I've been wearing the El Paso Saddlery "Double Agent" around for the past three days and can offer some opinions now.

The holster is advertised to be both a strong side Askins-style concealment holster, and with different belt threading, a concealable cross-draw. It works fine for both. In the strong side position it carries the pistol higher and with slightly more butt-forward tilt than the Galco "King Tuk" I carry and compete with. In the cross-draw position (the rationalized reason for purchase is to carry while driving long distance) it's comfortable and can be pushed back about an inch (when worn completely between belt loops) for better concealment, or forward for better accessibility. Cross-draws require a long reach for those of us with man-sized girths.

This morning I went up to Beretta Road and worked on drawing from that position, and mostly it just has to be a deliberate action, rather than trying to work out some sort of muscle memory thing. It works fine. Cross-draws aren't worn for competition because of the long muzzle sweep while getting the pistol into firing position, but it's also significantly slower. Even if it does look way cool.

Anyway, the leather is thick good quality cow, dyed black in this case, but not yet waxed so the color isn't completely solid yet. The double thickness of leather at the top does not hide metal or plastic to hold the mouth open for re-holstering - but the leather's thick enough on its own to assure that. The open bottom is long enough to protect the complete muzzle end from incidental damage, and the best part: the stitched-in sight track keeps the sharp Patridge front sights on my guns from pulling leather.

I was first introduced to stitched-in sight tracks by the Mitch Rosen "Tito's Revenge" holster I got for the Kimber Ultra Carry II. Because of the sight track along the top of the gun, these holsters look like they might be a bit too big, but that's illusory. Sight tracks are necessary for hasty draws and for protecting the finish on that expensive black front sight.

Great holster so far. I'm taking a long driving trip soon and will report back when I've got a few weeks of constant carry.

Minor issue - had a failure to feed with 185 gr SWCs in the Dan Wesson V-Bob. First time, second to the last round in the magazine. Bullet jammed against the roof of the chamber. I've been loading that bullet cooler and cooler and figure the slide just didn't have the momentum to force the cartridge to chamber. About out of those bullets now and don't plan to get more, so I won't try to do anything about it.

BTW, the V-Bob is what I used in the vids below for the IDPA match. As I'd figured, the greater mass kept it closer to target than the SIG, but surprisingly it didn't seem to take longer to clear the holster and initially get on target.

P.S. This is the cross-draw threading. More vertical than expected, but too much butt forward on cross-draw makes it extremely hard to conceal.

P.P.S. Wore it continuously cross-draw for the week of my road trip (except in California) and it did the job nicely. Wasn't intrusive, didn't poke the upholstery, seemed adequately reachable. As it's good and truly winter now, I still use the holster in the strong side position under a coat where it's as fast as the King Tuk, but doesn't let the gun get sweated up.

From the IDPA match on Saturday, the last of four matches for the year. This was Stage 4, but I forget what it was called. Something about WalMart I think. Three rounds through the first target from the retention position, then two each in the order they appear, avoiding shooting the hostages, seen here as either X'd or with the "Help Me" overwrite. I did well until it came to shooting around the left side of the leftermost barrier. Harder to identify targets and the grip becomes very awkward. Of course my real screw-up was that last shot. I added about four seconds to get the clean stage, but only picked up one point or half a second by taking it. Bad call.

So this morning I started drilling left side barrier shooting. Used the pickup cab today, but will put together a "wall" using the upright target stands, some furring strips and plywood or heavy cardboard. Probably will need some sandbags or rocks as well.

I've considered swapping hands for those left side shots, but don't think I'm solid enough with the left hand yet. I'll have to give it a try once the wall is built.

Anyway, scores aren't up yet, but overall I'm happy with my performance. I didn't kill any hostages and did about as well as I could at that particular time and place.

Last match until May. Gotta get ready for the Spring.

Results from the last match of the season. Won my class and fifth overall. I can live with that.







And Stage 1:

Believe in coincidences? Today the Galco "King Tuk" holster broke. Just now the brown truck delivered the new High Noon "Topless" holster. In the interim I ordered two more King Tuks for 1911s, because for concealment they can't be beat. It wasn't until the holster broke that I realized I've got four 1911s and had only the one holster. Poor planning.

