Travis Haley knows what freedom costs, and he shares what it means to him:
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This is a gear-related web site, devoted to helping other thrifty tacticians find deals on the gear they need or want. I refrain as much as possible from bringing politics or my personal views onto the site. However, with current events in mind, I feel it pertinent to share my stance on freedom, liberty, and patriotism.
I posted the following letter last week on my personal page. You see, I wasn’t always a cop. I spent the first half of my professional career teaching English at the collegiate level. (Yes, I have English degrees in addition to my CJ degree. Yes, it’s weird.) Spending so many years in higher education provided countless benefits to my transition to law enforcement: removing my naive closed-mindedness; exposing me to other cultures and backgrounds; expanding my knowledge of social movements, beliefs, and subcultures; and providing me the time to study the writings and teachings of countless brilliant thinkers. As you might imagine, many of my fellow students and instructors were politically liberal, and they often supported as many civil rights movements and causes as you could imagine. I agreed with them more times than not. However, I now realize that we differ on a few critical points:
Dear Facebook friends,
Many of us stand side-by-side when we speak of equality, fairness, due process, free speech, religious freedom. We champion the same causes and fight for high ideals. However, when it comes to my right to bear arms, the majority of you abandon me. Many of you hide, remain silent. Others of you, indeed, become the very persons attacking my gun rights.
It amazes me that you ridicule closed-mindedness, fear, even hate and bigotry, when we speak of marriage equality or censorship, but many of you display similar hate, fear, and closed-mindedness when it comes to my right to own firearms. You’ll say gay marriage won’t kill anyone, my gun is too dangerous. But those against gay marriage say it will kill the sanctity of traditional marriage, that it’s dangerous to the fabric of our society. True, guns can cause physical death, rather than the death of an ideal. I guess that’s how you rationalize your behavior. Guns ARE dangerous—that’s why I own them. I don’t hunt. I don’t compete in shooting competitions. Their threat of deadly force is what I use to stop others from harming me or anyone else.
I am not conservative. I am not liberal. I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am not gay. I am not religious in any sense of the word. But I would die if necessary to defend your right to be. I would die if necessary to defend my right NOT to be.
Finally, I have come to the conclusion that I am a Patriot. Not in the ethnocentric, xenophobic I-hate-everyone-else sense of the term. Not in the I-love-the-government-and-its-politicians sense. I am a Patriot because I believe in liberty and freedom, not just for those people who share my beliefs or ideas, but for everyone—just like it’s written in the Constitution. True, many of my fellow Second Amendment supporters prove themselves closed-minded or hateful when discussing other issues, such as gay marriage, abortion, immigration. I could go on. Unlike them, and many of you, I will defend EVERYONE’S liberties, whether I agree with them or not. The Constitution and its amendments guarantee us all certain, inalienable rights—I took an oath to defend these rights. Not because of the shiny badge I got to wear, nor the money the department would pay me, nor the benefits the city offered. I swore that oath because it was right. Because I believe in it. Because the government proposed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be the greatest ever created.
You might actually succeed in regulating my right to bear arms as if it were a privilege. You might even amend the Constitution to completely remove the right to bear arms. But know that I will STILL defend your rights, even giving my life if necessary. If it comes to such an extreme, I just won’t be prepared for the fight.
To poorly paraphrase Tolkien—and reveal my English teacher roots—I do not love the flat-black rifle with its 30-round magazine for its effectiveness, nor the copper-colored hollow-point it fires for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.
And defend it I will.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Pruett
Patriot
In December, I was lucky enough to snag one of a small prototype run of compact Timberwolf frames by Lone Wolf Distributors. A replacement f
rame for Gen3 Glock 19s and 23s, the Timberwolf frame features a reduced backstrap, undercut trigger guard, modified finger grooves, and a picatinny accessory rail on the dust cover. At $100 shipped for the prototype run, it was a steal.
I then went shopping for parts, and found a used G23 upper with lower parts kit for only $233. After selling the .40 barrel and snagging a threaded 9mm conversion barrel by Lone Wolf, I was finally ready to ignite some rounds with my new blaster.
20-degree weather and snow probably isn’t the ideal test-firing session, but I got 150 rounds through Pauline, my TWOLF, before needing to thaw out. I experienced three failures to eject, which I attribute to slightly under-powered 124-grain Aguila ammo and running the .40 extractor with a 9mm ejector. In any case, I need to swap the extractor and run more rounds through her. (Lone Wolf notes the possibility of FTEs on their web site, which they attribute to under-powered ammo and heavier barrels–the conversion barrel is thicker than a stock barrel, which saps energy from weak rounds.)
Besides the FTEs, the Timberwolf was a pleasure to shoot. We were shooting steel plates at about 15 yards, and Pauline hit everything, as long as I did my part. The improved ergonomics of the frame, however, were the highlight. 
First, the reduced backstrap fits my hand and provides a more natural point of aim for me compared to a stock Gen3. I initially tried the flat backstrap that came with the frame, but soon switched to the arched. The flat backstrap was just too flat. With the arched piece in place, though, Pauline felt like a blend of M&P and XD–a sexy semblance of 1911-ish polymer. And the mild finger grooves actually fit my fingers! Much less prominent than a stock Gen3’s, the finger grooves on the Timberwolf frame are wide and textured in serrations and checkering. Combined with the undercut trigger guard, I can get the high grip that I prefer but not feel like my fingers are cramped by the grooves. Since I wore gloves for this shoot, I can’t report on the rough spot under the trigger guard which I noted in the write-up of my brother’s TWOLF build. More on that when I shoot gloveless. 
The magazine release of the Timberwolf is also one of my favorite features. It’s large and slightly extended, allowing me to hit it without having to change my grip even half as much as I do with a stock release. It drops the mags freely and allows for a fast reload. But it’s not so big that my bear mitts bump it by mistake.
Recoil was very manageable, and while it didn’t seem significantly different from a stock frame, the higher grip the TWOLF frame allows brought me back on target a little quicker. And the beavertail will probably prevent any slide-bite for you chubby-pawed shooters.
My only real complaint with the frame is its texturing. The TWOLF’s frame is only a bit more aggressive than a Gen3’s, and I like my frames to be grippy. I mean, I thought the RTF2 frame was perfect, so the TWOLF frame left me a little disappointed. I find the texture to be in-between a Gen3 and Gen4 in terms of aggressiveness. That being said, I fixed the problem with universal grip decals made by my buddy at Tractiongrips.com. I simply cut them to fit and applied them. Voila! A grippy gun. The wool mitten I wore on my support hand probably didn’t help matters, but I prefer the grip decals over the TWOLF’s bare frame, for sure.
Next, I’ll be sharing a step-by-step guide to my TWOLF build, and I’ll be throwing more rounds through Pauline this weekend. This time, I’ll try an actual 9mm extractor and see if that helps.
It’s easy to have all the coolest or tacticoolest gear when your wallet’s fat with Grants, but at Thrift Store Tactical, it’s all about being tactical on the cheap. If you’re a sheepdog with more bills than paycheck, you know what I’m talking about.
Thrift Store Tactical is all about finding deals on quality kit, or making quality kit out of deals. If you can’t drop C-notes every day on the latest and greatest gear, then maybe we can find ways to make the gear you do have as effective as possible.
TST 