Custom 1911s

[Michael303]

I'm not a big 45SS guy but if I were to buy one it would probably be a Volkmann.  He's pretty popular on the 1911 boards but to be fair that crowd buys a lot of safe queens.

[RJH]

Bad Dog Custom

[donnyglock]

Venom Custom

[zzt]

3 hours ago, TheSandMan491 said:

Lightly used for a DVC limited means it’s on its third barrel in 2000 rounds 

 

Exaxctly.

[alien_pickles]

4 hours ago, Michael303 said:

I'm not a big 45SS guy but if I were to buy one it would probably be a Volkmann.  He's pretty popular on the 1911 boards but to be fair that crowd buys a lot of safe queens.

 

Opf, those are VERY pretty. It might be sacrilege to put one in a kydex holster though... 

[EEH]

My shooting buddy has an Sti DVC with close to 45,000 on it and still going.

[alien_pickles]

2 minutes ago, EEH said:

My shooting buddy has an Sti DVC with close to 45,000 on it and still going.

 

He should buy a lottery ticket

[EEH]

2 hours ago, donnyglock said:

Venom Custom

Saw one of these last week, open 9 mm . ran like it was meant to

[EEH]

2 minutes ago, alien_pickles said:

 

He should buy a lottery ticket

The last edge I sold had quite a lot on it. 

[alien_pickles]

4 minutes ago, EEH said:

The last edge I sold had quite a lot on it. 

 

I've heard very specific complaints about DVCs. Especially in 40. Don't personally know anyone who hasn't had at least one barrel break. 

 

Edges seem to be better. I have one. It doesn't excite me, but I also have no complaints so far (knock on wood). It's not a primary gun for me, so it doesn't get quite the round count, but it does alright.

[EEH]

All joking aside, if I were to have a gun built Venom Custom would build it. Period.

[twodownzero]

On 4/14/2021 at 10:14 AM, JGus said:

I've done a lot of RO'ing over the years, too, including level 2 and 3 matches. And I own a lot of 1911's. Been fascinated with the 1911 for a long time.  From semi custom to full custom. And unlike you, I actually own and shoot LB's (I have five of them). And like any production or semi custom 1911 manufacturer, they can sometime put out a less than optimal running gun. But saying a Taurus gives better reliability than a LB is just an ignorant comment.

 

I'm just sharing the facts.  I have personally seen better reliability out of other brands.  As such, I won't be spending thousands of dollars to find out if my examples are representative.  Although with STI gone and no longer making 1911s, it's getting a lot harder.

[ltdmstr]

Part of the reason I suggested Springfield is their RO and similar guns make for a very nice base to build a custom gun. The slide and frame are forged and excellent quality.  As good or better than anything you can buy individually.  And the RO I bought about 8 months ago had an excellent slide to frame fit and barrel lockup.  Plus it had front serrations and other nice features.  You can replace the barrel/bushing and internals, flat top and checker, then refinish and you have a nice custom gun for a pretty reasonable price.  That's the route I'd go.  All you need to do is decide who you want to do the work.

[JGus]

14 minutes ago, ltdmstr said:

Part of the reason I suggested Springfield is their RO and similar guns make for a very nice base to build a custom gun. The slide and frame are forged and excellent quality.  As good or better than anything you can buy individually.  And the RO I bought about 8 months ago had an excellent slide to frame fit and barrel lockup.  Plus it had front serrations and other nice features.  You can replace the barrel/bushing and internals, flat top and checker, then refinish and you have a nice custom gun for a pretty reasonable price.  That's the route I'd go.  All you need to do is decide who you want to do the work.

 

I've got 6 custom Canyon Creek 1911's built by Rich Dettelhouser.  5 of the 6 are built with Spfld frame and slide per his recommendation.  Everything you mentioned is also what Rich mentioned to me and his reasoning for using Spfld frame and slide. Of course he then does a tremendous amount more with hand fitting new internals, trigger, barrel, and bushing, snake bellies the top of slide, cuts down the grip and adds his magwell, hardtails the beavertail grip safety, squares the trigger guard, etc., etc., etc. But his preferred starting point is the Spfld frame and slide.

[RJH]

What about one from the Springfield custom shop? Does anybody have one of those and could relay whether they are good or not? They look real nice but I've not messed with one

[RangerTrace]

2 hours ago, RJH said:

What about one from the Springfield custom shop? Does anybody have one of those and could relay whether they are good or not? They look real nice but I've not messed with one

I've had 3 different Springfield Pros.  They are extremely tight/accurate, but come with 4ish pound triggers and their finish is nothing to rave about.  All of mine for single shots for the 1st 50 rounds or so.  Never shot a match with them, duty use only.

