Yeah, Rick, you are certainly right about that. Glocks are definitely the go-to guns for every reason you stated. Especially upkeep, as we had ONE rangemaster responsible for lots of things and most of the guys never so much as wiped the gun off between quals. They still went bang except when a trigger springs rusted and broke. I stand behind a counter and sell them quite happily in retirement. This was a personal matter with the company, not the gun. Plus I was an armorer for the M&P (and 3rd gen guns) and officers bought their own guns. I kept parts and a second gun, so I was NO work to the rangemaster and didn't see why I should change. In the end, I was grandfathered in so it didn't matter. But, politics and personalities got involved.
Yeah, 39. 38 I loved getting up for every day (or night, depending...). I'm quite happy to get up and drink coffee on the porch and show up at the gun store or range when I want, and got a home work bench with more gun tools and parts than I know how to use. So I want to fix a few 1911 things myself so I don't have to depend on other folks. Been reading about it for years on the forums but now I want to sit down and do it.
Thanks, everyone.