Day three of the 2001 SHOT Show found me
meandering aimlessly up and down the isles at
the New Orleans Convention Center trying to find
something to get excited about. The week hadn't
been a total waste, mind you. The Show is always
a great place to catch up with old friends or
finally meet face to face with those whom I knew
only through phone calls and emails exchanged
during the previous year. Truth be told, I had
seen a few new products that I liked very much.
I
had just decided to forgo another $12 hotdog
lunch in favor of a complimentary pack of trail
mix when it hit me like a bolt from the blue. I
hadn't been to see Bill Laughridge yet. A brief
look at my ever present floor map and I was off
at a dash to the other side of the convention
center to the Cylinder & Slide booth.
I
found Bill behind his counter complete with
trademark
moustache and misfit grin. We talked for a
while, catching up on the happenings since our
last visit, until anticipation finally got the
better of me and I had to ask "So Bill,
what have you got hidden behind the counter this
year?" With a conspiratorial smirk and a
feigned glance over his shoulder to make sum the
coast was clear, Bill reached under the display
case and produced a work of art. It was
obvious that the gun before me had been born a
Browning
Hi-Power, but in true Darwinian fashion (and
with a little help from Cylinder & Slide) it
had completed the evolutionary cycle and now
occupied a seat at the top of the food
chain. In simplest terms, it was a 9mm Hi-Power
whose frame and slide had been reduced to
Goldilocks proportions: not too long, not too
short, but just right. Naturally; there
was a grocery list of custom modifications and
features that had been added to the gun as well,
but well get to that. After noticing the new
dimensions the next feature to catch my eye was
the word pathfinders tastefully etched into the
right side of The slide, accompanied by the
world famous torch insignia of the U.S. Army
Airborne Pathfinders. "Yep" Bill said,
following my eye
"I dedicated it to the Pathfinders. First
in, last out, I figure they've earned it.
Pathfinder
History
After
a series of deadly mishaps involving airborne
insertions during the beginning of World War II
the U.S.Army determined that a small group of
skilled, motivated soldiers was needed to
covertly insert into an area prior to the
assault force in order to help safely guide
transport aircraft and gliders to their intended
destinations. England already had such units in
operation, so their program was used as a model.
The first Pathfinder unit
was comprised of volunteers from the 82nd
Airborne Division's 505th Parachute Infantry
Regiment. They were quickly trained to use
colonel lights, flares, and smoke to mark drop
zones and landing zones. They were also taught
to provide radio checkpoints to the pilots above
to aid in navigation. This experimental
Pathfinder team was first used during the Allied
invasion of Sicily in 1943. The lone volunteers
lumped into hostile territory ahead of the main
force to mark drop zones and set up what were,
at the time, highly classified radar horning
devices which guided aircraft exactly to their
intended targets. Based upon the success of
their first mission. the unit continued to grow
over the proceeding years and the Pathfinders
went on to participate in every major airborne
operation of the war, including D-Day.
With
the end of the war in 1945, the U.S.
began to radically downsize the military and
most all of the Pathfinder units were discarded.
In 1947, the Air Force asserted that only Air
Force soldiers should be responsible for guiding
aircraft and performing Pathfinder tasks, so the
Air Resupply and Communications Service was
created by the AF to take responsibility for
these missions. These new Air Force units went
onto become the fabled Combat Control Teams of
today.
It
looked as though the Pathfinders were going to
be resigned to history, but fate had another
plan. With America's increasing involvement in
Korea and Vietnam, the military's airborne
vehicle of choice became the helicopter as
opposed to the transport plane. While airplanes
may have been the province of the Air Force,
helicopters belonged part and parcel to the U.S.
Army. Once again the call went
out for a few brave souls to lead the pack and
light the way and with that the Pathfinders were
reborn. The 11th Air Assault Division was the
first group to form a new Pathfinder unit. Other
Pathfinder units were formed afterward and,
acting , in four to five man teams, they
secured, marked, cleared, and established drop
zones and landing zones. They also provided
initial aircraft guidance and air traffic
control. Their service during Vietnam was
exemplary. Inserting covertly sometimes days in
advance into very hostile areas, they carried
the torch and lit the way for the airmobile
might of the U.S. Army.
Pathfinder
Training
The
Pathfinders continue their tradition of
excellence today. Their school
is located at Fort Benning's Lillyman Hall and
Is comprised of three weeks of extremely
challenging and diverse training. They are
trained in airborne (HALO-LALO), small boat,
foot, and vehicle insertion techniques. They
learn air traffic control, DZ/LZ marking
techniques, how to use computed air release
points, as well as the skills to work undetected
behind enemy lines for hours or even weeks. They
are capable of using explosives to destroy
obstacles, relaying enemy troop movement, and
utilizing laser targeting devices to designate
targets of opportunity. They can provide
covering fire for paratroopers descending under
the canopy and are quite capable of supporting a
main assault force once it's on the ground. More
recently, Pathfinders have even been deployed to
support United States domestic law enforcement
agencies during counter narcotics operations.
The
Pathfinder insignia is a golden torch burning
with red flames held aloft by a set of wings
against a black background. It was originated by
the Pathfinder teams of the 82nd and 101st
Airborne Division during World War II, as a
symbol of their assigned task. It represents the
Olympic torch of ancient Greece, which was
carded throughout the countryside by a very
select few runners chosen for their stamina,
intelligence, and courage. The flaming torch
carried aloft by the runner was a signal for all
citizens to set aside their labors and gather to
watch The greatest of all contests, The Olympic
Games. For the Pathfinders, the torch is a
symbol of those few great men chosen to light
the way so that others may follow. The wings
represent descent from the sky, and the black
background represents the darkness of night.
