A gun nut Christmas...

I had a great Christmas this year and got the usual assortment of gifts including clothes and socks, some money, and being a "gun nut" I also received my fair share of gun stuff. The "stuff" I got this year included 3 Check-Mate Industries 25 round M14 magazines, 3 black (no window) 30 round PMAGS (can't ever have enough PMAGS), a small gunsmith screwdriver set and no doubt my best present this year, and maybe ever, a stainless Colt Combat Commander. My Dad was in a gun giving mood this Christmas season and gave me the Colt and my brother a near new Smith & Wesson Model 40 from his massive collection.

The Commander he bought from me a few years back and it's not just a standard, stock Colt. This gun is moderately customized and according to the previous owner the work was done by none other than Ted Yost when he was at Gunsite in the early 1990s. The pistol is not marked by him nor do I have a build sheet to prove that Yost did it but whoever did the work it was certainly done right. The pistol was constructed using "Gunsite Service Pistol" specifications of the time and has the plain Hi Vis sights, a Videki trigger with a 3.75 pull, and other niceties that you might expect to see on a custom 1911 like a contoured and polished feed ramp, precision barrel crown, fitted solid bushing, a tuned Wilson heavy duty extractor, extended thumb safety, fitted Ed Brown grip safety, beveled mag well and a complete external dehorning with a bushed satin finish. The Colt also started life with the Series 80 safety but was at that same time converted to the 70 Series configuration. It's really a super nice pistol and I can't honestly remember why I sold to him in the first place, probably to finance some other gun I "had to have," such is the life of a "gun nut."

I'm really happy to have this Colt back and FREE is always better than paying for it. I am however a little troubled over one of the reasons he gave it back to me, he said it was just "too much" for him now. My Dad is getting along in years and this .45 Auto is probably more than he can handle these days. My Dad has had a .45 automatic as long as I can remember, up till now. I guess you just don't want to think of a parent getting old. Now days one of his favorite carry guns is another Colt, a Government .380 that he also bought from me a few years ago. He really likes that gun. One of my gifts to him this year was a Bianchi 19L holster for the tiny Colt and you could tell he really liked it. 2010 was one great gunnie Christmas for everyone in the Wilson clan, especially me!