Front Sight, Press

Reported by Bart Skelton

When we got back into Joaquin’s truck to head back to my place, he reminisced some about the sidearms he’d carried during his career. There’d been a passel of them, too.

“Settled on the Colt Combat Commander,” Joaquin said. “I just liked the weight and feel of the damned thing. Had several of ‘em.”

Then he reached behind the seat of his truck and grabbed a pistol, handing it over to me. It was a Kimber Pro Carry .45. The gun was the 4-inch model with an aluminum frame, outfitted with a set of checkered laminate stocks out of the Kimber Custom Shop.

“Ol’ Dwight Van Brunt up at Kimber sent me this pistol the other day,” Joaquin said. “It’s a real dandy. The best part about it is that it shoots.”

Joaquin went on to say that though he’d been fond of his old lightweight Commander, he’d experienced problems with it locking up tight, and he’d had some accuracy problems as well.

“If I ever had to do any precision shooting at any distance at all,” Joaquin said, “I’d holster that Commander and get out my Smith & Wesson Model 19. I knew that .357 Smith would be good out to about 50 yards. And if you have something like a hostage situation, you sure as hell don’t want to be takin’ any chances with accuracy.”

Standing next to Joaquin’s truck back in front of my place, we continued to examine the Kimber. Joaquin hefted the pistol several times, worked the slide and dry-fired it repeatedly. It was evident he was taken with it and didn’t want to put it back in its rug.

“I just wish Kimber would’ve come out with this thing when I was still Rangerin’,” Joaquin said, his cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth. “This is what I’d've been carrying. It’s the best of both worldsâ??accurate as my old Model 19, light in weight and with a higher capacity than a wheelgun.”

The twinkle in Joaquin’s eye told me he was very serious.

I happen to agree with him.

http://www.gunsandammomag.com/gun_columns/december_2002_DOB/