Dragon Leatherworks

I have to give a plug to Dennis over at Dragon Leatherworks. I mentioned him and his Fugly holster back in March after he sent me a review copy. I never put up a followup post here. Short form: the holster is VERY comfortable, but is not suitable for the PM9.

Dennis and I spent fifteen or twenty minutes chatting about the quibbles I had with the holster at the NRA Convention in Pittsburgh, and I think we both reach the same conclusion - the Fugly and the Kahr just weren't meant to be. The biggest problem was one of size - the Fugly does most of its retention on the forward end of the gun, and there just ain't that much of a "forward" on a subcompact-9. This is not to say that the gun isn't retained - it is - but in order to keep the grip above the belt line for a draw, the trigger guard is exposed more than I'm comfortable with. I found that without much effort (but it did take conscious effort), I could get a finger into the trigger guard while the gun was holstered and manipulate the trigger.

In terms of comfort, however, the Fugly is absolutely unmatched in my experience. The wide backing and large body shield made carry a pleasure, with none of the odd kidney jabs I've come to expect from the current holster I'm using. I will probably be ordering a Fugly for one of my mid-size autos like the 4053 (Dennis, can you mold for that?).

Also on the topic of Dragon Leatherworks - the Talon holster. This is what a holster is meant to be. Dennis provided me (and a few others) with a Talon for the Gunnie Prom, and it is gorgeous. Burgundy sunburst with a python accent/inlay, and it just looked amazing with the park'd 1911 and Ahrends cocobolo grips.



On prom night, from left to right:
JayG, with a Dragon Flatjack holding a S&W 360.
ZerCool, with a Dragon Talon holding a Springfield 1911A1.
LinkP, with a Dragon Talon holding a 1911A1 (not sure on make - RIA or Springfield?).
WeerdBeard with a Dragon Flatjack holding a S&W 1911Sc.
Dragon himself, with a crossdraw Talon and Magnum Research 1911G.

For comparison sake, go find another holster maker that does a custom leather holster - with exotic inlay - and price it out.

Done that? Probably pushing on towards $200, isn't it?

Dennis will have a Talon with python inlay in your hands for $140 (+s/h).

Can't beat that. Or the warranty:

Dragon Leatherworks warrants its products:

• Fugly: Five Year Limited to Original Purchaser;
• Pistol Pouch: Ten Year Limited to Original Purchaser;
• All other products: Limited Lifetime to Original Purchaser;

to be free from manufacturing defects or material workmanship. Should the riveting, stitching, or hardware of a Dragon Leatherworks holster fail during normal use to the original owner as limited above, the holster can be returned to Dragon Leatherworks to be repaired free of charge. Shipping charges for warranty repairs are the responsibility of Dragon Leatherworks. This warranty does not cover naturally occurring marks, brands, or scars which may be present on its surface; said marks, brands, and scars being part of a natural product such as genuine leather, the type of which is the main component of Dragon Leatherworks holsters.

Lifetime warranty. Custom holster worthy of court or BBQ. Handmade one at a time to your specs.

What's not to like? Why haven't you ordered yet?


Disclaimer: Dennis/Dragon Leatherworks provided both the original Fugly and the above-pictured Talon in exchange for a review. Dennis specifically told me, "If it sucks, say so."

They don't suck. Thanks again, Dennis!

Jay Porn

Somehow I missed downloading this picture from the convention, and for shame - because I happen to think it is a pretty good shot of Jay. He even cleaned up pretty well.

Other lasers

I forgot to mention this from my NRA Convention posts. I was looking closely at lasers, and have a few quick notes:

Crimson Trace: They are the gold standard for integrated laser sights. I've played with them numerous times and I like the setup. They've started offering different patterns and designs molded into their grip, and I believe they even have a wooden grip panel available for 1911s. If you're using a proper grip on your gun, activating the laser is automatic. Unfortunately, I don't love how their grips *feel*. Price-wise, they run the gamut from affordable ($180 for a J-frame) to rather pricey ($300+ for 1911 slabs).

Viridian: Their main offering is rail-mounted lasers and laser/light combos. The units are small and light and intuitive to turn on. I was very impressed by the X5L and will be saving my pennies for one to put on the M&P. They're not cheap - around $325 - but for a green laser/LED light combo, I think it's competitive.

