Case in point involves a recent turkey hunt at the White Oak Plantation in Alabama. Alabama is one of the few places where you can hunt turkey with a handgun (iron sights only). Since spring turkey hunting is frequently conducted in wet weather, I took the stainless/polymer KZ for foul-weather conditions.

The KZ's accuracy was outstanding. The Hornady ammo (left) kept five shots in something over an inch, with four shots going under an inch; the Black Hills lead semi-wadcutters (right) were dead on and right at one inch; while a composite group of five different factory loads held 10 shots under two inches.

I had not fired the gun prior to arriving at White Oak but had confidently selected Black Hills 200-grain lead semi-wadcutter loads as my game-getter of choice. The first two shots I fired from the KZ were taken offhand at 25 yards on a life-size turkey target. I aimed just below the junction of neck and body and put two rounds about a quarter of an inch apart exactly where I wanted them. With two of the White Oak guides watching, and knowing I could not continue that level of performance, I declared the gun officially sighted in and offered to let the other attendees have a go. Approval of the KZ was unanimous.

To be honest, I didn't really want to retire that early, but it was one of those magic reputation-building moments that don't come along all that often. Unfortunately, the fairy tale ended two days later with me wounding a turkey (using a different gun) and losing the bird in the heavy woods--ah well, two days as a hero and the rest of the year as a goat.

Let's get subjective. Despite having the same width as a single-stack 1911, the KZ felt a little wider. I expected this due to the rectangular shape of the grip and the flared well that facilitates magazine insertion. In fact, the circumference of the KZ's grip frame just below the grip safety is about 5/16 inch larger than a single stack measured in the same location, and my relatively short fingers had no problem reaching the trigger while maintaining a controlling grip on the gun. One of the young ladies with whom I occasionally shoot liked the gun but acknowledged that she couldn't maintain the high-thumb grip she uses on her single-stack 1911 because she had to slide her shooting hand just a bit to reach and control the trigger. She was comfortable controlling the KZ once she changed her grip, but for her, the ergonomics of a standard-frame 1911 were better. I was quite comfortable with the polymer frame and felt the gun came to hand with absolutely no sense of searching for the right grip. Trigger pull is a crisp and repeatable four pounds, which was comfortable for longer-range precision shots as well as close-range rapid fire.

When I actually got around to "formal" accuracy testing, the weather failed to cooperate, so the venue changed from shooting outdoors in bright sunlight to firing offhand at an indoor range under rather dimly lit conditions. The lighting was bright enough that I could see the sights but dim enough that my aging eyes could not bring them into clear focus. There was, however, enough light that the Trijicon night sights were not a factor.