http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/07/24/sports/rama.a.pair.of.fighting.forty.fives.html
Monday, July 24, 2006
Rama: A pair of fighting forty-fives
By Karlon N. Rama
Stagefive
Mention the word forty-five into a room full of men and they'll think nineteen-eleven, cocked and locked.
A lot won't be using those exact terminologies, of course, but it's all the same - it's the gun Fernando Poe Jr. used to blast all the bad guys away in his movies when the use of his collapsible magical sword wasn't in the script.
Cinema chiseled what psychologists would call the schema – forty-five equals nineteen-elevens – in our heads.
Philippine history would have made the association more sophisticated –John Moses Browning made the design for the American Army whose presence in Mindanao during the American period was met with bloodshed – but history is boring to many while movies are entertaining to most.
The nineteen-eleven design is 95 years old (it was adopted into American Army service in March 29, 1911) but it is still the world's most popular pistol.
In its original chambering of .45 cal. ACP, it remains in heavy use among law enforcement agencies and special military units and remains sought after in the civilian home and personal defense markets.
It is manufactured in more countries, the Philippines among them, than any other pistol design and in the downloaded chambering of 9x23mm and .40 cal. ACP, is also a favorite in competitive shooting circles.
The specimen:
I encountered two such forty-fives recently.
The first was a Kimber Custom TLE/RL recently acquired by businessman Jojo Roble of the Cebu-based Roble Shipping. The TLE stands for Tactical Law Enforcement, it having been originally designed for law enforcement use. The RL, meanwhile, denotes a special feature - a Picatinny rail machined unto the frame.
The gun is commercially available. Twin Pines Inc., located along Ramos St., offers an upgraded version called the Warrior. This version features low-profile "night-sights" made by an Israeli company called Meprolight.
Night-sights are your ordinary post and notch sighting system with holes milled in them. Small cylinders filled with a radioactive substance called tritium have been inserted into the holes that now appear as dots in the sights - two on the rear and one on the front. The dots glow in the dark.
The Custom TLE/RL features a five-inch match-grade barrel with 16 left hand twist, a steel slide and frame built to tolerances Kimber is known for, plus low-profile sights. The gun boasts of a good mate black finish, weighs 5.52 ounces empty and comes with black synthetic grips and an aluminum match-grade trigger.
The second is a 1911A1 that Atty. Neil Nuñez of Cebu City bought from Royal Interarms, located along Ramos St., also recently.
It was a basic model – your ordinary World War II blued nineteen-eleven clone. Neil made a few aesthetic and shooter-assisting modifications though. The frame was given a chrome job by gunsmith Mario Abangan who also installed night-sights, a Wilson one-piece guide rod, a high-rise beavertail, ambidextrous safety, a lightened trigger, a lightened hammer, a magazine well, Pachmayer rubber grips and a flat mainspring housing.
The verdict:
Range tested a few days ago, both firearms made 1.5 to 1.7-inch groups within 20 yards using 230-grain lead bullets hand loaded by Kamagong Gun Club's Roberto "Obet" Perero.
The Kimber had the edge in nighttime defensive use though since it allowed the quick and secure installation of accessories like mounted flashlights with its Picatinny rail feature.
But the Norinco wasn't far behind. Its tritium night-sight also made accurate shooting possible under ambient lighting.
All told, there were only two major differences in the two specimens: brand and price. The Norinco, even with the modifications, doesn't cost half what one would pay for a Kimber.
The Kimber, undoubtedly, is the Mercedes Benz of the defensive firearm industry. Its nineteen-elevens are recognized as among the finest ever produced both in terms of utility and aesthetics.
The Kimber Custom, for example, is the official sidearm of the Los Angeles Police Department Swat Team. And in the prevailing colonial concept of what is good for Johnny must also be good for Juan, the Philippine government bought a handful of Kimbers and assigned them to the directors of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Norinco's nineteen-elevens, on the other hand, are on the bottom rung on the prestige ladder. Built - the more accurate term is mass produced - in China, they lack the sleek lines, the satin-smooth finish and the pleasing curves of the more high-end brands.
But cut from virgin steel, the material from which Norinco guns are machined from are among the hardest in the world.