[pjb45]

5 hours ago, ltdmstr said:

Part of the reason I suggested Springfield is their RO and similar guns make for a very nice base to build a custom gun. The slide and frame are forged and excellent quality.  As good or better than anything you can buy individually.  And the RO I bought about 8 months ago had an excellent slide to frame fit and barrel lockup.  Plus it had front serrations and other nice features.  You can replace the barrel/bushing and internals, flat top and checker, then refinish and you have a nice custom gun for a pretty reasonable price.  That's the route I'd go.  All you need to do is decide who you want to do the work.

+1. We have several SA sponsored shooters here.  They say the same thing.  RO is a great base gun. Of course there are recommendations for SA Custom Shop.  I think at one time there were 3-4 members of the Pistolsmith Guild in that shop. 
But this place is home to some great pistol smiths. 
DW is a great base gun too.  
 

[Bakerjd]

I'll add my .2c for what it's worth. Preface with, I shoot for Prasky Gunworks. I've had a few 9mm, 40cal and 45 SS guns. All had work done to them. The first was a Springfield loaded 9mm, Ryan Spencer worked ot over a little, trigger job, magwell blended, tuned it up. Great gun. Ran 100% even at I think it was the 2019 SNS400 where it rained every day. I shot the entire 400+ round match using Wilson mags and dawson base pads and never cleaned one single mag. Broke the extractor at the 1k round mark. Put an Aftec in and back to 100%. Sold that gun, miss that gun. 

 

Next is a Para Pro Custom 40cal that Sean built me at PGW. Fany slide lightening, and all the internals swapped and tuned, Aftec, slide to frame re fit, ect... runs great. Probably has 5k rounds of 40 major. Runs great. Definitely not easy to find one and expect to wother put a bit of time into making it 100% or paying someone to. 

 

9mm STI Trojan 9mm. Didnt do much work to it but it ran alright. Couldn't get the recoil impulse to something I liked. Slide was always slow to cycle even with 7lb recoil spring and 15lb main spring. Sold it. 

 

45ACP DW Sean worked over. LOTS of slide lightening, reworked trigger parts, magwell blended ect... pretty much everything you can do was done. Runs 100% with any mags and any ammo. Figured out reloads with 8rnd mags are harder to seat then with 40 so now it sits at the shop as as a show piece. Probably the absolute best semi custom 1911s you can buy currently. All hand git from factory. 

 

Current SS gun is a BUL Armory 1911 Trophy SAW 9mm tri tone. Very good fit, not quite as good as DW. Put a S&A 1 piece MSH magwell on it and blended, changed grips, 1 piece tungsten guide rod, dawson extended mag release. Already comes with a very nice oversized mag release button good sights ect..  I currently have around 2500 rounds through it and other then a couple failure to go into battery in the first 50 it has been 100%. So long as I case guage my reloads. Crisp 2lb trigger out the box. 

 

As far as going full custom Sean can do that and use what ever quality parts you want. Usually we build 1911s using machine fit matching slides and frames from JEM. Being machine fit means it still needs final fitting to run so he can control the final fit. KKM barrels, ect... for an idea of slide milling we can do take a look at the Facebook or website. Turn around is about 3-5 months currently, can vary due to parts availability. 

[jcc7x7]

I'd be in the Dan Bedell camp for a custom SS Gun.

I've had or have Limited and Open guns from Dan and all worked and shot accurately.

I'm 45 minutes from him also, so that makes for an easier decision.

[TCB]

Currently shooting a full house by Tim Graves, my backup gun is an older Wilson that I shot for many years & just threw down a deposit with Eddie Garcia to build me another match gun...all are in .45 ACP...if you want something nice, do it. It took me many years to understand exactly what I wanted on a 1911 to make it the way I thought a 1911 should be. Lots of production and semi-custom guns will work just fine for most anyone, but...Single Stacks are awesome and really nice Single Stacks are even more awesomer...and one done up exactly how you want it is the most awesomest. 

[JJM7288]

I recently bought a Glenn Custom 9mm/.40 1911, top shelf pistol. 

[FALAR]

I just ordered two custom 2011s through Nighthawk and the process was very straightforward and I even got a first ever/new option approved, thought that was pretty cool.

 

I did look at Infinity too (I drive by their place on I-20 all the time, surprised at how small it is) but like someone else said, not my style and I heard the wait currently is insane though I think I'm going to be waiting a year for my guns too.

[cnote]

Venom customs

Carne customs

Carne is in IL, never a bad idea to be close to the builder if they are elite builders.

[Brooke]

rafferty if you want total control of options and and a great gun

[waterboy]

On 4/15/2021 at 2:56 PM, RJH said:

What about one from the Springfield custom shop? Does anybody have one of those and could relay whether they are good or not? They look real nice but I've not messed with one

I have their SSC model in both 9mm and 45. You don't get to choose any options anymore, but they are very accurate and reliable guns. If you want a total custom built to your specs, I'd give Mark at Carne Custom a call