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| Some of the guns the Gunsite Custom Shop works its magic on. Counterclockwise from top, an 870 Remington, Browning HiPower, Kahr K9 and the author's 1911. |
You'll see this happen often at Gunsite Training Center. You are on the firing line under the supervision of the school's fine instructors. The guy to the right has been struggling all day with his 1911 pistol, which steadfastly refuses to feed every round from any magazine he tries. You can't learn much about combat shooting when you constantly clearing gnarly malfunctions. The range master knows this, and he makes a quick call on his portable radio. About 10 minutes later, a top-notch pistolsmith arrives on the scene, riding a Quadrunner ATV. Without even shutting off the engine or dismounting the vehicle, he diagnoses the problem, takes the necessary part or parts from his pocket, repairs the gun and gets the shooter back on the firing line. That's pretty spectacular, but how about a gun that needs vises, files, etc. to effect the repair? Simple - he analyzes what needs to be done, then brings another example of the same gun out of a pocket in order to get the student shooter back on the line. Until the shop finishes repairs to his pistol, the shooter is free to use the school gun - no charge. They're determined to see every student get the most from the Gunsite instruction and this is one way to make sure the student is where he belongs - at the range, shooting.
The gunsmithing operation at Gunsite is one of the school's most valuable assets. Referred to as simply "The Custom Shop", this compact workshop performs a very diverse assortment of gunsmithing operations. Although GTC, currently owned and operated by Richard Jee, has a reputation as primarily a handgun school, it actually is a combat-oriented shooting facility with some purely sporting courses on the curriculum. The Custom Shop exists to support rifle and shotgun courses, as well as a variety of handgun ones. Ted Yost, one of the unheralded giants of the gunsmithing game, directs a staff of top-notch gunsmiths in repair of student's guns, as well as the production of special firearms of many types. Most of the time, the new guns and repairs to customer's guns go right out to the sandy ranges of Gunsite, where they are put ot the test. In a full five-day course of any sort, the student/shooter fires no less than about 1,200 rounds and sometimes as much as 2,500. For this reason, the Custom Shop approach to gunsmithing is invariably the same - above all other virtues, a Gunsite Custom Shop firearm must always work. In this story, we'll look at the full array of firearms built and customized by Gunsite's Custom Shop.
Gunsite special guns fall into three categories - shotguns, rifles and handguns. Bu special arrangement, the Custom Shop also tunes up police departments' and other legally owned Class III firearms. Let's run through what is available in general, then look at several specific examples of the shop's work.
HANDGUNS
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| The Custom Shop also does work on the professional's choice in concealed carry autos - the Kahr pistol. These two Kahrs have various custom features. Both have aftermarket sights and trigger jobs that smooth up the action indeed. |
The majority of the work performed at the Custom Shop goes into making good handguns better. Most commonly, a custom pistol has for its foundation one version or another of the beloved M1911A1. On that gun alone, GTC has a wide assortment of options that satisfy the needs for the most discriminating shooter.
But they also work on other handguns, including revolvers. For example, send them a Chiefs or centennial S&W, and you'll get back a 2-inch hideout with a dynamite trigger and a sensible beveling and rounding of all corners and edges. Aside from the M1911-style guns, they also like Kahrs and Browning Hi Powers. The latter gun is the basis for a number of fine custom handguns.
Ted Yost builds most of the Hi Powers himself. The .40 S&W, a popular caliber option when paired with another barrel for the .357 SIG cartridge is shown with all of the customary Hi Power options. At the Custom Shop, the preferred sight system is Novak's LoMount, and the Hi Power has this. It also has a premium grade Bar-Sto barrel carefully fitted to the slide, a trigger job and some of the best stippling you will ever find on both backstrap and frontstrap. Yost carefully punches individual depressions that cumulatively produce a grainy surface that's slightly tacky to the touch. It's near perfect in keeping the gun solidly in your hand with an unchanging grasp. I also like the safety, which Ted makes on at a time. It's extended a bit, by is better than most in the positive click you get when the safety goes off or on. This way, the safety works much like the one on the 1911.
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| One of the many GTC sight options is the Ashley Outdoors "Express" sight with a 160-degree "V" rear sight and large white-dot front. |
Another favorite of the Gunsite smiths is the Kahr. Kahr Arms makes several sizes of .40 S&W and 9mm Luger that are as big as they need to be to work with efficiently, but no larger than necessary. Through several design innovations, the Kahr plant produces a very strong and durable pistol with a mix of cast and forged bar stock parts. The DAO trigger is good, but the Custom Shop guys smooth it up considerably. They also install sights, usually Novak's but sometimes Ashley Express. Stippling on front and back is nice, but plain hand-cut checkering is better and dresses up the pistol. Before installing the Gunsite Raven on a Kahr, the pistolsmiths radius edges and corners in order to make handling a bit easier. Those little GTC Kahrs are winners.
The majority of the custom work done in the shop is on .45s. You can buy an entry level, off-the-shelf GSP 2000 that has everything you need at a good price - $895. Made on a forged steel Springfield pistol, it comes with three numbered magazines and a host of other features, including Novak tritium insert LoMount sights, beveled edges and corners, beavertail grip safety, extended thumb safety, forward slide serrations, custom barrel crown and, best of all, an inspection for durability and reliability. The trigger is adjusted for a crisp release. All of the forgoing makes the GSP pistol on of the better choices for a budget-conscious .45 shopper.
While you can update your GSP 2K as you go along, some shooters just prefer to do it all at once. The Signature series pistol has anything reasonable that you specify. At the very least, it comes with all of the same features as the GSP, but includes such extra-cost options as premiums barrel, checkering, special grips, different sights and other high-end features. They are built on full-sized, Commanders and Officer's model pistols.
Both Signature pistols shown are mine and have many special features. The enhanced Commander has a fitted, supported chamber Bar-Sto barrel and bushing, fore and aft checkering, hand-matted sighting rib, low safety and of course, Novak sights. The forward-taper grips are my idea and Yost rendered them to perfection. Made of a dark hardwood, they have my own logo initial laser-cut into the surface. The other pistol is a full Government Model with the same type of grips, this time embellished with my signature. The big .45 has 40 lpi checkering and an unusual variation of the MMC adjustable sight. Another idea of mine is the rear sight that is a 150-degree "B" matched to a gold bead on the ramp front sight. Both guns represent custom pistolsmithing at its very best. |
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