Every now and then, even those of us who make our living with words are rendered speechless. I offer you the press release:
Cabot, PA
January 29, 2014
Pennsylvania based Cabot Guns transforms the 1911 into a work of fine art depicting the great American debate of gun control on a mirror image set of left and right hand pistols featuring President Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, Piers Morgan and Ted Nugent.
A mirror image set of 1911 style pistols featuring artistic renderings of President Barrack Obama and Piers Morgan was displayed earlier this month at SHOT, the world’s largest consumer firearms tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV. The pistol set is named “The Left and the Right.”
Cabot Guns crafted this rare left and right-handed set of iconic 1911s over the last year. The pair are true mirror images of one another with the exception of the images on the handles. The grips of the right-hand gun depict President George W. Bush on one panel and Ted Nugent on the other while the left-hand pistol grips feature President Barack Obama and Piers Morgan. The pistol set illustrates elements of a great American debate on firearms. Fine art Scrimshander, Darrel Morris, was commissioned to carefully handcraft the art on each grip.
Cabot Guns President and Gun Designer Rob Bianchin had been contemplating the project for some time and wanted to use scrimshaw to detail the work. “As the guns are positioned in opposite directions, the grips show President Barack Obama facing to the left while President George W. Bush faces right,” said Bianchin. “While oriented towards one another, the right-hand pistol depicts Ted Nugent and the left-hand gun depicts Piers Morgan, representing the great ongoing debate in 2013.”
Nugent viewed the pistols during their exhibition at SHOT and described the work of Cabot Guns as ballistic art. “Cabot Guns treads the line between firearms and art. The medium of our art is our guns,” added Bianchin.
“The art of scrimshaw – engraving on bone or ivory – dates back to the 1700s,” noted Bianchin. “And the detail in Darrel Morris’ scrimshaw work is just fantastic.” Morris explained the process of scrimshaw; “Scrimshaw works are created by punching tens of thousands of tiny holes in the surface of the ivory and filling them with black oil paint. This technique takes hours and hours of meticulous labor, but it makes it possible to achieve very delicate gradations of tone resulting in incredibly lifelike images.”
It should be noted that the Cabot left and right pistol sets are true mirror image pistols. The left-handed pistol is built from the ground up from a block of billet steel; it is not a converted right-handed pistol. Not only is the ejection port engineered to the left, but all small controls have been inverted. Even the rifling in the barrel has been reversed.
A three-year-old start-up, Cabot Gun Company is based in the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania. Cabot utilizes Penn United Technologies Inc. to produce its 1911s. Penn United Technologies is a world-renowned manufacturer of precision components for aerospace, nuclear, and other industries requiring precision manufacturing. “Each Cabot represents the work of over 70 of America’s finest engineers, tool makers and master craftsmen,” added Bianchin. “Our objective is to build an important and enduring American brand,demonstrating how the finest products in the world are built right here in America.”
Cabot Guns was launched in 2011. In a short time, the company has won two consecutive NRA National Pistol Championships. The Cabot 1911 has been described as “the Rolls Royce of 1911’s” by S.P. Fjestad, Author and Editor of the “Blue Book of Gun Values.
Media Contact: Robert Bianchin, (724) 524-1002 or robbianchin@gmail.com
For additional information on Cabot Guns please visit http://www.cabotguns.com. For information on Scrimshaw artist Darrel Morris visit http://darrelmorris.fineartstudioonline.com/
Respectfully,
Robert A. Bianchin, President
1-855-THE-1911
While I’ve never shot a Cabot 1911, they have earned high praise among those who are experienced with them.
I worry that my left-handed friends in the gun owners’ civil rights movement might take the Obama/Morgan version as an insult. Perhaps they can come to terms with it by picturing each of their grip panels shedding a tear every time they press the trigger.
Personally, I’ve only met two of the four men depicted, and I respect them both: I’d be proud to own a pistol bearing President Bush’s image or Ted Nugent’s.
