[pony up]

I seem to get a surge of my hand gun jones when I am in Maine and my FFL is 1800 miles away. Can't explain it other than all the woods, fields and streams and ponds and the great wide ocean at about 34* fires up all on my wonderful feelings of young life in the Maine outdoors. Florida for me is about hiding from the sun next to the AC until we return north to mother nature as she was before the last round of Global warming. Anyway one afternoon as I was doing my monthly maintenance of the collection it occurred to me that should a BG give me no choice while I was carrying one of my prized 5K pieces I was very likely to never see it again. Unable to remedy that from here in Maine I called my FFL in Florida and he set aside a .45 XDs for me to pick up when we returned. I had never seen one until I picked it up. We walked back into the range ran the target holder back about 10 yards and I promptly relived the first time I fired the grease gun the USMC gave me in 2nd Force Recon Co. It was fun and I expected then to be spraying .45 caliber slugs stitching into the sky. I had no such expectations when I stitched the roof of the range. I would not have gotten more attention if I was Kim K. shooting in the buff. On the positive side it thinned the crowd. It was very disappointing that my FFL, his range officer nor I could repeat the fun. Anyway, Springfield did no charge rebuilds on all of them as I was not the only thrill ride passenger. My FFL gave me a real discount on the 9MM to hold me over and I started shopping for the DW ECO carry gun. I have not been able to over deliver with the 9 but I have tried. It and the rebuilt .45 have been very dependable and surprisingly accurate for stone age ignition system tiny handguns but I would not recommend one unless ones financial situation demanded it. It is easy to disassemble, has good sights but I believe the designer either flunked freshman geometry or has very strangely shaped hands. Of note, the DW ECO is as fine a shooter and is as dependable as any of my 4 to 5K pistols and I carry it because it is the one I trust the most and shoot the best in quick reaction situations. I paid $1250 for it over a year ago as it is a Blemish.. I think I found the blemish after about 2 weeks of looking. I could be wrong. I would recommend this carry gun to anyone in either caliber.