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.