But there’s a reason why I should have the one with the pictures of the two of those men I haven’t met. Being right-handed, it occurs to me that I should buy the left-handed one with the pictures of President Obama and Piers Morgan…install an ambidextrous safety since I’m right-handed…and enter a quick draw contest.
In theory, I should have an advantage, since any self-respecting holster would want that pistol to be gone from it sooner.
The left handed pistol should have been a large rape whistle instead.
Very interesting set… And it would take a truly ambidextrous to actually USE them… 🙂
I believe I’d find a nicer set of grips for the left hand gun.
That seems like an awfully expensive “throw down” gun!
Any chance they could make a left-handed 1911 without Obama’s face on it next time? Or perhaps put the face of a famous left-handed shooter on it?
Martin and Travis FTW!
IMHO, one’s a waste of a perfectly good 1911.
TXCOMT
What has Obama done that’s against gun rights? I hear him demonized but know of no legislation that would restrict gun ownership. He actually signed bills that expanded carry.
If they positioned Piers a bit higher I might of considered it. I’ve been wanting to get my hands round his throat for years! 😉 Still you guys have him over there now. Millions of us are praying the sack of oxen offal never returns. Oh, and if you want any more lefty idiots we can send them in bulk!
The left handed gun seems such a terrible waste of labor and materials. It would be nice if the likenesses portrayed on those grips were as easily replaced as the grips themselves.
Well… we can think of it this way: what must Barak and Piers think of their images being on a pistol (or more, on an AR)? From their perspectives – maybe I like it after all 🙂
I am a left handed shooter but you couldn’t pay me to even hold the left handed pistol. What self-respecting gun owner would even consider owning one. What were they thinking!
The left hand pistol should be made to fire backwards!
Cavalier, you’re new here in more ways than one. Please research your topic and get back to us.
“In theory, I should have an advantage, since any self-respecting holster would want that pistol to be gone from it sooner.”
🙂
Funnier than anything I’ve heard on SNL in years (yes, I know – doesn’t say much…).
While I firmly believe Moses Browning to have been a true genius and his 1911 and Browning High Power are my two favorite pistols, I wouldn’t buy this set if I hit the lottery because I can’t stand any of the four clowns on the grips. What a terrible way to deface beautiful works of art.
You’re an evil, evil man, Mr. Ayoob, leading a poor woman into such temptation. I’d never heard of Cabot Guns, but I went to have a look at their other pistols after reading this post. It’s a good thing .45 ACP kills my wrist and hands these days, otherwise I’d seriously consider killing my savings account to buy their Black Diamond. I very seldom drool over a firearm, but I had to wipe down my keyboard after looking at that!
They do appear to be exact mirror images, but I have it on good authority from the pro-celeb at the booth that the left one”:
* CAN be bought with food stamps, but
only holds 3 rounds, and
doesn’t work. (tongue in cheek, of course).
But my God; absolutely artful work on both !
Now Mas, you have truly stomped upon my heart with this one. I was planning on buying the set and wearing them to your next class. So much for that plan.
I do have reservations about guns which are “too pretty to shoot,” but darn are these handsome pistols!
next project should consider a WWII theme including Hitler ……….
Cabot also did a special 1911 for Criminal Minds Agent Rossi.
http://twitchy.com/2014/01/30/now-that-is-sweet-actor-joe-mantegna-scores-swoons-with-new-criminal-minds-gun-pic/
cavalier @January 30th, 2014: What has Obama done that’s against gun rights?
Obama was a director of the virulently anti-gun-rights Joyce Foundation from 1994 until 2002. He was thus complicit in the Foundation’s anti-gun-rights propaganda campaign. Also, he was an Illinois state senator for much of this period, and presumably voted consistently against gun rights
Not exact mirror images of the firearms. They should have had the inscriptions and engravings backwards on the left. The ideas of the left are backwards.
