The Sight 1911 News Page for the year 2000

Merry Christmas
From the Y2K Panic to this hang-fire of a presidential election, this has been a weird year. It will be hard to top in terms of craziness. My dad was of the opinion that odd-numbered years were luckier than even-numbered years. I don’t know where he got that little superstition, but let’s hope he was right.

I want to thank everyone who has contributed articles and reviews to the web site this year. I wish I could buy and write about every gun in the world, but I can’t and your contributions have helped mightily in making The Sight M1911 a richer resource for 1911 lovers. There are a few folks I would like to thank by name for their substantial contributions of quality material: Jim Higginbotham for his tactical and historical articles, Anthony Gabrielson for Field Manual 23-35, Scott Smith for his reviews and how-to articles, John Marshall for his superb technical articles, and Rick Breneman for his reviews and historical articles.

Blue Dogs Don't Want Gun Control to Be Part of the Agenda
Members of the House "Blue Dog" coalition—a group of conservative Democrats—have been discussing the issue of gun control ever since the November 7 elections, according to a recent article in the Congressional Quarterly Daily Monitor. The result of these discussions? more...

Michigan Legislature Passes Concealed Carry
The Michigan legislature passed a conference committee version of SHALL ISSUE in both the House and Senate today. Congratulations to all the pro-reform organizations and private individual who have worked 6 years in this effort to reform a 70+ year old law. It now goes to the Governor's desk for signature, and barring unforeseen circumstances will become law on April 1, 2001. more...

The Unofficial Browning HiPower Page
Web site devoted to John Browning’s last design
http://www.fnhipower.com/

Alaska Modifies Concealed Carry Law
As of August 29th, 2000 there were several changes in Alaskan Law regarding the CCW permits. Most importantly, it was changed to allow any type of action or caliber. You can see these changes at the following URL: http://www.dps.state.ak.us/ast/achp/

Philadelphia suit against gunmakers dismissed
Judge shoots down 'clever, but transparent attempt at an end run' around law. more...

Today's Daily Factoid:
When she was a young woman, sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer once lived
in Israel. There, she was a trained sniper. She was so adept at handling
a Sten gun — a British submachine gun — that she could quickly assemble
one while blindfolded.

Perhaps it's the morbid fascination which makes us unable to turn our eyes away when the coup de grace is administered to a wounded animal, but I watched the Vice President's concession speech. My personal distaste for him hasn't changed, nor has my profound objection to many of the policies he espoused, but I thought he did a good job. Whether it was a cynical show or a genuine realization of greater issues, he said the right things and acted like a better man than anything we saw from him during the campaign. The great irony of this speech is that had Al Gore been this personable and eloquent during the race, he might not be having to make a concession speech at all.

I stepped out onto the front porch to smoke a cigar after the vice president's speech and my oldest son came out with me. "We won," he said. "Yeah, but not by much," I answered. "Our guns are safe for four years," he said. "Maybe," I answered, "but I'm not taking anything for granted." I then proceeded to explain how our Second Amendment rights have taken some serious hits under the leadership of Republican presidents.

"A miss is as good as mile," says the old World War II proverb. The thrust of the saying is that the margin by which you miss the enemy or by which the enemy misses you doesn't matter. You're alive to fight another day, or the enemy is and you haven't done your job. For gun owners, this election was a miss which is as good as a mile--in both directions. We stopped the most rabid gun-grabber in the history of presidential politics from getting into the White House, but we didn't deliver a knock-out blow. I think that some of the Democrats may have gotten the message that they can't threaten the Second Amendment rights of American citizens and still expect to win elections, but there is that more radical group of gun prohibitionists who will rationalize and deny the impact of their extreme agenda on the ultimate failure of their standard bearer. The radicals like Sarah Brady and Josh Sugarmann won't internalize any of it. They'll be back. "A miss is as good as a mile." We've dodged a bullet, but not by much.

Our situation in the Senate has deteriorated with the loss of Ashcroft and Gorton. The margin in the House is narrow. We have a castrated legislature and president with less than a resounding mandate. Nevertheless, I still consider the election of 2000 to be a win. By all of the standard indicators, Gore should have won by a comfortable margin and he didn't. We have a president-elect who is far more friendly to gun owners than his predecessor. We have some things to be thankful for, but this is no time to get complacent.

