ctay Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 These may not be apples to apples but it seems to be the top of the line Brazos vs the top of the line Infinity. Infinity is $650 more than the Brazos. I have a one time only free range to buy "any" pistol that I want, and I want to make sure I get the most pistol I can. I am already drawn to the Brazos because they have such a great reputation but SVI does too... Plus that Infinity is just down right sexy. Just not sure if it is worth $600 more than the Brazos. What do you think? Thanks for any information! Chris Bonus question: SVI has a nice website but they don't spend much if any time explaining the features of their guns that make them great. Brazos has an article explaining why the ProSX is great - anyone know where I can find something similar for the Infinity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcs Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Both companies offer great customer service. Both are great guns. Each takes a little different approach to make the guns shoot flatter and faster. You can't go wrong with either gun. Each has some technical differences that you might want investigate more. Infinity recommends 3N38 for the IMM, I believe Brazo's has several powders that fit the need. You have to load about 10.2 grains of 3N38 with a 121gn bullet for the IMM. Pretty much fills the case on 38S. PROS/x not so much powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLUTO Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Heres my 2 penneys towards your pocket lightening: As the proud and amazed owner of the Brazos pistol your referring too I cant recommend it strongly enough. Of the 20 people I know that own one (the reason I went that way), not one had anything bad to say about them. They RUN out of the box. There are 2 loads Bob recommends although other powders will work. One is N105 and the other is 4756 which is cheaper. I can tell you 3N37 works but the flame is HUGE and tends to do ugly stuff to the blast shield. Traditionally when receiving a NIB pistola from any builder, it gets packaged back up and sent to this smith or the other in order for it to run reliably - not so with Brazos. Another factor STI mags are my preference. Like I said "my 2 penneys" but buy the Brazos and dont screw with it....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpygravy Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Not an open guy so I abstained from the poll. One consideration is the grip differences. The Brazos is built using the STI polymer grip while the SV is built using their metal grip. There is about $500 difference in this part alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpops Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Heres my 2 penneys towards your pocket lightening: As the proud and amazed owner of the Brazos pistol your referring too I cant recommend it strongly enough. Of the 20 people I know that own one (the reason I went that way), not one had anything bad to say about them. They RUN out of the box. There are 2 loads Bob recommends although other powders will work. One is N105 and the other is 4756 which is cheaper. I can tell you 3N37 works but the flame is HUGE and tends to do ugly stuff to the blast shield. Traditionally when receiving a NIB pistola from any builder, it gets packaged back up and sent to this smith or the other in order for it to run reliably - not so with Brazos. Another factor STI mags are my preference. Like I said "my 2 penneys" but buy the Brazos and dont screw with it....... Well said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shooterbenedetto Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Whoever has the lifetime warranty and fast turn around for fixin my gun wins it for me. Better yet, I would rather buy one at my range that is a gunsmith. That way he can fix it right there and then.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriojas Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Brazos makes a great gun as well as infinity both guns have a large turn around time. If I could recommend another builder it would be Shay from Akai custom guns less than 5k they flat out run and are super flat. Also come with a lifetime warranty. Akaicustomguns.com all these builders have great guns. Just throwing in another option for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Hello: If you get a chance I would shoot both guns. I know the IMM is a very loud pistol and hurts my forhead when I have tried to shoot them. They are even worse when you RO one Another option may be a used open pistol first then you can see what you like or not. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingchef Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 I own 5 SV's. 2 are IMM open guns. Both run flawlessly. Brazos does make a fine pistol, using the STI frame and Slide. One primary great fact about SV, is that you can get your pistol they way you want it, with the cuts that you request, also you get your own serial #. SV is a true custom gun builder, building pistols from a block of metal. The only item outsourced is the C-More scope. Brazos cannot make that claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoNsTeR Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 (edited) Actually you can't get an SV the way you want it, if "the way you want it" includes parts made by another company. IMHO that's a dealbreaker, especially for an Open gun. Of course on the other hand, Bob doesn't do 9 Major, if that's something you care about. They're both nice guns. Though I'm not a fan of any Open gun with ports, the Brazos ports are pretty tolerable. The IMM ports are not. I would only consider a zero-hole comp-only IMM. Edit: Neither one is worth those prices, at least not to me. Get a Bedell or a Cheely, pocket the difference, and get it in half the time. Edited November 2, 2011 by MoNsTeR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingchef Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 why bother with an open gun if it has no ports? Isn't that the intended purpose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 why bother with an open gun if it has no ports? Isn't that the intended purpose? I think he's talking bbl/poppleholes, not the ports in the comp itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent C Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I have had a chance to see both guns side by side and do a comparison. I have heard many good things about both guns and from an engineer's perspective, the SV has a substantial edge over the Brazos. The parts in the SV are all machined. ALL the parts. The Brazos I handled utilized some off the shelf parts that were mim and plastic (grip). The steel grip is a big advantage in my opinion for durability and balance. I also got to see the hardness test results between the two frames. SV is good about properly heat treating all their parts and it showed. The SV frame was 39-40 HRC and the Brazos (STI) was 19-20 HRC. From a manufacturing/design engineer's point of view, the SV is worth much more than the $600 difference, and it is all in the details. Fit and finish, material, and available options of the SV beat out the Brazos. I am not saying the Brazos is bad, it is just not an SV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Of course on the other hand, Bob doesn't do 9 Major, if that's something you care about. Not precisely true - if you have a large stock of SP2, Bob will build you a Major 9 gun. Any other Major 9 combo tends to run higher pressures than he prefers to see in the guns (specifically in the Pro Sx). