The company’s Chainlink pattern - located on the mainspring housing and the frontstrap - provides a secure but non-abrading gripping surface.

As far as accuracy is concerned, the Special Forces Carry demonstrated one of the basic laws that any firearm displays: Test it with enough different loads and the gun will tell you what it likes. If you are planning on using a pistol for defense, you should fire about 200 rounds of what you will be depending on--to make sure the pistol likes it. That can get expensive, but it's nothing compared to the expense of discovering a problem when you are in a dark alley.

Every firearm will also show preferences in how accurately it shoots some ammo and where the point of impact is. So don't take it as gospel that you have to use "XYZ load" for your firearm just because I reported it in this or another article. Test your gun with your ammo in your hands, and then go by what you see.

In this Special Forces Carry, I can definitely tell you not to feed it older IMI hardball--at least not the batch I have. This batch suffers from a lack of neck tension. Thus, bullets will set back in the case on feeding.

That can cause problems in feeding, although the Special Forces Carry took that in stride. What it inescapably means is a larger variance in velocity and larger groups. I have found few pistols that will shoot this ammo well, although later production lots do not suffer from the same problem.

The point is, while the Special Forces Carry didn't shoot this stuff accurately (not the gun's fault), it did feed it all, which is something other pistols have failed at.

Once I had done my due diligence as far as accuracy testing and chronographing were concerned, I spent the rest of my time doing what practice drills I could in the snow. The Commander-length barrel and slide made the Special Forces easy to draw, the weight dampened recoil, and the brass was consistently ejected back and to the right.

It worked with all my magazines, but then I do not keep bad magazines on hand. If you want to ensure your Ed Brown pistol works 100 percent of the time, you can order extra magazines right from Ed. He offers standard seven-shot magazines as well as his new 8-Pack magazines, designed from the ground up to have an eight-shot capacity.

In this day of mass-produced goods, cranked out at the lowest cost to satisfy consumers who have little or no taste or concern for quality and durability, it is nice to know that guys like Ed Brown are paying attention to the details. So if you're in the market for a supremely well-made, reliable carry gun, you'd do well to investigate further.

The Special Forces Carry shot all but the IMI ammo quite well, showing a real affinity for Hornady TAP.