Returning to the vice president, while I can't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him, it made my skin crawl when I listened to him waving the flag and prattling about what it means to be an American. "Gee, Mr. Vice President, it's a shame you didn't get to read the Constitution a little earlier in the campaign." This was the part that struck me as most cynical: that even as the veep did the statesmanship show, his operatives were busy impugning the very institutions he claimed to affirm. While he waxed eloquent on unity, Jesse Jackson and Joe Andrews fanned the fires of racial paranoia, convincing many in the black community that somehow the machines had been rigged to reject black votes. Nor did the veep ever repudiate the basic lie that there was this great wad of ballots that had never been counted, when, in fact, every single ballot in Florida was counted twice by the machines with which they were intended to be counted, the same machines that helped elect Bill Clinton. The veep and his henchmen have done everything they could de-legitimize (if that's a word) the electoral process in Florida because they just couldn't believe that it didn't go their way and they saw an opportunity to "find" enough votes to do get a result denied to them by two legal counts. So it comes back around to that basic question of integrity and credibility. Al Gore lacks integrity in the sense of a person being integrated within himself. The Supreme Court didn't beat Al Gore, nor did the Florida court, Ralph Nader, the voting machines or a secret cabal of Republican election rustlers. Al Gore beat himself. That question of "will the real Al Gore please stand up," never was answered.

In the side of my mind where the demons sometimes roam, I think that it would have been more fun if the election would have gone the other way. It would have been more fun to torture Gore for selling America down the river than to watch Bush get the pounding that he will surely take. It will be far more crushing to see Bush let us down than to see Gore try to impose a socialist police state on our country. We know, more or less, what Gore would attempt to do. It seems to me that the opportunity for unpleasant surprises is exponentially higher with Bush than it would have been with Gore.

More than anything, I'm just sick of it. I'm sick of fuming at the Democrat spin meisters as they continue to try to impeach the election. I'm sick of the disappointment I feel that George W. didn't win a more substantial mandate. If we can take comfort in anything, it is that we have seen once again the peculiar genius of the American system and the Constitution we have sworn to protect. Justice Stevens said that the big loser in all of this was the courts and judges, but I think that was only his pink pajamas showing. The judges did their part. The voters did their part. The laws and Constitution did their part. We transferred power without bloodshed. We affirmed the institutions which form the basis of our civilization, and a whole new generation got the mother of all civics lessons (something the schools seem strangely reticent to do these days). There's a lot to be proud of and we've identified some things that need to be fixed so that this doesn't happen again. One thing you can say for sure is that this could only happen in America, and at least for tonight, "a miss is as good as a mile."

LANSING -- Michigan lawmakers on Wednesday approved sweeping reforms of state law governing the carrying of concealed weapons, changes that will make it possible for more citizens in more communities to obtain permits to carry them. more...

Texas Lawsuit Defends Gun Industry
AUSTIN, Texas (UPI) – A group of Texas legislators said Wednesday they would file a lawsuit seeking damages and other relief from 19 cities and five counties across the country that have sued gun companies seeking to hold them liable for crimes involving guns. Read the whole article here.

The election on Tuesday stands to be the closest presidential race since Kennedy-Nixon in 1960. A number of folks I have talked to recently have expressed dissatisfaction with the candidates of both major parties, and have expressed a desire to vote for third party candidates. Without exception, everyone who has expressed this thought has come to it through a careful consideration of the political climate in our country today. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for, but I will say that I believe every vote not cast for George W. Bush brings Al Gore a little closer to the presidency. We have often heard and doubted the old cliche that "every vote counts." In this election, that cliche is going to be a reality. Unless you want to see Al Gore's nightmare vision of a socialist police state imposed upon our country, vote. Personally, I will be casting my vote for George W. Bush, not because I think Bush is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but because I think he stands the best chance of defeating Al Gore and his radical gun control agenda.

One very practical and concrete thing you can do to help the effort is to contact your precinct captain and volunteer to help transport people to the polls. Many elderly and disabled people would vote if they could get to the polls. Parents who are saddled with child care may need someone to watch their kids for a few minutes while they vote. These kinds of efforts turn your one vote into two or three. You can bet that the opposition will be using these strategies to maximize their voter turnout.

Regardless of how the election turns out, we have made our case. The proof of this is clearly obvious in the way the Gore campaign has soft-pedaled their gun control platform in the waning weeks of the election. The gun-grabbers are utterly dismayed with the Gore campaign and are trying to compensate for his abandonment of their program by pumping millions of dollars directly into the campaigns of anti-gun candidates in state and federal congressional races. They still don’t get it. The Gore campaign realized that they are not doing as well with women as they expected to, and have consequently adopted an eleventh hour strategy to woo males and gun owners. I guess they think our memories are so short that we can’t recall Gore’s characterization of a .380 pistol as an "assault weapon" just a few months earlier. Don’t mistake this softening in Gore’s stance as a reconsideration of his position. It is only the cynical calculus of a dishonest man who is desperate to increase his own personal power and recover from a political error which may well cost him the election. In other words, it’s just another con job from Clinton-Gore, Inc.

