After seeing the release of their latest One-of-A-Kind product made from an actual meteorite, I decided to do some research and find out more about the Cabot Gun company. This article is a quick overview of their manufacturing capabilities and a description of the products they have made out of the meteorite so far.
Cabot Guns makes extremely high quality collector grade pistols. They are an offshoot of an aerospace company that started the project as a moral booster for their engineers during the recession. The team behind Cabot Guns is comprised of Ed Strange-owner of Wicked Grips, Tom Peirce-architect and designer, KC Crawford-expert Bullseye Pistolsmith, Gunny Zins-retired Marine & 10 time NRA Pistol champion, John McNally-5 time Olympic Speed Shooter, and I would bet a small army of drafters and machinists and assemblers that get to remain anonymous. The end product created with their tools and expertise turned into a very popular product, which allowed them to bring an entire line of 1911's to the market.
Their gunsmiths take precision craftsmanship and high tech machining to an entirely new level, and have been producing championship winning pistols since 2011. It takes four months to build each one of their pistols, and they brag about the fact that each step of the process is done the absolute best way possible regardless of cost. The description of their process explains it all:
At Cabot, we know that how you build something changes the essence of how it works. Which is why we’re control freaks who have spared no effort or expense when it comes to each and every phase of the design and manufacture of our 1911 pistols from the ultrasonic testing of the raw materials down to the striping on the finish. And we don’t just do it because we love it. We do it because nobody else can.
Components
Cabot's internals are what make the guns collectable. By precision machining and grinding frames instead of casting and hand polishing they can produce products that are above the rest. They describe the main component as the "Ultimate Receiver", and put extra effort into the tolerances of their frames and slides. After reading all the precision work that goes into creating them, it does put them in a class above the standard mass produced pistol.
A Cabot Frame involves an array of state of the art technology. CNC Machining technology allows for accuracy in the 1,000’s of an inch. CNC Grinding technology, both surface and jig modalities, takes precision to another level where tolerances are controlled to the millions of an inch. Our grinders, many of which are trained at our accredited school (LIGHT – Learning Institute for the Growth of High Technology) grind our slides to exacting standards. The hand art of our frames is now involved. We employ Hand Metal Polishers, who work diligently under microscopes over hours of painstaking detail. Lastly, our bluing is done in our own bluing facility we constructed so we could control the process from beginning to end. Control freaks? Perhaps. Perfectionists, to be sure.
The guarantee describes their attention to detail.
At Cabot Guns, we believe the only guarantees worth while are those that are verifiable and can be independently validated every time. Cabot frames and slides which feature Clone Technology™ extreme precision fit of our frames and slides is 0.001 inches. That’s 0.0005 inches(5/10,00th of an inch) on each side of the frame and slide. And those tolerances do not vary by more than 2/10,000th of an inch. To show this, we produce a Dimensional Analysis Report created on a Coordinate Measuring Machine accurate to 40,000,000th of an inch.
The fact is no other gun manufacturer can build what we build the way we build it and the proof is in our tolerances — we guarantee our Collector Class pistol fit between our frames and slides is exactly 0.001 inches or less. And we can provide optional documentation with your collector grade gun purchase to prove it.
Cabot Guns Dimensional Analysis Tolerance Report
Their base model line of 1911's is called the National Standard, named so because they are aiming to create a new standard for quality in the industry. They start at $3,300 and there is a wait list for the limited editions. Their top of the line models and special projects are One-of-A-Kind, and are appropriately named The OAK Collection. As you can imagine, theses pistols are highly sought after and sell quickly.
Ted Nugent appears to be very happy with his pair, called The Left and The Right.
Presentation
Their promo videos are also over the top with spectacular footage set to sounds reminiscent of a 007 musical score.
With a little luck these videos could turn even the most ardent activist into a secret admirer.
The Cosmos Meteorite Grip 1911
One of Cabot's first experiments with meteorite metal was the Cosmos Meteorite Grip 1911. They started with their National Standard 1911 mode that starts at $11,500, lowered and flared the ejection port, and added the custom meteorite grips. Due to its intriguing description and unique look, it sold immediately.
