"Open Channel D"

In the realm of entertainment, fantasy and reality rarely intersect—especially when it comes to accurately portraying the use of firearms in film and television. Someone once coined the phrase, “with age comes wisdom.” Well, while the phrase may prove insightful to some, these days I can think of area where I wish it didn’t apply—specifically movies and television.

Aside from collecting guns, my father has sold them since the early 60s. As a result, a large part of my childhood involved being exposed to firearms and learning all I could about them, including how to clean, maintain, and of course, how to shoot them. By age 10, I gained proficiency not only with magnum-caliber handguns, but also shotguns, rifles and even submachine guns. Growing up I used to think being able to spot firearms-related inaccuracies in film and television was a gift. These days however, it can be quite the opposite. Having sought realism for so long it’s became virtually part of my very being, and as a result it’s been hard to turn off at times. Does it make going to the movies, or watching television difficult or less enjoyable? Absolutely—although Hollywood has become more gun-savvy than it was 20-25 years ago, or at least the prop masters have.

Regardless, part of me misses the enjoyment that came from watching those running gun battles, where both good and bad guy alike carried the coolest looking blasters known to man—containing an infinite supply of multi-purpose ammunition, capable of superior accuracy and whisper-like lethalness, thanks to a suppressor no larger than a cigar tube.

While “Shrinks” would likely attribute this wish as the beginnings of a mid-life crisis, masked in the guise of some desire for a second childhood, I know different—as do those of you who read my feature in the January 2009 issue of Shooting Illustrated, where I confessed to being a custom gun junkie. That puts things in a whole different Surefire- lumen-type of light—dispatching any notion of mental malady with the subtlety of a Cooperesque “dedicated pair” of 230-grain neutralizers from a 1911—while proving we’re in ballistic “bat country!”

I want to find different sort of firearm, one with a level of quality and craftsmanship unlike the plastic plethora of pistols flooding our market today. One like those carried by agents of the United Network Command For Law And Enforcement, my very own “Man From U.N.C.L.E.” special. Impossible you say? On the contrary, after several months of research, lots of hard work and spending an obscene amount of money, I’ve succeeded in making one that not only looks authentic—it also shoots real bullets.

Stay tuned for a detailed account on how it was accomplished.

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