LaserMax: This company is known for their guide-rod lasers for semi-autos, and most of them seemed pretty slick. The guide rod is replaced with a laser unit, and the takedown or slide-release lever is replaced with a new unit with a built-in switch. It's a good location for the activation button, and if your pistol is one of the models they support, it's a great way to keep your rail free for other accessories...

BUT. And this is a big one... I would not, can not, recommend their 1911 product. The activation switch is, instead of a push button, a rotating switch. It requires pushing a small rubber nubbin 90 degrees around the axis of the slide release, and that little nubbin is TINY. I was unable to activate it with one hand without looking at the gun, and two hands meant my support hand was nowhere near a good firing grip. Poor design, and a potentially dangerous distraction.


So that's it - my quick take on lasers from five minutes of playtime at the show. I can't tell you which is the best option for you, but IMHO, a weapon-mounted laser needs to be mounted and activated in such a way that it can be turned on one-handed, from a firing grip, without looking at the gun. Keep your head UP at all times. CTC and Viridian manage this, as does the StreamLight TLR2 (not played with).

Side note

Weerd - the hotel had the local PD's CSI unit on-scene when we left Monday morning. Seems they're looking for DNA of whomever poop-nuked the koi.

Open Carry

Open carry is legal in Pennsylvania. I (and several others) chose to take advantage of that.

I spent the whole weekend with a steel government 1911 strapped to my hip, and it was great. Due to the crowds, I spent most of the weekend with my Galco FLETCH retention holster (thumb break), but Saturday night we dressed up and I work my Dragon Leatherworks Talon. This was a gift/review copy from Dennis, and I couldn't be more pleased. Pictures pending, but it held my 1911 perfectly and looked GREAT doing it.

I got a few glances here and there from folks, a few nods from officers, several questions of whether or not I was law enforcement, and one interview by Liston Matthews of the Knoxville Examiner. We discussed open carry in general, normalizing it, and not scaring the white people.

I don't have a dog in the fight on open carry (that's a long way down the road in NY), but I believe we need to stop being our own worst enemies. Leonard Embody scared the white people by openly carrying his AK pistol in a park. It was entirely legal for him to do so, and anyone who claims otherwise is lying. I may not agree with his actions, but I don't have to - it's his right.

I enjoyed openly carrying. I enjoyed having a beer with friends while openly carrying. I never got intoxicated - that's a personal rule; two drink max while carrying. It was nice to carry a full-size defensize pistol without having to worry if my cover garment was going to slip or get wedged the wrong way.

And the best part? No one cared.

Day 3, in one shot

Sunday dawned gray, and MrsZ and I slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and finally rolled in to the show around noon. We spent some time wandering the main floor (what I termed the "beef jerky floor", because it felt much less like an expo and more like a traditional fun show), checking things out, and met up with Elmo Iscariot and one of his better halves briefly.

The whole show was MUCH less crowded than it had been the preceding two days, and I was able to spend some time really talking to vendors.

A stop by the Apex Tactical booth brought up some VERY interesting products, particularly for the competitive shooters.
First: a hammer/sear drop-in kit for 1911s, which runs about a hundred bucks and will bring trigger pull down to about two pounds. Their sample gun was VERY clean-breaking and light. Weerd and I played with it a bit, and discussed it with the reps. Short form: redesigned hammer/sear geometry crisps things up. It also will need some tuning of the mainspring and probably a new recoil spring, but for a race gun with light loads, it could be a great setup. Their rep did specifically say that a heavy spring set could cause enough recoil to slip the sear, which is a VERY BAD THING. So, neat, but use with caution. Clearly NOT a carry option.



The second piece they were showing was a tuned up S&W 627PC eight-shot .357. It had a new bobbed DAO hammer, new springs, and the action had been tuned to about three pounds. Yes, a DAO three-pound pull. Unbelievable. The rep cautioned that it requires handloading with Federal primers in order to insure consistent ignition. Still, a beautiful piece. Labor is $275 and the hammer and any other parts would be additional.



