Hi Rick,
I had the opportunity to examine Ed's sample at the show, here are my observations.
Fit and finish is superb, despite the heavier barrel the gun feels well balanced because the frame is heavier and larger too, it just feels solid. I especially like that Eugene was able to duplicate the unique original trigger shape of the original 45's.
I have three small issues and two large ones. I don't like the thumb safety marking, a small arrow pointing up. What's that supposed to mean, locked or unlocked? I don't like the initials on the middle toggle link, styled to resemble DWM's logo and the gun I looked at had no serial number, nothing, nada!
My biggest issue is that missing magazine. This is not a trivial little matter that can be taken care of after the fact, it took decades for DWM to get their magazines to work reliably and to this day G.T. is still kept busy tuning them up. Ideally a magazine should be developed together with the gun, it is not an afterthought. My other caveat is reliability. Military guns undergo exhaustive testing involving firing thousands of rounds in extreme conditions. From what I've read Eugene has only been able to fire a few rounds before his test magazines malfunctioned.
All that said, this is a noble effort and I congratulate Eugene for having gotten this far.
Norm
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