Messing With Perfection

Just about anybody that knows me will tell you that I absolutely detest people messing with things that are perfect.  I don't like almonds in my Hershey Bars, nutmeg in my coffee or pretty girls who think they have to cake on makeup to look pretty. Don't get me started on tattoos and body piercing.

In terms of firearms, I like the 1911 and the Glock.  I don't have a Glock but I have had two and couldn't hit a thing with either.  I grew up shooting a 1911 (way before anybody told me it recoiled too much) and my hand thinks 1911 even when its holding a Glock.  I shoot the Glocks low and left because my trigger finger pushes on the frame.  So, instead of unlearning years of 1911 shooting just to modernize I just keep 1911-ing along.

I don't think you should mess with what works.  Being a firm believer in all things Created by John Moses Browning, the 1911 is a natural for me.  Its just been working for 102 years.  So, somehow or other I wound up buying a Kimber Ultra CDP II a few years ago.  I decided I could live with a short frame, short barrel, beavertail, skeletonized trigger, night sights, opened ejection port, ambidextrous safety, alloy frame, double recoil spring, guide rod, no bushing, short magazine and melted corners.  Other than that, its  just as JMB designed it.    I still draw the line at almonds in my Hershey Bars.

My first trouble with the gun, in fact the only trouble so far, is that its too pretty to carry every day.  I have a Khar PM 40 for that.  If you think of the little Kahr as a mouse gun its one hell of a mouse gun but dangit, I bought the Kimber to carry.  The Kahr is my pocket gun.

So I had to go inspect a mobile home on acreage that had been seized by the gummint and I figured it would be a good time to take the Kimber for a test run.  This would only be the second time  I had carried it and I stuck it in a Remora holster so I could try it in different locations.

All went well right up until I got to the property.  Seems the gummint folks had forgotten to mention the plywood bolted over the doors.  Fortunately, I was able to climb in through a window and do what I was there to do but it seemed like every time I moved I was banging those beautiful rosewood grips on something.  When I got home I ordered a pair of slimline composite grips from VZ Grips in Tallahassee.  Slimline to conceal a little better and composite because they are tough.  Other than that, they're just as JMB designed them.   They got here in about 2 days.   That's when I realized that slimline grips take slimline bushings and screws so I ordered those from Brownell's.

The screws arrived today.

That's the screws, bushings and an allen wrench in the little yellow packet.  The box is what they shipped the packet in.  No wonder it cost five bucks for shipping and handling.  Les, are you out there?

The old bushings came out and the new ones went in easily enough.  I had been worried about the fit of the grips because they looked like they might take some fitting when I tried them on the gun with the wrong bushings on it but they were perfect with the slimline bushings.

They aren't as red as the rosewood grips but I  think they will do.  It didn't take long for them to start  to look "normal" to me.

The checkering is very sharp and it feels secure in the hand.  It still seems to point right where I think I'm pointing it so I am guardedly optimistic.  A little shooting to make sure about the pointing and a little more test carrying and I'll be good to go without quite spending twice as much as I would have on a comparable Glock.