My Gunsmith

[BrokenolMarine]

You guys have seen my posts regarding my match guns, and my Rabbi and his best friend and shooting partner who built my guns. I was honored he took the time, (and my money ,) to build them. Jerry was a gifted shooter, gunsmith, respected Police Officer, Firearms Instructor, and is missed. I have often said it wasn't just my opinion. Now... It seems it's official. Jerry ran the range and firearms program for a major jurisdiction in our area, as did my buddy who was my advisor in both my LE career and post military shooting. They shot PPC, Bullseye, High Power Rifle, and other disciplines where things went bang together, and reloaded, and served together as match directors. They were, brothers... In many ways.

https://americanpistolsmithsguild.com/p ... f-the-year

I happened upon this accidentally, clicking thru shooting info looking for old information. My only regret is that Jerry stayed so busy teaching, building guns, and shooting, he had little time for much else outside his intimate circle of elite competitors, so I didn't get to know him as well as I would have liked. I was nowhere near he and Lou's level of competitor. I stood in awe. (No joke there.) When we did have time to sit and talk, I wisely, did more listening.

Jerry not only built winning guns for law enforcement shooters, bullseye, and others, but had the skill and equipment to manufacture a part from a block of material waiting his touch. He left us earlier than he should have. He will be missed.

[RanchRoper]

Very cool.

[fortyshooter]

A very talented friend to have known!

[PT7]

Sorry for the loss of your gunsmith, Marine. As the Guild noted, those persons are elite in their profession.

Re. your link on the “Pistolsmith of the Year” award. Interesting that a number of years ago I chatted (via email) with the Bowen Classic Arms Corp. in TN, but never did find the perfect "package" to upgrade my Ruger .357 Magnum 3" snubby. Many of their actual gun projects, which are displayed on their website in the "Workshop" section, show the incredibly-fine pistolsmith craftsmanship. http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/

I actually did a barrel muzzle rework on my Ruger .357 Magnum 4.2-inch "kit gun" with the 2009 gunsmith on that list, Marc Morganti of Gemini. I had him remove the dove-tail front optic sight, eliminate the dovetail slot, and rebuild the top of the barrel to hold a pinned black ramp blade sight. Looks like the revolver was originally built that way.
https://www.geminicustoms.com/

I've included the links of these two I know a little about. The photos they display are top-of-the-line gunsmith work!!

PT7

[Mags]

.
Like the M1917 in the bowen gallery.

[daytime dave]

It's very nice that he was recognized. There is some fine company in the previous winners.

You've mentioned him several times. I'm glad you got to know him as well as you did. He sounds like a very good friend.

[BrokenolMarine]

Jerry built the 45 I competed with for several years. I gave him the base Springfield 45, and he used the slide and frame and not much else. The rest of the build was custom, from the Barrel and bushing to the trigger, sights, to internal organs, the gun was a masterpiece. Like a sleeper racecar, folks would look at the ugly gun and grin. When they scored my targets they were no longer grinning.

Springfield 45.JPG (183.49 KiB) Viewed 1772 times

Jerry told me that he could make the gun look a lot better, but I told him I knew he was busy and I never really worried about pretty as long as the gun would shoot. Oh, this gun would shoot, much better than I could. The trigger broke somewhere between 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 pounds. He called me before he finished the trigger work and made SURE I was never planning to carry the gun on the street, or use it for home defense. "ONLY a match gun, Right?"

He knew I had primary duty and carry guns, but he had to make sure, or the trigger would have been set at a much higher weight. That was Jerry.

My match PPC gun at the time was a Ron Power Custom... and I shot that for years, when I stepped down from competing, I sold it, and most of my PPC gear to an up and coming young patrol officer looking to get into the sport. I missed the shooting, so I traded a couple guns to a buddy who had one of Jerry's Custom PPC guns so I could shoot a local level match now and again, and have one of Jerry's guns in the safe. This gun is also one that is WAY above my paygrade... capable of groups much smaller than I can wring out of it.

Keefer PPC 38.JPG (164.74 KiB) Viewed 1772 times

THIS gun is a work of art, built much later in his career. It's taken a beating against the barricades, but to those in the know, it's still beautiful.


BOTH guns have four position rear sights, smooth as glass triggers and actions to die for. If you are ever gonna be in the Central VA area, PM me and I'll take you out on the range and you can shoot a piece of history built by a Master.

[BrokenolMarine]

The PPC guns, for those that don't know, were capable of ragged one hole groups at 50 yards, with 38 wadcutter, and that is a little hole in a very fat barrel.

fat barrel.jpg (77.9 KiB) Viewed 1772 times

The weight of the barrel allowed you to put 12 rounds on target in twenty seconds with the speed load, drawing from the holster when the targets turned, shooting double action. Most of the ranked shooters put all twelve rounds in the x ring of the B27 target at both 7 and 15 yards. If you were scoring an expert class shooter or above, you would have an easy day.

[BrokenolMarine]

The advice I got from Jerry, Lou, and the other shooters around me on the line when I first started in PPC all those years ago, allowed me to improve at a rapid rate... because I listened. I moved up from local (25 yard) matches to state level (50 yard) matches rather quickly. I still listened but was also at a level where I could mentor those around me. It was only years later with the influx of the new generation of shooters, and their win/win/win attitude that I decided it was time to hang up the gun belt. I had nothing to prove, and the sport was no long fun.

A lot of the veteran shooters must have felt the same way, as the numbers dropped dramatically in the years that followed.