Steyr M40, M357, & M9: New Super M Series Pistols by Pistol Pete
This is not a new article but an extensive update of Pete’s thorough evaluation of the new Steyr M40. The author has added his observations of the M357 and M9 versions of the pistol. He has also updated his info on the M40 to reflect the tweaks and mods which Steyr has done since the pistol’s introduction.

Gun-toting attorney foils burglary
Tom Beiting was headed downstairs to his law office one morning this week from the second-floor apartment in the remodeled Newport mansion he owns when he was startled by the sound of the back door opening.

This tiny southern Utah town has enacted an ordinance requiring a gun and ammunition in every home for residents' self-defense. Most of Virgin's 350 residents already own firearms so the initiative has lots of support, Mayor Jay Lee said.

Residents had expressed fear that their Second Amendment right to bear arms was under fire so the town council modeled a similar measure passed by a Georgia city about 12 years ago.

The mentally ill, convicted felons, conscientious objectors and people who cannot afford to own a gun are exempt.

FM 23-35 Basic Field Manual - We now have the complete Basic Field Manual of the M1911 and M1911A1 online. This is the version which was issued in 1940 and authorized by General George C. Marshall. Special thanks goes to Anthony Gabrielson who did the scanning and OCR which allows this online document to look like the original while having the type in text so that it is searchable and prints using fonts. If you ever wanted to know how to fire your 1911 from horseback at a full gallop, this manual will show you how. It also shows us how the Army expected soldiers to be trained with the M1911 in the WWII era. Included are target and range diagrams, scoring charts, funky old pictures and much more.

The Year is:

1800 1 vote gives Thomas Jefferson the presidency over Aaron Burr
1839 1 vote wins the Massachusetts governorship for Marcus Morton
1868 1 vote saves Andrew Johnson's presidency
1941 1 vote strengthens selective service before World War II
1960 1 vote per precinct gives JFK the presidency
1993 1 vote by Al Gore approves the largest tax increase in history
2000 1 vote, your vote, can make the difference November 7th

In America, 1 VOTE DOES MATTER. Be the ONE.

Smith & Wesson Paying the Price of Betrayal
Smith & Wesson is cutting about 15 percent of its work force, blaming slumping sales and a boycott by buyers angry over its gun-safety deal with the government.

Brazil overturns gun control decree
SAO PAULO, Brazil The Supreme Court has overturned a recent decree that restricted gun sales as part of the government's fight against rising crime.

The Legacy of Gun Control
This is an excellent and chilling multimedia presentation on the effects of gun control. It loads slowly on 56K connections.

I did a major update on the Legends Page and added 18 Medal of Honor winners. Among the stories is that of Lt. Patrick Regan who captured 30 enemy soldiers in WWI with an EMPTY M1911!

Kimber Stainless Compact Lightweight by Bill Boyer
A while back the idea of one's dream Kimber was brought up on the Kimber list. You know, the one that if the factory made it you would just have to go out and buy it. The fact that it was a dream Kimber doesn't mean much to this list or me, it was just my dream 1911.

Kleen-Bore Black Magic Cold Blue By Syd
One of my favorite piddle projects is touching up and restoring metal finishes that have suffered rust or other blemishes. I don’t have hot blue tanks and bead blasters to do professional refinishing jobs and I don’t intend to get into it at that level. I don’t have the space or facilities to do that, and even if I did, I’m not sure that I would want to deal with vats of boiling caustic chemicals. Consequently, I’m always scouting for touch-up goop that can blend in well with existing finishes.

A Hit Dog Always Howls
Pro-gun TV ad riles mayors
They want equal time to rebut firearms industry’s position. Mayors suing U.S. gun makers said Tuesday they deserve equal television time to rebut a firearms industry ad they allege attacks their patriotism.

More Lies from HCI
NRA and Agency Debate Meaning of Permit Holders' Arrest Records
Since Texas' concealed-handgun law became effective four years ago, permit holders have been arrested on 3,370 charges ranging from drunken driving to murder, a group that advocates stricter gun laws says in a new report.

Ex-officer: Police want concealed weapons
Former Cincinnati police Lt. Harry Thomas told a pro-gun rally Sunday that police officials are telling ''outrageous lies'' when they say they oppose people carrying concealed weapons. ''The more good guys there are out there with guns, the safer everybody is, including police officers,'' Thomas told 100 cheering people at Fountain Square downtown.

The Tragedy of Gun-Free Zones
How many of us, no matter how much we hate guns, would be willing to put a sign stating, "We have no guns here", on our home? Common sense tells us that this is an invitation to criminals. This same simple concept applies to schools and other public places.
Some people will always have an unreasonable fear of weapons and a desire to impose their will on society. We must not let their phobia cloud our thinking. Exploiting our school children and putting them at risk to promote a misguided political agenda is criminally negligent.

