DECISIONS
This is the Custom Carry Section of both highly modified and simply enriched firearms and we all have different Needs, Wants, and Ideas (NWI) of what a Custom (NWI) carry weapon should be. After all this is for personal protection and no one can tell you what you need. You decide. The caveat is three fold though. What ever you do decide, ask yourself some pertinent questions.
REALITY CHECK
Is it concealable, comfortable, easily accessible and safely carried ?
Can I handle it with accuracy and suited for my skills?
Is this really suited for me or am I following a trend, am i being realistic?
People buy carry guns with the hopes that they will never have to use them. The reality is, it's the anticipation is that they might need them. Tailoring a carry firearm to the individual is more critical, than tailoring a target firearm to an individual's needs. The stakes are higher. Yet many have their dollars invested in their target arms and really do not get to the range as often with their carry weapons. Getting better during a life threatening shootout is not a good idea thus...
WHATEVER YOU SELECT
We do strongly recommend with any self defense weapon to go through a break-in period usually consisting of a couple hundred rounds at a suitable range. You not only break in the pistol but you get used to it's generally smaller size, feel and recoil so your whole package of shooter and weapon come together. This is the most important phase of self defense and should be not taken lightly. You won't have time if you find yourself in a stressful situation to take out the book.
This is why we offer these modifications. You buy life insurance that nobody benefits from until your death. You could think of this as being life insurance from which you could benefit -while you are alive. Make this YOUR individual firearm. Practice with it, it should be as comfortable to shoot as your range firearms.
COUPLE OF NOTES: PLEASE READ
Prices, of parts may vary due to current market conditions.
Some refinishing may be required on your weapon, custom work sometimes requires metal removal and those effected parts may have to be refinished. That is a separate charge.
What you see below are only samples of what we can do. The possibilities are endless.
KELTEC - SIMILAR MODELS
Small, Compact, Ultra Light, made for Self Defense.
P11- 9mm, P32 - .32 Cal. P3AT - .380
"Best reasons for carrying one" -
This model has the optional trigger plate, waist band holster, chrome top, upgraded sights.
They are small, light, literally no profile, choice of calibers, reliable, well made, flexible with accessories, versatile carry, hip holster, ankle, pocket or a wallet, adaptable, and affordable.
*** Similar work is done on the Ruger LCP, Taurus TCP, other copies and clones.
THE RUGER SP101 with INTERNAL COMP
PORTED - PLATED - STREET TUNED - BEVELED CHAMBERS
There are hundreds of revolvers to choose from made by Colt, Smith and Wesson, RUGER, Taurus, Rossi, and others in every just about every caliber from .32 to 44 magnum.
The Ruger pictured started as a .357 magnum, ported and plated to brush chrome and the usual AP&W gunsmithing magic applied. The Ruger has a reputation for strength and reliability. It's a stout frame but the .357 round needs a stout frame.
Webmeister: Aside from a French Manurhin 3 inch snub nose, I saw carried by a fellow in the LE GIGN in France, this frame to caliber size is stout. The LE GIGN officer told me if I ran out of ammo I could probably throw it at the bad guy and kill him that way.
The tune and the porting tame this firearm and make a very serious personal protection piece out of it. Thats power and control. Generally the Ruger's come with what we call a factory tune, sort of like shaving with a blade that's been used twenty times. Bob's street tune makes the gun handle differently. I can control mine. The difference is amazing.
••• SIMILAR WORK IS DONE ON Smith and Wesson, Ruger LCR, Taurus, Rossi, Snub Noses, double action,
hammerless models, etc. Note: Restrictions apply on some models when safety enters the equation based on initial construction of the firearm. Most upgrades are common to both models in aluminum and Steel.
THE COLT CUSTOM with COMPENSATOR
CUSTOM CARRY PISTOL .45, Can also be made in 9mm and .40 Caliber.
OFFICER AND COMBAT COMMANDER MODEL
This is our arena. We have done just about every combination possible on the .45. Many have aluminum frames with steel slides for weight savings. This was built on the compact frame and is in .45 caliber. We made some for several hunters in Alaska as something to wear around camp because of the large predators. Most popular for hunters is the magnificent 10 mm Colt. Slightly larger than the .45 and with the power of a mistreated jackass, it's a fine sidearm in any arena. With comp, it's an easy recoil shooter. I was amazed at how little muzzle rise it had shooting it on an IPSC course. I didn't believe it was a 10 mm.
We also made some for those who camp around the downtown regions of major cities for the same reasons, large two legged predators. The smaller Colt frames are popular because the emulate in feel and grip many competitors firearms. Many have used parts from their comped guns in the carry version. The theory train for shooting and shoot with the training learned makes sense, a phrase taken from scuba divers, plan your dive and dive your plan.
