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After more than a year and a half of delays and more than a bit of frustration and worry, my baby has finally come home.

SIG Sauer P220, customized to honor the 5th Special Forces Group (which my father was part of in Vietnam). Highlights include:

• Custom serial number
  
• SF crest engraved on top of slide, along with the motto
  
• Tritium sites
  
• Rail system

Rather than spam people with photographs, I'm putting up a few thumbnails that link to the larger photographs.

After lady_curmudgeon's doctor appointments in Kenosha this morning, she and I made our way to Antioch to hang out with roho and genet. We met up for lunch at The Lodge, had a beer or two and then went back to the house of CheeKitty. That's where Curmudgeon and Kes hung out while Roho and I went off to the gun range. I was smart and, before 'mudge and I left home this morning, I loaded up my range bag with the Blackhawk, the Sigma SW40F, the Sigma SW9VE and the PT-1911, as well as 100 rounds of each of their respective ammunitions (.357 Magnum, .40 S&W, 9mm and .45 ACP) and tossed the bag in the car. I had every one of my pistols with me to play with at the range, and I meant to give them all a little exercise (as well as give Roho a chance to try them out).

While Roho set up his Sig I unpacked my bag and opted for the SW9VE first. 8 rounds later I was reminded why I'm not overwhelmingly pleased with the Sigma series -- my grouping was for utter shit. All over the target, hardly any in the key spots. I put the 9mm aside and loaded up the PT-1911 next. What a great, fun gun that is. This was my first time firing it since I brought it home months ago. Solid feel in the hand and a fine grouping. What a light trigger break that gun has! Roho was likewise surprised at just how little pull it took for the hammer to fall.

Third up was the Blackhawk, probably my favorite revolver of all time. I grew up with this gun around me and have always been fond of it. I'm not sure, but I think I caught Roho drooling once or twice when I looked back over my shoulder. Everything I remembered about that gun was true! Pity that my brains and instincts have been ruined by years of semi-auto, after I fired the first round I squeezed the trigger again and had a "derp" moment where I couldn't understand why the gun didn't fire. Yeaaaaaah, it's a single-action revolver, firing require a bit more involvement on the operator's part than "aim, squeeze trigger, repeat." Roho had a good laugh at me over that but overall was impressed by how nicely the revolver handled.

Last up was the SW40F, the .40 S&W twin/precursor of my SW9VE. It suffers the same curse as the 9MM, just with bigger rounds and a little less flash since it's all-black. Shit for grouping, even when using the built-in laser. Roho similarly had problems with it and commented on the way back to his place that it's doing him the disservice of biasing him against the Glocks that the S&W folks stole design ideas from when making the Sigma series. Roho and I both suspect that the heavy trigger break of the dual-action only (DAO) is what's screwing us up. Interestingly, the range master suggested that my tendency towards lower-left groupings on the Sigmas was due to flinching, but I call flinching bullshit since my targets with the .357 and the .45 evidenced none of this down-and-to-the-left behavior.

Regardless, Roho got to try all of the pistols I brought with (minus the 9mm, which he's fired before) and echoed my frustration with the Sigmas -- as well as my praise for the Blackhawk and the 1911. All told we were at the range for nearly 2 hours and put somewhere on the order of 300 or so rounds down the lane. It's nothing amazing in terms of rounds fired or time spent on the range, but it was a great stress relief and a lot of fun. I enjoy going out shooting with Roho and miss the days on the farm when I could just wander into the back fields and plink away.

Last night I spent the last hour or so before bed cleaning firearms. I started by stripping down and cleaning the Blackhawk, which is in lovely condition and I want to keep it that way. Then I went back to my project of getting the last flecks of corrosion/rust off the Sigma's slide. Once everything was done I tucked it everything back into the safe, turned off the lights and called it a night.

And then I dreamed of the Zombie Apocalypse, Left 4 Dead style.

I think my subconscious decided that if I was spending that much time tending to pistols I should put them to use. It also decided that having a 10 gauge shotgun as a sidearm (complete with a cowboy-esque holster that matches the one for the Blackhawk) would be useful when the undead come for us. Good thing ottr and the rest of us survivors holed up in something that was part Gander Mountain, part Bass Pro Shop - where better to take refuge when you have a need for ammunition? It was also good that we had roof access and the zombies never figured out how to climb the ladders on the side of the building!

Yeah, I cleaned guns and then dreamed about the undead rising against us. I can't begin to guess where my brain got that idea from.