Okay, after yesterday's podcast, I'm swearing off zombies for at least a year. At least until the WWZ movie...
Hopefully, my new post on OUTDOOR LIFE's GunShots blog will be up tomorrow, a paean to the Martini-Henry 577-450...I thought I needed a break from battle rifles. I sent off a couple of 56-50 Spencer cartridges to Hamilton Bowen to explore the feasibility of a Ruger Alaskan in that caliber...sort of the ultimate Bulldog...
I also want to give a big ole plug to Action Target's "Evil Roy" steel targets. My Sweetie and I have been shooting on them for the last couple of weeks, and they are just great. Just like everything from Action, built like tanks. I bought an el cheapo $23 dolly and some bungee cords to transport them, and the whole system is easy to cart around.
I got a note from Richard Heinie last week mentioning that he was working with Nighthawk Custom on two 1911s — a 5-inch Tactical Carry model and a Personal Defense Package 4.25-incher. I think this is a Very Good Thing...Dick builds the finest 1911s on earth (hey, they said it on "Miami Vice" so many years ago...must be true), and the problem is that he is booked up, like, forever. His involvement in these two guns mean you can once again get a Heinie .45. Yes, they're expensive, but don't pass this up! It took me 14 years to get my Springfield 1911 back from Dick, and yes, it is as close to perfect as a carry 1911 can be.
I'm working with Ruger on Ruger Rimfire Challenge matches for 2008. We definitely want to do a big East Coast match, and maybe one at the Sigarms Academy in New Hamster as well. I'd hoped to pull off the eastern match this fall, but too, too much work!
It took years to git SASS matches here in the Northwest. So it'll take years yet ta git Ruger .22 matches here too, (sigh).
ReplyDeleteSure looks like fun.
I had both of the Nighthawk Heinie 1911s for T&E.
ReplyDeleteA side by side comparison with my own full house Heinie Colt 10mm Delta Elite had me thinking Dick built the Nighthawk guns!
They'll be the subject of a down the road review in Combat Handguns.
Walt Rauch
PS: They are not inexpensive but such talent rarely is.
Yeow! $2800 for what is little more than a Combat Commander? Nutzo. Take a look at my top pick and everyday companion, the Para CCW LDA. It's a reasonably priced chunk of high-voltage firepower. Of course, it isn't roll-stamped with the name of a celebrity gunsmith, but I can live with that deficiency. I guess you TV-personality types have more money than those of us who actually have to work for a living.
ReplyDeleteActually, I commissioned my Heinie 1911 in 1988, I believe, a long time before I ever thought of television as a possible career move.
ReplyDeleteIt pinched my wallet hard...I won the gun in a USPSA match, but at the time I plopped down the first money, I definitely couldn't afford it. Ironically, when the gun was FINALLY ready, I was in even worse financial shape (which is why, sadly, my Heinie isn't checkered dr fitted with his superb magazine well...I simply couldn't afford it).
I spent the money because guns are my fine art, objects of potentially lethal beauty. In any field, there are damn few true masters, men and women who have chosen to walk the narrow path and who have simply refused to compromise their art for any reason, including making more money.
Richard Heinie is one of those masters. I have stood in his shop and watched him work, or at various times mightily irritated him with my annoying questions. Through it all I have seen a commitment to excellence that transcends the steel medium he works in.
Dick is a genius with the 1911. His guns are a testament to what one man with the fire in his belly can do to a prosaic self-defense device.
I have put a lot of rounds through my celebrity gunsmith-rollmarked gun, because Dick designed it to be shot. If my Heinie 1911 was the Last Gun Left on Earth, I would consider myself excellently armed...
Michael B
I am the proud owner of what Dick himself acknowledges as the most abused and used Heinie Custom 1911 in existance. It started as a Colt Delta Elite in 10mm. (It used to look great.) I can testify that his guns not only look good and fit perfectly, but they work and last longer than the Energizer Bunny.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, you get what you pay for and with Heinie you get the absolute best. His guns are worth the wait and the cost even if he stopped accepting new orders.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
there are many who would say going with a para is nutzo. And if it indeed takes as long as mr. bane says then paying for a heinie pistol is easy since you got so much time to save for it.
ReplyDeleteAny additional news on the Ruger Rimfire Challenge? Where wouldI find updates? Is there a website? I'd like to compete next time.
ReplyDeleteHave been firing an SR9 all week.
ReplyDeleteFits OK so far in Fobus for M&P, XD, and USP. Blackhawk CQC for G21. Done Hume thumb break 3 slot for USP. Not hard to fit.
What I don't like: mag button hard to push when mags are loaded (OK empty). Mags hard to load w FMJ (OK w JHPs). Would rather have polished sides on slide matte finished like the rest.
Neutral: Safety never fails to go off when I wipe it, first time/every time, but sometimes I can't tell if I did it; don't hear/feel anything, but it's off.
What I like: everything else.
MikeO
To anonymous asking about the Ruger Rimfire Challenge - check out www.take-5rimfire.com
ReplyDeleteMr. Ed