The Kimber CDP series continues to get the lion’s share of the 1911 gun press. COMBAT HANDGUNS and AMERICAN HANDGUNNER both carry feature spreads in their most recent issues. These pistols are two-toned, radically de-horned, with ambidextrous safeties and rosewood grips. Their slides are bead-blasted stainless and their frames are anodized black. They are eye-catchers, but I’m not sure if I like the overall effect or not. I don’t like their prices—all of them are over $1K in price. Price was one of the factors that originally drew me to the Kimbers. Now that Kimber is beginning to price guns into the same area as Wilson and Springfield Custom shop, the decision becomes more difficult.

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee - As Recently As 1946, American Citizens Were Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort Against Corrupt Government Officials.

Chris’ Kimbers – Reviews by Christopher Platt of Classic, Pro Carry and Ultra CDP

GORE PICKS LIEBERMAN
One thing Lieberman and Gore have in common is a history of supporting anti-gun legislation. Lieberman voted to ban so-called "assault weapons" on a number of occasions, voted for the Brady Act, and recently voted for the Lautenberg Gun Show amendment that would end gun shows as we know them today. Lieberman was a gun grabber long before it was chic to be one. Liebermann is a disciple of Sen. Tom Dodd who crafted the 1968 Gun Control Act.

DEMOCRATS IN STEALTH MODE ON GUN CONTROL
It was extremely interesting to me how the Dems soft-pedaled their radical gun control agenda at the convention. Airsick bag in hand, I watched the vice-president’s acceptance speech (I did have to leave the room when his darling wife, Flipper, took the stage). All the veep mentioned on gun control was background checks and safety locks. This, of course, fits well with the overall dishonesty of the "father of the internet" about his positions and background. Get the real facts on Gore’s gun control position here:

PATAKI SIGNS LAW, ABANDONS NEW YORK GUN OWNERS
With anti-gun U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) by his side, New York Governor George Pataki (R) signed the anti-gun legislation that he rammed through the legislature a few weeks ago. It was the final act in the betrayal of those gun owners who helped ensure Pataki’s re-election two years ago. Gun owners can send Governor Pataki a message by registering to vote and registering their friends and fellow gun owners, and then going to the polls on November 7 to elect lawmakers who have the courage to stand up and fight for the Second Amendment. Here’s a snapshot of what Pataki’s law mandates:

The major departure from federal law regarding the "assault weapons" ban is that it does not contain the "sunset" provision which will cause the federal law to expire or force it to be reenacted by September of 2004. This provision is less severe than the one contained in the original Pataki proposal, which would have outlawed all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns and would have required them to be turned in to law enforcement, destroyed or removed from the state. The law also requires that individuals be 21 years of age in order to be eligible to receive a handgun license, which is required for simple possession under New York State law. It does, however, exempt those under 21 who have been honorably discharged from the military and will also allow those under 21 accompanied by a licensed instructor to shoot at a range or in a competition. For the first time, this law allows localities to encroach on the state’s jurisdiction, by allowing them to enact laws more restrictive than the state’s in the areas of locking devices (storage practices), so-called "assault weapons," and age eligibility for handgun licensees. Make no mistake, this is probably the most dangerous provision in the legislation, as it will no doubt encourage anti-gun local politicians to adopt stricter standards in their counties, cities, towns and villages. Vigilance in opposing these local anti-gun efforts will be more important than ever!

LAW ENFORCEMENT STILL SUPPORTS LAW-ABIDING GUN OWNERS
The 13th Annual National Police Survey, conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, once again confirms what NRA has been saying for years -- law enforcement supports our Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The survey, which was sent this year to nearly 25,000 Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs, asks a number of questions regarding crime and crime prevention, and each year the results have shown that law enforcement supports cracking down on violent criminals with firearms, not imposing more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners. This year’s survey showed that 93% of the respondents feel that "any law-abiding citizen should be able to purchase a firearm for sport or self-defense."

COURT SAYS CITY CAN'T SUE GUN MAKERS FOR DAMAGES
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Saying it did not want to open a ''Pandora's box'' for lawsuits against other industries, an appeals court has upheld a judge's decision to throw out a suit by the city of Cincinnati seeking to recover millions of dollars from gun manufacturers.

In its unanimous decision Friday, the Ohio First District Court of Appeals likened the city suit to the "absurdity'' of suing the makers of matches because of losses from arson. Cincinnati had joined with more than 30 other cities nationwide in attempting to recover enormous monetary sums from gunmakers for crime and violence done with guns.

The appellate court's opinion said the city suit was fatally flawed because it had failed to link any direct damages from gun violence to specific gun-manufacturer defendants.

