Sleepy Beauty

Smith & Wesson revives the m&p with the M2.0.

- Nick Saiti

A feeling of satisfaction comes when taking something bone stock and making it better Before finding shooting I considered myself a car guy. This isn’t an official title; it just meant most of my weekends were spent tinkering, tweaking, polishing, and maybe street racing (don’t tell my mom). The car culture is separated into two categories: the “all show and no go” crowd and the true enthusiasts. There’s a satisfying appeal in something fast that doesn’t look fast. A sleeper is a car that aesthetically looks no different than a stock car until you pop the hood, or dump the clutch. More go than show.

A paramount aspect of being a car guy/girl is that there’s no wrong way to do things. Every car is like a fingerprint — you can use it to identify its owner, and no two are alike. There are gearheads,old-school hot rodders, tuners, ricers, petrol heads, or whatever name enthusiasts label themselves with. Did you just assume my automotive identity?

For me, functionality has always taken precedence over aesthetics. Shooting guns with no surface finish isn’t really a big deal here in Arizona, but trips to Florida always result in a rusty gun. In the handgun world there has been a trend of extensively (and expensively) modifying polymer framed striker-fired pistols, a practice that used to be reserved for high class 1911s, competition handguns, and other guns you must shoot with an extended pinky. Gold-colored titanium-nitride parts, crazy textures, re-profiled grips, and slides that look like Swiss cheese identify these pistol gearheads. Some will liken this to amodified Honda Civic. Sure, you can make it fast, but it’s still a Civic. (I hope my tuner friends don’t get mad.)