Not that I could ever be able to afford one of these, I do see it as a slap in the face to us southpaw shooters. After a lifetime of having to wait sometimes months for back-ordered left-hand holsters for popular handguns and having to deal with right- hand controls on semi-autos, they finally make a true left-hand 1911, and feel the need to make a political statement by putting the likenesses of two people who are repugnant to gun owners on the weapon.
I did see you can buy it as a stand-alone with plain grips, but at $5,750.00 a pop I’m priced out of the market.
It would be nice if other 1911 manufacturers would come out with a more affordable clone, but guessing this is probably proprietary as Cabot is first to do this.
Randall Firearms introduced the first mirror image 1911 many years ago. It was not a commercial success. Once you put an ambidextrous thumb safety on it, the conventional 1911 is very southpaw-friendly.
Mas, I’ve tried several ambi-safeties and presently have a Colt factory offering on my ’70 series, but have never been able to work the slack in the engagement out of them.
Not a problem when taking it off safety, but necessitating using my right to reach over and pulling up on the left side to ensure it is fully engaged and secured in the detent when re-engaging. Suggestions?
Dennis, try the ambi units from Cylinder & Slide or Ed Brown Custom. I’ve never had a problem with either.
Mas…one question for ya totally unrelated to this post; you didn’t happen to be an expert witness on the recent grand jury case of Fort Worth PD Officer R.A. Hoeppner, did you? As you may know, the officer was no-billed after it found he shot and killed an armed homeowner in self-defense.
What interested me was the forensic team couldn’t positively say the rounds that killed the homeowner were fired from Hoeppner’s Glock 22 duty pistol. Regardless, as the other responding officer hadn’t fired, as well as magazine round count and Hoeppner’s admission, there was no question about the weapon involved.
Sorry to derail the thread!
TX, I wasn’t called for that one.
Got it; thanks for the quick reply and keep up the good work!
Finally, modern art that I can appreciate. But who would buy those impractical beauties?
I like to carry two handguns at the same time, and I do practice left-handed shooting with all my guns. If I wear a heavy pistol on one hip, my back starts to complain, so I wear two for balance. Charter Arms makes a left-handed snub-nose revolver I’d like to purchase some day. Obviously we want to practice reloading our single pistols quickly. But, if we have two, and get in a fight, we can empty first pistol, drop it and grab the second one. I think that’s called a “New York re-load.”
cavalier, Others were wise enough to dance around your post but I am really wondering what you think. Was this a rhetorical question to stir the pot? Do you honestly, truly believe that Obama has not worked to remove our gun rights? Where do you get your news? Do you read? The President cannot according to the Constitution originate a bill. That has to be done in Congress. Obamacare should not be called Obamacare because Obama did not write the bill, He asked others in Congress to. The same is true with recent attempts to control our free use of guns. He has requested a bill but thankfully nothing made it through congress. His Administration (those people that he selected and placed) Have worked feverishly to limit and even terminate our gun rights at his request. Come, let us reason. What do you think that Obama has done to keep our gun rights? Help me out here and educate me on your views of the situation.
A little before the ’08 presidential elections, as the writing was already on the wall, I quit watching TV and decided to bury my head in the sand, ostrich-like, until the nightmare was over. No national news for me – weather and big news items from the internet only. I was hoping for 4 years of that, but the country is clearly in a worse shape (percentage of mentally-challenged) than I thought.
All this to say that there is no way in hell I’d put that face on anything I own, and especially not on a GUN! Cabot makes impressive 1911s, but I don’t know what those special editions are all about. At least they had the good taste and sense to do this on something as removable as grips.
I didn’t vote for either Bush or Obama, and in hindsight, still wouldn’t. One side wants to take away my ability to defend myself, the other side wants to take away my right to my own body. To me, that’s a wash. Waste of a gun in my opinion.
Wait: why insult a venerable 1911 with that SOBs anti gun faces??? I’d rather have the Ted Nugent + Bush pistol, and the face of the other two printed in a target…
What a loss of artist time and materials.
Except for that, these are very very nice pistols. But the leftist one deserve better grips. A Pachmayr or Hogue, maybe?