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The road to an open gun


ctay

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There is a lot to be said about how the gun looks and pride of ownership, especially when you are starting out in Open and just dropped big $. Reliability will always be #1 though

I understand that Mike, but to me, it's just a tool. I'm all about function over form... look at my mount. :)

JT

Edited by JThompson
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You are kidding right, Uniqueness, how about Flat and Soft, maybe even accurate. Don't matter if you are just going to look at it. Give me a ugly gun that runs. YMMV

All of those builders are making a flat/soft guns when you use the correct load, they are all going to be accurate and they will all run. So what does that leave you with... exactly the criteria he judged them on.

Thank you, that was exactly my thinking. All five of the guns I was looking at should accurate and reliable. If I was going to spend this much money, I wanted something special.

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Well, I think you'll be very happy with the Katana from Akai! I just received mine and am very impressed! Build time was super fast. 10 weeks from the time I received an email from Shay that the gun was 'in process' until it arrived at my FFL. And this was including the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays! The gun shoots great! New comp is amazingly soft when using the load Shay recommends. First time I shot it was over the chronograph with his recommended load. The feeling in my hand was very soft compared to my other open guns with 169+ pf loads. I thought I had grabbed some of my minor steel loads by mistake until I saw the numbers on the chrono. It was running up around 173!!

I've only put about 3-400 rounds through the gun but am very happy with it! I'm sure you will be as well!

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Yup as you read in the other thread we have been going through similar situations. Dude that Akai is going to rock! Any of the builders on your shortlist would have rocked. What is important is you made a decision and soon you will be able to shoot. As you read in my thread, I went with Pruitt, but Shay @ Akai, I've seen his work up close and shot his builds, which they were great. You'll be happy

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Well, I am an engineer, so I would discard #5, and randomly select the winner from the first four. That is if lead time is not critical. If in rush, go with the shortest.

Face it - such a metric will never tell you whether or not the gun will work for you. OK, let me put it differently... your first gun will work fine... until one day you try someone else's gun and it works much better. No analysis will tell you that.

The choice you made is fine choice... it is just in no way superior to the other three.

Edited by Foxbat
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Your spreadsheet obviously worked, because you chose the option I would choose. Who the F can say your decision making process was flawed when they aren't you and it's a personal choice?

Don't worry about the muzzle blast. It's just a little bit of pressure on the face. The only focus should be good hits as fast as possible.

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Ok, while the decision process may have been flawed, you are like the blind hog that finds a acorn every once in a while. I have shot a few of the AKAI guns, didn't get their first names, could have been a KATANA, all I can say is they have all been very good guns.

I personally don't like poppel holes or hybrids, however I will admint that some of those guns and I've shot the AKAI with the 4 port hybrid in 38S and all I can say is very nice.

So you lucked out.

Now after 3 matches and you decide open isn't for you, maybe we get a chance to own one cheap. But you better stcik with it with that wife of your's or there will be heck to pay for decades!

And welcome to the dark side, you will soon be dancing the C-more shuffle, tip, Don't short arm the gun. Dry fire you brains out in every contorted position and around stuff, and yes reload practice nothing like coming up after reload and leaving you dot somewhere! Enjoy.

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You will be very glad with your choice akai builds great guns. I shoot the shogun and that is by far the best shooting open gun I have owned. Before I placed my order with akai I had the chance to shoot a lot of the guns on your list. But had not shot an akai open gun. When I got the gun and has the chance to shoot it well it shot better than any of the other guns I had shot.

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You will like your Akai

I have one in a 9

Was lucky I got one of his very 1st guns when he went out on his on

Shay is a good guy

And his stuff works

Btw I have one peep hole

It runs like a top

Jason

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  • 2 years later...

Results

I must tell you I was surprised with the results. I really thought when I started out that I would probably end up with a Brazos or SVI. Both are great guns and I would be really excited about either one. What I found was that, when all factors are considered, Akai Custom Guns was the best value for me. Their new comp, the reasonable cost and quick turnaround time put them over the top.

