I Can't Believe It's Monday Monday...

Post-NRA Monday...got in at 1 AM; just finished a pot of coffee...my ears are still ringing from the noise!

Anyway, I'm going to try to pull my thoughts together for Wednesday's podcasts. Meanwhile. take a look at these IWB holsters from N82Tactical:

I met the designer, who was walking the floor, and I thought these things looked exceptionally comfortable. There's a layer of neoprene between the soft side that contacts your body and the main body of the holster. I got one to fit the Ruger SR9c and I'll be trying it out over the next few weeks.

Speaking of holsters, I finally got to see the Tactical Solutions Kydex holster for the Ruger Mark-whatever series of .22 rimfires. I liked it...the Ruger semiauto rimfire pistols are so ubiquitous that they sometimes get left out of modern trick holster development. The Tac-Sol unit remedies that situation.

With the caveat that I haven't shot it yet since the production versions are still about 60 days out, I really liked the Tac-Sol Glock .22 version. The slide is steel, so the gun with conversion looks and feels like a, duh, regular Glock. A second absolutely critical issue is that Tac-Sol has designed their own magazines, which will be manufactured by Black Dog. The weak link for every .22 conversion unit is the magazine...Tac-Sol and Black Dog have proven conclusively that they know how to make 22 magazines that work. The new Glock mag will be 15 rounds, and the first conversion units will be for ehte G17/22 platform. There's already a waiting list, so all you Glocksters need to get your names on it ASAP. 

American Tactical Imports had a couple of interesting surprises. They made their bones with the .22 versions of the H-K and AK platforms. They're adding a whole line of .22 1911s (a BIG category at the NRA show this year!) and, surprisingly, a whole line of 1911s in .45 and at least 1 9mm. The 1911s are from the well-regarded manufacturing facilities in the Philippines, and the versions they had at the NRA were very slick, very well done. BTW, my understanding is that all the ATI .22s, including the 1911 pistol, will run with the new more reliable 100-round .22 drums that are starting to show up on the market.

 My pal Steve Hunter, whom I didn't even get to wave at across the floor, emailed me about the little Kimber 1911 Super Carry .45 with aluminum frames and the rounded mainspring housing. Here's Steve's note:

BTW, the coolest new gun I saw was the Kimber concealed carry with the sliced-off backstrap. Man, did that li'l baby feel good in the hand. Must acquire one. 

Dwight Van Brunt, the King of Kimber, showed me the gun earlier in the show, and I loved the neato scaled serrations on the slide...sort of a one-way grip, exactly what one would want on a slide:

I'll be putting together a round-up of the commemorative edition 1911s for 2011 a little later (Kimber's is heartbreakingly beautiful), but they one I'm going to have to take home is the Colt Model of 1911-2011, modeled on their hugely successful 1918 retro configuration. Figure about $1300 MSRP.


BTW, the guys at Tuff Products have added a 6-shot Quick Strip in 12 gauge.  Quick Strips are wonderful things...the advantage for the defensive shotgunner is that the strips can hold specialty rounds, and since the strips are available in 2 colors you can sort out the slugs from the buckshot from the field loads. I just "updated" the bedroom Vang Comp 870 ammo stash with 6 slug rounds in the yellow Quick Strips.

Gotta go make another pot of Caffeine Delivery System!