Kyreb

Looked them over, seriously considered ordering one from Dawson, then decided I wanted something really special. Personally, I have never really warmed up to the looks of STI guns myself. Anyway, I had a sizeable credit from Midway on a green laser unit I had returned, plus my FFL "owed" me as he had talked me out of my G34 in trade for the SA that never materialized. Finally, I have been fondling the 1911s Ed Vanden Berg brings to the big gun shows down here. Man, he does nice work! Ed always donates a gun or two to the Space City Challenge match here in Houston too. Suddenly, I had the ducks in a row to buy the parts and pieces and go the custom route. Rick

I ordered 7 from Metalform yesterday. They are currently on backorder with an expected ship date of March 15th.

Yeah, I am getting pumped up. It has been 10 years since I had a custom build done on my Para .40 Limited gun. I ordered all the parts and pieces yesterday. Looking forward to getting this one built!

Well, I gave it my best shot. I do not have a SA 9mm 1911 yet. My FFL's distributors advise they have had these 9mms on backorder since August. My FFL talked to SA reps at SHOT and could not get any straight answers regarding when these might be available. So, I am disappointed, but it is time for plan B. Ordered a Caspian slide and receiver yesterday. I am going to have Ed Vanden Berg build me one from the ground up. Figure I will get exactly what I want that way anyhow.

Couple pics...#2 is pretty fuzzy though.

So I entered “geezerdom” a few days ago. I decided to celebrate by attending the big gun show at Reliant stadium followed by lunch with some of my local shooting buddies. Unknown to me, Mrs. KYreb had some surprises in store….. She asked us to stop by the house after the show so she could have lunch with us. When we got there she had organized a surprise party and the whole gang was in on it. She also gave me a nice gift certificate to a local gun shop. But it gets better………. One of my pals is an FFL who just had to bring in some pieces he had picked up from his distributor at the show. One gun in particular was a Wilson CQB. It was passed around the room and fondled by all. My wife grabbed it last. She turned to me and said “Happy Birthday” with a big grin. Wow…I was floored. Turns out, she had snuck my Wilson catalog out of the house a few months ago and took it to work. She schemed with my FFL friend who ordered exactly what she picked out. It is a 5 inch gun with a light rail and the blue gray armor coat frame. Really nice looking gun…. can’t wait to get in a range day with it. Anyway, wanted to share the story. Mrs. KYreb has been with me over 27 years now. She is a keeper for sure.

Big plus 1 from me on these two. I admit I load more for economics than for cutting edge competition. Have used WST in .45 since the 80s. Now use WST for .40 too since WSL was dropped by Winchester and my stach of WSL was depleted. Been loading Universal Clays in 9MM, .38 etc... as of late. Caught a deal on an 8lb jug....did not like it in 40 or 45 so it is being used wherever else I can burn it. It is a little dirty though. Using Tac these days on .223. Personally this too is a matter of economics. I am OK with several other powders I have loaded over the years. I just look for 3000 FPS or so with ~ 25 grains.

I'll give you that Kimbers buys plenty of ads in gun mags, but is that designed to support our sports or more to increase their sales operation? Personally, I have never seen a Kimber on a prize table at a match. I have seen SA donate dozens of guns over the years. They used to give us at least a half dozen 1911s for our prize table at AGC for the KY State Matches we held back in the day. Their donations meant a lot to those of us trying to get clubs and major (local) matches off the ground. I remember that, appreciate it, and will continue to be loyal to SA.

I recently checked out a Kimber in 9mm and a SA loaded in .45 acp at a gun show. Both were on the same table. In my opinion, fit was pretty much equal. I liked the finish and the grips on the SA much better. I am going to stick with my choice...the SA.

I am running 124 grain Zero bullets at about 1200 FPS with Universal Clays powder. Not mild by any means but this load is extremely accurate in my glocks so I do not want to change anything just for the AR. However, this load has worked great in my RR AR from the get go.

Thanks to all for the great input...both pro and con. It is much appreciated. For what it is worth, I plan to go through with the order for the SA. I have however, touched base with Ed Vandenberg here in the Houston area to work his magic on it once it arrives. My first IPSC .45 was SA bought in the late 1980s and it is my current IDPA blaster today. I am a big fan of SA. Kudos to those who support those who support our sport.(s) SA was a big sponsor of USPSA back in my early days. They always stepped up with guns and gear for the prize table at the KY State matches held at Ashland Gun Club. I firmly believe that without their support in the early years action pistol shooting would not be the sport it is today. Likewise, Ed Vandenberg supports all the major matches as a sponsor at my current club, PSC here in the Houston area. Thanks again! Rick

Greetings and Merry Christmas to all you blasters out there! I am making the leap to a 9mm 1911 for IDPA. I have always been a big fan of SA so that is the route I am going. Plan on just getting a trigger job done and then running with this model as is. Now I must admit, I am feeling like Ralphie in the bb gun movie, can't wait to get my hands on it. (on second thought....Wonder if I can fit a compass in the stocks?) The SA sales department quoted 60-90 days. My FFL says the distributors are not that optomistic. Anybody out there have any recent experience on ordering one of these? If so, how long did it take? How do you like it? What mags are you running? Metalforms?