And the last thing on their table, arguably the most interesting to many shooters, was a new spring/firing pin set for S&W J-frames. Factory action on a J-frame is about 12-13 pounds; their springs bring it down to about nine, and smooth as silk. I asked about reliability and light strikes given the lightened springs, and they admitted to some light strikes during initial testing, but have since started shipping the kit with an extended firing pin that (supposedly) resolved the issue. For $25, this is worth considering. I picked up a set and will do some testing of my own over the next few weeks!




A swing by GunUp revealed Caleb showing the after-effects of the night before:


He may have been slightly under-the-influence still, as he tossed a set of Revision Hellfly eyepro to us with his compliments. I can't wear them (damn you eyeglasses!) but MrsZ can, and I'll be putting them in the range bag as extras for new shooters as well.


From there I scooted over to Charter Arms' booth and took a look at the "Pit Bull" revolver. This has been in the works and on the horizon for quite some time, and looks to be pretty interesting. Revolvers for rimless cartridges are nothing new (to wit, the S&W 940 and 625) but they've always needed moon clips to properly headspace and eject the cartridges. Charter has developed a beautiful spring-clip setup that holds the cartridges in place and ejects smoothly. I will be curious to see what happens with a torture test, however. We all know what happens with a wheelgun when a bit of unburned powder hides under the star - will the same thing happen with the clips on these? For $450 MSRP, it's a fascinating carry option and something I may look into testing out. (Also note the tight gap between the cylinder and recoil shield; it looks good!) (The fellow in the background of the pictures is Nick Ecker - the president of Charter Arms. On the show floor talking to customers. Kudos to him!)










I wandered back by Silver Stag's booth again and looked over their products once more. I fondled a few, and took a few pictures. The same fellow who had given me such attitude on Friday was now more interested in talking to me, and offered me anything on the table for half-price if I'd write a review on their knives. (Perhaps that "media" thing works after all.) I told him I'd think about it, and walked away. Short form: their knives are pretty, may be very functional, and are a very fair price for the materials involved, but the attitude of the managing partner soured me on EVER purchasing one of their products. Here's a big old Z-raspberry to Silver Stag Knives! :-P






From there I moved over another aisle to Black Rain Ordnance and looked at some VERY pretty AR-style rifles. No prices listed, but their site shows prices starting around $1500 and going up. I love the barrel profiles, the milled receivers are gorgeous ... but the flash hiders have a definite "WTF" quality to them.






I headed up to the media room and said goodbye to the folks that were heading out, and got a few pictures of everyone still there:

(Me, BredaMom, Breda, JayG)


(Mike W, Me, JayG, Newbius, Alan, Breda, WeerdBeard, David)

At that point the NRA shut down the media room and threw us back on the floor, so several of us meandered until show closing time, and ran across a few last things of note:

At the S&W booth, the E-series 1911s:


They're awful nice. For a carry option, that'd be tough to beat. Still, for $1300, they ought to be nice.

Also of note at the S&W booth, the display M&Ps had triggers like gravel. Honestly, the worst trigger I've ever felt on a production gun. I hope that's not indicative of the series. They had a PC Model 60 on the stand as well that had a 18+ pound trigger pull. I grabbed Weerd and said, "Hey, feel this." He did and his reaction was the same as mine: WTF? I grabbed a S&W guy who first tried it single-action and said it was fine, then I told him to try it double-action, and his reaction was, verbatim, "Wha... wow, that's fucked up." It was the last hour of the day, so they didn't pull the display model, but glad to know I'm not completely crazy.


At the CZ booth there was a rack of BRNO double rifles, with gorgeous wood and engraving:


And chambered in shoulder-breaking calibers (That's .458WinMag/.458WinMag.):



After the show floor closed at 5, the NRA was kind enough to let the bloggers handle some of the National Firearms Museum pistols:


That is one of the 1907 trial pistols, serial number 1, from _____. (Someone help me on make? I didn't note it!)

Yours truly rather upset Jim Supica, the director of the museum, by working the action on that one. (Someone hands me a gun, I clear it. Habits don't die.) Apparently it doesn't like to go back in to battery, and one of their folks will have to spend a while getting the action closed. Crap. :-\

They did, however, let me handle the others in the case, including the Luger entry, a Colt 1911 (serial number 4), and a C-series Colt 1911 that went to Guadalcanal, iirc. Amazing pieces of history, and what an honor to handle them!

