Category: The Gun Thing

This from our friends at PSA:

Whoa… a full-size Kimber 1911 for $500?  Get ’em while they’re there.  (It’s a Good Thing — I guess — that my 1911 shelf is full, so to speak…)

From PSA:

Just a minute here:

ROSE GOLD?

Ever get that feeling that you’re no longer in their target market?

And by the way:  at that price, I expect it to be at least 18-karat.

[exit, shaking head]

…in the mail from Reader Glen D:

“If for any reason you were unable to carry your beloved 1911 — or any 1911 and derivatives — what pistol (not revolver) would you choose to carry, and why?”

Just the thought makes me shiver with dread, with ghastly options of striker-fired Mattel-looking things chambered in 9mm Europellet (most of the market nowadays it seems [sigh] ), or Glocks [shudder]  or things equally foul like Heckler & Koch, who hate me (and everybody else).

And seeing as Foul Glen has removed my immediate alternative — a revolver — I am forced to consider another semi-auto pistol in something like a decent caliber.  But which one?

I’m not going to bore you with the details of my search, because I ended up in several rabbit warrens’ worth of searches.  Believe it or not, I’d never even considered a carry gun alternative outside the 1911 universe before.  I mean, Kimber, Ed Brown, none of that?

But good grief, modern guns are ugly, in all sorts of ways, even if they (mostly) function as specified.  And while there are quite a few choices, most have short barrels (less than the 1911’s 5″), like the Kahr P45:

…which I actually really like, by the way, because I think the Kahr mechanics are actually better than Glock’s.

Anyway, I ended up with the SIG 220 in (of course) .45 ACP.  Yeah, I know, double action rubbish and square, blocky-looking monstrosity, but these would be the times I’d have to live in [whimper].

Anyway, at least the P220 comes in several flavors.  This one’s the “Elite”:

“Elite”, my aching African-American ass, it’s fugly.

Let’s look at some more. This is the [consults notes]  “X-Six II PCC”:

…and it’s quite fetching — redeemed by the grips, actually — but of course, SIG doesn’t make it anymore, so I’d have to find a second-hand one.

Okay, then there’s the “Alloy Stainless”:

…which is also quite nice-looking [yikes];  but guess what?  it too isn’t available anymore, at least not at the several retail websites I consulted.

Once more, with feeling.  This is the “220R-45-XTM” (try saying that after a couple of gins), and it’s sorta-okay:

But still… ugh.

On we go.  Here’s the “Super Match”:

…okay, this one is a lot more like it, and it’s at least single-action-only (SAO) like the 1911.

This would be my non-1911 choice.

Ummmmm…

FFS

Even at that price, I might be tempted — but I very much doubt that the SIG’s single-action trigger is on a par with any 1911, let alone mine.

To Reader Glen:  I hope you’re satisfied.  You bastard.

Hitchcock45 chooses his favorite child.

Among those beauties he had on that buckskin-covered table, I’m not sure I could have made a choice.

And for what it’s worth, I only half-agree with his final choice, despite it being chambered for my favorite cartridge.  Out of that particular group, I could have narrowed it down to (maybe) four… and then killed myself.