by Rich Grassi

The Wilson CQB is a handsome pistol, this one rendered in Wilson Combat's Armor-Tuff finish in OD Green.

In a tale too-oft told, I was a small town cop thirty years and change ago. I hadn't made it over to the Arkansas Combat Pistol League for any of their new-fangled IPSC matches but I was on their mailing list. A couple of our guys went over and came back reporting that various hotrocks were cleaning up all the winnings. One of those guys was Bill Wilson. Known for being a jeweler, he was apparently fixing up his Colt Government Model pistols to be more effective for the new shooting game as well as more friendly to the hands of someone who carried the Army pistol for self-defense. A reserve officer brought a flyer in to the station. It announced a shooting match in gravel pits near Commerce, Oklahoma. That was close and he and I decided to go get a look. We showed up with duty gear and duty guns. Most people were armed with likewise plain guns. One guy showed up with a stunning 1911 and more skill than I'd seen. It was Bill Wilson. We chatted just a bit but we were there to shoot. An opportunity missed to actually learn something, I was busy learning how to shoot the match. The game was steel targets and the fastest time always won. We went down to Oklahoma several times. Bill always seemed to win but it was a good time never the less. Me? I learned that if I watch the target to see the bullet hit it, I'd always miss. If I let the target blur in my vision and rolled that trigger straight back, a hit resulted. I never did get fast.

The Wilson Combat Practical holster is great for the range as well as for casual concealment.

Around twenty years later, my editor asked me to do an article on a custom .45 from a 1911 boutique named Wilson Combat. Bill had gone from working on his guns, to working on customers' guns to building guns from the frame up. Along the way, his line of parts got a well deserved reputation for being strong and well-made. The first gun I got was the CQB. At that time I said something that's been oft-repeated by others: this was everything you needed with nothing you didn't need. No mud-flaps or curb feelers, the CQB seemed to follow the Cooper doctrine: high visibility sights, crisp trigger, manageable safety. I'd add to that "decent magazines." Back in my day, 1911 magazines came from the gun show and they had two pedigrees: bad and worse. I ordered magazines from Gil Hebard Guns - those worked and were valuable to me. This was before the Wilson-Rogers 47D was born. After the Wilson improved magazine, I seldom looked back. To this day when a 1911 shows up for an article project, I check it was an assortment of magazines. The Wilson product has yet to let me down. The folks from Berryville sent a Wilson Combat Practical Model holster to me and I used it with their guns - and others - ever since. It sits reasonably high, it's low cut in front and it works as well for casual concealment - say this time of the year - as it does on the range. Putting the CQB in the Practical was a great fit and I happily carried it that way. From that first CQB assignment, other Wilson Combat guns have arrived and departed. More CQB models, the CQB Professional (4" barrel), the CQB Elite and Tactical Rail - all were excellence understated and quietly professional. More accurate than I can hold - I can't keep the muzzle in a 1" arc at 75 feet - the CQB is reliability unsurpassed. The CQB can come any way you want. Wilson Combat is a custom shop; having various models in no way prevents personalization. Just a few weeks ago, Wilson Combat Team Member Glenn Shelby became the first IDPA World Champion in the Custom Defensive Pistol Division. He did so shooting his CQB and drawing it from the Practical holster. The CQB is a winner on the range and on the street. For more information see http://www.wilsoncombat.com.