I was contacted by Mr. Brian T. Bilby of Advanced Combat Pistols (link), a gunsmith that works with 1911 pattern 10mm handguns and he had some interesting news. He is working on a concept he calls the "Pocket Rocket Compact Pistol". The Pocket Rocket uses a Commander slide and an Officers frame to create a compact powerhouse. Using Mr. Bilby's words, "This pistol offers a compact grip frame while still giving the slide and barrel length needed for reliability and proper bullet expansion. This gun will give you all the accuracy and reliability that you can buy anywhere, in a pistol this small." Mr. Bliby also has a small write up in Custom Combat Handguns Annual 1999. Mr. Bilby also creates a longslide 1911 in 10mm. Here are the features:

ADVANCE COMBAT PISTOLS
POCKET ROCKET and LONGSLIDE MODEL
Novak or Heinie rear sight & dovetail front
Kart match barrel hand fit & National match bushing fit, barrel throated and polished / Full length guide rod with Wolff recoil spring
Caspian extractor-Polished
Wilson or Brown beavertail / Wilson firing pin stop
Ed Brown tactical thumb safety & hammer
Flat or contoured mainspring housing / Mag well beveled
Mainspring housing & Frontstrap checkered or stippled
Videki trigger...trigger job of 4 to 4 1/2 pounds crisp
All edges dehorned with standard or matte blue finish
Ahrends double diamond grips / 2 Metalform magazines
Bagmaster case
**POCKET ROCKET w/ Commander length Caspian slide and frame handfit and lapped**
**LONGSLIDE w/ Caspian 6"barreled longslide and frame handfit and lapped**

The price will be $1295 for both the Pocket Rocket and Longslide models. Mr. Bilby will be working on 20 Pocket Rockets on a per order basis (he has finishsed 3 already). This sounds like a great idea and I will have a couple of pictures that Mr. Bliby is forwarding to me so we all can get a good look at it. The price also sounds very reasonable too. To contact Mr. Bilby for more information or to order, please click on the link above to be directed to his homepage.
(12/07/98)