ken_mays

The things to call out here would be that the Carry has a fixed rear sight instead of adjustable, and remains when the optic has been installed, as a BUIS. The firing pin block was a good addition for a carry oriented pistol, especially in light of the ongoing P320 imbroglio. I'm probably in the minority here, but I applaud the addition of a decocker, though I'd say it probably could be trimmed down a bit more. I find the thumb safety on CZs difficult to reach and use, due to their location and safety lever shape, so I prefer all my CZs to be in DA/SA/decocker mode. It's hard to see how it can offer 3x the value of my optic cut P-07, but I'm glad to see this variation added to the lineup.

I believe Warner sourced his frames from FAMCO, Florida Arms Co, who were offering stainless frames and slides around that time. He probably got them to tweak the CNC model for his specific want list (thicker frontstrap etc.). It's likely there could be other one-offs built out there on other FAMCO frames, but I mentioned Warner's guns as he was the only one offering a series of guns on stainless that I know of. I also had an e-book on the FEG High Powers but I'll have to hunt it down to check if FEG ever actually offered stainless pistols. Then there were the Arcus 94 guns which were BHP inspired but that's kind of beside the point for this topic.

That FEG looks chrome plated, as you can see by the difference in color on the (in-the-white) barrel and everything else. The Brownings (Practical etc) were chrome plated as well; I'm not aware that they ever did a run of stainless BHPs. Even the later BDM and HP DA were chrome plated. The FEG was a decent enough copy, especially for the price, but the fit and finish weren't quite up to Browning standards. The rear edge of the front sight on mine was over-buffed and the barrel needed re-crowning, but it certainly would have sufficed for general police issue at the time.

Great find! Didn't some of these get imported with the heel mag release, or were those just the Browning marked ones?

I hate to say it but I don't think there's really much of a market anymore. I own a lot of handguns but all I ever seem to buy (or make) anymore is Kydex for holsters, and I'm pretty picky about the kind of designs I like. I wouldn't waste my time at gun shows either, those tend to be Uncle Mike's kind of crowds. It's been my observation that 98% of gun show attendees don't know the difference between quality workmanship and cheap junk. One group still investing in leather are SASS shooters. I don't know if there are any active clubs around you, but I would think that there would be a pretty good demand for custom leather. Competition shooters tend to be pretty specific about what they want, and if you're willing to build what they want, I think you could probably get a lot of business once your name got out there.

This list might be useful. American Bladesmith Society smiths listed by location. This won't have every knife maker on it (not everyone's a certified ABS smith) but it's a good resource. https://www.americanbladesmith.org/2022/11/21/rated-abs-smiths-by-location/ Tennessee list: Jason Knight – Master Bladesmith Dwight Phillips – Master Bladesmith Fuad Accawi – Journeyman Bladesmith Heath Bartholomew – Journeyman Bladesmith Casey Brown – Journeyman Bladesmith James Gibson – Journeyman Bladesmith Curtis Haaland – Journeyman Bladesmith Mak Kelsay – Journeyman Bladesmith Larry Kemp – Journeyman Bladesmith Fred Loving III – Journeyman Bladesmith Jay Replogle – Journeyman Bladesmith Warren Thacker – Journeyman Bladesmith Gary G Wheeler – Journeyman Bladesmith

In recent years past. Chuck Warner of Elite Warrior Armament did a run of about 30 stainless billet steel BHPs. He made some changes to improve on the original in some minor areas, the most obvious of which was a thicker frontstrap to allow aggressive checkering. I have a friend who ended up with one of these and he approached me to do a minor tweak or two on it. I took the opportunity to take a good set of photos while I had it. It was a fascinating labor of love and I kind of wish I had gotten in on the original sale when he was making them, but funds and fortune were at odds once again.

I have a Steyr GB and I agree on all counts. Despite its history and interesting design, it's not really a fun gun to shoot. The HK P7M13 I owned briefly was similarly disappointing. Well made and the machining was beautiful but it got hot and too dirty to run way too fast and I didn't own it long. When it comes to repeat ownership, CZ P-07 is probably the worst, more so because you often run across them DIRT CHEAP. I've bought three and sold the first two. I decided to end that particular madness and keep the third one. The Browning High Power is another one that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love the way they look and feel in the hand, but they're relatively miserable to shoot compared to more modern designs. I'll probably always have a couple around, though.

The newer models take increasingly thin oil in order to meet the government mandated mileage standards. Changing the oil ahead of the stated interval is cheap insurance and one of the best things you can do to help insure against premature wear. My Toyota uses 0w16 and I always change it between 5 to 7000 miles.

Yes, it's a debilitating condition. Symptoms include shrinking safe space, indecision when packing for the range, and an inability to drive past gun stores without stopping.

Those are my photos. I think you're right and I'm wrong, what I thought was a 92X Centurion doesn't seem to have any Centurion markings on it, so it's just a 92X I guess. Placed next to a 96D Centurion, the 96D's definitely shorter. I recently had another actual 92X Centurion that I sold, and I suppose I assumed both these 92Xs were Centurions because of the trimmed down muzzle. Sorry for any confusion.

Nice! I think the perfect scope for these are compact prisms, something like the Vortex Spitfire II 3X Prism, because you can remove the riser and mount it close to flush on the rail. I think I just have an old Aimpoint Pro on my T36 and it works well enough for basic messing around at the range.

TOPS makes good knives. They do have some designs that I wouldn't own but they also do plenty of more traditional shapes. The quality is good and the prices are reasonable.

I'd toss those cases too, just to be safe. 9mm brass is practically free.

Let me show you where I was coming from. 92X Centurion on the left in both photos. The slide is the same length as the 92FS, or near enough as makes no difference. The Compact slide is noticeably shorter than the Centurion as well. If they are selling current Centurions with the traditional rounded backstraps, I guess I haven't come across any of those.