Operating this type of business is more like still hunting than stalking. You would be amazed at the range of items that come through the shop. We receive pistols from gunsmiths that you have heard of that are really nice, as you would expect. A real bonus, however, is seeing excellent work from gunsmiths who you probably haven't heard of. Our conclusion is there is no monopoly on talent. Some people have an eye for style. Some people execute flawlessly. Some people do it both. Also, over time, you can see the evolution in style, machining, and overall gunsmithing of both individuals and gunsmiths as a group.

Sometimes intuition is correct and it increases our understanding of how a system works. Sometimes intuition is incorrect and it increases our understanding of how a system works. This is an example where my intuition was wrong. Most people have noticed that with five rounds or more in a single stack 1911 magazine, there is an annular gap under the top round where it lacks hard support from the front of the round immediately below it. It seemed reasonable to be able to push up from below under the front of the rounds in the stack to close this gap. I drilled a hole in the front of the metal floorplate so I could push up on the front of the lowest round expecting to close that annular gap some under the top round. It was absolutely solid and you couldn't push up at all. I then drilled a second hole at the back of the floorplate in order to push up there to see what would happen. It was solid as a rock. These observations pretty well torpedoed my initial intuition on this matter. Next, I slotted the side of the magazine so I could see how the rounds were stacking. Intuition took a further hit when I saw the annular gap at the bottom between the lowest round and the follower was in the rear. Further observations of other mags and calibers showed me that this is absolutely normal and that 1911 magazines do it whether you ever knew it or not. In another blog, I'll relate some more observations on this topic. By the way, The year of initial observation was around 1988.

I know that 'Heavy Metal' means .50 BMG or 3 Gun Major Rifle to some of us, but to me, as the WebMaster and Web Developer it means something completely different. At many points in my campaign against the various imps and lesser demons of web standards and compatibility, I have run into rather largish walls. The issue here being that what looks the same in one browser, doesn't necessarily look the same in a different one. On occasions such as this, I would crank up something to the tune of Metallica's Kill Em All & Master, Korns Untouchables & Issues, and as of late Drowning pool and Mercyful Fate. It is the fastest way, for me at least, to get into the zone. Fight fire with fire, indeed. So as the saying goes: The next time you have an issue or problem that you are trying vainly to stare down, pop in some rapid thrash metal. It'll get the job done.
- CK Out

While i'm thinking about it, you've got STI, Dawson Precision, LaRue Tactical, and Force Productions all within about 20 miles of each other. STI has really found their production legs and runs about 30 CNC machines. Dawson Precision has got a bunch of new HAAS's that walk and talk. LaRue Tactical had CNC equipment before anyone else, and they are very good designers and manufacturers. Meanwhile, Charles Watson, who is the chief engineer at STI, runs Force Productions which makes some pretty cool parts for other firearms people. McCormick is down the road a piece, but I don't believe he runs any manufacturing equipment at his location.

Dave Dawson once said "It's not what you don't know that hurts you. It's what you know that ain't so that hurts you." Here's an example: Back before he was really in the firearms busniess, he had a Camaro street racer. This car would actually run 12's in street trim. That was half quick for the times, but all these other guys thought they had 10 second cars and raced him for money. Dave took their money because his actual twelve second car would beat these cars that the owners mistakenly thought would run 10's in street trim.

In a manufacturing company, it's people, machines, materials, processes, and systems.
1) Good people make the company. In successful companies I have seen, no one person is best at everything. Certain people are simply better than others on certain topics and the best companies encourage their stars.
2) Most shops today run some combination of manual and CNC equipment. Way back when, John Browning had a shop full of central belt driven dedicated manual machines. Today, the primary workhorse is CNC equipment which is capable of many types of jobs with relatively quick changeovers. However, many shops have smaller pieces of manual equipment dedicated to a certain task.
3) Today, in the United States, highly developed raw materials are universally available. They just need to be properly chosen for the task at hand. It's a designer's paradise.
4) Processes are the nonchanging methods that people use to manipulate raw materials with machines to make things. The idea here is predictability and repeatability. Once a process is determined, random changes on the floor are bad. If the process needs to be changed, there is a process for making that change.
5) Systems are the overall connectors to coordinate people, machines, material, and processes in the company's daily business.

In the early 80's I was test-firing a pistol in the old PARKS AND RECREATION indoor range in Austin, Texas. HPPPC club members had a key and could use the facility at their discretion. The range has since closed, which was a loss for Austin area shooters. The range had bullet streaks on its concrete walls and bullet holes in the wood beams overhead. It did have an impenetrable roof. I was firing a 38 Super comp gun next to the left wall. BANG. . . NOTHING. The hammer followed, I observed. Gosh. I'll just thumb cock it and keep going since I was really testing extraction. Bad idea. What happened was that I thumb cocked it (I thought), and A.D.ed. I added one more bullet track to the left wall. Surprise, Surprise. What I didn't know was that the leaf spring came off the sear and thats why the hammer wouldn't stay back. It was not a classic hammer follow. So when I thumb cocked it and turned loose it went bang. After that, I learned not to just thumb cock and release without testing to be certain that the hammer stays back in the cocked position.

David Cupp of STI was a pretty tough steel and IPSC shooter in the 80's. I was gunsmithing then, and beginning to design parts. So I would work on a trigger job until I thought it was good and hand it to him for evaluation. He would click it a few times and sometimes make the dreaded announcement of creep. Finally, I had to admit to myself that my trigger feel was simply not as good as a top shooter. The breakthrough for me was to abandon tactile and go visual. You can see the tip of the sear between the strut slot on the hammer hooks when the gun is completely assembled. By slowly pressing the trigger, I could now watch for sear movement, or lack thereof, when the hammer would fall. In a creepless trigger job, you cannot see the sear move before the hammer falls. If it has creep, you can actually see the sear movement before the hammer falls. After this discovery, I never had to be frustrated by handing a flawed trigger job to a shooter who could feel the difference. Now, if it passes the visual test, the shooter will be satisfied.