ARO Matt

Another vote for Milt Sparks.  I carry my DW Guardian in a VM2.

  There are about eight in .243 on GunBroker right now.  A couple with a BiN price in the high $900s.  

  As I stated in another post, a gun that is virtually never used, but when it is someone's life is counting on it.  A lot of people care what the sidearm is, particularly those who actually carry and use one regularly.  Although most of those guys don't carry M9s, some do.  A rifle is a primary, yes.  But a pistol is the secondary and is a necessary tool.  And it better work when it's pulled.  The issue in all of this is there are decision makers who decide what is the best pistol, and what features are necessary, who don't use them anyway, and who couldn't hit a target if they did.

Your last sentence is the reason the Army has a half-assed pistol as a general issue sidearm.  Too many decision makers feel the same.  My contention is that pistol better be the most reliable, accurate one money can buy, because usually if you have to draw it, your ass depends on it.  But if you all want to quit, well it's your life.  Me, I'll take that fork out of you and start using it as a weapon after I run out of ammo for my primary and secondary.

If none of the other above ideas work you can try on the Brian Enos forums/webpage.  I've been on there for awhile and my wife bought my 550 setup through his site for a birthday gift.  He's a class act and very helpful with questions, as she knows ZERO about reloading and equipment and ended up getting me exactly what I would have gotten for myself.

Very nice looking gun!  How's the 10mm shoot in the 1911 platform?  I have a 10mm 1911 on order now and can't wait to get it.

  Send an after action report when you get something, I'm interested to hear about it.  I decided to take up handgun deer hunting this year, but went with a Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter in .44 Mag

What kind of work are you looking to get done?

I've heard good things but never owned one so I have no first-hand on it.  I do have a few 1911s and 2011.  The 1911 all depends on your budget and what you want out of the gun.  I will say that STI is a great company and they have decent prices.  Their guns are made in Texas except for the Spartan models.  Those are Philippine frames made to STI specs, then assembled in Texas with the other guns.  If you move up the $$ chain a bit you have Dan Wesson 1911s, which are the best out of the box factory 1911s around.  I carry a DW Guardian in .38Super every day (when I'm not going on Ft Campbell anyway).  Moving to the lower end of the $$ spectrum I have heard good things about the RIA upgraded models and the ones I have fingered up seemed pretty nice for the money.  Again, your budget and desires drive your purchases in the 1911 world.

Any more word on this?

Yep I came across this auction looking for a gun safe.  Didn't end up with that safe but I got the STI VIP 9mm and the SCAR 17 mags.  Pretty good deal on them and the gun was practically new with a bunch of custom upgrades and machine work.  I'll be keeping an eye out for more auctions like that for sure.

I'll be keeping an eye out, would love to have one.  I passed on a CMP Garand several years ago.  Looking at the website now I see that was a mistake.

Just want to say hey to the other TN gun owners around.  Currently active military, but steadily approaching retirement, and got my FFL in order to build a business up for a post-retiremtent endeavor.  Learning the ins and outs and looking forward to some interesting discussions with you all.