Sunday evening, the remaining folks had dinner at a chain steak house, then retired to Newbius' hotel room to have a few beverages and play show'n'tell.

Saturday, continued

MrsZ and I left the show early-ish on Saturday so we could head back to our hotel and get cleaned up for Gunnie Prom. After a scenic tour of the Pittsburgh suburbs (no thanks to you, TomTom) we made it to the hotel and got all prettied up. Getting back in to town was easy, parking was easy, then we (I) confused Penn Pl. with Penn Av. and we wandered about eight unnecessary blocks.

We finally found the reception at the Courtyard, just in time for the SAF speech. Unfortunately, the room was packed and hot, and I couldn't hear much of anything standing in the doorway - so I went back out to the small lounge and chattered with JayG et al. After the briefing ended, Alan Gura was answering questions one-on-one, and I did make my way up long enough to shake his hand and thank him for his efforts (Alan Gottlieb had disappeared by then), and kept my fan-boy to the minimum. I did, however, ask him to sign my molon labe hat (from JP556 during the GBC Secret Santa) - and he gladly obliged:



From the SAF reception we meandered over to Lidia's for a reception on the patio, arranged on short notice by NFO, and a hell of a good time. Good food, good bourbon, and great company. Alan Gura and Alan Gottlieb were there, and I hovered on the edge of the conversations they were involved in, but truth be told, most of what they were talking about was over my head. Legal matters are important to me, and I try to follow the key points, but the minutiae of cases just don't interest me.

However, the rest of the conversations were easy and free-flowing, and MrsZ and falnfenix were seen to share a breadstick...



OldNFO had on his best BBQ holster:


Alan is rocking the tactical murse (what excellent taste he has!):


And JayG loves him some tall women (NancyR):


As the reception wound down, several of us walked back to the parking garage we were in together - a nice walk with great people, and comforting having a few extra eyes (and guns) in what was trending towards a less-polite neighborhood.

More in a new post soon...

Blogroll updatin'

I just moved a BUNCH of people from the "blogs I read" to "bloggers I've met" list, and I'm sure I didn't get everyone.

Moved:
DaddyBear (Daddy Bear's Den)
Nancy R (Excels at Nothing)
Cybrus (Lost & Found)
T-Bolt (New Jovian Thunderbolt)
OldNFO (Nobody Asked Me...)
SayUncle (SaysUncle)
Alan (SnarkyBytes)
Breda (The Breda Fallacy)
Mike (Mike-istan)
MBtGE (The Miller)
Newbius (The Newbius Papers)
LinkP (Peace, Love, and Ammunition)


Do Heath & Amanda have a blog?

I'm sure I've missed a few, I assure you, it's not intentional, and please let me know!

You don't have to go home...

... but get the hell off our convention floor!

Day 3 wrapped up the show, and I'm exhausted. However, I'm going to hang out with the few bloggers remaining in the area, and an update post will have to wait until tomorrow or Tuesday.

Suffice it to say that I'm still not sure I saw everything, and I have some interesting things to look in to!

Day 2, mid-way wrap

MrsZ and I decided this morning, after breakfast, to try traffic and go to the show.

I'm glad we did. The drive in was MUCH easier, and while parking wasn't great, it wasn't half as bad as yesterday. (Cheaper, too, with weekend rates.)

Show wandering commenced - many more people, longer lines here and there, and I stuck to the "Upper Level" exhibit hall today. Tomorrow we'll try the main floor.

I waited in line about 15 minutes for a signature from R. Lee Ermey, then wandered off as the line had only moved about ten feet. He was taking time for a few words with everyone who came to him, posing for pictures, and so forth. I respect and appreciate that, but it wasn't worth the wait for me. (Weerd apparently caught him in the men's room; you'll have to ask HIM for that story.)

I moseyed on to the Beretta booth, where they had a simunition/laser range setup with their PX4 Storm pistols. Very nice little piece of equipment, even though I'm not in love with the DA/SA trigger arrangement. They're looking like they're in the mid-$500 range on Gallery of Guns, which is entirely reasonable.

I wandered by Taurus/Rossi's and played with the Ranch Hand - nice little piece of kit, and in .357 that could be a heck of a truck gun. I want one as a matter of course, anyways.