Immediately the eye is drawn rearward, to grips the likes of which this earth has never seen. Meticulously formed of the remnants of a shooting star, the Gibeon Meteorite, the pattern within cannot adequately be described in prose. It has a name, “the Widmanstätten pattern,” which attempts to quantify in words the out-of-this-world interleaving of kamacite and taenite into bands termed “lamelle.” Found nowhere but in the structure of octahedrite iron or pallasite meteorites, their design has only ever been formed in the depths of space and time. Cabot Guns captures that interstellar beauty and wraps it artfully around the Cosmos.
The Big Bang Knife
One of their side experiments using meteorite metal was the creation of a tungsten carbide knife. This metal is usually reserved for machine tool bits and is extremely hard to work with, so of course it should include a handle made from an even more exotic metal. To accomplish this Cabot partnered with Turmond s.p.a, a company in Northern Italy run by second generation artisans who specialize in tungsten carbide products.
Designing a tungsten carbide knife is an extremely difficult challenge where certain geometry needs to be respected. Our vision in crafting the Big Bang Knife was to create an elegant, stylish knife while avoiding the temptation to overdesign the blade.
Another design challenge was to incorporate elements related to Cabot’s Big Bang meteorite pistol set for which this knife would be a related object of art. The initial concept was to employ the letter M denoting meteorite within the design of the knife but after further contemplation, we settled on the double (BB), one bigger one smaller – Big Bang.
With the basic elements of the Big bang knife designed, we all knew something special was in the midst of creation, even if it was just a profile at this point. The real magic of fine tuning the design would take place during the grinding operations. Tungsten carbide, after sintering, is a hard material that can only be shaped using diamond grinding wheels. It cannot be easily cut or shaped as you can with steel.
The Big Bang Pistol Set
The next project is the most stunning of all, a pair of 1911 pistols milled from an actual meteorite. Just finding a solid metal meteorite is rare, being able to machine it to these specifications is astonishing. They located a 77 pound meteorite made of iron-nickel alloy in Gibeon, Namibia and began the project in 2015. Once again, their description is exciting:
After billions of years of travel, a meteorite hurtled to earth in Gibeon, Namibia during earth’s pre-historic times. Unknown to western civilization until the early 1800’s, pieces were used by the ancient Nama people in the construction of tools and weapons. In 2015, its destiny not yet fulfilled, the hands of Cabot Guns’ master craftsman wrapped around a 77-pound piece of unshapen material and so began a transformation. We too, like the men of yore, saw in it the potential to shape earthly perfection from materials of the cosmos.
Never before has such precision been applied to the making of a meteorite weapon. Kings, Pharaohs, and conquerors have historically carried for both ceremonial and practical purposes, weapons of unmatched construction and aesthetic appeal. So to now may a modern sovereign carry at their sides and in their hands a weapon with no earthly equal.
The description of the creation process is detailed and interesting due to the effort the craftsmen put into making the pistols from as much of the meteorite metal as possible. They added support only to the important mechanical surfaces of the frame and slide rails, hammer, guide rod, and extractor. With the exception of using their National Match barrel, the rest of the pistols components down to the barrel bushing and trigger, are 100% Gibeon meteorite.
Different finishing techniques highlight the diversity of the material from which we extracted these weapons. High polish flats on the grips, natural patterning on the slide and frame (acid etched to accentuate the supernatural texture of the meteors internal structure), and elsewhere intact outer-edges of the meteorite that survived the heat and violence of atmospheric entry – all come together to bring skyward-turned eyes back to earth, to gaze in breathless amazement.
Revealed in 2016
The promo video detailing the construction of the pistols is very interesting, and leaves you wanting to see a longer documentary version. It quickly shows the cutting of the meteorite, several machining steps used in the construction, and a few of the completed parts.
The Big Bang Pistols and Knife were revealed at the NRA annual meeting 2016. The video of the the light hitting the unique finishes and crystalline pattern in the finished material is worth a look.
The collection will be put up for auction once there is enough interest, the auction starts at $4.5 million dollars. More of their amazing One-of-A-Kind Collection of products can be seen at http://cabotgun.com/oak-collection/