A few months ago I entered the NZ North Island CAS champs. Filling in the form I got to the "Wild Bunch" events and figured I could use the same rifle along with a '97 shotgun in my rack and my Springfield 1911 A1 Classic IPSC gun, so I ticked the box and sent the entry away.
A few weeks later I had a look at the Wild Bunch rules and saw that the Springfields' bull barrel and mag well plus the bumper pads on the magazines made my pistol ineligible. Fortunately there was an "open" category, often derided as "Mild Bunch" by the real CAS shooters, so I e-mailed the organiser and made the switch.
But it got me to thinking, the guns I really enjoy shooting are those that can be taken new, out of the box, cleaned, shot in then dropped straight into a duty holster. No added on bits to make it 'competition friendly', so I began to keep my eye out for a mil spec 1911 A1.
About a month ago the NZ Pistol Association bi-monthly magazine arrived in the mailbox. One of the advertisers was advertising Ranger 1911 A1 pistols for NZ $799, a $200 discount. I thought about it for a few days then rang on the weekend to be told there was a further NZ $100 off that weekend, so I grabbed my credit card and gave them the number.
I picked the pistol up on a trip to Auckland a few weeks ago and when I opened the box I was surprised to see an extended slide stop and mag button plus an ambi-safety on the new pistol. These, of course, would take my pistol into the 'Modern" WB category so my immediate thought was to swap them for the standard ones on my Springfield. Only issue I could see is that the Springfield is stainless and the Ranger blued. Still the grips on the Springfield are black and the new adjustable sights blue so I thought they would blend in.
Once I got home again and had a spare hour it was out to the garage where I swapped the parts over. The blued parts looked nice on the Springfield but the stainless ones looked a bit shiny on the Ranger to my eyes. Yesterday I took the gun in to work to have it signed off on my license. When my brother (he's a highway cop too and we share a car) turned up he saw the box and immediately had to look. His first comment was that the gun looked classy with the stainless parts fitted. Others who looked at he gun during the day also thought it looked good.
It may get a few looks and comments on the CAS ranges but yes, I do like the look.
A few weeks later I had a look at the Wild Bunch rules and saw that the Springfields' bull barrel and mag well plus the bumper pads on the magazines made my pistol ineligible. Fortunately there was an "open" category, often derided as "Mild Bunch" by the real CAS shooters, so I e-mailed the organiser and made the switch.
But it got me to thinking, the guns I really enjoy shooting are those that can be taken new, out of the box, cleaned, shot in then dropped straight into a duty holster. No added on bits to make it 'competition friendly', so I began to keep my eye out for a mil spec 1911 A1.
About a month ago the NZ Pistol Association bi-monthly magazine arrived in the mailbox. One of the advertisers was advertising Ranger 1911 A1 pistols for NZ $799, a $200 discount. I thought about it for a few days then rang on the weekend to be told there was a further NZ $100 off that weekend, so I grabbed my credit card and gave them the number.
I picked the pistol up on a trip to Auckland a few weeks ago and when I opened the box I was surprised to see an extended slide stop and mag button plus an ambi-safety on the new pistol. These, of course, would take my pistol into the 'Modern" WB category so my immediate thought was to swap them for the standard ones on my Springfield. Only issue I could see is that the Springfield is stainless and the Ranger blued. Still the grips on the Springfield are black and the new adjustable sights blue so I thought they would blend in.
Once I got home again and had a spare hour it was out to the garage where I swapped the parts over. The blued parts looked nice on the Springfield but the stainless ones looked a bit shiny on the Ranger to my eyes. Yesterday I took the gun in to work to have it signed off on my license. When my brother (he's a highway cop too and we share a car) turned up he saw the box and immediately had to look. His first comment was that the gun looked classy with the stainless parts fitted. Others who looked at he gun during the day also thought it looked good.
It may get a few looks and comments on the CAS ranges but yes, I do like the look.
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