CLDF SUES MAYORS
The Civil Liberties Defense Foundation will file its lawsuit against gunmaker-suing mayors and municipal leaders next month, according to a letter from Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp, former Sen. Jerry Patterson and other solidly pro-gun rights Texas legislators who formed the foundation last winter.

This lawsuit reportedly is based on Sec. 1983 of the Federal Civil Rights Law -- which allows those who use their official powers to infringe civil liberties to be personally sued, and forbids their cities from paying legal costs.

That should give mayors and councilmen a dose of their own medicine. These anti-gun officials don't really expect to win; they have brought over 30 lawsuits against gunmakers with the primary objective of bankrupting the firms simply by forcing them to pay the cost of defending themselves.

This Sec. 1983 action -- based on the cities' infringements of both the Second Amendment and the Constitution's protection of interstate commerce -- should do much to quash those frivolous lawsuits, and prevent new ones.

It's a puzzle that the gun industry isn't supporting the CLDF suit, but dealers and individuals can write it off their income taxes.

Oleg Volk is a gifted photographer, graphic artist and RKBA partisan. The images above are his. His site is one of the best designed pro-gun web sites I have ever seen. Well worth a surf and a read. Click here to visit Oleg's site.

"The European gunmakers are turning out new-model 45 auto-pistols in startling numbers. What, then, have these people discovered? Having been married to the 9mm Parabellum cartridge for most of a century, it seems unlikely that they now regard the 45 ACP as a superior round. It is probable that the Parabellum is increasingly prohibited for sale to civilians since it is considered to be a military cartridge. The result, I suppose, is good, but I see none of the new guns as needful improvements over what we already have. As you have noted over the years, the Parabellum cartridge is effective about 50 percent of the time, where the major-caliber pistol is up there closer to 90 percent. Of course if you place your shot with particular care, a 22 will do the job, but sometimes one gets excited." -- Jeff Cooper

.45 Auto Sear Jig by Les Bengston--Originally developed by U.S. Air Force match armorers for their target pistols. Cuts both primary engagement angle and break away angle. Designed to be used with the Brownell's frame pins. Complete instructions for both carry and competition trigger jobs included.

I’m web mastering for the Kentucky Coalition for Concealed Carry (KC3). We’re doing RKBA, CCW and self defense incident news:

The Kind of Crap We Don’t Need:
Concealed gun falls, fires; two are injured
The Courier-Journal

A man with a concealed weapon and a bystander were injured when the gun fired after falling from the man’s pocket at a concession stand at Tinseltown movie theaters, police said. William Newman, 34, had a permit to carry his concealed .22-caliber deringer, said Officer Robert Biven, a Jefferson County police spokesman. Newman was hit in the leg when the gun went off shortly after 8 p.m. The bullet also hit Juanita Sparks, 60, in the hip, Biven said. Both were taken to University of Louisville Hospital, Biven said. Signs at the box office say firearms are prohibited in the theater, Biven said. A state law passed in 1996 allows people to carry concealed weapons if they pass marksmanship and written tests and a background check. Businesses, however, can ban employees and customers from carrying concealed weapons. Police will send their findings to the commonwealth’s attorney office, where a decision will he made on whether charges are warranted. [Obviously, had he been carrying a 1911 in a proper holster this wouldn’t have happened, but he probably didn’t have enough sense to make an intelligent choice like that. Ed.]

One of the interesting things that’s going on in the gun debate right now is the internet battle. It’s taking the shape of hacking web sites and reserving domain names. Recently, The Violence Policy Center’s web site was hacked. All of the VPC pages were deleted and some childish graphics and the NRA logo were put up. The net result of this was to give Josh Sugarmann more fodder for his hyperbolic rhetoric, and, of course, he blamed it all on the NRA. While I resonate with the sentiment of wanting to trash this most odious and anti-American web site, that same Constitution which guarantees our right to keep and bear arms also guarantees the right to freedom of expression, and that extends even to the horse manure that Sugarmann puts out.

The domain name battle is fascinating. One clever boy registered www.handguncontrol.net and put up The Anti-HCI Site. Another good one is the Center for Prevention of Handgun Violence, http://www.cphv.com/ . HCI has taken notice and has begun registering domains willy-nilly, including domains which give some indication of politicians they plan to attack for upholding the Constitution: ABRAHAMANDGUNS.COM, DANGEROUSDOZEN.COM, GRAMSANDGUNS.COM, GORTONANDGUNS.COM, ASHCROFTANDGUNS.COM, DINGELLANDGUNS.COM, ROGANANDGUNS.COM, SANTORUMANDGUNS.COM, SAXTONANDGUNS.COM, MCCOLLUMANDGUNS.COM, TIBERIANDGUNS.COM, BARRANDGUNS.COM.

