18 CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS • 201118 CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS • 2012 2012 • CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS 19

GUN TEST

New breed polymer service pistol gets a streetfighting redesign!

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TEMPLAR CUSTOM SR9 9mm

20 CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS • 2012 2012 • CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS 21

surprised when he decided to get into the custom pistol business. Bob told me he has looked at the custom modifications he has had performed on his guns and decided there was no reason to pay for this stuff as he had the equipment and know how in house to perform such modifications. Teaming up with police lieutenant Tim Mullen, Bob opened Templar Custom Arms and he is doing some

very fine work. I gave him my SR9 and told him what I wanted. After waiting about a month, what I got back was pure custom satisfaction.

Custom DetailsTo me, the SR9 is a fighting pistol, so this

was my mode of thought when I told Bob what I wanted. I follow Jeff Cooper’s admoni-

tion on what a combat pistol needs—a good trigger, total reliability and a set of high visibility sights. I also want the gun to fit me personally—I really don’t care if it works for others. It always surprises me when someone looks at one of my custom guns and says, “I wouldn’t have had that done.” Why would I care? It’s not yours, which is why Bob offers any number of modifications, to best fit the operator. My Ruger SR9 had already proven to be ultra-reliable over the last year-plus of shooting and using it to teach classes, so I was mostly interested in adding/enhancing features to make it more user-friendly.

The first thing I wanted removed was the

loaded chamber flag that sticks up from the top of the slide when a round is chambered. Ruger does this to make the gun legal for sale in states like California, Massachusetts and New Jersey but I just don’t like it. So I asked Bob to remove it a fill the slide and while he was at it, perform a slide “melt” or carry bevel package on all corners and edges and to add forward cocking serrations. I know these are controversial and some actually get angry over the subject, but I like them, use them and feel they are a worthwhile addition. There is nothing like seeing a round in the chamber before hitting the street. I also had the blunt nose/muzzle of the slide cut to a more teardrop shape to give it a sleeker look. The slide would then be recoated with CeraKote in “sniper grey,” which offers a nice contrast with the black frame (a version of CeraKote is used on bowling balls, so it has proven to be a durable coating). I also wanted the grip hand-stippled, as I feel it offers a better surface versus something that just stabs the skin. While he was at it, I asked him to bevel and polish the magazine well to increase reload speed.

Everyone reading this knows that Ruger had to recall the early SR9 pistols due to a concern the guns would discharge when dropped. I tried to get my gun to do this, with-out success, but I did have the gun upgraded and was surprised the trigger was actually better. What I did not like was the overtravel

built into the SR9 action to better ensure primer ignition. To correct this, I installed the Ghost Inc. version of the trigger bar reset unit but this did not totally fix the problem. In their trigger design, Ruger incorporates a trigger lift spring, which works with magazine disconnect safety to keep the gun from firing when the magazine is removed. It also lifts the trigger bar off the Ghost overtravel tab once pressure is released by the finger after the shot is fired. Bob remedied this by adding material to the rear of the factory trigger so it corresponded with the tab on the Ghost unit. What resulted was a wonderful 5-pound trigger with minimal reset.

Sights Another area I needed addressed was the

factory sights. While the adjustable factory models are great for testing various loads, they are too small for combative applications. I asked Bob to replace them with a set from Ameriglo in which I had some input. I asked Ameriglo’s Rick Callahan to develop a rear SR9 sight that would allow me to work the slide from the edge of my belt or holster in the event I needed to manipulate it with one

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TEMPLAR CUSTOM SR9 9mm

Continued on page 93

SPECIFICATIONS:TEMPLAR

CUSTOM SR9CALIBER: 9mm

BARREL: 4.14 inches

OA LENGTH: 7.55 inches

WEIGHT: 26.5 ounces (empty)

SIGHTS: Ameriglo

GRIPS: Stippled

ACTION: DA/SA

FINISH: CeraKote

CAPACITY: 17+1

MSRP: N/A

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By Dave Spaulding

Since the Templar Custom SR9 was for daily carry, I wanted to get a holster that would be fitting of the intended task. I contacted Dan Hillsman at Hillsman Holsters and asked him to make a Bolatron rig to my specifications, to which he agreed. I wanted a rig that would be reasonable concealable, fast on the draw, easy to take on and off but would lock “rock solid” on the belt so a grip heavy pistol would not rock back and forth. Paddle holsters work fine with revolvers as the weight is in the center of the gun’s frame, but this is not so with a semi-auto as all of the weight is above the holster in the gun’s grip. With many paddle rigs, this results in a holster/gun combination that rocks back and forth with body motion.