Luck wins out over poor planning! The High Noon wasn't due until November. I've also got another 1911 (Commander length) holster on order from El Paso Saddlery that shouldn't get here until next month.

OK, in chronological order. The Galco, made of kydex plastic riveted to a leather backer, was going to wear out. Kydex, wonderful material though it is, wears out. First was the sight channel, which my pistols' front sights elongated over time. Today it was the aft section of the bit molded around the trigger guard. I'd noticed that it was sometimes tough to draw and muscled through it, and other times there was no feeling of molded retention at all. As the only molded retention is the bubble that intrudes on the trigger, I examined it after shooting the DW today and lo! Broken. (The DW eats 185 gr SWCs just fine, BTW.)

You've seen the pictures of where I've moved the King Tuk clips to better work with my belt loops and place it where I want it. OK, not that much work to punch a few holes in leather and move the clips, but it was where I wanted it. I'll keep the old one until the new ones get here to use as a template. I ordered them from Midway USA, where they're in stock and marked below MSRP. Should have them Monday or so. In the mean time...

... this gorgeous horsehide holster showed up. The picture doesn't do it justice. Those are the equine equivalent of stretch marks showing in the natural finished leather. It is exceedingly stiff and needs no reinforcement at the mouth to hold it open. The finishing, leather, edges, boning, are superb. You can see where the presumed grip line doesn't follow the Colt's actual grip line - the Esmerelda grips are thinner, but higher and wider, than the stock grips. I will probably cut that bit from the holster and refinish the edges. Because the front and back pieces of leather are exactly the same, this could be worn on the left with the only obvious difference being the maker's stamp would show. The downside (there's always a downside) is that there's nothing now protecting my ribs from the thumb safety, magazine release and slide serrations. Might be best to wear over a shirt and under a coat - as I'd planned all along. Winter holster for the big gun, you know.

You can see that it will carry the gun very high. That makes it easier to conceal, but also harder to draw with the elbow scraping the ceiling to get the gun all the way out.

Yeah, it cost a bunch. I'll wear it around a bit, then if it becomes my favorite I'll order one in Commander length for the DW, maybe. The SIG, BTW, doesn't fit. The molding is so exact that the slightly different profile of the slide cross section won't go in.

Not much to add today. You can see the short trigger and might see some empties from the box of Double Tap ammo in the red box. The Double Tap works fine and doesn't feel any different than my reloads, and it hits the same place as far as I can tell, only shooting the clangers this morning. This post is happening because I took the picture and wanted to use it.

Anyway, when I first got out to Beretta Road to shoot there was a guy with a portable bench and a chronograph set up shooting a bolt rifle, so I said hi and we talked a bit. He was sighting in a friend's Cabelas Anniversary .270, and knew what he was about. He shot it from 100 yards to put the group an inch high, then backed off another 50 yards to confirm it. We talked politics, USFS issues, guns. I invited him to come shoot the next IDPA match on October 22, and it's likely he'll show up.

Speaking of which, I think I'll shoot the SIG-Sauer RCS in that match. While the Dan Wesson V-Bob is lovely and shoots well, the SIG comes out of the holster faster and shoots just fine. I'm used to it.

Also speaking of which, a friend and I have been discussing which camera he should buy. Frankly, I could care less - equipment is the least interesting part of photography. Folks that are all hung up on equipment will seldom make decent pictures - it's probably the same with guns. I like the hardware and ... as you see here ... never get tired about talking about the equipment. But there's a threshold coming where it will be about the shooting and the equipment will take a back seat. "Don't show me the gun - show me the target." That sort of thing. I'm not deeply into competitive shooting and probably never will be again, but, as here in the case of the DW vs. SIG, it's gotten to be about which one, if either, will better my score. Even though the DW is hands-down prettier and better made.

Last bit: Feeling virtuous again. Carried another truckload of trash out from the shooting area two days ago after recruiting my non-shooting neighbor to come along and help.

Another last bit: That Double Tap ammo can't be reloaded. The primer pockets are shallow and standard Large Pistol primers stand proud.

