hitman Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 (edited) KJW M9 Military: Man with the Golden Gun Review Article by Twin_cam Pictures brought to you by Hitman This build began life as a lowly KJW m9 military model. The owner of the gun is one of the moderator’s on Filairsoft. He initially approached me with the idea of building two guns a la Face Off complete with wood display case. After much deliberation, it was decided to turn this Kwan Ju into something really special. The plans called for a full presentation grade general officer’s pistol. The gun would be fully engraved with custom touches to reflect the owner’s family pride. In addition to being a presentation piece, one of the basic requirements was that it be fully functional and skirmish ready if need be. First thing on the agenda was to do the performance work and install the upgrade parts before the commencement of cosmetic work. Aside from tuning, failure prone springs and other vital components in the hammer assembly were replaced with fabricated reinforced versions. The inner barrel was swapped out in favor of a tanio koba “koba twist” m9 barrel. After installing the barrel, all air leaks were sealed and gas flow optimized from magazine to barrel. In short, all necessary tuning was performed before tearing the gun apart once more. Since the KJW metal m9s commonly seen in the Philippines have been known to break on toyjack gas, I took care in making sure that the slide cycle was as smooth as I could make it to keep the slide from shifting while cycling. What followed was a complete teardown of the original gun so that all body parts could be stripped of their finish and polished. This process alone took a few days to get completely done. Once it was finished, I now had a stainless finish M9. Nice, but not what we were after. The call then went out to the engraver. Engraving is a bit of a lost art in the Philippines, and there are very few who are recognized as masters of the art. Constantino Petere was kind enough to answer the call. It’s not well known except among jewelers, but this man was responsible for the bulk of engraved jewelry in Imelda Marcos’ collection. After suffering from a stroke, Constantino was unable to work for many months, but eventually recovered. He no longer accepts work for ornate engravings, but he was kind enough to do me this favor. The owner of this gun only made one request. He wished the gun to be as ornate as possible. I decided on using an American style as the basis of this gun’s engravings. After viewing samples, Mr. Petere began the weeks of engraving to complete the general officer’s pistol. After engraving was finished, the gun went to the finisher for plating in 24k gold. A few days with the electroplater later, the newly plated parts emerged. When I took them out of the protective cloth wrap, it was like a scene from Indiana Jones. The gun gleamed in the sunlight and it was now time to reassemble the finished piece. Some portions of the gun not visual to the casual observer had to be sanded in order for all the components to fit properly, but the finish is intact on all external surfaces. Once, assembled, I tested the gun the gun for both performance and function and was satisfied with the way it functioned on 134a and green gas. My only suggestion was to change more internal components for more respectable fps. The hammer and recoil spring were still a weak point for me. I would have preferred hidakaya, but we were already over budget with all the handwork that went into the gun. I just told myself that this was largely a display piece. The left side of the slide bears the surname of the owner’s grandfather along with the owner’s DOB as a serial number. The right side of the frame has the name of my shop: R. Ballesteros Customs. I only have two shots of the gun that were taken by Hitman when I was showing the gun to my friends at Airsoft Warehouse in Manila. I regret not taking more pictures, but you can see from the two that I have that a great deal of work went into this very special M9. Thanks for reading. Edited May 25, 2005 by hitman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rhino Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 May i be the first to congratulate you sir on an extraordinarily beautiful weapon! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 May i be the first to congratulate you sir on an extraordinarily beautiful weapon! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thank you, kind sir. Much blood, sweat, and tears went into producing that pistol. The next, and quite possibly the last, presentation grade pistol will be for Hitman, this time it will be western arms AND 1911 based. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PlasticMag Posted May 25, 2005 Report Share Posted May 25, 2005 Give it wood Beretta grips, and you're all set! That is the best looking M92 I have ever seen! Very very nice custom work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DarkLite Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blitz Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 how much did it cost to get that coated? is it FULL gold or just 9 carrot? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snowman Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 (edited) >> plating in 24k gold It's remarkable, but did you REALLY leave the KJW grips on? Even if you didn't want wood, some genuine Beretta logo'd ones would have looked much better. Still, that's easily addressed and the real work is in the frame and slide, which (as I said, but will say again) are remarkable! BTW, what's the barrel like? Plain gold? Cheers. Edited May 26, 2005 by snowman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
McMadkat Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 That is incredible! I want one! That beats H_M V12 anyday! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
