Custom Built Guns - Educate Me

[ATMester]

How much does it cost to have a gun build? How long is the wait generally speaking?

It would be a 1911 .45

I assume I gotta buy all the part before, then I can send it to the gunsmith. I checked with Caspian, I roughly looking at $1500 for parts only.

How much would be an SVI - Infinity 1911 ? I didn't ask for a price quote cause it seemed I gotta buy that gun if I bother them.

Benny Hill's name come up way too often in searches... he would be the one?

Would I be better off just getting an STI from Brazos for probably hundreds less???

I think I'm gonna spend some money next month...

Any help-advice appreciated Guys

[HSMITH]

Benny is as easy to talk to as anyone you will find, and it has been my experience that his prices are extremely competitive if not better than that. He has a fantastic reputation here, and you do see his name all the time.

My advise to you: Call Benny, and also call a couple of the other popular guys that you see mentioned here regularly. Talk to them about what you want in a gun, what that will cost, and then ask for their recommendations and what that would cost. Get a feel for what you want compared to what the top guys would build if given a blank order form. Now that you have that info you will be much more likely to make good decisions, you will know what sort of philosophy each smith likes in his guns, know what things cost. etc.

With all that info you can make a decision on custom vs semi-custom vs production gun vs production gun with some tuning, etc. Information will be your friend, and the rest of us are opinionated enough (at least I am) to try to steer you in one direction or another without telling you about all the options.

It isn't going to be a small purchase, take your time making the decision.

[Merlin Orr]

How long is totally dependent on who you use. Popular smiths have some pretty long waits at times. If you have checked with Caspian and the parts for a Quality gun are $1,500.00 you know by that fact alone that a complete gun will set you well back over 2 K...IF it is built with the best of parts.

A some factory guns are nearly as good as a good custom. Nearly. An STI Trojan or Spartan will be well fit and of good quality - but not quite custom.

A custom gun will last the average competition shooters for a number of years and will last the average shooter several lifetimes. The sting of the price will fade but quality remains.

You mention Benny Hill. Can't go wrong with Triangle Shooting Sports. There are other great gunsmiths on this dealer forum to choose from that build wonderfully high quality pieces. You won't be disappointed by buying quality.

My .02.

[dsb45acp]

What do you want to use the gun for? If you want to shoot a 1911 in single stack or Ltd. 10, Merlin is right. STI Trojan or Spartan is a good starting point. If you want to shoot Limited, then you won't regret talking to any of the smiths mentioned on the forum (Benny Hill, Bob Londrigan at Brazos, Matt McLearn at M2i, Derek Jancowicz at Milenium Custom, etc). Alternately, you could just buy a Springfield, Les Baer or Kimber 1911 and have it tuned or just shoot it stock. Try talking with some of your local shooting buddies about their guns and set up. They are usually more then willing to talk about the toys and will probably even let you put a few rounds down range.

PS Sorry for the spelling. I'm severly caffine deficient this morning

[38superman]

There is certainly nothing wrong with sending a pile of money to one of the top smiths.

Kick back and wait the wait and you will end up with a fine piece of hardware.

However that is not your only option.

I bought a Springfield loaded 1911 a few years ago, which is a pretty nice gun to start with.

It came with adjustable sights, magwell, target hammer & trigger, ambi safety, etc.

The accuracy was acceptable but nothing to write home about.

I decided to take the gun to Rusty Kidd of Atlanta to be tuned.

He hand fitted a Kart match grade barrel and bushing, and did an action job.

The cost of the gun + the gunsmith work ended up around $1,200.

The results were amazing and there was no waiting.

Sure there are other refinements such as slide/frame fit, etc. that would come along with a custom gun.

The question is, how important is that to you.

My springer looks and feels great.

The trigger is awesome, it will reliably feed any ammo I stick in it, runs great with anybody's magazine and routinely prints 1 inch groups.

What more do you want from a 1911?

Tony

Edited February 13, 2007 by tlshores

[bgary]

Depends.

Depends on what you want, and how important things like "name", "wait" and "price" are to you.

There's a couple of approaches

- you can buy a complete gun, use it for a while, and then have a smith modify it when you know what you want.