That's sweat on the left grip - the one I sanded a little. Seems to have done the job, as my right lower rib isn't bleeding. I carried the Dan Wesson up Boulder Hill today, under a shirt. It's not a long walk, about 3 miles RT, but it's like a mile and a half of staircase each way, and covered in loose rock. Strenuous and sweaty. Haven't pulled the grip off yet, but I'll do that and get some grease under it, as sweat will permeate everywhere and stainless isn't really stainless and will eventually corrode. Plastic pistols have the edge in being unaffected by sweat.

The gun came with a $35 off coupon for a box of Double Tap ammo. As the stuff runs about $46 for a box of 50, I ordered one box of 230-grain JHPs which are supposed to exit the barrel at 1040 fps. This is very hot for a .45 ACP. With shipping, it cost about $20, which is average for run-of-the-mill 230-gr no-name ball ammo. I'll chrono it and see that it functions in the SIG, then probably use the remnants of the box for whichever pistol I carry this Fall. Unless this stuff is super ammo, I doubt I'll be spending a buck a pop for any more of it though. Even if it is super ammo.

Finally, after a lot of consideration, I ordered an El Paso Saddlery Double Agent holster for the DW (and the SIG). It's an Askins style strong side holster with the added utility of becoming a butt-forward crossdraw with slightly different belt threading. I have doubts about any holster doing two things well, as most can't even do one correctly, and my experience with EPSaddlery is sorta mixed. They've build some superb holsters for me, but one was floppy and another had to be sent back because it was built too long. I also am not a fan of crossdraws - most bulky guys aren't. But I now have a little sports car (Audi TT, first gen) and a cross-draw won't be stressing the leather seats and will be reachable. On the strong hip it won't be as concealable as the King Tuk IWB holster, but it should work under a heavy coat just as well. I'l let you know when I've got it and have it all figured out.

Speaking of holsters, I received a left hand King Tuk for a J-Frame. Thought it would be nice to have something in case I broke my right arm (such rationalizing gets a guy in trouble financially some times), but haven't worn it yet. The 1911 King Tuk I use daily and for competition is wearing out. The sight channel that protects the sight doesn't go full length, so near the top the various sights I've dragged out of it have cut a slot in the kydex. It's not a structural problem yet, but might become one. I'll also let you know how that plays out. It's still the best concealment holster I've ever had, and if it does wear out I'll replace it with another.

OK, gotta go load some ammo.

Received and installed the Greider Precision short trigger. It took some fitting, as related in their advertising - removing about 0.004" from the bottom of the trigger itself in order to center the yoke in the frame's grooves - and looked exactly like the factory DW trigger except for length. Shape, finish, even the thread locker used on the play adjustment screw were identical. I set up that over-travel adjustment screw to give me a bit less trigger movement after the hammer drops. My 40-oz trigger scale went past redline trying to measure trigger pull, but it's really only for match rifles. DW claims something like 3.5 lb or 56 oz. The CMI magazines also arrived and except that the followers are teflon-coated rather than polished CRES, they seem identical. Bought those from .44mag.com for about $17 each - a bargain.

First nine rounds from the V-Bob, shot off-hand at about 15 yards. Certainly adequate - certainly the pistol is more accurate than I can shoot off-hand. I think that's about 4.5 inches, more or less.

One hundred rounds fired with no failures of the pistol. I failed once to fully seat the magazine, which will, I suspect, lead me to eventually buy some thinnish magazine base pads like the Pachmayrs. The base plates of the magazines are already tapped for, I think, 4-40 screws. They'll protect the magazines from all the dropping to the ground they do during matches and assure that when I slap a new mag in it will properly seat.

Both supplied magazines worked fine. As I've said, I do have a problem with flush 8-rounders in a full sized gun. They require very short toe and heel on the follower, and that, in my sparse experience, means the followers are subject to cocking and jamming. Being one of those anal-retentive folks that cleans the magazines every time they're used, it may never become a problem. On the whole I vastly prefer the Wilson Combat 8-rounders that protrude slightly from the butt, allowing proper followers and sticking out a bit to slap securely into the well.

