WAY TOO HOT TO HOLSTER

Walther’s Meister Manufaktur Series of Q5 Match steel-frame race guns.

- PATRICK ROBERTS

If you’re like me, when you hear the words “load and make ready,” the last thing you want on your mind is feeling poor. Thankfully, Walther has a solution for the gentleman shootist: The upscale Walther Meister Manufaktur series of Q5 Match Steel Frame race guns. With the highest-end variant priced at $30,000, it’s the perfect pistol for competitors tired of raising their hand when someone asks, “Who parked their helicopter in the range parking lot?”

Now, I know that the $30K Walther Q5 Match Steel Frame Meister Manufaktur Arabesque won’t find its way into a race holster, but I sure as hell hope the madman exists who not only has the means to buy one, but would also shoot the crap out of the gun—that’s my kinda crazy and I want that guy to be my new BFF.

OK. BUT WHY?

The question of why the Meister Manufaktur series exists still needs to be answered. If “because they can” isn’t good enough for you, maybe Bernhard Knöbel’s answer will satisfy ya—and I hope it does, because he’s the CEO of Carl Walther GmbH.

“More beauty, more soul—yet totally usable.”

OK, Mr. Knöbel, I can get behind that. Tell me more.

“Why should something truly beautiful only be collected, and why should something built for performance not lead its class in good looks and artistry?”

Damn sir, that’s a hell of a good point … even if it is a lot of words for, “because we can.”