I want a 9mm 1911. I thought I wanted an STI until...

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Originally Posted by Eurodriver

48 months though?

48 months ago everyone knew Clinton was gonna win the White House. Think about how long ago that was.

Don’t even bother taking more orders at that point. That’s an insane lead time. Joe is embarrassing himself just having that on his website.

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Really, he's not. The people that are willing to pay what he charges know how long it takes. The lead time is more of a testament to how many people want what he's offering. There are quite a few good smiths with multiple year leads and that's just how it is. Some of them try to balance that with some lighter work. Stan Chen comes to mind. Others close their books as was previously discussed.

Think about it - if it took you forty hours to crank out a gun, you're only building a few dozen a year. True art pieces these are. All you need is a hundred people that want one and you're booked three years out. The problem is, a lot of people underestimate the demand for this kind of thing.

Anyone ever heard of John Jardine?

Sure. No first hand experience.

His Valtro 1911 looks like a classic, all the frills gun.
I would like to examine/shoot one.

He is one of the lesser known 1911 master smiths and learned how to work on 1911’s from his uncle Armand Swenson. I’ve seen some of his work and it’s every bit as good as any other 1911 mastersmiths. I haven’t been messing around in the world of 1911’s since I stopped carrying one off duty several years ago and had to look him up and see if he was even still working. He’s apparently stopped taking orders for the most part and just adds you too a waiting list. When he works down to your name on the list he calls and makes arrangements to do the work if you still want a custom gun.

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Originally Posted by KiloSierra

He is one of the lesser known 1911 master smiths and learned how to work on 1911’s from his uncle Armand Swenson. I’ve seen some of his work and it’s every bit as good as any other 1911 mastersmiths. I haven’t been messing around in the world of 1911’s since I stopped carrying one off duty several years ago and had to look him up and see if he was even still working. He’s apparently stopped taking orders for the most part and just adds you too a waiting list. When he works down to your name on the list he calls and makes arrangements to do the work if you still want a custom gun.

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Lesser known...🤔

Lol...ok

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Originally Posted by MaceWindu

Lesser known...[emoji848]

Lol...ok

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Relatively speaking he is lesser known then ones such as Ned Christiansen, John Harrison, Bill Loughridge, Paul Liebenberg, etc. I had heard of them for years before I heard of Jardine. He’s one of the ones well known to people who buy high end 1911’s, but he’s just not as well known as others to the large scale production/semi custom market. I can only assume it’s because he doesn’t have a fancy website and doesn’t advertise much if at all. He’s been making high end 1911’s since before I was born, so I would assume he’s probably getting more then enough business by word of mouth to keep him busy for a while without advertising.

Accurate^^. He's not as widely known as Ted Yost/John Harrison/etc.
His work (from photos) looks quite good.

I love my 2011's. All have been gamer guns though but very reliable. For carry I stick with Glocks

i love my 2011 9mm tactical that i bought in 2012. taken several classes with it with no reliability issues. it was not the cheapest option at the time with having to tune the mags but it is more accurate than i am. me personally i would use it in a serious situation without reservations.

I have more respect for someone like Chambers who is giving a more realistic timeline. Most of the well-known gunsmiths I've dealt with will give you a timeframe, but many times it's nothing more than a guess and maybe not even a very educated one. I'm not the kind of person who can send a gun to a smith and forget about it or who wants to keep calling them when they've blown by a deadline. Plus, they can "close their books", but I've never known one that isn't still taking stuff on, e.g. someone willing to spend $4-5,000 for a close to full custom gun.

These guys are true craftsmen/artisans, but I get the impression that some are not businessmen (and with little to no support staff), so I respect people like Chambers and Yost who establish realistic wait times and stick to them. I'm not wealthy, but I am willing to pay to avoid a series of missed guesses and numerous phone calls.