Mac Attack
McDonald's Employee May Lose Job After Shooting
One Suspect Still On Loose

HOUSTON, Updated 5:56 p.m. CDT June 29, 2000 -- Teroy Vance, owner of a McDonald's that was almost robbed Wednesday night, praised his employee for shooting two armed robbers. Thursday, Vance is faced with having to fire him.

Willis Lee, a janitor at the McDonald's at 5301 East Freeway, shot the suspects as they were holding up a cashier. It is against McDonald's policy for employees to carry weapons.

Police identified two of the three suspects as Clarence Davis Winslow and Timothy Lee Martin. The third suspect is still on the loose. Because of their gunshot wounds, Winslow and Martin ran to a nearby apartment complex and called for an ambulance. They are in fair condition at area hospitals.

Vance told News2Houston that he was just leaving around 11 p.m. when he heard gunshots coming from inside his McDonald's. Vance and the other employees are calling Lee a hero.

While we’re broiling steaks on the grill and playing with our computers on this long holiday weekend, take a minute to remember the titanic struggle for freedom that we celebrate on the 4^th. In some ways, that struggle is still going on. A multitude of brave souls made tremendous sacrifices for the freedom we now enjoy. They understood freedom. They knew that freedom wasn’t cheap and that it was bought at a terrible price. They realized that for a free society to work, each individual had to understand and shoulder the responsibility of a free citizen—that it only works when each member of the society respects the rights, person-hood, and liberty of others. Tell your kids about the founders of our country (because they sure as hell aren’t getting it in school). Tell them about the ideals they believed in. We walk in the footsteps of giants.

Well, the transition to the new hosting service seems to be going well. Yahoo has already picked up the site. I was amazed. It usually takes a long time for Yahoo to pick up a new web site. I must have a friend there. The new site seems to be performing a great deal better than the old one.

Rumor has it that Bill Clinton is thinking of moving to England when his term is over and the NRA is taking up a collection to buy him a one-way ticket.

"Breaking in a 1911" by Syd – Just my half-baked opinions, but I was asked so I answered. I invite comments on this one, if someone has some methods that I’m not using.

"Reliability Secrets" by John Marshall – This is an excellent and detailed piece of work on reliability tuning the 1911 pistol.

"Check Your Gun Mister" Are We Safer than the Citizens of Dodge City? By Jim Higgenbotham – An eye-opening comparison of the "Wild West" and today.

I’m always looking for fresh reviews and articles about guns, gear, techniques and damned near anything else, so if the muse strikes, send it along.

Well, I finally got fed up with my old hosting service and moved The Sight to a new host. I also got a domain name, www.sightm1911.com. This is something I have been meaning to do for a long time, but not having a domain name made the switch difficult because the search engines lose you for a while. Moral of this story is that if you're going to put up a web site, get a domain name. Makes life a lot simpler. We'll see how it goes. If you notice any broken links or problems on the site, please send me a message about the problem.

The August edition of COMBAT HANDGUNS contains reviews of two interesting permutations of the 1911: The Cylinder and Slide Safety Fast Shooting system on a Kimber Custom and the Wilson KZ-45 "Tactical Carry Pistol".

The SFS system from Cylinder & Slide is an action modification of the 1911 which addresses the anxiety of carrying a cocked and locked 1911. In short, the way it works is that after you rack the slide to load the gun, you push the hammer forward so that it looks like Condition 2, but in doing so, the manual safety springs up and the sear is blocked. To fire, the manual safety is depressed causing the pre-cocked hammer to snap back. According to Gary Paul Johnston, the SFS system actually improved the trigger pull on his Kimber. Pretty ingenious.

The Wilson KZ-45 is a polymer-framed, high cap 1911. Besides the polymer, high capacity frame, it has one other modification from the classic 1911, an external extractor. One advantage of the external extractor is that it doubles as a loaded chamber indicator and eliminates the need for a press check. As to the KZ-45 being a "Tactical Carry Pistol," maybe it is for SWAT teams, but it’s pretty large and heavy for a carry gun, even though Wilson did manage to build the grip thinner than some of the other high capacity .45’s on the market.

I was both amused and appalled by the grotesque exaggerations of the attendance at the Million Mom March. Even a gun grabber who attended claimed 50,000 people were on the Mall that afternoon, a far cry short of the 750,000 reported by ABC. Looking at the aerial photos, I’d say that they were lucky if they had 20,000 counting dogs, cats, and babies.

"We're all going to have to rethink how we deal with the Internet. As exciting as these new developments are, there are a number of serious issues without any kind of editing function or gate-keeping function. Any time an individual leaps so far ahead of that balance and throws the system whatever it might be political, economic, technological out of balance, you've got a problem. It can lead to all kinds of bad outcomes which we have seen historically."