Over by Ruger again and this time I managed to keep my pictures of the SR1911. We'll have to see how it shakes out from real range reports, but I expect it will give the Springer RO a strong run - stainless and US-made is worth a small price premium to a lot of folks. I'm also a fan of the relatively minimal stamping/engraving on the slide. The new Scout Rifle has a wonderful feel to it, and with the right scope (they had a Leupold 1.5-4x on theirs) it's a great all-purpose gun.







Somehow, though, this has turned into a knife show for me. Yesterday I bought the Izula and Stone River knives, and today I picked up a few selections from Ka-Bar.



In the back are the Stone River ceramic kitchen knives, the Big Honkin' Knife is a Ka-Bar Potbelly, the small one to the left of that is a made-in-China "Ka-Bar" knife that came with the Potbelly, the flat black folder is a Ka-Bar Fin, and in front is the ESEE Izula with the ESEE Fire Kit.

And now that MrsZ is about done doing herself up, we're off to gunnie prom!

Day 1, wrap up

Good grief, what a day. I ended up bailing on the Happy Hour at Tilted Kilt sponsored by Crimson Trace far earlier than I might have - I was exhausted, the restaurant was loud, and I'd had my fill of people. Sometimes being a bit introverted can be unpleasant, but I've generally learned to heed the little voice on my shoulder that says, "Hey, enough. Time to bail."

So, the day, in rough order of events:
MrsZ and I caught up with Newbius and his wife for breakfast in the hotel. MrsZ stayed at the hotel for the day, I carpooled in to the show with Newbius and his wife. 13 miles - 1:40 from hotel door to parked. Pittsburgh has NO idea how to handle this kind of event. Traffic was a mess, parking was a disaster, and I heard lots of mutters around the show about commute times etc. It was bad enough that I'm debating whether or not I really want to go back to the show tomorrow. (I will go again Sunday, but we may just be lazy tourists tomorrow.)

We walked the four blocks from our parking lot to the convention center, found the media room, got our credentials, and headed for the show floor. I wandered on my own for the better part of the day, with occasional stops back in the media room to see who had accumulated, or just to sit down and have a cup of coffee for a moment.

In no particular order, the things that caught my attention, for good or bad:
The Smith & Wesson M&P 22. If you carry an M&P as a duty or personal weapon, this should be a no-brainer. Size and weight are similar to a standard center-fire M&P, manual of arms is identical. With an MSRP of $419, expect to see these on the street for $350-375ish. Reliability, of course, remains to be seen, but given S&W's reputation for standing behind their products, I have high hopes for this one.




The Remington Centennial 1911R1. I like Remington products, generally speaking. I swear by their 870 series of shotguns, and clay- and wing-shooters alike will sing the praises of the 11xx series autoloaders. This just seems ... misguided. It's a government-size 1911A1, with three-dot sights, a lowered/flared ejection port, stainless barrel, flat MSH, GI beavertail, etc. The grips are coarse-checkered wood of some kind, and the checkering is aggressive enough that simply holding the gun was unpleasant. Shooting it with anything resembling a full-house load would be painful. There's a touch of engraved scrollwork on the slide that strikes me as an afterthought more than anything else. With an MSRP of $1250, I expected more from Big Green.




On the flip side of that coin, however, Remington may have cracked one out of the park with the new VersaMax autoloader. A series of gas ports self-adjusts the amount of gas vented or cycled to the action, meaning it (at least in theory) can go from light 2-3/4" trap loads to high-brass field loads or 3-1/2" waterfowl loads with no adjustments to the gas system. Major-plus features in my book are the large button to disengage the safety (a treat for waterfowlers wearing gloves in the blind - no need to fumble that tiny button!), a vent-rib with checkered top to reduce glare, and twin beads to help alignment. Shouldering feels much like the 870; I had to make one tiny adjustment the first time I brought the gun up and then it was like it was made for me.






Kimber has just released their new "Solo Carry" compact 9mm. Initial impression: if you're used to the 1911 manual of arms, or don't like the idea of a gun with no manual safety, this may be an ideal alternative to the Kahr PM9/Ruger LC9, etc. Fit and finish is, as expected, excellent, and the gun points well. If anything, I think the grip is a bit too narrow, but that's easy enough to beef up with some new panels. Some stippling or checkering on the fore- and back-straps would go a long way towards grip as well.




