I don’t mean to merely survive such an attack, I mean to prevail over any- one who will do us harm; to return home the same way, both physically and mentally, as when we left! The word survive means “to remain in ex- istence,” while the word prevail means to “be victorious; to win.” Survival is what you do when you are cast adrift in a lifeboat, when you have little say in what has happened to you. When it comes to fi ghting, a state in which you secure your personal safety, you should have much say in what is going to happen and prior preparation is a large part of this. Customizing personal weapons
has been around as long as man has used them. From the fi rst Roman Centurion who wrapped a rag around his spear to achieve a more solid grip, men and women have customized their weapons to perform at the high-
est level. While some have called for personal fi rearms to remain stock for liability reasons, I have resisted this and feel confi dent to explain why. Modifi cations like grip, sight, trig- ger action and reducing the weapon’s profi le for concealment, does not re- ally make the gun more lethal (a truly “safe” weapon is of no use to me), but does make the gun more user-friendly and much more likely that I will hit what I am aiming at. Please don’t go overboard with modifi cations, as is often seen with 1911s and AR-15s. Stick with what Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Cooper recommended on a per- sonal fi ghting gun; a good trigger, high-visibility sights, total reliability and, I would add, individual fi t.
Fixing Polymer Pistols I recently came across a new com-
pany that opened its doors to make
Templar The Knighting Of A Combat Pistol
Dave Spaulding
The Templar Custom Arms crest cut into the slide of a Glock pistol. This shield is quickly becoming a mark of quality.
Stippling the rear slide plate does nothing to enhance performance, but adds a nice touch and gives the customer a bit of pride in own- ership. Notice the Ameriglo rear tritium sight.
A contrasting front sight, like this tri- tium/red-circle version from Amerig- lo, is much more likely to be used in the pandemonium of armed confl ict.
WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM
The half-circle cuts placed in the bottom of the grip frame allow the shooter to strip the maga- zine in the event of a double feed. This speeds the clearance process.
worthwhile modifi cations to popu- lar polymer pistols. Templar Custom Arms is the brainchild of shooter and machinist, Bob Meszaros. After look- ing at the custom market and what was being done, he realized he could do it just as well, if not better. Bob currently owns a CNC machine shop in northeast Ohio that operates under the name “Meszaros Motor Sports.” Bob got involved in CNC machining as part of his original business that manufactured custom racing parts for both cars and motorcycles. Today, the company is busy manufacturing a number of custom machine parts un- der contract to larger companies you have likely heard of, but Bob asked me not to reveal. He is a long-time shoot- er, starting out with trap and skeet be- fore moving on to handgun competi- tions such as IPSC and USPSA. These days, Bob is more concerned with per- sonal security and has pursued train- ing in combative pistol. He has been a student in several of my classes, which is where I fi rst met him. Bob recently told me, “I looked at the modifi cations that you have on your gun and felt they could be an aid to my shooting. But, when I looked at the cost of the modi- fi cations and the 15 to 20 week waiting period, I realized there was no need to send my guns off. I have the knowl- edge, ability and machines needed to do these changes myself. So I did! Af- ter local shooters saw what I had done to my guns they asked me to do the same to theirs, so I suddenly went into the gun business — I just love it.” Bob focuses on polymer-frame
handguns, as they are the most pop- ular category for personal defense. His goal is to make a customer’s gun more “shoot-able,” fi t better and en- hance the gun’s “conceal-ability.” Thus, he focuses on action jobs, carry bevel packages (“melting” edges and rounding corners), upgrading sights and custom fi nishes. However, Bob advises he is willing to make most any reasonable modifi cation to a custom- er’s gun. “Due to my machine capa- bility,” Bob said, “I can cut the wait- ing period way down because I do few of these modifi cations by hand. For example, the carry bevel package that I perform on a Glock slide is all done by machine. I have jigs available that allow me to cut off the excess mate- rial quickly and consistently in a mat- ter of minutes. This allows me to turn around a customer’s gun much faster than a shop that does it by hand.” Why would you want a Glock melt-
ed? By removing the unneeded metal at the rear of the slide, the pistol is less likely to “print” through a conceal- ing garment including a light covering
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