ltwguns.com

Hello:

I've been wanting to show my two carry guns but haven't gotten around to it- and my macro photo skills are weak so I have held off.

These guns are both a bit more battered than a lot of what gets posted here but I thought you all might enjoy them anyway.

The hardchrome one is a carbon steel forged frame and slide ground up build Caspian with a Kart barrel. Most of the other parts are Ed Brown except for the internal stuff which is all SVI. The front sight started as a blank, was shaped to my shooting style and load then had a tritium dot added. The rear Novak is all black which is what I prefer. The front strap and rear of the slide are hand checkered and the magwell is a Heinie. This one has a conventional Ed Brown extractor with a spare fitted to the gun safely stored away. Right now it is set up with a full length guide rode as this added weight makes extended range trips a bit easier on me, but I can quickly switch it back to a more conventional setup.

The Caspian has been through a few Single Stack Classics and a lot of defensive shooting classes and is showing the wear. I don't do any high volume shooting these days (my wife and I have gotten into sporting clays) so it isn't beat on quite as much.

The blue one was built seven years later. I had intended it to be a Caspian based custom gun too, but by the time I could afford a second one Caspian didn't offer a forged frame anymore, so I took some advice and ordered a Rock River Arms slide and frame with a custom serial number to match the Caspian. This proved to be a pain as they kept delaying the frame because of this request so I finally dropped the custom serial number and took the first frame I could get. Despite the wait the workmanship on the frame and slide is first rate and really pleased the guy who built them.

It is identical in all other ways to the Caspian except it has an Aftec extractor (which I've ended up really liking, though I have a spare conventional Ed Brown fitted to it just in case) and the front strap is machine checkered because I was well into budget overrun by the time all was said and done. The slide and grip screws are polished to a mirror finish, which accounted for the above mentioned budget crisis. It also has a round top while the Caspian a flat.

I only carry them with Colt magazines as I've had great luck with them. Both run incredibly reliably and only the RRA seems to show an ammo preference.

Thanks for looking in!

Brent

Not sure what I did wrong on the photos...sorry about that!

A couple more shots. Thanks again for checking them out.


Brent

Nice 10s Brent. I have a Colt 10mm and it doesn't see the range time that it should.
...and that is the reason. It would be great to include the "wife" part as well. She is competent with a scattergun, but her heart isn't in it.

I like the checkered rear of slide on the blued piece. Who did the builds?

Thanks- wish that photo of the checkering was better but it gives a good idea-

A guy named Bill Dale located in southern Michigan. He only does a few a year strictly for his own enjoyment at his own pace and generally for people he knows. Don't get me wrong, he charges for his work, but he has a full time career and treats this the way some would building a model airplane or a custom piece of furniture. I was always impressed with his own stuff in my IPSC days and jumped when he said "you know Brent, I could build you a..."

He tends toward IPSC stuff, is great with calibers like 9x23 and 10mm, and incredibly patient with a file. Having him be within a few hours drive was nice on both projects when it came time to work on the front sight, provide my own training handloads, etc.

Glad to hear I'm not the only clays convert. It sure is addictive.

Brent

I should pull the trigger out of the Caspian and take a photo so you could see Ned's unique work. I had a 1911 class with him a few years ago when I noticed a chunk of the extractor hook was missing so Ned took it home and fitted a couple new ones for me. Anyway, when it came back the trigger bow was lightened Ned-style as an added bonus. It looks cool.

Of course the real reason Ned wanted to take the gun was to have a 10mm around...