It may seem as if I have not been turning much out lately. That is actually not the case, it is simply that I have been very busy working and not very busy posting. Plus, training season, now winding down, does have me out of the shop a bit, and, I have been doing a lot in the way of R&D and new product development, for myself and a little bit by contract.
I recently finished this one for a guy who at this point I will just say is “high ranking”. To be honest I hesitated a little with the base gun and would not have accepted it from anyone but him, but as it was to be a less-elaborate-than-most project, I figured, OK.
Lesson learned—or re-learned. Once I got a look at it I was surprised at what I had. I knew STI offered some guns on cast frames but I didn’t realize this would be one and I sure didn’t know they were coming from offshore, but they are (Phillippines). This one was pretty rough in some areas, and some of the bits were no less surprising. Where I consider a lot of STI’s parts offerings pretty good, some of these were very crude renderings, almost as if regular STI parts had been used as masters, from which sand molds were made, then the parts cast. These include the grip safety, mag release and release lock, and a few others. Top-end wise it was what seemed to be regular-quality STI stuff except for the barrel, which was replaced with one from Chuck Warner at Elite Warrior Armament, which has proved to be a great shooter.
So—this became what will be the only STI with FRAG. Other than those with, shall we say, unauthorized copies of FRAG.
To me the most exciting thing in these pics is the grips. These aren’t the grips I’m shipping with the gun but I could not wait to drop a little hint of things to come, exclusively for LTW followers: FRAG grips made from what I think is the most interesting wood in the country, and it grows right in my back yard.
It is very hard, and super strong: the Indians made warclubs and bows from it, and custom bow makers still seek it out. Farmers planted it around here and throughout the US for windbreaks and hedgerows, as it grows into dense, thorny, snaggled rows that no cow in its right mind would try to get through. They also used the wood for fenceposts as it is so dense as to be practically rot-proof. It has also been used for things like axe handles. In burning it makes more BTU’s per pound than just about anything else and I can tell you from years of heating with wood that when I burn Maclura Pomifera, it is like opening the gates of Hell in the stove.
I’m working with a few outfits on getting a supply of these going. Some will have more figure than others, and color will vary. It darkens a bit with age. I probably won’t be offering them very broadly as, well, I probably won’t have a whole lot of them due it not being the easiest wood to work in, and supply issues—even though there’s no shortage of it in my immediate area, this stuff with its extreme density takes longer than usual to dry to a workable moisture content. But, as far as wood for a grip material, this will be among the very strongest and I have never heard of it being used before in this application!
The gun is pictured propped in a fencepost of this stuff that came out of the ground at least a decade ago, after probably 75-plus years in the ground.
Left side. Without Googling the Latin name, who can name this wood?
Left side again, a little further out.
Left side, full view. Now the truth comes out…. Compensator! This is really just a fancy thread protector but I figured why not make it do double duty.... anyway the customer is into many, OK,
every, kind of shooting including bowling pin and steel shooting.
Right hand side full view…..
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