It starts as a $200 Star BM 9mm compact, all steel. Tim LaFrance used to charge about $1500 to "chop" one of these, to 6" and 20 ozs. I went much further with the idea, bobbing the hammer spur, welding on a ducktail tang to the frame, to protect the cocked hammer, adding luminous sights, stippling, ambi safety, 1911 style firing pin retainer trigger job to the gun. The rear sight is moved forward, the top and rear of the slide are "bobbed" ala Detonics, and severaly rounded off. A similar rounding is done with the front of the slide. This is all in the name of comfort and non snagging draw from the Kydex pocket rig. Velcro on the rig and in the pocket secures the rig, lets the same rig fit all pants and coat pockets, and keeps the gun in the same place and orientation, for speed of draw.
The mag holds 6 rds, of 356 TSW ammo, using a very short, very lw, very high velocity, 3 segment prefrag bullet. 55 grs, 2200 fps, 600 ft lbs, with the same recoil as plus P 115 gr 9mm jhp ammo. The mag catch is moved to the butt, so that the bottom rear of the trigger guard can have a Firestar-like "sinus", which lets you get all fingers on the front strap. A ppk type finger extention is on the bottom front of the mag. Sorry, no pics of mine, but the "Nova" 9mm by LaFrance can sometimes be found on the Net, with pics.
OAL is 6.3", wt is 20 ozs, and a skilled hand can lay all 7 rds on the chest, at 10 ft, in 1 second flat. That time starts with the first shot, so the "splits" of repeat shots is .17 second. 4200 ft lbs per second is equal to mag 12 ga buckshot, or a bolt action 300 Win Mag, in terms of power on target. Each hit creates 3 separate wound channels, so you get 21 holes thru the guy.
It would be rather silly to waste that much destruction on the chest of one man, of course. If a swift "double" to the chest doesn't work, more probably wont, either. so it's time for the head shot. This pocket pistol and load, however, make you really capable of stopping a couple of punks, even if they are wearing body armor. If you are wearing armor, youcan probably stop them, even if they have guns "out" and aimed at you, and you "just' have your hand in your pocket. :-)
From a hand in pocket start, if you start first, there's no reaction time burden upon you. So you can draw, go Weaver.,and get the first chest hit in ..40 second. The first guy will probably be unable to react, decide to fire, and also hit you that fast. The second guy will be hard pressed to do more than hit you once, and your armor will probably handle it, letting you hit him, too.
would you "think" the same of a .38 snub, and no armor, hmm?
