Geeking on 1911s

I've been learning a lotta good stuff about 1911s.  What with making them and all.  Tiny minutiae of how they function and what is good about this tiny detail over that tiny detail.

I wish the 2016 T-Bolt could hang with the 2010 Tam when she was at the peek of her 1911 game and just do the back and forth.  Of course, she hasn't core dumped her 1911 knowledge.  It might have faded in her transition to "the pistol is a tool" phase she is in now. I am picking 2010 as peek-geek for her.  Totally arbitrary and may be wholly wrong. 

And there is nothing at all wrong with that growth to "just a tool" and I half expect to be entering that phase my own self soon enough. 

The gunsmith is a shooting instructor, too.  And of course he loves the 1911.  He specializes in it, no doubt.  It's his bread and butter.  If he gets enough clientele for that gun he'd reject all the work for shotgun or revolvers or Glock stippling jobs and just do 1911s. 

But he can and does readily pickup a Glock or Sig or S&W M&P and run it.  A pistol is a tool.  And he is good, at shooting and teaching shooting. 

He freely admits he isn't AMU Shooting Team talented.  He built their guns, but can't shoot that well.  They have unholy talents, it seems.  But to understand their needs he had to up his shooting game to a higher level just so he could speak the same language as them.  Which is why his shooting skill tracks with his gunsmithing skill.

That's the path he trod.

I tread a different path, trying to get better.

Tam treads an even different path and she is way ahead of me on the shooting skill part.  But I may have lapped her on the gun-building part.  And that freaks me out.  I never thought I'd come close to getting ahead of Tam in something 1911...

(she is also way ahead of me on many areas of Historical knowledge.  and, again, I am jealous...)

Tam is a hero of mine.  But I have lots of blog heroes.  Roberta for electronic comms.  Marko and JBMiller for publication stuff.  NFO for that, too, but NFO is my hero more for his P3 work, and for the easy button on the long gong..  Earthbound Misfit for watchstanding the Mid Watch all those times.  Breda Fallacy for butt kicking in a blog all those years ago, and continuing to butt kick today without a blog.  Joe Hoffman for BOOM!  Erin Palette for the Traveller skills....   Lagniappe for a string of full auto funsies.   There are many others.