Most first impressions of the little Colt have been positive. In part, that's because of the gun's coloration. It's all black, with only a touch of silver in the exposed portion of the barrel at the ejection port and muzzle. Even the grips are made of dull plum-black African blackwood. On most custom autos, the inevitable aluminum trigger is dull silver, but Novak finished this one in a Black-T color. All of this basic business black gives the pistol an air of understated elegance.

The rear sight (left) is a custom version of the standard Novak. It has a shallow "V" trough to match up with a gold bead front. The Answer (center) is a one-piece backstrap that provides a secure grip during rapid fire. The author's customized Commander (right) features a Kart barrel.

It's also a high-quality working pistol, complete with several touches that I like. The gun retains the major components of receiver and slide, plus a number of the original pins and internal parts that were on the gun when it left the factory in 1977. The grip screws are new. So are the firing pin and spring, barrel and barrel bushing, trigger, hammer, sear and sights. And, of course, the Answer replaces the grip safety and mainspring housing.

Let's look at the pistol from the top down. First, Novak matte-finished the entire top surface of the slide, edging that expanse of metal with a machined border. Matting is tediously difficult to do; it's handwork, done with a special hand tool. The process leaves the surface with a kind of regular, attractive crackle finish. It has two beneficial effects. Matting completely eliminates any possibility of light reflecting off the slide top and reduces the chance of your hand slipping in the course of a malfunction clearance.

The sights are individualized Novaks. Out front, there's a post fitted up with a gold bead. The rear is a seldom-seen variation of the industry-standard Novak LoMount. The outer contours are the same snag-free ones that have been used for 20 years. However, the sighting notch is a shallow "V" that the pistolsmith will make on special order.

There are no other highlights on the rear sight, so the sight picture is simple. Just drop the ball into the trough, and hold on the target. It's fast. The slide flats are polished before the gun gets a deep-black-blue job.

The receiver is aluminum, so it was re-anodized after a couple of modifications. Novak sent the receiver off to Pete Single in Maryland for one of his blue-ribbon checkering jobs on the frontstrap. It's 30 lpi, perfectly executed from side to side, top to bottom. A carry-bevel package was done on the receiver before anodizing (just as it was done on the slide before blueing). It was also necessary to fit the raw-aluminum Answer to the frame for a perfect marriage of the components. You can see the union of the two parts, but you can barely feel it.

Inside, the Novak shop installed a Videcki trigger and adjusted it for a crisp release of just over four pounds. The Novak 'smiths also polished the feed ramp for trouble-free functioning and gauged the extractor for proper tension. That simple little bar of steel is the root of unending problems if it is not dealt with properly.