SCinTX

I have a CK Arms Limited .40 with their metal grip. It may be a slightly older design than the one they are selling now. But even the older design is a fine grip. Comfortable and functional. I also have an Akai with the PT Evo Aggressive grip. It is in a totally different class. And, when shooting in the 105F Texas heat, it grips. It also keeps my aging hands soft like a baby's skin, with its abrasion action. I prefer it.

I can't speak highly enough about Shay's Akai pistols. He often has a good selection in stock, available for immediate shipment or fast minor customization (grips as such).

The employees are friendly and helpful. The lack of even the most basic quality practices is sad. Please help them avoid shipping things that aren't built right. It likely requires changes in both process and culture. Thanks.

I have a CK and my son has an Akai. After trying his Akai, I ordered one. I'll be selling the CK soon. There is nothing wrong with the CK; its a good gun. But Akai is in another league. The help Shay provides is awesome. We're lucky because we shoot with several members of his team, so we can try different guns and options all the time. The Akai family is a great community.

I previously used red, but my son switched me to green this weekend. It worked better for me.

It is all about achieving the right balance, IMO.

I just had my CK Arms .40 Limited tuned by Greg Peinie. I got to shoot it this weekend in a club match, and can't say enough about the outcome. It runs so well, on an entirely new level. And keep in mind CK guns come from the factory with a much higher level of quality than STI. I highly recommend getting the STI tuned.

Thanks very much! I saw the Avid, and wondered about the quality. Good to hear you like it.

My 30 year old Leatherman broke a tool, and I need a replacement. I'd prefer one that I can throw in the bag and handle a lot of the common things we deal with at the range. Any suggestions? What's served you well? Thanks.

My 16 year old, who is a passionate USPSA shooter, points out that we hang around for four hours to shoot five minutes! But in fact he loves the hanging around bit, as well as the shooting.

Karl Rehn is amazing. He hosted a Ben Stoeger class. At the end of the weekend course, Karl shot the stage we spent the day practicing on. We had mostly young, very agile shooters, who had hours to practice this stage. Karl - a man of some years and with a generous form - came up, looked it over, and shot it faster than anyone!

My mechanical aptitude is pretty low. But I had no problem completely disassembling my Edge. Even more impressive, I was able to reassemble it correctly. The first time I had a tablet available to watch youtube videos for help, but it quickly became second nature.

I took the gradual upgrade route, and in retrospect wish I had just bought the best, first. At a minimum, I’d suggest hetting a tuned STI (Brazos or Dawson) or a really good used custom STI. I wasted a lot of money, and no little amount of frustration, buying up over time.

Here is a great article on the subject by Bob Londrigan http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0803.htm .

I try to plan mag changes so I'll have enough rounds in the mag to cover extra shots.

Highland Lakes (https://www.hlammo.com) will make competition ammunition to your specifications. They recently began stocking loads they developed for me, for a .40 2011. Great people, and the prices are excellent.

I loved my 9mm Edge; when I purchased it (actually, two; one for father and one for son), it felt like I had ascended into another realm. But in retrospect, I really wished I had gone straight to .40. If you like the sport, you're going to want to do major, and making the adjustment sooner rather than later would have been faster and less expensive.

Wouldn't it be funny if posting a reply to this thread counted? Oh wait, maybe that's why ...

UPS seems pretty economical...

The market is thriving for vendors who innovate.

I've had very helpful, and nearly immediate, response from CK when I've asked them questions about my pistol via Facebook Messenger. Even on a Saturday morning. I couldn't ask for more responsive service....

Great to connect. It was a fun two days! Stanley won fourth place in the next club match after the class :).

It could have been diffrent lots. I'll check to see if I recorded that info.

No! And I wish I had a theory....

To close out this thread, I asked Highland Lakes Ammo (https://www.hlammo.com) to make me some .40 ammunition with 1.120 OAL. I ran ~230 rounds through it in prep for and at a club match, and it ran well. One failure to feed, cause unknown. You can see the round pointing higher up the ramp toward the barrel. I suspect I can tune the mags to improve this further. The bottom line is that factory ammo is going to be a challenge to run in this gun. As an aside, I was referred to Highland Lakes by a local 3 Gun pro. They were more than happy to run a custom batch for me, and their bulk prices are essentially the same as cheap LAX Ammo. It is going to be hard to justify investing in reloading with this service and price. If you order, the spec is: .40 S&W, 180gr, 1.120” long, 6.7gr, RB. Scott