MARS armament builds- lets see em

[BigJoe]

i need to go get 2-3 x300's

[Sean M]

Sorry I didn't even see this thread. I just don't get over here as often as I'd like...........

Joe, Rana.........I am slightly (a lot) jealous that you guys are reaping the bene's of Steve's recent work...........when he sends out the pics, as always, his work is phenomenal, but more than that, makes me wish I still had full house custom $ in the bank to do another one from MARS. If I ever make back out to the left side, I'll bring out a MARS gun, and maybe we can do a range day round robin pistol swap.

To the point of my post.......

My MARS guns.

First is a Kimber that Steve kindly accepted as work "back in the day", as a personal favor, and against his better judgement. But it was what I had, and couldn't swing the cash (or approval from the woman in my life at the time) to start all over with a brand new Colt. Basically it was a Kimber slide/frame/barrel kit because everything was gutted. Turned out great, and ran like the proverbial "raped ape". I carried it for a few years, and the appearance ended up with "character", i.e., it looked like it was drug behind a tractor trailer for 1000 miles. But Steve churched it up for me again, and in a moment of "give and take", I sold it off to finance a different project. No sooner had I walked away with the money that regret hit hard. Took me three+ years to talk the guy into selling it back to me, and it will not leave me again.


Next one is a Caspian/Ceiner that I had Steve build as a dedicated .22LR for cheap practice after work stopped stocking .45 ACP. It was all function, no frills, so at a glance, it doesn't look like much. But he did some great work installing Heinie's so it matched my other 1911's in function and sight picture, etc.


Then a 9mm Springer for the same reasons I had him do the .22LR. 9mm brought me a little closer to weight, and feel, with some recoil to work with. It was pimp silver, and ugly as all hell, and sloppy. Steve worked his usual magic, setting it up like all the others he has built for me. One of the only early 9mm 1911's that seemed to avoid the shortcomings of 9mm 1911's back then. Runs great, looks great, and fun to shoot. GF has pretty much decided it is hers now. And I let her think it is as justification for more guns.


Grand finale is what I swore would be my first, last, and only full custom gun......The original DA. Hard to believe it has been more than 10 years already huh Steve?

Steve bent over backwards working with me on this project, for not only function, but some relatively new (at the time) aesthetics. This project took a long time due to (at the time) lack of parts that met the specs we laid out, as well as having to deal with various vendors who were not always the most timely in delivery of the goods. But it was well worth the wait. It is still my "go to" 1911 for just about anything I would use a 1911 for. Now that .45 ACP has found it's way back onto the shelf at work, it gets a little more use than it has seen for the past few years.

I still have my invoice, and I know what it cost........but I can't think of a realistic number that someone could offer that would make me even consider selling.


Right now my BHP is on the work bench at MARS, and a Delta Elite 10mm will be finding it's way out there in hopefully the not too distant future.

Yeah, I have 1911's from other shops, and I have other custom 1911's in the works with other builders, but there is a reason the bulk of my 1911's go to Steve.

[BigJoe]

lol yeah sean, steve and I talked about your gun when we started in on the rana project. i have two from him with a series 70 9mm being started soon. I too have guns from other builders and some on the way but my "go to" guns are from steve.

[Chris James]

l I too have guns from other builders and some on the way but my "go to" guns are from steve.

Maybe Eric should test fire your build!!!!!!!!!

[BigJoe]

Oh calm down I have 1000 rounds waiting for your pistol to give it a thorough test to give it my blessing. Till then.... Mars has been good to me

[freightdog1911]

Thanks for sharing Sean, Big Joe and Rana. Your pics of your blasters have been drooled over daily! I have a build on its way home from Steve. Originally started as a reliability package but morphed into an Axiom build with one of Steves SLRs. Original motivation was David Thomas' Axiom on a WWI frame. I visited Seams DA build on the website often. Since then have been drooling over Rana and Big Joe's builds. Sean, Big Joe, and Rana thanks for your service to my beloved country. If ever in my neck of the woods you have one on me.

[Rana]

Sorry I didn't even see this thread. I just don't get over here as often as I'd like...........