And, with a little work and lots of love, they can match any gun in a pair of fighting forty-fives. (knrama@gmail.com)
Monday, July 24, 2006
Rama: A pair of fighting forty-fives
By Karlon N. Rama
Stagefive
Mention the word forty-five into a room full of men and they'll think nineteen-eleven, cocked and locked.
A lot won't be using those exact terminologies, of course, but it's all the same - it's the gun Fernando Poe Jr. used to blast all the bad guys away in his movies when the use of his collapsible magical sword wasn't in the script.
Cinema chiseled what psychologists would call the schema – forty-five equals nineteen-elevens – in our heads.
Philippine history would have made the association more sophisticated –John Moses Browning made the design for the American Army whose presence in Mindanao during the American period was met with bloodshed – but history is boring to many while movies are entertaining to most.
The nineteen-eleven design is 95 years old (it was adopted into American Army service in March 29, 1911) but it is still the world's most popular pistol.
In its original chambering of .45 cal. ACP, it remains in heavy use among law enforcement agencies and special military units and remains sought after in the civilian home and personal defense markets.
It is manufactured in more countries, the Philippines among them, than any other pistol design and in the downloaded chambering of 9x23mm and .40 cal. ACP, is also a favorite in competitive shooting circles.
The specimen:
I encountered two such forty-fives recently.
The first was a Kimber Custom TLE/RL recently acquired by businessman Jojo Roble of the Cebu-based Roble Shipping. The TLE stands for Tactical Law Enforcement, it having been originally designed for law enforcement use. The RL, meanwhile, denotes a special feature - a Picatinny rail machined unto the frame.
The gun is commercially available. Twin Pines Inc., located along Ramos St., offers an upgraded version called the Warrior. This version features low-profile "night-sights" made by an Israeli company called Meprolight.
Night-sights are your ordinary post and notch sighting system with holes milled in them. Small cylinders filled with a radioactive substance called tritium have been inserted into the holes that now appear as dots in the sights - two on the rear and one on the front. The dots glow in the dark.
The Custom TLE/RL features a five-inch match-grade barrel with 16 left hand twist, a steel slide and frame built to tolerances Kimber is known for, plus low-profile sights. The gun boasts of a good mate black finish, weighs 5.52 ounces empty and comes with black synthetic grips and an aluminum match-grade trigger.
The second is a 1911A1 that Atty. Neil Nuñez of Cebu City bought from Royal Interarms, located along Ramos St., also recently.
It was a basic model – your ordinary World War II blued nineteen-eleven clone. Neil made a few aesthetic and shooter-assisting modifications though. The frame was given a chrome job by gunsmith Mario Abangan who also installed night-sights, a Wilson one-piece guide rod, a high-rise beavertail, ambidextrous safety, a lightened trigger, a lightened hammer, a magazine well, Pachmayer rubber grips and a flat mainspring housing.
The verdict:
Range tested a few days ago, both firearms made 1.5 to 1.7-inch groups within 20 yards using 230-grain lead bullets hand loaded by Kamagong Gun Club's Roberto "Obet" Perero.
The Kimber had the edge in nighttime defensive use though since it allowed the quick and secure installation of accessories like mounted flashlights with its Picatinny rail feature.
But the Norinco wasn't far behind. Its tritium night-sight also made accurate shooting possible under ambient lighting.
All told, there were only two major differences in the two specimens: brand and price. The Norinco, even with the modifications, doesn't cost half what one would pay for a Kimber.
The Kimber, undoubtedly, is the Mercedes Benz of the defensive firearm industry. Its nineteen-elevens are recognized as among the finest ever produced both in terms of utility and aesthetics.
The Kimber Custom, for example, is the official sidearm of the Los Angeles Police Department Swat Team. And in the prevailing colonial concept of what is good for Johnny must also be good for Juan, the Philippine government bought a handful of Kimbers and assigned them to the directors of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Norinco's nineteen-elevens, on the other hand, are on the bottom rung on the prestige ladder. Built - the more accurate term is mass produced - in China, they lack the sleek lines, the satin-smooth finish and the pleasing curves of the more high-end brands.
But cut from virgin steel, the material from which Norinco guns are machined from are among the hardest in the world.
And, with a little work and lots of love, they can match any gun in a pair of fighting forty-fives. (knrama@gmail.com)
