Custom 1911's and their prices

[beschatten]

Depends on what you consider hard use and how much shipping and waiting you can tolerate.

When I say it costs $3K to get a hard use pistol out of the box, I don't mean piecemeal building up an off the shelf Colt or Springfield. Doing that is ridiculous in it's own right.

A) I never piecemeal'd a gun. Only well known 'smiths worked over my Colts. You can find them over on addicts if you want.

B) Unicorns aren't magical fairy pistols that require $3,000 to work in a duty-role.

If you can breakdown where that $3,000 goes to get a "hard-use" 1911, please share it with the forum so we can all bury this beaten, dead horse.

[17K]

Taking a Colt or a Springfield and fitting other manufacturers parts to it is piecemeal building a gun, even if one guy does all the work.

To me, hard use equals high round count. 30, 40, 50K plus. A 1911 has to be built very right to do that without going down for more than spring changes.

I've had two Springfield Customs, two Wilsons, and a Colt that Rob Schauland built do it/still doing it.

You take any Colt or Springfield out of the box and they probably won't. Would they be suitable for duty or carry use? More than spring likely. Would they hold up to high round count training and competition use? Not for long in that world.

I'm talking out of the box performance. Not fixing up a clunker. You can't buy a semi-custom for much less than $3K these days. If you want to start out with an off the shelf Colt, Springfield, whatever, by the time you ship it a couple of times, have a few things done, you're going to be up in the high twos. You're starting out with a $1K base gun, shipping, parts, and labor will eat up that $2K quick.

Two things I never do are extoll the virtues of budget 1911s and complain about reliability.

[beschatten]

Taking a Colt or a Springfield and fitting other manufacturers parts to it is piecemeal building a gun, even if one guy does all the work.

To me, hard use equals high round count. 30, 40, 50K plus. A 1911 has to be built very right to do that without going down for more than spring changes.

I've had two Springfield Customs, two Wilsons, and a Colt that Rob Schauland built do it/still doing it.

You take any Colt or Springfield out of the box and they probably won't. Would they be suitable for duty or carry use? More than spring likely. Would they hold up to high round count training and competition use? Not for long in that world.

I'm talking out of the box performance. Not fixing up a clunker. You can't buy a semi-custom for much less than $3K these days. If you want to start out with an off the shelf Colt, Springfield, whatever, by the time you ship it a couple of times, have a few things done, you're going to be up in the high twos. You're starting out with a $1K base gun, shipping, parts, and labor will eat up that $2K quick.

Two things I never do are extoll the virtues of budget 1911s and complain about reliability.

By your definition, my J. Harrison and 3x Rob Schauland Jrs were "piecemeal". Because the gun uses parts from all different manufactures. I've kept two of Rob's work. The S70 had a bank vault tight lockup, took me about an hour to get it locked back after opening it up. It's worn in a bit after about 10,000 rounds and is like SACS/Baer tight now. It has been 100% reliable regardless of the nonsense people post. No dirt or grime could get in, and the Hard Chrome was as slick as Kate Upton's ass, so all the carbon would just slide ride out.

Back in the old Alchemy days, I put about $600 to get a fine 1911. On top of a $699 Colt 1911 S80. That's $1200.

I also had Wilson Combat dump about $1,100 for every bell and whistle you can think of on a $699 S80. That's still only $1800.

I will say $1200 - $1500 will get a "duty grade/hard use gun" easily.

The only parts that really go down on a 1911 from high volume shooting is the extractor, FPS, and the slide stop lobe can sometimes break off. Easy parts to replace.

I would also easily bet my life on a Colt Combat Unit 1911 after Rob does a reliability job on it and replace some minor parts. My understanding is he's neck deep so his work slots are limited. Not even close to $3,000. A Dan Wesson Valor is like $1400 in SS.

All my 1911s are from well known shops, but I won't ever advocate 3 grand to get a good one.

[RHINOWSO]

Depends on what you consider hard use

Well then, how do you define hard use?

[miyagi]

It all depends on what the gun is intended for, how bad you want it to accomplish it’s purpose...and also availability of funds. When specs have been met and all is as it should be. It mostly end up breaking the bank in my experience.

[17K]

Yeah, back in the old Alchemy days prices were a lot less. A Springfield Custom Carry was barely $2K and a base CQB was about $2200. Rob doesn't really do tune-ups anymore. Have you priced the few well reputed shops that do? Have you seen the lead times?

A new series 70 or 80 Colt was still $900 then.

Custom work and wait times have gone up so much in the past few years that I just don't think it's worth it to mess with base model guns anymore.

[ubet]

I have a trp operator and a wc le cqb with some upgrades. Their is a definite difference in quality. If you have the cash for a WC I highly suggest getting one.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[beschatten]

Yeah, back in the old Alchemy days prices were a lot less. A Springfield Custom Carry was barely $2K and a base CQB was about $2200. Rob doesn't really do tune-ups anymore. Have you priced the few well reputed shops that do? Have you seen the lead times?

A new series 70 or 80 Colt was still $900 then.

Custom work and wait times have gone up so much in the past few years that I just don't think it's worth it to mess with base model guns anymore.

Wilson Combats custom work price sheet is still relatively the same. I just assumed prices were in that ballpark.

True, I am out of the "custom" market now for the reasons you mentioned. I've settled on WC and have no regrets.

If I were to buy off the shelf, I'd play my hands with a Dan Wesson or TRP. Both companies have been fantastic to deal with.

[17K]

Yep. I’m a Wilson guy now too. With Alchemy and SACS out of the game, and most of the good ‘smiths only doing full builds with wait times in years, and even more that won’t even accept work or talk to you, it’s not the same as ten years ago. I always wondered how Rob got anything done when he could talk on the phone for an hour, and I’m not even interesting!

I have a brand new CCO size Dan Wesson Valkrie in 9mm here that I haven’t even shot yet.

If it performs as good as it looks it’s the best deal I’ve gotten on any pistol!

[CPM]

I’ve got a Springfield loaded that went out of the box 1k rounds with no lube or cleaning of any kind. All ammo. I had SACS checker the front strap and the top of the slide. I added a S&A Magwell. I routinely wipe the floor with people shooting all manner of competition and custom 1911’s- from all of the makers already listed. With MIM parts.

The idea that you need to spend $3k on a duty ready, dead on reliable 1911 is completely absurd. That’s what someone says who gets personal pleasure buying these guns and also wants to justify their purchases.

Feel free to head to North Texas any weekend and show me different on a clock in a stage. I’ll house and feed you.