Galveston TX has a fantastic flight museum. It is home to a bunch of these old war birds. As I recall, they offer flights on their B-17 for $425 and $350 or so for the B-25. They also feature P-47s, Cosairs..etc. The place is well worth a look. We have a little weekend cottage down there. I always run outside just to stare when I hear those big engines roaring overhead. The sights are spectacular!

Did this taking a G17 over to my son in Tampa last May. I padlocked the Glock case, then ran a cable thru the handle of the case and around the internal support poles in my suitcase. (To keep someone from just snatching out the case easily.) I also put a note to TSA on the outside of the Glock case advising my cell # and that I would be available should the gun need further inspection after check in. (I also got to the airport and baggage check plenty early) This slid right through the folks at the Southwest counter. They just checked the G17 to ensure it was unloaded...I refixed the lock and cable and checked the bag. Everything was in place when I got to Tampa.

I just got the call that I can plan on activation with my companies emergency strike team. I am in AK right now. My flight lands in Houston Sunday morning at 5:30. Then I literally hit the ground running.

I had this happen to me once too. Pulling 1000 bullets, trimming the cases and reassembling everything again was a good lesson for me. I too trim every case prior to loading now.

I just picked up 16 lbs after reading great things about TAC on several different gun/reloading forums. Power Valley has been selling 8 lb jugs for $77. For what it is worth, I met the Western Powder (Ramshot) folks at a NRA convention a few years back. Also have had several good phone discussions since regarding loads and results. They are really good people.

Kel-Tec is awesome! I lost an ejector being careless duriing cleaning. I also noticed a small kink in the recoil spring. Same story...... all parts shipped same day at no charge. I bought a second one of their .380s for the wife the next week.

I ran through the last case on hand. Brought them with me when I moved from Ohio...so we are talking at least two years since purchase. These had the "white corner". I needed to finish the current batch of 2000 nine MMs and did not want to switch primer brand. I had 300 or so to go. I drove to a local gun shop and bought 2000 more WIN SP, these did not have the white corner. From the condition of the boxes, these had not been laying on the shelf very long either. BTW....the price on the primers from OH was $12.95/ 1000. I paid almost double that last week. $24.95/1000. YUK!

The link is down on the USPSA website. Need to reorder as I am fresh out of the supply I brought from OH. (Target Barn) Thanks! Rick

This winter one of my well worn 550s gave me fits with primer misfeeds. First I cleaned then I replaced all the usual suspects...bearing plate, primer arm, internal primer tube, op rod....no luck. It would feed 10 or so primers just fine then fail to feed left and right. I was going nuts! Finally I noticed a slight sideways movement at the top of the new op rod. Turns out the hole in the op rod bracket had wallowed out and allowed the op rod to dance in and out of the bracket just a fraction. Called Dillon, had a new bracket in a day or two. Shabam! Problem solved. I never realized that bracket could be a "wear" part.

When I lived there I found out my 40 round .223 match mag classified my AR as an illegal machine gun in the state of Ohio. I shipped the mag back to my FIL in KY ASAP. Ohio has some really poor gun laws and over zealous cops who really dislike gun owners in general. (I am not generally a cop basher..but these guys were an exception.) Glad I got to move back into a free state (TX) after serving a 5 year sentence as a resident of NW Ohio.

I lived in Findlay for 5 years before transferring to Houston last year. I belonged to this club and shot IDPA on numerous occasions with the group. (IPSC with NOCPC too.) The pistol director, Jon, has worked his tail off to pull this thing together. The club was founded decades ago as a trap and skeet club. Pistols and evil black rifles were only grudgingly allowed on premisis. ( I had to cut the upper A,B zones off my IPSC targets to practice there due to a "no humanoid target rule".) Anyway, Jon has established a pretty good operation from scratch. He really worked his tail off and deserves any support you can give him. They were just getting some carbine stages included when I left. Those were a hoot! Rick

Finally happened to me Saturday. I was switching out tool heads from .45 to 10 MM on the 550 I have set up for large primers. I took the time to disassemble and clean everything before starting the new run. On the first round of 10 MM, the primer seat did not feel right.....So I pulled the arm back as I snuck a look around the right side of the press.....BANG! My face was close enough to feel the blast. Thank God for safety glasses. It appeared the primer must have flipped out of the cup and onto the primer arm. It detonated when it was crushed against the back of the press on the downstroke. What kept the whole primer magazine (tube) from blowing is beyond me. Anyway, my ears rang while I cranked out a few hundred 10s over the next hour or so. Everything worked fine from there out. Been using my 550s for close to 20 years and loaded many tens of thousands of rounds. This was a first for me. The primers were Winchester LP.

Fox news is getting closer to CNN and Entertainment Tonight rather than the "fair and balanced" news broadcast they were in the past.