Tanfoglio Gold Custom 9mm. Race Gun

Tanfoglio Gold Custom 9mm.

 Shooting Steel Challenge in the Open Division was something I've always wanted to do, but the cost of a competitive race gun combined with the cost of all the ammunition you need to shoot to be competitive had kept me in the Rimfire Open class. Now, thanks to Hans Wigger of Dutch Firearms Trading, I will be able to give the Open Division a go! Hans made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a used Tanfoglio Gold Custom 9mm. pistol that had been shot a lot and needed some new parts, but was still in very good condition. Getting it here from Holland was a challenge, but not at all where you would expect it to be challenging and difficult. The ATF folks were friendly and helpful for applying for the import permit. Once I got the import permit, an export permit was fairly straight-forward in Holland.

Once I had all of that paperwork taken care of, I figured it would be straight-forward to actually get it shipped to my local FFL to have it transferred to me. Boy, was I ever wrong! None of the major shippers such as UPS, FEDEX, DHL and some others would ship a pistol. I checked with the airlines that flew from Amsterdam to Seattle, such as Delta and a few others, including a freight only airline, and no luck. I finally had to hire a freight forwarder to coordinate the shipment, and that brought on a whole lot of folks with their hands out for a piece of the action, fee-wise.

After many months of frustration, I got notice that the package had finally arrived in Seattle, and I had to take the papers to Customs to get it cleared into the country. The Customs folks looked over the paperwork, and stamped it OK. It didn't take ten minutes, and it would have been even quicker if there hadn't been someone in line ahead of me.

From Customs I drove to the Continental Airlines air freight office and handed them the paperwork. They charged me another $35 handling fee, and then handed me the package. Finally it was here!

After getting home, I eagerly unpacked it and started to get it set up for left-handed use. I installed the standard ambidextrous safety, but with my small hands I couldn't reach the safety lever on the right side. I made a prototype safety lever for the right side of the gun that I could reach, and mounted it instead of the Tanfoglio part. That's the new one in the picture. By making it sit farther rearward and also lower, I could now reach it.

I just got back from the range after putting forty or fifty rounds of assorted/leftover 9mm. through it, and it's obvious that when they fixed it up for me they must have figured I was going to be running some heavy loads, as the only ammo that would regularly cycle the gun were some old bowling pin loads! I will put in a bit lighter spring, and then it should work just fine.

When I finally get this Gold Custom dialed in and the right load worked up, this is clearly going to be one sweet shooter!

I can hardly wait........