Bolatron RigDan built a rig that not only slides over

the belt and trouser band, it locks in place so the gun does not shift, creating a very fast draw. Once the rig was finished, Dan liked the performance characteristics so much that he named the rig the “Scalding

Spaulding” due to its speed of draw and it is now part of his regular product line. The great

thing about Bolatron is it molds to a gun like leather, but due to its rigidity, it “clam shells” around the gun as it is being holstered for a solid lock on the pistol. However, when the gun is needed, a smart draw motion will free it as fast as any other synthetic material. Find out more by calling Hillsman Holsters’ at 713-560-2454 or visiting hillsmanholster.com.

HILLSMAN SCALDING SPAULDING

92 CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS • 2012 2012 • CUSTOM COMBAT HANDGUNS 93

hand. I also wanted the sight to fill the entire rear dovetail, making the rear sight look more like a conventional block-style sight. Rick was able to do this while also serrating the rear sight face to reduce glare and widening the rear window to better see the front sight. The front sight is a traditional tritium bead model with a piece of red plastic applied to the face to access under stress.

Another feature I like on all of my combative pistols are semi-circle cuts in the bottom of the grip at the magazine well. Heckler & Koch first introduced these on a factory pistol, as they realized it simplified the clearing of an in line failure to extract malfunction, better known as a “double feed.” Most readers have been taught to clear this malfunction by first locking the slide to the rear to relieve pressure on the trapped rounds. By placing these cuts at the bottom of the grip, this step can be eliminated and simplify the clearance process to a simple unload/reload drill mak-ing it consistent with something you have done hundreds, if not thousands of times. To clear a double feed using these circular cuts merely press the magazine release but-ton and grasp the bottom of the magazine with the thumb and index fingers. Rip the magazine from the grip and then perform the same manipulations needed to unload and then reload the pistol.

Range TimeI began my test by testing the gun for

accuracy. By shooting five round groups from the SR9 at 25 yards using a stack of Wilderness Giles Bags I was able to get some very good groups. Velocity was charted via a Shooting Chrony chronograph placed 10 feet from the muzzle also using 5 shots and reporting the average.

The Buffalo Bore load is a real “wrist whipper” but I sure would not want to be hit by a 147-grain bullet moving at just under 1,200 feet per second (fps). The excellent 124-grain HST load was clearly the most accurate from the custom Ruger and this would be an excellent carry load. Both the 124- and 147-grain HST loads have proven to be decisive fight stoppers in actual street shootings, which is a real testament to cur-

rent ammunition design and manufacture. The remainder of the test involved getting

“re-acquainted” with my pistol. I ran the gun like might life might depend on it…which is the reason that I have it in the first place! The gun worked each and every time over 500 rounds. It worked well before the modifications and it ran just as well after. The exception is that now the gun is set up the way I want it, which increases my confidence in the gun and anyone who has studied armed conflict knows that confidence in one’s equipment and skill is the single biggest factor in one’s ability to prevail when the chips are done and your life is on the line. Nothing could be more important that that.

TEMPLAR CUSTOM SR9 9mm (Continued from page 21)

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PERFORMANCE:TEMPLAR CUSTOM SR9 9mm

LOAD VELOCITY ACCURACY

Buffalo Bore 147 +P+ 1,177 2.50

Corbon 115 DPX 1,223 2.00

Federal 124 HS +P 1,247 2.25

Hornady 147 XTP 937 2.50

Speer 124 +P Gold Dot 1,219 1.50

Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second (fps) by Shooting Chrony chronograph and accuracy in inches for 5-shot groups from 25 yards.

Rugerruger.com

Templar Custom Arms330-326-2111; templarcustomarms.com

Ameriglo770-390-0445; ameriglo.com

Ghost Inc.305-252-7422; ghostinc.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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