckily, Larry Vickers was there to jerk me to my feet and place his signature Wilson Combat 1911 in my hand, briefly restoring me to normalcy. It burned, and when I set the 1911 down the initials "JMB"were scorched into my right palm. I believe I am now fully protected from any subsequent Glock 43 hysteria.




7 comments:

Addict said...

I really want to be excited about the G43, but with an MSRP of 580, Gaston can keep it. I got the no thumb safety Shield for 350, so the price differential is too big for me to swallow ;)

DamDoc said...

off topic, but i recently purched the ruger bx triger for 10/22 and the 452 for ar15.. instead of slapping them right into current projects, ive been dryfiring while idling.... when i first started pressing the triggers, i wasnt too impressed.. but after a 1000 or more dry firings BOTH triggers are feeling incredible.. this may be the best use of the special dry firing housings.. breaking in the triggers.. just wanted to mention it because if you dryfire a sample in the lgs, they actually (at least in my case) get much better.. so dont buy and fly.. break em in with the dry fire housings...

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great time. I'm looking forward to the Shooting Gallery coverage of Wilson Combat!

DonD said...

"JMB burned into my palm"..... almost spewed coffee onto the keyboard!

Anonymous said...

shades of "Raiders of the Lost Arc" :-)

RSR

Anonymous said...

Sadly, I don't get the JMB reference

Anonymous said...

Scratch that. John Moses Browning. Jezze that took longer than it should have