Before Things Start Up Again

Yes, I disabled the grip safety on the 1911 (a Wilson Master Grade that started as an Accu-Comp in the 1980s and was rebuilt to a 5-inch gun in the late 1990s) with a piece of bicycle tubing. As I've said repeatedly on SHOOTING GALLERY, I have girly-man hands, especially in the web area between the thumb and forefinger. Shooting a high-thumb grip, sometimes I fail to depress the grip safety, even with "bump" style grip safeties.

I've approached this in different ways over the years...some of my 1911s have super-light grip safeties, that is, if you hold the gun muzzle down the grip safety will disengage with its own weight. Back in the 1980s I (along with many many people, especially competitors) "pinned" the grip safety to keep it permanently engaged. It depends on the gun.

The absolute best solution, IMHO, is Wayne Novak's "Answer" integrated mainspring housing/grip safety, which totally solves the problem. I have an Answer unit on my lightweight S&W Commander-length gun, which is in effect my working 1911. On some 1911s I don't have a problem at all...the Para LTC 9mm comes to mind, or a little Kimber Wayne Novak tuned. IO always thought one of the huge benefits of the Detonics Combat Master was the absence of a grip safety.

And speaking of 1911, at DRTV we'll have some very interesting news for you in a couple of weeks as part of our continuing coverage of the year of the 1911.

BTW, interesting that Freedom Group has canceled their plans for an IPO. Right now we're in a handgun market...defensive handguns are selling great guns, so to speak, but companies with the bulk of their product lines in rifles and shotguns are finding the current market challenging.

Gotta go slo-mo a Barrett...that ought to be Big Fun...