While at the Wilson Combat open house, media types got to try out some of the fine Wilson guns on their test range. One of the guns there was the Beretta Brigadier Tactical. This is a Beretta given the Wilson Combat treatment – and the price, posted on the WC website is a princely $1,195 – if you can ever find one in stock. I'd recommend getting your order in, if this kind of thing floats your boat. Okay, why a double-action to single-action auto? That is so 1980s. Don Johnson is calling and he wants his Armani suit back. Okay, let's start with the easy stuff. I get the whole modern striker fired pistol thing – it's the direction I (and ultimately my agency) went as I moved away from the 2nd and 3rd Generation S&W autos we'd had since 1986. I also get a pair of the (few) substantive issues people have with the striker-fired format: NDs in conflict management and NDs in weapon disassembly. When you move into threat management mode, it means there may be no shots fired but a deadly confrontation is upon you. There are ways to stop fights short of shooting – having an ND during that process is UNSAT. I know that someone out there is holding up his index finger and chanting "This is my safety, Sir!" Yeah, BS. That's your index finger. Likewise, the new wave says that Rule 3 doesn't say enough, that we have to tell people where that finger goes if (1) the muzzle is off-threat and (2) you haven't formed the intent to shoot. Okay, if people are so simple minded that they don't get that triggers are dangerous, it is best to take them by the "booger-hook" and physically force it onto the ejection port (for right-handed shooters on many guns). Still, the idea behind that horrible first trigger-cocking trigger press was simple: you have to really mean to do it to get it done. As someone who was largely raised on the double-action revolver, it didn't seem like that much a stretch. The bigger problem for under-motivated and under-trained troops was "decocking" (safely lowering the hammer after firing). I had to be onto them constantly to "decock or on-safe" before reholstering. The first injury from an ND I'd heard of at our state's academy occurred with a DA-auto, holstered cocked with that "safety" on the trigger. It's not just striker-fired guns and never has been. One of the more famous NDs on video comes from a double-action auto – fired by a "cover" officer in the direction of a colleague who has a suspect grounded and in custody. Just because it's a "traditional double-action" doesn't make it stupid-proof. That's negligence in training, supervision and retention – not a hardware issue. At the Wilson get-together, I was one of the first in line to try the Brigadier Tactical – and why not? Parts that are plastic on regular commercial Berettas are metal on this version. It's got the spring-loaded decocker of the "G" series instead of the FS safety-decocker. The frame is the M9A1 type with the 92A1 round trigger guard profile. The front- and back-straps are checkered, the magazine well is beveled and there is a M1913 rail formed in the dust cover. The slide is dehorned and there's a tritium element in the dove-tailed front sight. The Elite-II length (4.7") barrel is stainless steel and has a recessed crown. The decocking levers are steel, as is the Vertec-style trigger and the magazine release button. The gun features the "D" hammer spring, Wilson Combat G10 stocks, as well as fluted steel guide rod and the rear "battle-sight" with U-notch. The Wilson Combat logo appears on the slide. The gun is furnished with three magazines. The steel targets were only about ten yards out. I began by firing then decocking for ten or so rounds of trigger-cocking only. The trigger was smooth and felt light for a DA trigger. The sights remained steady during the press. The second magazine I fired in pairs, DA/SA, to get the feel for the transition. The single action trigger isn't mushy – it's firm, with a clean break and reset. I moved to shooting double action for each shot with dominant hand unsupported and then support hand without support. Finally, I followed up with pairs support hand only. I'd be lying if I said I never missed – out of around fifty rounds, I likely pulled four or five rounds off the triangle steel target. I really wanted to shoot it and the Wilson CQB pistols at their 75-or-so yard steel target, but I was overruled due to safety considerations. The Wilson Combat/Beretta Brigadier Tactical has a great future in threat management -- concealed carry -- and in shooting sports as well – they're "legal" for IDPA Stock Service Pistol and USPSA Production Division. The super-slick Beretta action is in a class of its own. That Bill Wilson, a huge fan of the Beretta M92, collaborated with Ernest Langdon to make the current US Service Pistol his own – as he'd already done with the U.S. Pistol, Caliber .45, Model 1911, et. seq. – makes a classy pistol even better. Did I mention that it's a Wilson pistol that sells for less than $1,200? -- Rich Grassi