I've sanded the very tops off the left hand grip diamonds to see if that makes it easier to carry. The grip looks the same except under very close scrutiny. I may or may not do the right side once the left side, the one that contacts my love handles (actually the bottom rib), no longer hurts me. With the checkered front strap and spring housing, the grips don't really need to be all that aggressive. BTW, grips are secured with screws using the T-10 torx bit, with some sort of thread locker. The bushings don't appear to be staked, but they didn't loosen when pulling the grip screws either.

The pistol is mostly disassembled now, soaking in Hoppe's. Looks like the underside of the slide and top of the frame were bead blasted to the same surface finish as the rest of the gun. Nice. Dan Wesson claims no MIM parts, and I didn't find any. I did find the small parts are all very cleanly made, even when they don't have to be. The extractor in particular has been profiled. This was done during assembly as the blue, which would be present if the profile were made during manufacture of the part, is polished off the tip. Hand work. Also nice. Firing pin appears to be titanium, but I haven't put a magnet to it. (Edit: It's magnetic, meaning either carbon or a high iron stainless.)

The bobbed butt heel did not make me point low, as some others have reported. I guess I must index on the top of the grip - that would make some sense as both the 1911A1 and 1911 grip styles work equally well for me. However, the longer butt of this pistol does stick out farther than the Officer-sized grip of the SIG 1911 RCS, my usual carry piece. It felt a bit awkward, though no more so than the big Colt 1911A1. It's also heavier than the RCS, so it takes a bit more to yank it out and get it on target. Once there, it seems to get back into place for follow-up shots quicker. Need more practice if I want to use this in the IDPA match on 10/22.

The sights. That huge bright white circle on the front sight is distracting. As I've said before, I prefer big black square sights. With the sun behind me this morning, all I could see easily was that big bright white circle around the tiny Trijicon lamp. I'd guess it would be very effective in low light, but I need to align the tops of the sights when doing more critical shooting. Speaking of which, out around 25 yards, those 5" steel clangers flipped and spun at about the same rate as they did the other day with the Colt. Manufacturers these days have figured out how to build guns with fixed sights that actually point to where the gun shoots!

OK, back to cleaning and processing the brass.

It pretty much meets my optimistic expectations. Everything's perfect. All I can give is initial impressions, as I won't shoot it until tomorrow morning (early).

This is the Dan Wesson V-Bob, a bobbed Commander-sized version of their premium Valor series. It's made primarily of stainless steel, excepting the extractor and ejector and sights, which are black carbon steel. The trigger appears to be aluminum. I haven't detail stripped it, but the underside of the slide and top of the receiver show good finish for areas not normally seen. Checkering (25-lpi) of the steel front strap and hammer spring housing are sharp (very sharp) and well executed. The checkering of the VZ G10 micarta slim grips is painfully sharp. The "Straight Eight" Heine Trijicon night sights are unusual in that they have one dot each which are to be aligned into a figure 8, and it looks like they'll work fine that way, the tops of the sights being exactly level when the two dots almost touch.

The slide stop is a shelf type, extended a bit forward along the lever, but not back toward the safety. It does look like it masses more than a standard stop, so it might need some massaging to keep it from bumping up during recoil. We'll see. The thumb safety is a massive thing that does stick forward and significantly out. My preference here is the old Colt small safety - never missed it yet - but unless there's some sort of problem it'll stay as it is.

The feel of the bobbed heel of the butt is excellent, with the part that rests in the heel of the hand left smooth to avoid instant skin abrasion. The slide is extremely tightly fitted to the frame rails in the rear with just a touch of movement at the muzzle - I'm always suspicious of very tight 1911s, but the SIG-Sauer, which felt the same way, runs just fine. And the bead-blasted finish is perfect, keeping exactly the same texture across the length of the slide and frame and onto the smaller bits.

The two provided magazines are stainless, eight round, flush-bottomed Checkmate Industries parts, also marked with the DW logo. It's a pretty handgun.

I've already ordered three more similar Checkmate Industries magazines and a Greider Precision short aluminum trigger for this pistol. All my other 1911s sport the short trigger and I prefer them. While I'm also suspicious of flush-based 8-round magazines (reliability reasons) and use +1 Wilson Combat mags with a short extension on the bottom, I'm giving DW the benefit of the doubt by ordering more of the CMIs. I need at least four to shoot IDPA and they're supposed to be the same. Four Wilson Combat mags would be far more expensive than ordering three of the CMI mags, so we'll see how it goes. Fall back position here is to use the 7-round, blued Metalform mags that I currently use with the Colt until I can order some Wilson Combats.

