By steve tracy I Editorial director steventracy@hendonpub.com


Who doesn’t like accessories? W


ho doesn’t like accessories? Police offi cers certainly like accessories for their fi rearms. In the good old days, there wasn’t much to add to a duty revolver except a Tyler T-Grip, a set of proper wood stocks, or maybe a pair of Pachmayr Presentation rubber grips.


Today, we have Picatinny rails that can attach lights that


can be seen from the moon. We can mount lasers that will reach the moon…in green during daylight! Fiber-optic night sights will gleam in the sun and glow in the dark. T ere are stick-on grip textures and back straps with logos and custom stippling (don’t even get me started on the various textures for stippling). T at’s just for pistols.


An AR-15 is simply the foundation for adding building blocks of fi rearms accessories. T ere are forward vertical and angled grips, Picatinny rails, keymod rails, crossed rails, even custom serpentine tribal rails! Stocks are fi xed, collapsible, and lighter than a feather off a summer goose’s tail. Custom frames, uppers, and bolts are forged from T or’s hammer and coated in hardened chrome moly adamantium. Front and rear sights fold down and spring up in polygonal shapes to co- witness with electronic, magnifi ed optics that make the Six Million Dollar Man sound eff ect of looking off into the dis- tance when the proper button is pressed. I like fi rearms accessories as much (perhaps more) than the average police offi cer. My fi rst duty sidearm was a Smith & Wesson 645 and it wore a custom pair of maple handles with factory S&W medallions. I even carried it in a genuine black leather holster made by El Paso Saddlery. If it was good enough for Wyatt Earp, it was good enough for me. Today my S&W is an M&P Pro with factory night sights. I’m keeping it simple. My patrol rifl e is a Sig Sauer 516 Patrol with a tactical light, a red dot sight, and an enlarged charging handle. T ere are a lot more things I could hang on my rifl e, but I’m trying to be practical. For off -duty, I found the S&W Shield 9mm to my liking


due to its fl at contours. I can see the Tru-Glo sights in daylight or at nighttime and a Crimson Trace laser comes on with the grip activation switch pretty much automatically. I really like how the rubberized Talon Grip adheres to the frame and al- lows me to grip the pistol like a tree frog holding onto a leaf in a windstorm.


Eric Hopp made me a custom holster to accommodate the Shield with the laser and I had him mold the rig out of sting- ray hide. I guess I defi nitely like accessories more than the average police offi cer.


Hardly any of my non-polymer frame handguns wear fac- tory original stocks, since I much prefer handsome wood, ivory, or even mother-of-pearl. Of course, all accessories should be practical as well as fi ne looking. T e stingray holster is comfortable, protects the weapon, allows for a fast draw, and conceals like a sniper in a ghillie suit. Any fi rearms enthusiast who also wears a badge for a few years has a “box o parts” ready to receive more contributions of accessories purchased that just didn’t pan out the way we planned. However, eBay and similar auction sites allow us to pass on these foibles to the next guy and recover part of our wasted cash.


I have several of these boxes. One is labeled “holsters” and another is for “grips” and still another has “screws, pins, sights, etc.” scrawled on the outside. In the modern world of Inter- net access, you can jump on several websites like Brownells, Midway USA, or even Amazon and read reviews by real end users of fi rearms accessories. While everything on the Internet needs to be taken with a grain of salt (perhaps one the size of a deer lick), some quality information can actually be gleaned. Of course, our goal here at T e Police Marksman is to give you real-world reviews of products that work in the fi eld, on duty and off . Written by cops, for cops. PM


Post your comments on this story by visiting www.policemarksman.com


Steve tracy I Editorial Director


Steve Tracy has over two and a half decades experience as a police offi cer and fi rearms instructor. He is also a tactical rifl e, use of force, less-lethal, and scenario-based training police instructor. He can be reached at steventracy@hendonpub.com.


“Owning a handgun doesn’t make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician.” – Col. Jef Cooper


To post your comments on this story, please visit policemarksman.com 3 The Police Marksman Summer 2015 www.policemarksman.com


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