Joe, Rana.........I am slightly (a lot) jealous that you guys are reaping the bene's of Steve's recent work...........when he sends out the pics, as always, his work is phenomenal, but more than that, makes me wish I still had full house custom $ in the bank to do another one from MARS. If I ever make back out to the left side, I'll bring out a MARS gun, and maybe we can do a range day round robin pistol swap.

To the point of my post.......

My MARS guns.

First is a Kimber that Steve kindly accepted as work "back in the day", as a personal favor, and against his better judgement. But it was what I had, and couldn't swing the cash (or approval from the woman in my life at the time) to start all over with a brand new Colt. Basically it was a Kimber slide/frame/barrel kit because everything was gutted. Turned out great, and ran like the proverbial "raped ape". I carried it for a few years, and the appearance ended up with "character", i.e., it looked like it was drug behind a tractor trailer for 1000 miles. But Steve churched it up for me again, and in a moment of "give and take", I sold it off to finance a different project. No sooner had I walked away with the money that regret hit hard. Took me three+ years to talk the guy into selling it back to me, and it will not leave me again.


Next one is a Caspian/Ceiner that I had Steve build as a dedicated .22LR for cheap practice after work stopped stocking .45 ACP. It was all function, no frills, so at a glance, it doesn't look like much. But he did some great work installing Heinie's so it matched my other 1911's in function and sight picture, etc.


Then a 9mm Springer for the same reasons I had him do the .22LR. 9mm brought me a little closer to weight, and feel, with some recoil to work with. It was pimp silver, and ugly as all hell, and sloppy. Steve worked his usual magic, setting it up like all the others he has built for me. One of the only early 9mm 1911's that seemed to avoid the shortcomings of 9mm 1911's back then. Runs great, looks great, and fun to shoot. GF has pretty much decided it is hers now. And I let her think it is as justification for more guns.


Grand finale is what I swore would be my first, last, and only full custom gun......The original DA. Hard to believe it has been more than 10 years already huh Steve?

Steve bent over backwards working with me on this project, for not only function, but some relatively new (at the time) aesthetics. This project took a long time due to (at the time) lack of parts that met the specs we laid out, as well as having to deal with various vendors who were not always the most timely in delivery of the goods. But it was well worth the wait. It is still my "go to" 1911 for just about anything I would use a 1911 for. Now that .45 ACP has found it's way back onto the shelf at work, it gets a little more use than it has seen for the past few years.

I still have my invoice, and I know what it cost........but I can't think of a realistic number that someone could offer that would make me even consider selling.


Right now my BHP is on the work bench at MARS, and a Delta Elite 10mm will be finding it's way out there in hopefully the not too distant future.

Yeah, I have 1911's from other shops, and I have other custom 1911's in the works with other builders, but there is a reason the bulk of my 1911's go to Steve.

Sean. You got me interested in MARS Armament when you were out hear for the SSR shoot. I remember the 800m center mass shot with the MK12! You still have the target?

[BigJoe]

Sean it looks like your doing fine with mars builds lol. I have a 9mm headed to him, he also has two of my glocks for some mars magic. He said u had two more headed over there. If u make it out here I'm definately down for a pistol shoot. Get u, rana, grinch, and I and all the 1911's out at once would be a hell of a day.

[Sean M]

Sean. You got me interested in MARS Armament when you were out hear for the SSR shoot. I remember the 800m center mass shot with the MK12! You still have the target?

No........no one would believe me anyway........one of those "had to be there moments". Fortunately for me, I did have at least a few witnesses.

Sean it looks like your doing fine with mars builds lol. I have a 9mm headed to him, he also has two of my glocks for some mars magic. He said u had two more headed over there. If u make it out here I'm definately down for a pistol shoot. Get u, rana, grinch, and I and all the 1911's out at once would be a hell of a day.

Yeah, I am totally down with that. Next time I get out to the wrong coast, I'll let you guys know as far in advance as possible so we can line something up. Of course, I am very happy where I am, and hate that red eye cross country flight......so I avoid it wherever possible. Hard to leave all of my cool toys behind, even if only for a week or two. Maybe next time we do a system test on something, I will volunteer to head out there.

[Serlo II]

Really looking forward to the guns. Steve?