Dan Wesson 1911s are production handguns, not customs. All of the reviews I've read on-line rate it as the best quality of all production 1911s, and some dare to compare it with the Ed Brown/Wilson Combat/Nighthawk/Les Baer custom guns. I can't make any judgements like that because I've never fired any and only briefly handled a couple of those. If it turns out to be reliable and accurate (and it will be eventually, if not right away), then as far as I'm concerned it'll be the prettiest bang for the buck available, if not necessarily the most.

P.S. The checkering on those micarta grips is way too aggressive. I've been wearing the gun around in the King Tuk holster for only a few hours and the left grip has rubbed me raw. I'll try a bit of sandpaper on 'em before replacement though - they are durable and businesslike.

Non-standard ammo. Anyone who's been shooting awhile ends up with a box here, a dozen rounds there, of ammo that doesn't get shot because he doesn't remember the provenance, or the velocity is so low it might affect group size or whatever. I've been shooting out my non-standard .45ACP lately to free up the brass for my standard practice ball load. Today it was a box plus of MagTech, a mild ball load that hardly functions the actions of the pistols with slightly stronger recoil springs, and a couple magazines worth of Federal ball that I unloaded from the Star mags before I traded it all off yesterday.

Today it was just knocking over these steel disks. (Dave, they're about 3/8th thick, not 1/2.) Started around fifteen yards and eventually they were a bit beyond twenty-five yards. It generally took around six rounds to knock the four targets over, but ranged from a frustrating ten down to a self-congratulatory four. Today I shot the big Colt Series 70, partly to reaffirm how I felt about all steel guns. Why? Because...

...I found myself lusting after a Dan Wesson V-Bob. The V-Bob is a Commander size stainless 1911A1 assembled and fitted by Dan Wesson (the company, not the person) with best-quality forged and machined parts. It has a full length grip that's been "bobbed," thus the name, and a 4.25" barrel - shorter than the 5" used on the standard-sized pistol. The "V" part of V-Bob is for Valor, the highest quality full-size model they make. Dan Wesson discontinued their C-Bob a few years back and I missed a chance to get a used one at Cabelas - kicked myself for that ever since, but it appears that the Series 70 V-Bob is an improvement in a few ways I'll get into once I've got it in hand. It can also be had with a gorgeous ceramic coating for only $400 more, but that put the black one out of range for now.

Anyway, using that credit for the trade-ins from yesterday, I ordered a stainless V-Bob today and likely will have it by Saturday.

As sort of post scriptum (auto correct wants to say "scrotum") or maybe a rationalization, the SIG-Sauer 1911 RCS I've been using for competition and carrying has somewhere between 3500 and 4000 rounds through it. The aluminum frame isn't showing any signs of cracking or other damage yet, but aluminum isn't made for continuous hammering. Aluminum is for light weight and easy carry. The full grip length of the DWesson, as opposed to the Officers length of the SIG, means one more round in the mag for competition, and the Commander length of the barrel (like the SIG) means it will clear the holster just as fast. More weight in the frame should make follow-up shots faster.

If it shoots right when I get it, next IDPA match will prove my hypothesis. Or it could be just another 1911 that I'll have to fuck with forever to make work right. We'll see.

Coming back down from The Hills this morning, I was thinking about the guns I don't shoot. Like most people, I've got a bunch that collect dust that I never choose to shoot. This Springfield Armory SOCOM 16 is one of those. I was excited to get it, but even after mounting a pistol scope on the rail, couldn't make it shoot like a real rifle, so it's not fun enough.

In addition, the Springfield Armory Champion 1911 Commander-size .45 is one I don't shoot. This isn't a trend, SA makes fine working firearms - I've never had a failure of any sort on either of these guns, but for various reasons don't pick them up on the way out the door to shoot. The Champion is the only 1911 I've ever had that would feed and function with anything at all. But it's ugly and has that full length spring guide - those offend me.

