Pleasure of the highest caliber

We’ve been talking about salmon fishing and fishing-related topics for the past few weeks. According to the Fish and Game weekly fishing report, things are still slow here in the valley salmon wise and lake fishing for other species is still good to excellent — not much change from last week’s report. Since things are relatively static fishing-wise and not everybody is a diehard angler, I’d like to go a different direction today.

I finally got out and went shooting earlier this week. I hate to admit this was the first time I’ve been out since last fall. I needed to get re-acquainted with a few of my guns: check functioning on one that was repaired and begin the “break-in” process on another. I also needed to sight in my shotgun with slugs so I would know where it was shooting if that “bear encounter while fishing” should occur.

A couple of the other firearms I took along will be the main focus here. One is a carbine in 45 ACP caliber that uses the frame from a 1911A1 pistol as the action. I’m not sure the carbine is still currently being manufactured; I haven’t seen it advertised for a couple of years. I bought mine around 10 years ago.

I have a “service grade” 1911 pistol that is actually fairly accurate with its five-inch barrel and fixed sights. By simply removing the slide and barrel assembly from the frame, I can attach the frame to the carbine and have a semi-automatic, 16-inch-barreled firearm that dramatically raises the 45 ACP cartridge’s “hitting power” by something like 40 percent. The carbine still uses the same magazines as the pistol and is amazingly accurate out to 50 yards — the longest distance I have tried.

The carbine came from the factory with a scope mount on top of the tubular receiver, and for a long time I had a red-dot sight attached. I have found red-dots to be the fastest sight I have used for acquiring a target and getting off a shot. I recently mounted a long eye-relief scope in lieu of the red-dot, and that’s what I was sighting in this week.

The reason I changed from the red-dot to the scope was simple — batteries. The red-dot must have a functional battery or the sight is useless. This carbine, while a fun plinking firearm, has a serious side as well. I have kept it loaded and available in the event I needed a large caliber, semi-auto firearm around the house or yard, either for two or four-legged intruders with malice on their minds. Batteries have the nasty habit of failing exactly when they are most needed. The scope will work under any conditions and has no need for a power source.

The remarkable thing about the 1911 pistol is the vast collection of aftermarket accessories and add-ons available for it. By purchasing the carbine, which is not considered a firearm by federal definition, I can either shoot the original pistol or convert the frame into a handy carbine-length long gun. I can also purchase a conversion kit which, again by replacing the slide, barrel and magazine, turns this large caliber powerhouse into a 22 caliber plinking or target pistol.

Several manufacturers market this 22 conversion in either blue or “silver” finish to match your pistol’s finish and in variations to fit the frame (i.e., government, commander or officer model sizes). All of these versions can be had with either fixed or fully adjustable sights. A single magazine is normally included in the kit, but extra magazines are also available for purchase.

I have one version of the 22 conversion kit. It works fine and actually was more accurate than I expected, but it only has a four-inch barrel and I would like to stay with the five-inch barrel length standard for my government-model-sized pistol. I’m planning to sell the four-inch conversion and buy a five-inch version in the near future.

The 22 conversion for the 1911 allows significantly more practice than shooting the original 45 ACP caliber. Rimfire cartridges are much cheaper to buy — 500 rounds of 22 rimfire cost about what one 50-round box of the centerfire 45 ACP normally goes for.

All ammunition was hard to come by last year and, while supplies have been replenished, future political uncertainties regarding firearms could easily cause another buying panic and subsequent hoarding situation. Having options on caliber with the same firearm provides flexibility in its continued use.

The second convertible firearm I fired was my “black rifle,” or AR-15 civilian semi-auto. My rifle is set up as a target and “varmint” gun in its original 223 or 5.56 NATO caliber. I recently bought a 22 rimfire conversion kit for this gun for the same reasons stated earlier: flexibility in caliber, cost of firing and having a new toy! There are catalogs full of aftermarket accessories for this firearm as well, including large-caliber “uppers” that would allow you to hunt moose or bear with your AR frame.

If you’re waiting for the king salmon fishing to heat up, take a trip to your local shooting range and get reacquainted with your firearms. Shooting is fun!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by e-mailing sports@frontiersman.com.