The variants are endless, there are several sizes of frames, grips, barrel lengths and we have done them all. In fact, we have refinished or shall we say "finish" many new firearms and parts for many of the manufacturers. Doesn't it make sense to send us your carry gun to customize or upgrade?
LEGACY FIREARMS
These narrow framed Colts were the rage back in the old days and with a little care and upgrading make excellent carry pistols today. They have a very, very low profile, decent capacity and were accurate and reliable. They carry well on the hip and in a shoulder rig, natural rounded edges, and have few sharp edges. That's why we called it the Legacy carry. They had one other attribute, they were very pleasant to fire, little kick and a grip that anyone seemed comfortable with including smaller hands.
Maybe it was a hand me down from your Dad or you found one at a gun show. We stripped the blue, hard chromed the parts over a flash of nickel, gave it a street tune and Voila!
BEYOND THE BORDERS
There are no borders in the custom gun business. You carry what you feel is appropriate for the conditions. You can carry everything from a stock .32 or .38 special to a full house 38 Super Custom Carry. This composite firearm is another of our "on going process firearms". A term meaning we try new ideas all the time because that's what the Custom Gun business is and by having it on one firearm you have less to bring to shows and displays.
NOTE: We are not off the wall converters or importers. We don't have kits or throw together mass produced weapons. We take your firearm, parts from you or us and we make a real custom gun out of it. Lots of the IPSC guys had spare Colt-1911 parts, extra barrels and always shot the .38 super.
Thus many of our customers wanted a 'heavy carry" firearm equal to what they shot in competition and as a backup for their main firearm. OK, a large portion of them were reloaders and this meant one caliber ammo requirements and plenty of it. IPSC and IDPA emulate real (some not so real) situations and commonality of carry makes sense.
SHOPPING LIST
1- Lightweight Combat Commander Frame combined with an Officers slide.
2- The finish is Black Chrome on the slide and the frame is Black Powder Coated. The Gold is Titanium Nitrite.
NOTE: Because of the pricing of GOLD, we had hoped to use Titanium Nitrate as a substitute. The plant we subbed the Nitrate to is not stupid, so they doubled the price of Titanium Nitrate with minimums exceeding common sense. We are holding off doing this at this time. Gold does not wear well, most of the kits you see on eBay will wear as well as that two dollar watch you got from China.
3- Mechanical work is stock gunsmithing we do here, action job, new trigger, melding of the adjustable rear sight and fiber optics front, etc. And in some type of "Combat shooting where the higher levels would qualify, this has many of the tricks of the full house guns, yet you can wear it home with you in legal carry states.
The custom comp is all Cogan Custom everyday process. When shooting it the first thing you notice is hardly any muzzle rise at all. Now run to your gun box and see what you have laying around.
4- A bragging piece, one of a kind, different and personal.
THE WALTHER'S and CLONES
Walther's and their clones are an incredible, efficient, easily concealable, protective sidearm. They are also built like little tanks. But they have a few small idiosyncrasies. We are convinced 007 aka James Bond had his worked on. Only Bond could take a fully clothed wool over-coated enemy soldier down at 100 yards on a snow filled battlefield in Flubackistan with any degree of success with one shot from a .380 Walther PPK.
The APW Cogan Custom shop does a fine job within these three areas of improvement.
TUNING - SIGHTS - The first thing we recommend (almost insist) is an Action job. They are sprung very high and some of their stainless internal parts are not as friction free as they should be, thats partially why they are sprung high. NOTE: For you home grown gunsmiths, just chopping springs to make softer releases leads to more misfires than any thing we get to do repairs on. And we fix a lot of DIY repairs. Its like letting the chop shop fix the fender on your Jaguar or Mercedes that your wife missed whilst pulling it in the garage.
GRIP - So we improve the release and that improves the accuracy. The PPK and the PPKs are small framed meaning small gripped guns. It's like golf, if the grip isn't right the whole game is shot. If you overcompensate because of a tough trigger pull, the grip won't be right.
The last thing you need after a tough trigger pull is a nasty bite or cut on your hand. The back of the grip needs a little de-burring or they "tend" to bite the web on your hand. Pull the slide back and take a look at those edges under the back of the slide and then look at where your hand goes. We have a proven de-burring cure for that.
FINISH - If you own a blued version and you carry one a lot, you should consider Hard Chroming it, especially if you carry in a shoulder or leg holster. These guys like any blued gun will rust with holster, skin or sweat contact. The one clone shown below was manufactured in Hungary and makes an excellent carry when tuned and Chromed. Even James Bond would appreciate the difference after "M" worked on this little Jewel and you feel the improvements. A stunning shooter, and Bond made Hollywood proud and lots of money!
PLEASE SEE PRICE LIST FOR APPROXIMATE COSTS