"The right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against tyranny, which though now appears remote in America, history has proven to be always possible."

"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."

"By enforcing its own order, without the judicial imprimatur of a court mandate, the Justice Department has reinforced a precedent that endangers the rights of all American citizens."

"The armed invasion of the home of Elian's relatives in Miami by federal officers combat-ready with the deadliest of military rifles, the shocking abduction of the boy seen around the world, are so unconstitutional and cruel that they keep the hope alive that this time the courts and Congress will not allow the White House to get away with it."

"Ms. Reno's decision to take the law as well as the child into her own hands seems worse than a political blunder. Even if well intended, her decision strikes at the heart of constitutional government and shakes the safeguards of liberty."

I just completed KY2K, the Kentucky State IDPA Championship. My local club hosted it. There were 14 stages, 6 with reactive and moving targets. Hats off to Charles Riggs who designed the stages, Lin Edwards who made the administrative wheels turn, and all the SO’s who stood in the hot sun for two days so that we could have a memorable shoot. I had a blast. This was the first rated state championship I have shot, and I’ll definitely do more. I thought I did ok. Got 3 procedurals and 2 failures to neutralize in the 14 stages. The august masters of IDPA are in no danger of being de-throned by me.

I truly feel that anyone who likes to shoot pistols, and anyone who carries a gun ought to participate in IDPA. IDPA is a game. It’s not SWAT or SEAL training, but it will make you a smarter and safer pistol operator. But more important than the training aspect is the fellowship with other pistol shooters. The value of being able to visit and shoot the breeze with other pistoleros, being able to watch the really good shooters, and the act of gathering together as a community of lawful gun users is immeasurable.

1911 Content: I, of course, used my Kimber Compact for the match and continue in my delight with the performance and accuracy of this pistol. One of the SO’s said that he had seen four 1911’s malfunction during the match. This is one of the great things about IDPA: it lets you test equipment in a more-or-less realistic setting. I only saw one 1911 malfunction, a guy using lead shouldered wad-cutters in a modified Colt. He jammed up really badly. 1911’s that are tuned for bullseye—in other words, really tightly fit with ultra-light triggers, are no good for action shooting. The gun starts to get warm and dirty and all of the sudden it begins to choke. It’s better to go into an IDPA match with a reliable gun that shoots 2.5" groups at 25 yards than a super-tuned paper-puncher that does .5" groups at 50 yards. The same could be said for street use. It’s much more important for a gun to be reliable than it is to have a gun that shoots very tight groups at long range. The maximum ranges for IDPA stages are 25 yards, and if you are keeping your shots in a 2.5" pattern at that range, you will solve to your satisfaction every problem presented to you in an IDPA match.

"We at Colt believe that the terms of the recently announced White House Settlement with Smith and Wesson, if agreed to by us, would be threatening and harmful to our business. Moreover, the coercion used by the White House together with state and local officials under the threat of continued massive lawsuits is reprehensible. Colt does not intend to enter into any such agreement or any other agreement under these conditions. Rather, Colt intends to continue its now 164-year tradition of safely manufacturing and responsibly marketing our lawful firearm products of the highest quality and design for use by the military and law enforcement community, as well as sportsmen and collectors."

British-owned Smith & Wesson caved in to the extortion of the Clinton regime and agreed to a set of concessions which will do little to increase safety but will again punish law-abiding gun owners with higher prices, taxes, and less reliable guns. The agreement as I have seen it puts restrictions on gun dealers which far exceed any law of this country and puts burdens on the dealers that I would find difficult to accept even if I were willing to. In a tidy quid pro quo, HUD announced that it would be buying its guns from Smith & Wesson and encouraged the municipalities which are party to the fraudulent "product liability" suits to also give preference to the offerings of Smith & Wesson in future weapons purchases. In what has come to be typical for this administration, it has engaged in profoundly unethical behavior while claiming the moral high ground. Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows.

Yada, yada, yada. I’m so sick of bitching about the Clinton regime that I could scream. It will be a long damned time before I vote for a Democrat. Smith & Wesson made a deal with the devil. The deal was based in money. They got the lawyers off their backs for a while and took a giant step down the road to universal gun registration. What’s more troubling is that the concessions look unnecessary. Judges had not been supporting the "product liability suits" and those trying to push them were not making much progress in the courts. I was delighted to see that Glock, Browning, Kimber, EAA, and Taurus are refusing to join Smith & Wesson in their sell-out. If you would like to express your displeasure to S&W, us this e-mail link: ceo@smith-wesson.com.