5thElement Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 wow, very impressive! looks beautiful. How much do you reckon all the work cost? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 >> plating in 24k gold It's remarkable, but did you REALLY leave the KJW grips on? Even if you didn't want wood, some genuine Beretta logo'd ones would have looked much better. Still, that's easily addressed and the real work is in the frame and slide, which (as I said, but will say again) are remarkable! BTW, what's the barrel like? Plain gold? Cheers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The top of the barrel is also engraved similar to what you see on the frame. The owner will be changing the grips later as we had already gone over budget. I haven't seen the gun since I built it, so I'm not sure what grips he ultimately replaced them with Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 wow, very impressive! looks beautiful. How much do you reckon all the work cost? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> In consideration of the owner, I won't comment on the cost. I'll just say you could have bought more m9s with the money he spent on the project Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rhino Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 I would defo suggest getting insurance out on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 quote: The call then went out to the engraver. Engraving is a bit of a lost art in the Philippines, and there are very few who are recognized as masters of the art. Constantino Petere was kind enough to answer the call. It’s not well known except among jewelers, but this man was responsible for the bulk of engraved jewelry in Imelda Marcos’ collection. After suffering from a stroke, Constantino was unable to work for many months, but eventually recovered. He no longer accepts work for ornate engravings, but he was kind enough to do me this favor. I have to apologize to Mr Petere. After talking to my wife, she corrected me. His full name is Constancio "Nonoy" Petere. He's my brother in law's godfather and a good friend of my father in law, so it wouldn't be good to let this go uncorrected. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 I would defo suggest getting insurance out on it. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He lives in a drug lord style compound with armed guards and sleeps with a real 9mm. I don't think theft is much of a concern for him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rhino Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 Ah, well when you put it like that... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spedz Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 (edited) i want that i want that!!! no wheere i could do that in the uk? Edited May 26, 2005 by spedz_fx Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 where did you get that done and how much and...... i want that done on my glock ¬¬ <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Can't tell you how much. I built it while I was still working in the Philippines. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
snowman Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 You COULD do it in the UK - But it'd cost a fortune, unless you can find a friend to engrave it for free!!!! Cheers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 You COULD do it in the UK - But it'd cost a fortune, unless you can find a friend to engrave it for free!!!! Cheers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just to put things in perspective. I've checked prices here stateside, and stripping and polishing a pistol to prepare it for engraving runs about $150. The engraving fee, however has no limit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Utty Posted May 26, 2005 Report Share Posted May 26, 2005 Jesus christ, somebody's a dab hand. I think the KJ grips is a nice touch. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
serial Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 He lives in a drug lord style compound with armed guards and sleeps with a real 9mm. I don't think theft is much of a concern for him. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> why didnt he gild the real steel one? if i had a real steel and an airsoft M9 id go for the real steal M9 any day! *castor troy mode off* Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rizzo Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 Awesome gun, it's like an M9 which is the coolest gun ever, + 100% Quote Link to post Share on other sites
serial Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 (edited) Awesome gun, it's like an M9 no *beep* sherlock... Edited June 13, 2005 by serial Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Starkey J Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 no *beep* sherlock... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> calm down mofo im guessing you didnt read it right, if you have nouthing good to say about someone dont say anything, last i looked this was a thread about an amazing looking m9 so unless your going to comment on it i suggest you dont post. that gun is teh secks and its pretty bling bling, wouldnt want to skirmish with it, just incase it got scratched, very amazing piece of work mate Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twin_cam Posted June 13, 2005 Report Share Posted June 13, 2005 that gun is teh secks and its pretty bling bling, wouldnt want to skirmish with it, just incase it got scratched, very amazing piece of work mate <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Thanks, flawless. It was a difficult build that consumed a great many man hours. I'm happy with the results. The 1911 version will be beginning shortly, I'm just tracking down a donor gun to use with the metal kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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