The magazine catch encircles the upper trigger guard area; the manual safety is to its rear.

The mechanical thumb safety is at the top of the left side of the wood finger-groove pistol grip. It is a round bit of metal that must be rotated 180 degrees forward to "fire" from its rearward "safe" position, and vice versa.

Again, I can do this with my trigger hand while gripping the gun, but the space between the safety and the overhang of the side of the receiver is small enough that using my support hand ensures a positive change.

The buttstock is nicely figured dull-finished wood and has a contoured steel buttplate and rear non-detachable sling swivel.

To disassemble, it helps to first read and follow the instruction manual. The buttstock comes off first, followed by the frame which contains the trigger assembly. After this, the recoil springs are removed. Next out are the firing pin pilot and spring and the hammer.

The system used to fire a round is a bit complicated, with the firing pin proper pinned into the front of the bolt, with the other parts behind it. The bolt releases from the sear, bringing the other parts forward and the firing pin is struck. At this point the bolt then can be lifted out. Any further disassembly is unnecessary and voids the warranty.

In preparing for our range visit, I loaded the magazine with Black Hills 230-grain JRN ball ammo and packed boxes of Winchester, Remington, MagTech and 1963-dated GI ball ammo.

I lubricated all moving parts and dry fired a bit. I was surprised when I weighed the trigger and found it measured 12.5 pounds. It feels much lighter, perhaps due to a long and smooth trigger pull not unlike a double-action revolver. At 15 yards the TM1 shot to point-of-aim with very little recoil.

Other than my son putting five rounds of the Black Hills ammo into a well-centered tight knot in a Shoot-N-See target, we did no further accuracy work.

We did, however, have fun firing multiple rounds from a depressed muzzle position at an IDPA target and then at round black target pasters.

At one point, when my son had emptied a magazine and gun smoke was curling out of the ejection port, he grinned and said, "It's fun to shoot!"

And therein lies the answer to the question I posed at the beginning of this: "What is this good for?"

Sometimes it's easy to forget to simply go shooting to enjoy yourself. With the TM1, you and many of your newfound range "friends" (you will attract attention) can enjoy (safely, of course) dumping .45 ACP slugs downrange as quickly as you can pull the trigger.

The aperture rear sight is fixed, and on the author’s sample it shot to point of aim with 230-grain JRN .45 ACP ammo. The front sight is pinned.