Each option would be evaluated differently by a different person so I do not expect that everyone else will come to the same conclusion that I did. I certainly am not saying that this is the best gun for everyone – this turned out to be the best gun for me. If your variables are different you very well may come to a different conclusion.

Purchase

I called up Akai Custom Guns on Friday 1-27 and placed my order. Shay was very helpful, talked though all the options that I had for the gun and helped me make any choices that were still up in the air. I purchased a “Katana” model all blacked out in 38SC. Expected delivery date of April or May.

Thanks for reading – hope this was at least somewhat informational! Let me know if I left anything out.

Chris

Okay Chris,

So, was your decision the right one? How do you feel about your decision today, some 3 years later? Can you please share with us your observations? Have you had a chance to compare this open gun to other's in its league?

We would appreciate your objective views, even though I know that is hard to do, especially after spending so much for a wonderful tool that you might cherish.

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Ctay, tell'em all to kiss you bass. Doesn't matter how you came to the decision to go the way you did as long as you are happy with the choice.

"Read the forums" they say. Yeah there are at least 500 "What open gun should I get" threads here and in every one of them you'll get find a couple dozen "Get what I got. It's the best" replies. And after all of it you're still trying to figure out what's best for you. Ford? Chevy? Gibson? Fender? They all work. Which one is the best? Well you could look at what won the last USPSA match, but that would be a different gun every time too.

So make a choice whatever way works best for you and be happy with the choice and don't second guess yourself because some guy on an internet forum tells you you were foolish.

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Okay Chris,

So, was your decision the right one? How do you feel about your decision today, some 3 years later? Can you please share with us your observations? Have you had a chance to compare this open gun to other's in its league?

We would appreciate your objective views, even though I know that is hard to do, especially after spending so much for a wonderful tool that you might cherish.

In the end, no. I actually ended up selling that gun rather quickly at a loss. I had a local builder build me one and I couldn't be happier. Truth is that an open gun is going to be a little finicky no matter what and it is much better to have a local guy to help you figure it out. I could have worked out any issues I had the Akai but sending it back to Florida a few times to get it right didn't appeal to me. I'm happy with the gun I ended up with and wish I had the benefit of some of the knowledge I have now before I purchased.

That's all I have to say about that. - Forrest Gump

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without speaking ill of any company/brand etc. wondering what other information you might now consider in making a more informed decision. Did you go to a different caliber for example?

ctay, I would be interested in your learning's also. Please elaborate on your findings. And are how are you doing with your final choice.

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I think it's clear he doesn't want to go into it. what he said makes perfect sense to me. He had some issues with the first gun and wasn't looking forward to the possibility of it going back and forward long distance for diagnostic/repair/tuning. he realized that having competent and most importantly local support for an open blaster can perhaps be as important as the gun itself. so he chose to switch to a product made by a smith local to him who could subsequently help work through any issues and keep the thing in top condition there after. makes sense to me. I don't think it's any indictment on akai as a builder nor of the quality of the guns he builds.

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without speaking ill of any company/brand etc. wondering what other information you might now consider in making a more informed decision. Did you go to a different caliber for example?

Watch the classifieds here, and determine who's builds come up the most often or are slow to sell, compare that with guns that come up seldom and sell quickly. I'm not an engineer.

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without speaking ill of any company/brand etc. wondering what other information you might now consider in making a more informed decision. Did you go to a different caliber for example?

Watch the classifieds here, and determine who's builds come up the most often or are slow to sell, compare that with guns that come up seldom and sell quickly. I'm not an engineer.

Well, I am no engineer also, but we can reverse engineer, correct? When has a Limcat ever come up for sale on this board or any other? I am just so glad I live in Reno, NV and know the owner. So I guess I am lucky that I live close to my future Open pistol manufacturer.

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