It kills me because I have been a big fan of Smith & Wesson guns for a long time. The first pistol I ever fired was an old S&W .38 Special. A couple of my favorites today are S&W offerings. They’re well-built, reliable and comforting to have on your side when the shit hits the fan. Will I ever buy another one? I don’t know. It certainly won’t be one of their "smart guns." Anything that broadcasts on radio waves can be jammed. And anything that depends on batteries to operate isn’t worthy of my trust. Really, what I’d like to see is an American concern buy S&W away from their servile British overlords. But for now, I can’t justify rewarding S&W with my patronage.

I think that the current administration is exploiting gun tragedies to further their political agenda, but they couldn’t exploit them if they weren’t happening. Our pro-gun arguments based in statistics and constitutional law melt in the glare of the high profile gun tragedies that we have witnessed, especially during the past couple of years. When people see first graders shooting each other, the natural response is to want to do something about the problem. The gun grabbers are adroitly exploiting this natural and reasonable impulse. While I’ll be damned if I’ll have the government telling me when to use a trigger lock, I think the practice of securing stored firearms is a good one, especially if there are children in the home. I keep one pistol, usually my .45, loaded and ready, with no trigger lock, and it always remains under my immediate physical control. The rest are under lock and key.

When I was seventeen, a cousin who was also seventeen came home one day from school, got his father’s pistol and killed himself. He had none of the outward signs of an impending suicide. He had a good relationship with his father—they were building a boat together. He was doing well in school, was well liked, parents weren’t divorced, no drugs—in short, the American dream. But he killed himself anyway and left no note or explanation for why he did what he did. As I raise my own sons, that memory comes back to me often. Even though I trust my boys completely, I keep the guns locked up when I’m not around.

Trigger locks won’t stop the wave of crazy shootings. They won’t even come close. But they would have stopped a first grader from killing a little girl in his class. Secure storage might have stopped Jonesboro, Pearl, and Paducah. We can’t stop the gun grabbers from distorting the truth and playing on the heart strings, but we can steal some of their ammunition by making sure our own gun handling is as safe as possible. Freedom doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but rather in a context of responsibility and mutual respect for the rights of others. Cherished rights are sometimes contradictory and those conflicts are resolved through the courts and the political process. If we place our hope solely on the Second Amendment to the Constitution, as if it were an absolute cosmic law like the speed of light, we will leave ourselves vulnerable to further encroachment on our natural rights. The Second is, after all, an amendment, and what was changed once can be changed again.

This week saw two more tragic shootings, two outbreaks of evil which never should have happened. In one case a first grader killed another first grader with a stolen pistol he found loaded and laying around his home. In the second, a mentally ill man went on a racial killing spree. Our minds search for explanations but nothing emerges which really answers the question. Evil is alive and well. Bad things happen. Bad people walk this earth.

What is most interesting about the clamor of politicians for more gun control laws is that while they make their pleas for more gun regulations, enforcement of existing gun laws has declined precipitously. For this reason, the calls for more gun control strike me as cynical and dishonest. There is a hidden agenda at work here which should be exposed and repudiated. What is the purpose of new gun control laws when existing ones are not being enforced? If you are interested to see just how poor the enforcement record of the current administration is, read the Senate Judiciary Committee’s report "Crimes Committed with Firearms," at http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/guns106.htm

I have added a number of new reviews in the Equipment Reviews Section, including the Charles Daly, the Colt 1991A1 Commander, the most popular new 1911--the Kimber Ultra Carry, and the Para-Ordnance P10-45. In the Technical Issues Section there is a new Malfunction Analysis chart, an article on premature slide lock in some Kimbers, and my thoughts on dropping the slide with the slide stop or using the slingshot method when reloading from slide lock. In the History Section, there is an article by Rick Breneman on the Detonics pistols. In the Odds and Ends Section there is an essay about the three elements of Defensive Combat Marksmanship by Jim Higgenbotham.

I have added some new functionality to The Sight with Babel Fish language translator. Babel Fish actually translates phrases or web pages. The languages it works with are English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French.

I recently received a glowing report on a 10mm built by Ed Brown for one of my correspondents. For those of you who like the big 10mm, Ed may be the way to go.

The Les Baer Custom Thunder Ranch graces the cover of American Handgunner for the March/April issue. Les has been designated the official pistol builder for Thunder Ranch. Clint Smith stated empahtically that Les Baer guns are simply the best 1911's being made today. I have a feeling that Ed Brown and Bill Wilson might have something to say about that, but the Les Baer guns are gorgeous.

Check out the Library Section. Most of the new stuff I have added to the site have been there.

Wilson Combat has released their KZ-45 Tactical Carry Pistol. It's a high-cap polymer frame. I haven't received an rave reviews of it yet, but I imagine it's a pretty decent pistol. Wilson has also absorbed Scattergun Technologies so that now, everyone's favorite streetsweeper comes from Wilson.


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