Power Factor of 45: S&W Pro Series

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Back in “the day,” a gunsmith had to do a lot to get noticed. Contrary to what you might have heard, not every gunsmith could make a pistol reliable or accurate, and not all pistols were worth the effort. There were (and still are) some hacks who could be counted on to tart up your gun with chrome and bling but not make it more accurate or reliable. And others who could make it accurate, but only at the cost of reliability—and vice-versa.

But to really get noticed, a gunsmith had to do more. After proving he could manage both reliability and accuracy, an aspiring gunsmith who wanted to get noticed on the national stage had to make a compact pistol out of a full-sized one. So hundreds— perhaps even thousands—of pistols were “chopped and channeled.” (We’re talking mostly 1911s, but a lot of others went under the mill, too.)