Before the ban, I had a Pardini free pistol which I bought new, with a mechanical trigger. Perhaps not the best available then, but as a left-handed shooter 2nd-hand free pistols were almost as rare then as they are now, and it was the only new free pistol I could afford. I of course lost it in Jan 1998.

Eventually, when the manufacturers produced free pistols conforming to the current regulations re length, I bought (again new) an electronic Morini. Unfortunately, about 20% of the time it failed to fire. This turned out to be due to the in-built safety, which on that model required your finger to be in a particular position (not just release the trigger) in order for the shot to fire. Whether this was because I'm left-handed, or cack-handed, I don't know, but I wasn't happy with this failure to function, and so it went back.

Finally (a few months ago) I got hold of a 2nd-hand SAM 60 free pistol, with a right-hand grip. This is a mechanical pistol, which goes bang every time when you press the trigger--no nonsense about safeties. I ordered and fitted a Rink left-hand grip, which is very nice, and though it is early days, I'm really enjoying shooting free pistol again. After a gap of 16 years, I've got my favourite shooting discipline back!

The SAM has two extender bars above the grip, pointing towards the shooter (as all these free pistols now available in the UK seem to do). In common with the Morini I owned so briefly, these act as giant tuning forks when the shot is fired, vibrating in a most disconcerting way. I've dealt with this in two ways: first, by using string to put a loop around the ends of the extender bars, pulling them slightly toward each other. This cuts out quite a bit of the vibration. The second step has been to cut bits off a large pencil eraser, and insert them into the gaps between the bars and the grip; this really eliminates the remaining vibration. The result is a pistol which does not twang, and actually balances better (less front-heavy) than my old Pardini.

David.