Scalding tears sprang to my eyes. The pistol hung on to me with all the tenacity of a moray eel. I wanted to yell, cry, thrash around like a harpooned seal — anything to get that damned gun off me. In a heroic attempt to preserve my dignity, however, I just stood there, frozen in time and space, with the pistol dangling off my mangled fingertip and tears rolling down my cheeks.

Suddenly re-entering my body, I managed to hold out my wounded member and whisper hoarsely, “Would. . .would you mind. . . pulling back the bolt handle?” He did, and sticking my hand in my pocket, I bade him a rather hurried goodbye. I still have the scar. The emotional scar, that is. My finger healed long ago.

So let’s just say that semi-auto pistols and I have had a checkered past. Oh, for a while there I caught the1911 bug and bought every Colt I could find, but eventually I recovered and have remained happily bereft of 1911s ever. That is, until I found a Taurus PT 1911 in a local dealer’s display case last week.

I am a big believer in Taurus. My Thunderbolt shoots as well or better than any of my original Colt Lightning Magazine Rifles ever did, and my Taurus Model 4410 .45/.410 shotshell revolver is a continual hoot. So when the Boys from Brazil came out with a 1911 that retailed — now, get this — for $459 new in the box, I had to give it a try.

I’ve owned a number of entry-level 1911s, and they were all based more or less on the standard 1911-A1 with no bells or whistles whatsoever. The Taurus PT 1911, however, is something altogether different. It bears Heinie Straight Eight combat sights, a skeletonized hammer and trigger, an ambidextrous safety, and two eight-round magazines complete with rubber baby buggy bumpers.

I’m no expert on 1911s. In fact, I’m a true-blue revolver guy. But to those of you who are 1911 experts, I respectfully suggest that you put the PT 1911 through its paces as soon as you can. You may be as pleasantly surprised as I was.