The enhancements include, in order of progression
through the LTW shops:
Legacy Custom Products (legacy-custom.com,
Stan Chen) has expertly fitted the BarSto barrel and
optimized the slide to frame relationship. He has also
done one of his signature magwell treatments wherein a
special mainspring housing of his own manufacture is
utilized, enabling him to open the magwell out towards
the rear without creating a knife-edge from the magazine
chute's rear wall. This magwell treatment does not add
any parts, weight, or bulk to the pistol but
seriously augments the user's ability to get a
fresh magazine in place, fast.
Rogers Precision (Chuck Rogers,
rogersprecision.com): Chuck's reputation and
abilities for building hard-core working guns that look
great is being taken full advantage of here. His "Golfball"
treatment of the frontstrap and on the mainspring
housing on the back, are likely the ideal gripping
pattern for a true, in-the-fray pistol. This pattern
gives a very positive grip when a firing grasp is
exerted, and yet doesn't "lock in" the user to the point
that he can't shift the pistol slightly if need be.
Moreover, the pattern is "open" and does not tend
to fill with dirt and debris--one might even say it is
self cleaning. Chuck has also machined sand cuts into
the frame/slide sliding interfaces, allowing the pistol
to run longer in sandy or muddy conditions. Sand cuts
are nothing new in the world of small arms, some of the
most-issued military weapons in the world have them, the
FAL rifle and Sterling submachinegun to name a few.
Chuck has also added a recessed lanyard point to the
butt-- one that does not protrude but is there and ready
whenever needed.
Don Williams (theactionworks.com)
brings to bear his considerable talents in fine-tuning
the internals of this pistol for maximum safety,
reliability, and precision. Hammer, sear, disconnect,
mag release, trigger (triggers, actually; one long and
one short)..... none will escape his expert attention.
In addition, Don is fitting two spare extractors with
and to a super-tough EGW oversized firing pin stop.
Ned Christiansen (m-guns.com)
will be fitting the sights, which will start out as
Yost-Bonitz Professional Grade sights. The YoBo PG rear
sight is made with a front face that is vertical,
providing a surface with which the user can perform
one-handed manipulations such as chambering a round, by
hooking the sight on something. Ned will modify these in
"Shield Driver" fashion, where the front face of the
rear sight is made even deeper, and is serrated,
creating a hard-to-miss surface for racking the slide,
on, say, the side of a ballistic shield. Ned will also
fit and TIG weld in place the plunger tube, match the
slide rear surface to the frame and texture it along
with all three extractors, and ensure that the VZ grips
are a great match to the pistol's final lines. Ned will
also be fitting the pistol with a light rail.
The shop of Yost-Bonitz Custom (yost-bonitz.com)
will be responsible for etching the LTW and
AmericanSnipers.org logos. They will also fit the
(Wilson Combat) safeties (one ambidextrous and one
single-sided), and do a precise dehorning of the pistol.
Yost-Bonitz is the nerve center of LTW and is also
handling some of the administrative duties related to
the raffle, and YoBo's Steve Bailey's itchy
shutter-button finger will be putting this pistol and
its accoutrements on film.
Final finish for the pistol is still TBD but a few
different hard-knocks-proof options are being
considered.
Raffle ticket buyers be advised, that as this is
written, the pistol is not yet done. It has been LTW's
standard procedure to begin selling tickets before a
project's completion-- after all, the goal is to
maximize the benefit for a worthy cause. LTW's raffle
record, in brief, has been to provide Ted Nugent's Kamp
for Kids with two checks in excess of $20,000 (2005 and
2006 raffles), and, this year, a check for nearly that
much to Cops 4 Kidz. We are most anxious to see if we
can do even better for
AmericanSnipers.org! The winner of the package will
be picked at the 2008 (February) SHOT Show in Las Vegas,
the winner need not be present, of course!
But let's talk about the rest of this package....... it
is considerable. Again this package has been assembled
along a sniper theme. Accessories and related products
include, but because we are still gathering treasure for
this, are not restricted to:
Black Hills Ammunition, for a case of ammo.
http://www.black-hills.com
Chris Reeve knives, for a companion knife (Special
Forces model).
http://www.chrisreeve.com
Safariland, for a model 6004 duty holster and
accessories.
http://www.safariland.com
Nossar Gunleather, for a complete custom belt, holster
and mag pouch rig, as well as a soft case.
http://www.nossargunleather.com
Brownell's, for various components, spares, and
maintenance tools.
http://www.brownells.com
Center Mass, Inc. for one of their Mini Sharpshooters
Rifle Rests
http://www.centermassinc.com
Startlight Cases, for a hard case to put it all in.
http://www.starlightcases.com
Strike Tactical Solutions, for free tuition to their
entire spectrum of close quarters pistol classes.
http://www.striketactical.com
We are still working on some other items to round out
the package, including
some primo glass.
Progress on the pistol build and general comments on the
project can be
tracked at
http://www.louderthanwords.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4681&postdays=0&postorder...
Further thanks are due to the many
companies that are providing parts and
services for the building of the custom pistol:
Springfield Armory for the base pistol.
http://www.springfield-armory.com
Evolution Gunworks for the firing pin stop, one
extractor, barrel bushing, one of two triggers.
http://www.egw-guns.com/
Brownells for cleaning and maintenance tools and some
internals
http://www.brownells.com
Wilson Combat for and extractor, slide stop and other
internals
http://www.wilsoncombat.com
BarSto Precision, for the barrel.
http://www.barsto.com
Yost-Bonitz for the hammer/sear/disconnector set and
other internals.
http://www.yost-bonitz.com |
