So, there I was, doing my job at the gun shop, helping a customer choose between a Smith & Wesson and a Glock when someone said the magic letters: E, M, P.
I made a little groan like a tortured animal and expressed (emphatically) how I've been DYING to get my hands on one since I heard they were coming out.
I've read such great things about them, and, well, COME ON.. It's a 1911. Need I say more? You're talking about ME, LIMA, here. I bow down before my 1911s and call them Beautiful. I tuck them in at night. I drool in their presence and relish the opportunity to handle a new one.
Okay, maybe I'm not that bad, but I think it's well established that I like 1911s.
ANYWAY, the customer, oh-so-nonchalantly, says, "I've got one."
Say no more, my good man, you are now my best friend and the recipient of much butt-kissing and goo goo eyes.
"YOU DO?!?!" I say.
"Why, yes. And I'd be happy to bring it in to let you shoot it if you'd like."
Some would be polite and say, "Oh, no, don't bother." NOT ME! I was just offered the chance to shoot the gun I've been trying to get my hands on for months.
My response: "YES! Please do!"
God bless him, he went home, and brought it back within ten minutes of leaving the store. He dropped it off at the range (where I was on duty at the time) and said, "I'm going on vacation, so you have it until the end of the week. All I ask is that you keep track of how many rounds you put through it and don't let anyone but yourself shoot it."
If I were not a married woman I think I would have kissed him.
While on range duty, it was agony to sit there and stare at the gun, waiting, longing, hoping, DYING to just shoot it once.
Finally, my manager, understanding my desire and fire, says he'll cover the range for fifteen minutes so I can shoot it.
Like a bird set free from a cage, I grab a box of 9mm, some muffs and a target, along with the gun and practically skip into the range.
Put up the target, load the mag, drop the slide, squeeze the trigger, and heaven descended upon earth.
In fifteen minutes I put about 35 rounds through the gun and no matter how fast I shot not a single round went out of the nine ring.
The recoil was almost non-existent, the bullets flew true and fed reliably, the grip felt solid and comfortable in my small hands and all-in-all it was a fabulous experience. One I certainly didn't want to end.
I only had fifteen minutes so I had to hurry, but tomorrow is my day off and I'm going back to do some extensive shooting with it.
The only problems I encountered were that the grips on the left side were a little loose and the slide failed to stay back on the last round fired on two magazines. That is usually a magazine problem, and the grips probably just need to be tightened. The owner had mentioned that he had experimented with grips. Perhaps he never tightened them as much as they should be.
Oh well, I'm still very happy with it.
Immediately, I text messaged my husband and said, "I want an EMP."
He said he'd start saving (isn't he a sweet heart?).
Another thing I'm forced to consider is the lack of accessories and replacement parts for them at this moment. As well as holsters and all of that jazz. While I wouldn't mind adding the EMP to my collection of 1911s or my carry gun options, I think I'll wait for more popularity and perhaps the .40 to come out so I can take a look at that.
In the mean time, I'm going to play with borrowed toys!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
