HOW-TO
Project Longbow
A tricked-out 9mm 1911 proves that extreme-yardage handgun hits don’t have to be flukes.
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The course consists of 30 rounds, from three distances out to 75 yards. We've managed two passing scores so far, but we all get closer each class. As a fun break, we tried our handguns on the next range over, a computer-controlled military popup course out to 300 meters. The big question was; how high do you hold? The quick answer is; not as much as you'd think. So far, we've managed 11 hits on 20 targets. Passing is 12.
The other contest was bowling pins. Our rifle stage at that match got shut down for a couple of years, so as an alternative we shot it with handguns. The course was a bank of pins (falling steel plates) at 45, another at 55 yards, and a lone pin at 90 yards. I won a gun as a prize for all three of the annual matches that we shot that contest in, before we got our rifles back in use there. The pin match is long gone now, but I teach the LE rifle course several times each year.
After trying the courses a few times with some of my typical carry guns, I figured I'd build a gun for the qualifying course and the popups. After all, I used to be a gunsmith, and I still have a pile of parts on hand. So I rooted through the parts bins and came up with most of what I needed to assemble a pair of STIs; a 9mm, and a .45. I have plenty of .45s, .40s and .38 Supers, so the 9mm got the nod for this project; 9mm ammo is a lot more accurate than it used to be. I made a quick call to Dave Skinner at STI for the needed parts, and his right-hand man, Jay Dunlap, quickly had the rest of what I needed on the way. The capacity of an STI in 9mm is a comforting 17, but that wasn't why I settled on it: he wide frame of the STI would provide a solid aiming platform, and to shoot well at distance, consistency in aiming is everything. Also, the five-inch barrel gives me full velocity while the sight radius makes aiming as easy as it can be, considering what I'd be trying to do.
I had a team of gunsmiths working on this for the simple reason that I could steer it from one to the other and get each job done in-between their regular workloads, and thus save time. I could have done it myself, but G&A now keeps me so busy that I have little time for personal projects. I have to point out that fast-tracking a gun through a team of gunsmiths is not a course open to all of you--just those of you who have known a number of gunsmiths for many years, and can impose upon them for small favors. First, the STI frame and slide (Code name: Longbow), and the Kart 9mm barrel (910/754-5212) went to Doug Jones for fitting. Doug did his typical bank-vault-like fitting job, and the Kart barrel locks up tightly without any binding or hesitation. (He also fitted the .45 STI for me, a project you'll be seeing in the future.) He trimmed the full-length dustcover to be flush with the radius cuts on the slide. After it came back I installed the internals and made sure it functioned reliably.
Then it went off to John Harrison of Harrison custom for sights and finish. John makes a fixed sight that fits into the milled recess for a Bo-Mar sight. Now that Bo-Mar sights are no more, those of you with a slide needing them have an option. That, and the Harrison sights are solid and can be easily adjusted for windage. The sight looks so stout I think it could be used as an impact weapon and not be harmed by the experience. John milled the lines along the top and rear of the slide, and fitted front and rear sights, then polished and blued the slide and frame. I had him leave the front sight a bit high so I could mill it down to zero once I had determined what ammo it liked best.
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