MARS Armament 1911 Makeover
Posted in Pistols, WEAPONS on October 27th, 2007 by M MLast year, I was walking the tables at the December 2006 SAR show, where a table of no-nonsense, no ‘bling’, utilitarian-looking 1911′s caught my eye. I stopped for a better look, and noticed not checkering on some of the front straps, but the golf-ball texture that I had seen in photos. Sitting behind the table was Steve Morrison from MARS Armament. I stopped to chat and find out more about these pistols, and learned that we had mutual acquaintances, like Eric from Vltor. Steve had also visited my site before, so we started off on familiar ground. One of the pistols on display in the glass case was a business-like looking Colt 1911 with subdued two-toneblack and gray finish. What caught my attention were the unique Gunner Grips with Strider logo. Now, I had gunner grips myself, but had never seen this variant in person. This particular pistol turned out to be the THUG (Twight Hard-Use Gun) gun owned by Darryl Bolke, which was later featured in the Summer 2007 issue of Surefire Combat Tactics magazine. I fondled the THUG and my eyes lit up, as it was exactly the kind of 1911 I liked – it looked good to me and felt great in my hand. Later on, when Darryl came back to the table, he was much amused at my envy.