So, purely out of my interest in Tanfoglio and a large degree of

A blast from the past, but without the big bang
B
ack in the early to mid 90s I joined my local gun club and started pistol shooting. The club had a number
of .22 rim fire target pistols and a .9mm Mauser semi-automatic, which for all intents and purposes was
basically a Browning Hi power made under licence by Mauser. It didn’t take long to get the pistol shooting bug
and once I’d gone through my six month probationary period and become a full club member I immediately
applied for my Firearms Certificate (FAC). The discipline I was really interested in was practical pistol
[International Practical Pistol Confederation (IPSC)]. I’d read up on a number of pistols and decided my first
purchase was going to be a Glock 17, .9mm, or a Glock 23 .40SW because .40 calibre and above would score
‘major’, if competing against someone shooting a .9mm – bigger round, bigger hole, more points – simple.
So, purely out of my interest in Tanfoglio and a large degree of
curiosity I bought one, and I have to admit, it’s rather fun.
So, off I went to the gun shop with my new certificate. I’d applied for and been granted pistols in calibres .22,
.9mm, .40SW and .357 mag. Got to the shop, told the guys what I was after and what I wanted to use it for.
The guys in the shop said “the Glock’s good, but we have something better and we have it in .40SW”. The gun
that was placed on the counter was a Tanfoglio P40 Combat. I thought I’d done all my reading, but hadn’t
come across this Italian gun maker. Tanfoglio made a wide range of pistols in a number of calibres. Their build
and reliability was making them very popular with IPSC shooters. The Tanfoglio Gold Custom being the flag
ship model with a ported barrel and a drilled receiver for an optic rail to be fitted. This pistol was designed to
be used in the “IPSC Open Class”.
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A blast from the past, but without the big bang
Tanfoglio Gold Custom .38Super
Anyway, by the end of my shopping trip I didn’t walk out of the shop with the Glock that I’d gone into buy, but
with the Tanfoglio P40 Combat, and even though I had my heart set on the Glock and never regretted buying
my Tanfoglio. It was simply brilliant.
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A blast from the past, but without the big bang
IPSC shooting with my Tanfoglio P40 Combat.
It’s difficult to put into words the fun I had shooting IPSC over the next couple of years, but it’s safe to say that
I’ve done a lot of shooting over many years with all sorts of guns and nothing comes anywhere near to IPSC
pistol shooting; nothing. The speed of it, the noise of it, the smell of it and the camaraderie between the guys
taking part was just incredible. However, after the tragedy in Dunblane and the official enquiry, the Cullen
Report, two new firearm acts were passed which effectively made it illegal to privately own handguns here in
the UK. There was still the air pistol shooting, but it wasn’t quite the same. Just the noise alone, when taking
part in a course of fire inside a kill house with a .40SW and thinking the fillings in your teeth are going to come
lose every time you pulled the trigger can’t be replicated with air pistols.
A year, or so, ago. I saw something in a magazine that caught my eye. A company called Cybergun had made,
under licence from Tanfoglio, an exact replica of the Tanfoglio Gold Custom. This pistol was powered by CO2
and fired 4.5mm BBs. Now, there are all sorts of BB guns out there and I’ve never been interested in them at
all, but because this was a Tanfoglio I couldn’t help but read about it a bit more.
It was created to be used for training and to be used by shooters who take part in Action Air, AIPSC, which is
the airsoft version of practical pistol shooting. It’s an incredibly accurate replica of the gun used by Eric
Graufel, six time World Champion IPSC. Everything is the same as you would find on its centre fire
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A blast from the past, but without the big bang
counterpart. It weighs in the same, at a fraction under 3lb. The magazine capacity is only 18 rounds, which is
low for an airsoft gun, but the centre fire gun holds 18 rounds, so to be an accurate training platform the
airsoft version holds the same. Something else that I thought was great is that all the original gun equipment
will fit the replica, e.g., mag pouches, holster, anyone using this as an IPSC training aid doesn’t have to buy
additional equipment and because it is identical to the real gun you can add all the customer parts like thumb
rests, optics, grips, even the trigger can be changed to match your competition gun. This all equates to
maximum training time for someone competing at the highest level because their airsoft version can replicate
the comp. gun in every way. So, purely out of my interest in Tanfoglio and a large degree of curiosity I bought
one, and I have to admit, it’s rather fun.
Tanfoglio Gold Custom
The attention to detail is exceptional and, unlike, many airsoft pistols, this is a full metal version. Even the
grips are metal, the magazine is all metal and full size, the safety catch is ambidextrous, as per the centre fire
version. The extended slide racker is positioned on the right hand side, which is ideal for me because I’m left
handed, but can be switched to the other side if required. This will cause a problem when stripping the gun
because the scope rail is mounted to the receiver on the left hand side and the slide racker will have to be
removed before the slide can be taken off. The trigger has a very crisp pull and the action cycles very smoothly
when firing. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t bark and kick like my .40 cal used to.
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A blast from the past, but without the big bang
Practical pistol shooting with full bore centre fire pistols is a thing of the past here in the UK, but I might just
be tempted to fit my Tanfoglio Gold Custom with a tasty red dot optic, look for a club that shoots AIPSC and
have a bit of a go.
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