Cylinder
&Slide Pathfinder
Bill
agreed that he would ship me the Hi-Power as
soon as he got back to the shop and that I could
keep it for a few weeks. It arrived a few days
later in a custom CM soft case complete with
magazines and several replacement recoil
springs. As I mentioned earlier, this particular
gun was a full house custom with a grocery list
of hand crafted modifications and additions. For
those of you prone to impulse purchases, you
might want to take this opportunity to give
your Master Card to a trusted friend to hold
onto for a few days.
The
gun started off as your basic Browning Hi-Power
MIKE in 9mm.
Bill
then shortened the slide by 518 of an inch and
frame by 1/2 of an inch. The slide was
fitted with a Novak custom melded tritium
equipped rear sight and
a C&S dovetail tritium front sight.
The front sight was narrowed to .100 of an inch.
A Bar-Sto match grade barrel was installed and
fitted to exacting tolerances and a screw-in
barrel bushing was added. The top of the slide
was then serrated to so lines per inch and the
back of the slide was serrated to 40 lines per
inch. Then the sides of the slide were treated
to a master grade polish.
After
shortening the frame, it was fitted with a wide
combat trigger that was tuned to an
exceedingly crisp 4.5 pounds and equipped with
an over-travel stop. A Commander hammer was
installed along with a CNC machined sear.
The frame itself was again modified to accept a
high grip and the stock beavertail was removed
in favor of a tactical beavertail. The
front and back strap were then stippled to
facilitate a good non-slip grip and the magazine
well was beveled to yield problem free reloads.
An ambidextrous
safety and extended slide stop were fitted to
the frame and the entire gun was polished and
deburred internally to ensure smooth operation.
The only things left to do then from a
mechanical standpoint were to radius and contour
all of the external edges and corners, which
Bill did with exacting precision. The word
"PATHFINDER" was tastefully etched
into the right side of the frame along with the
famous torch insignia. Finally, the gun was
topped off with a beautiful and extremely
functional set of Spegel Cocobolo wood grips.
The
Pathfinder comes with two custom fined MecGar 1
0-round magazines and tour recoil
springs. Conventional magazines will still
function, but they'll protrude a bit from the
bottom of the well. The recoil springs must be
changed every 500 rounds to ensure proper
function, as they are so short that they will
fatigue and lose tension after the prescribed
number of rounds. Also, +P ammunition cannot be
fired in the Pathfinder. The energy that +P ammo
generates will almost certainly destroy the
pistol over time due to the impact of the slide
on the frame. The Locking lugs could be damaged
and the gun would become inoperable.
Shooting
& Function
For
those of you who may feel slighted by the lack
of accuracy tables and chronograph charts
compiled using every known make and model of 9mm
ammunition manufactured in the free world, you
have my sincere apologies. I've never really
cared very much about how fast round A goes
compared to round B, although I do admit to
generally preferring heavy and slow to light and
fast where handguns are concerned. And I Usually
can't match the accuracy potential of most $500
handguns contently being produced when shooting
offhand from the 25-yard line. I put somewhere
between 1,500 to 2,000 rounds of Winchester
124-grain FMJ and Winchester 147-grain SXT
trough the Pathfinder, simply because that was
the only kind of 9mm ammo I had on hand. Every
single time I pulled the trigger, the gun
went
"BOOM", and assuming I did my job on
the trigger the rounds flew exactly to my
point-of-aim. Just how accurate is the gun? It's
a lot more accurate than you or I. How reliable
is the gun? Based solely on my experience, it
functions extremely well.
That
having been said, I have to tell you that this
was a really fun gun to shoot. It felt great In
my hand. It cycled quickly and smoothly. It
pointed very naturally and the trigger was
simply a thing of beauty. I enjoyed it on the
static range, but the fun really started once I
moved and began shooting it on the steel range.
Head plates rang with the even cadence of a
vintage telephone and pepper poppers offered no
resistance during timed stress drills. The
Pathfinder really is a work of art. It's
painstakingly crafted and feels like a natural
extension of the hand.
Final
Notes
During
a recent conversation over the phone with Bill,
he made me promise to clarify a few things. The
Pathfinder package
can be performed on a Cylinder & Slide
purchased Hi-Power or on your personal MKIII or
pre-MKIII Browning. It can also be performed on
any of the quality Hi-Power clones offered by
FEG with excellent results. The price for the
pistol I tested is, quite simply, not cheap It
represents the pinnacle of a master
pistolsmith's skill and was built sparring no
expense with every conceivable option or
accessory. The complete Pathfinder package,
including shortening the slide and fame as well
as the other requisite modifications and custom
engraving can be performed on your Browning or
clone for about $1,000. Even absent the bells
and whistles, the Pathfinder Hi-Power is still a
very efficient and beneficial design
modification, and it is most certainly a fitting
tribute to the brave few who have earned the
right to be called Pathfinders.
This
article is dedicated with respect and
appreciation to those who light the way, both
past and present.
(The
author would like to thank the U.S. Airborne
Pathfinders Association and SSG (ret.) Jim
Peeler for their invaluable
assistance).
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