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb45 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Eric, My Infinity has seven holes in the barrel and then the comp. It is a loud obnoxious gun. It sure shoots flat. The newer Infinity Open guns have a different set up. Much more reasonable. When I get a chance, I will change out my barrel and comp for the newer versions. Back to the original question: In my opinion Infinity is a superior product. Bob is a great gunsmith and builds truly great guns. He is one of the three top builders in the country (of course this is a personal opinion) He foundation is an STI but in his custom guns he uses the best parts. Infinity guns start with the best parts. Sure they are pricey. I have 3 of them with a fourth on the way. For Limited and Open, I will do without until I could afford an Infinity. Both Bob and Infinity support our sport and stand behind their products. I am just learning how to shoot my IMM. It has a steel grip which I totally recommend. You will not regret getting an Infinity. You might want to check in with Don Golembieski at Kodiak Precision. He is one of the few gunsmiths that can get Infinity parts and build you a gun you want. His work is awesome ( he is the another one of the three). If you are looking at something other than an Infinity, might call Matt Burkett at Predator Tactical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 The Brazos I handled utilized some off the shelf parts that were mim and plastic (grip). Not if you were handling the Pro series gun the OP is asking about - there's no MIM parts in that gun whatsoever. There's quite a number of us that prefer the plastic grip due to weight savings... The steel grip is a big advantage in my opinion for durability and balance. I've never broken or had a problem with a plastic grip (though it does happen to folks occasionally - though they do a lot better if you don't try to force mags loaded to "solid column" density into the frame). Balance - that's a personal preference. I prefer a gun that is light and balances over my strong hand middle finger - with a metal grip on the gun, it would balance back toward the magazine if I didn't add a lot more weight to the front half of the gun. So, plastic for me. I also got to see the hardness test results between the two frames. SV is good about properly heat treating all their parts and it showed. The SV frame was 39-40 HRC and the Brazos (STI) was 19-20 HRC. Do you have a pointer to these test results? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tad Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Maybe you should look at some other choices. I would strongly suggest AKAI CUSTOM. The quality is awesome, the guns run, pricing is very fair and delivery times are very reasonable. Check them out here; acguns.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinney Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I'd say if you have over $5K to spend on an Open gun , the extra $600 is not a deal breaker, and would not be remembered even 6 months from now. That is flat out a ton of money either way, get the one that makes you crave it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokshwn Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Edit: Neither one is worth those prices, at least not to me. Get a Bedell or a Cheely, pocket the difference, and get it in half the time. This advice is solid. My Bedell just passed 65k rds and is still running incredibly strong. The price difference can buy some serious volume of ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctay Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 I appreciate all the advice! I've looked at the Akai guns and although I'm sure I'm going to sound lame I just don't like the look of them. I'm sure I can get anything I want in an Infinity but god only help you if you don't understand every option on the gun builder! Not a lot of actual information on that site. I've never shot a pistol with barrel holes or "poppleholes" so that is one of my worries. Brazos says on their site that the ProSx doesn't "beat up" the shooter so it is interesting to hear others impressions. Thanks for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Front Man Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I am sure that both brands are ok. But my builder lives two hours away and will build one just as good or better than either one of them. Now if I lived closer to these builders, that might be a different story. My builder knows me by name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) I've never shot a pistol with barrel holes or "poppleholes" so that is one of my worries. Brazos says on their site that the ProSx doesn't "beat up" the shooter so it is interesting to hear others impressions. Thanks for the advice! The bbl holes in the Brazos pistols are angled slightly forward away from the shooter. The blast from them will not affect your shooting in the slightest. I'm sure Bob would do an Sx without them and could always add them at a later date if you wanted. Edited November 3, 2011 by al503 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papa Joe Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 When spending that amount of money, take a test drive. Give each one of them a call and ask ALL the questions you want. Be comfortable with your decision. I shoot a new IMM Open 9mm, which is my third SVI. Brandon has been more than great with always answering my questions and is very proud of his product(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Gaines Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 I didn't see a choice for neither gunsmiths. Personally for $5k+ you can have almost 2 open guns built, there is no need to pay those kind of prices for a gun. look at the prices of all the pieces and add them all up and your parts cost, subtract that from the total price and that is the labor. It kinda reminds me of Huricanne Katrina, when alot of people lost their roofs on thier houses, there was one guy who charged double the amount for the same work, and only got 1 or 2 roofing jobs a week, and there was another guy who was doing roofs for about half the other guys price but he was doing 4-5 per week. to be honest price does not dictate quality. shay at Akai custom guns, has some of the best prices I have seen for what parts he uses in his guns, and yes he uses SV Parts, and he uses all the parts that he believes in. And if it is looks that is keeping you away from Akai, give him a call, he can go over different options for you. He is very easy to talk to on the phone, and can work with you. Plus his turnaround time is pretty fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supermoto Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 (edited) Edit: Neither one is worth those prices, at least not to me. Get a Bedell or a Cheely, pocket the difference, and get it in half the time. This advice is solid. My Bedell just passed 65k rds and is still running incredibly strong. The price difference can buy some serious volume of ammo. I'm with you on this, My Bedell has been awesome, My Cheely is the same. For me a gun is a tool to get a job done. I want the best tool for the job. Which isn't always the most expensive or fanciest. For others, guns are more than that. There is something to be said about getting exactly what you want, no matter the price. In the overall picture $600 is nothing, get the one that makes you the happiest Edited November 3, 2011 by Supermoto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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