I also thought about the Star Firestar .45 that's been sitting around forever. Bought it cheap to shoot up some .45ACP I'd had around, shot the stuff up, but had a few annoying malfunctions I never got around to fixing. Didn't always stay open after the last round, and the safety never felt positively engaged. Anyway ...

...today I took those three to the gun shop and traded them against credit on future purchases. I got about 75% of what I had in 'em, which isn't hardly bad. It would have been less in cash, and this way I've got funny money that can only be spent on gun stuff, which will ease my conscience next time I find something I just have to have.

I kept a Springfield Armory standard M1A and all the Checkmate magazines I'd gotten for both rifles, and have three other 1911 .45s, so none of the trades limit my shooting. What I think I'll end up fancying could be a Dan Wesson V-Bob, should one show up at the shop. Or a used Wilson Combat .45. Or ...

Gives my fantasies some body, having a credit at the gun shop.

Learned a lot this morning. First impression, the Marlin 1894C kicked more than I expected. I put five handloads through the chronograph from a rest (leaning over the truck's toolbox) and my shoulder hurt a bit and will probably be bruised. How could this be, with a bitty revolver cartridge in a hefty (6 lb.) carbine?

Well, the carbine was kicking bullets out at 1715 fps average. Actually, the range was 1703 to 1737. The load is a Speer 158 grain swaged SWCHP over 16.2 grains of H110. In the 3" S&W Model 60-15 that velocity is 1174 fps. Muzzle energy of the load from the carbine is 1037 ft-lbs, compared to only 487 ft-lbs from the revolver, over twice as much energy (and almost half again as much momentum). Just for comparison, from the 18.5" carbine barrel, the .357 Magnum produces about 80% of the energy that the 5.56mm NATO round (standard Western military round) produces from a 24" test barrel, and produces well over twice the recoil at the butt plate.

Other stuff I learned:

The factory buckhorn sights suck. Gonna order a decent peep rear and substantial front as soon as I hit "post." The 10-shot group above was from a quick rest at 50 yards. You can see the stringing horizontally? That wasn't all my fault - the front sight was walking left the whole time. For now I'll stake it in place, but ultimately will get a complete new solid ramp/sight arrangement to go with the peep rear sight. Lyman or Williams, I suppose. I'm not big on "ghost ring" sights. They are quick for close shooting and do pretty well in low light, but I need more than a ghost for a rear sight - I need a tiny aperture to sharpen up the front sight.

The bullet shape I have thousands of is basically a semi-wadcutter, with a hollow point. The shoulder on that shape makes feeding a bit of a problem. They always fed, but sometimes with a tiny hitch so I'd have to stutter the lever a little. I'm not going to do anything about this. If it's still the same after a thousand rounds, maybe I'll get the Dremel out and see what I can do.

The place for the fingers in the lever is pretty small. I may consider replacing the lever after I've had a chance to shoot it with gloves later.

Trigger pull is crisp, unlike what's been reported in other folks' reviews. But it's way stiff. Again, I don't plan to do anything about that until the carbine's had a chance to smooth itself out. In my meager experience with lever actions, they smooth out nicely over time. The trigger itself flops around whether the hammer is cocked or not. There is an $90 fix for that, but it's not an $90 problem right now.

So, the summary. Nice little carbine that's fun to shoot, has plenty of power for game to whitetail size (though magazine capacity is illegal for big game in this state), has the potential to be accurate, and is incredibly light and handy. If hanging one in the back window of the pickup weren't an invitation to thieves, it would sure look nice back there.

Right now I expect to be shooting this one enough to make me happy I spent the money to buy it.

P.S. The front sight is blackened brass. That means that the bead part is shiny because it's had the blacking polished away. It also means it's soft and likely to loosen up again. I staked the base so it should stay and put the hood, which I'd first taken off, back on to at least keep the sight from falling off if it loosens up again. Ordered an adjustable Wiliams rear sight, but no front for now.

P.P.S. Williams sight in place. Extremely hard to make fine adjustments, but I finally got it dialed in for 75 yards. The 0.093" aperture was too big, so I bought a 0.050" one at Jack First. Haven't shot it since then - getting back to running has been taking up my mornings.