Chiappa Firearms has a few real beauties out this year. The Rhino remains an ugly duckling, but I won't denigrate it for ugly. They have a lever-action pistol out, a la the Rossi "Ranch Hand" series; their show model was chambered in .44-40. Perhaps of more interest to many, however, are the new "Plinkerton" series of single-action revolvers. All chambered in .22LR, they are available in several finishes and barrel lengths, and, depending on price, could be wonderful "fun" guns - potentially giving the Single Six a good run for its money.






Tactical Solutions had a nice setup, with their products mounted on several Browning Buckmark lowers and Ruger MkIII lowers. Thanks to Ruger serializing the barrel on the MkIII series, a TS upper means going through an FFL; the Browning barrels were available at the show. I asked one of their booth guys for advice on how best to disassemble and reassemble a MkIII; he provided me with a few tips that I'll explore when I get home.






Springfield Armory had an extensive display of XD, XDm, M1A, and 1911 pistols. I poked at their recently-released "Range Officer" model and was not wildly impressed. For the price - they're running $7-800 on GunBroker right now - you should be able to get into a Ruger SR1911, which I think will be a far better value.




Ithaca Gun had a display of their shotguns and 1911s. The shotguns look halfway decent but are, of course, not as buttery-smooth as a gun that's been used for fifty years. The 1911 I tried had a trigger pull in excess of 10 pounds (by my rough guestimation), which is FAR too heavy for ANY single-action sear. Also, I'm biased, and seeing "Ithaca Gun Co, Upper Sandusky OH" just rubs me wrong.

Other things of interest... Silver Stag knives are pretty, but their managing partner is rude. I'm not a knife guy, I'm a gun guy, and I don't know all the gun makers out there. No way I'm going to know all the knife folks out there! Don't be insulted if someone doesn't know your name, treat them as a potential new customer!

I *did* buy a set of ceramic kitchen knives from the folks at Stone River; show pricing ($75) and some fondling convinced me to take a chance on them.

I also picked up an ESEE Izula (in pink!) and Fire Kit from the folks at EMGear. Yes, pink. The other options were black, tan, and olive green. If I dropped one of those in the yard, I'd find it when the lawnmower did. At least I have a small chance of finding a pink knife!

My own mistake ate several of the pictures I took today - so there are some things missing I wanted to show y'all. I'll try to re-take the important stuff before I come home!

Gunnie prom tomorrow, looking forward to seeing y'all some more!

It's like a giant who's-who! Appearing in no particular order: Jay, Weerd, Dragon, Bubblehead Les, Breda, Uncle, and more!

Also appearing:
Heath and Amanda, Falnfenix, Caleb, MBtGE, Newbius, Cybrus (and Mrs. Cybrus), Alan, T-Bolt... hell, I'm sure I'm missing someone.


Nearly two dozen legally armed citizens, drinking alcohol in a public establishment, many open-carrying their pistol of choice ... and NOTHING HAPPENED.

Funny how that works.

The crux of the matter

When you get right down to it, the biggest reason I'm going to Pittsburgh next week is to meet a lot of you. And I am incredibly eager to do so. Putting faces and handshakes with handles on the screen will be wonderful.

I'm not generally a "polished" kind of guy. Jeans and a t-shirt, two-day face-fuzz, hiking boots, etc. That's how I'll look for most of the weekend. I reckon I'll clean up as best I can for prom night... but that begs one question:

WHAT GUN FOR GUNNIE PROM??

And, obviously, the corollary:

OPEN CARRY?? (Just because we can, and hey, our lawyer is that guy right there!)

If there's a better night for a court or BBQ rig, I don't know what it would be. Decisions to make...

Gun Prom

Gun Prom is coming up soon - and I'm arguably more nervous than I was about my actual prom! I'm not a "crowd" person by nature - the NRA Convention will be far and away the largest expo I've ever attended - and tend to be a bit of an introvert/wallflower at social gatherings. It's not that I don't like people, I just don't like lots of them.

Of course, Jay's blogshoots have gone swimmingly, so I have some hopes that I won't spill my drink on Alan Gura or something equally gauche.


I'm a small fish in the gun blogger world, and I'm going to meet the Rock Stars. I promise to try hard to contain my girlish giggles. Looking forward to it!