- you can send a bunch of money to a smith, and tell him what you want (usually you *don't* need to have all the parts first; most smiths will be able to get the parts just fine), or

-- you can send a bunch of money to a smith, and have him build you what *he* thinks you want. Sometimes this can work out really well, because you're leveraging a *lot* of experience about what works and what doesn't. Sometimes, though, it can end up with a gun that is "right", but maybe not "right for you".

My recommendation would be to find a smith that has the attributes you are looking for - the things that are generally important to me are 1) will the smith build what *I* want, 2) quality, and how long will I have to wait for it, and 3) how much will it cost...

I have been *very* happy with the guns John Larson has built for me (JPL Precision). He's a local guy (Western Washington), not one of the big-name national smiths, but does phenomenal work, has good turn-around time, and will build what *you* want, whether it is customizing a store-bought gun, or a ground-up custom gun.

www.jplprecision.com

Bruce

PS - he has a price list on his site, if you're interested in getting an idea of what things might cost. Note though, as with most smiths, prices may vary depending on details (and negotiating skills <v> )

Edited February 13, 2007 by bgary

[ATMester]

Answering for some of the questions above:

I wanna replace my Kimber Team Match II .45

There's some scratches in the barrel...don't ask me how...bronze bore brushes and me somehow..

Dings under the frame where I slammed the magazine to it...

Trigger is like mash potato...countless hours of dry-fire I guess.

External extractor- I try to sell it when I can, Kimber went back to the internal extractor admitting the failer of their design. Not that it ever gave me a problem...

Just thought I would buy a nice 1911 for L10

My springer looks and feels great.

The trigger is awesome, it will reliably feed any ammo I stick in it, runs great with anybody's magazine and routinely prints 1 inch groups.

What more do you want from a 1911?

One good statement...makes me re-think everything.

Edited February 14, 2007 by Flexmoney

[bwit]

The discussion touched on this but a very good alternative to full custom, and less costly, is Les Baer products. I have one. They are extremely well made, available with any variety of features and I have never seen a more accurate 1911. The barrel to slide and slide to frame fit is unbelievably tight. Comes with an excellent trigger, though you may later want to lighten it up. After 150,000?? or so rounds and you wear it out, send it to the factory and they'll rebuild it for you. They are also nice people to work with if you ever need parts or to deal with the factory. You will never be sorry and unhappy with one of these down the road. My best suggestion is to go to a range/gunstore that has rentals guns. Shoot a Kimber, Springfield [or something else] and a Baer Premier II ($1600. Loaded), one of the less expensive but fabulous models. This exercise will cost a few bucks but also be fun and a great experience. It may keep you from making a bad, costly decision. Then you will be able to make a wise decision and know the difference and what you are talking about. Let that comparison and experience tell you which one you should buy.

Oh yes, also the resale value.

[blue edge]

External extractor- I try to sell it when I can, Kimber went back to the internal extractor admitting the failer of their design. Not that it ever gave me a problem...

I hear Kimber is replacing those slides, with the internal extractor slides.

Might be worth phone call?

[joecichlid]

To get a price quote from SVI you can go to The SVI gunbuilder site. It is free, just sign up and get an account and you can build your gun and check the price, modify it and check the price again. Fun to build your dream gun and just see how deep your pockets must be. LOL Yeah, got me in trouble until I came across a sweet deal on an STI Open gun.

Joe W.

[TonyT]

I purchased a SA Trophy Match and S&W 945. Both shoot far, far better than I can ever hold. The SA Trophy Match required a $120 parts kiut (new hammer, sear and disconnector) to get a nice trigger pull. The S&W 945 came with a ggreat trigger pull right out of the box and is supoerbly accurate. It's now my bullseye gun.

The SA came to under $1100 and the S*W945 to slightly over that.

How much does it cost to have a gun build? How long is the wait generally speaking?

It would be a 1911 .45

I assume I gotta buy all the part before, then I can send it to the gunsmith. I checked with Caspian, I roughly looking at $1500 for parts only.

How much would be an SVI - Infinity 1911 ? I didn't ask for a price quote cause it seemed I gotta buy that gun if I bother them.

Benny Hill's name come up way too often in searches... he would be the one?

Would I be better off just getting an STI from Brazos for probably hundreds less???

I think I'm gonna spend some money next month...

Any help-advice appreciated Guys

[ATMester]

I purchased a SA Trophy Match and S&W 945. Both shoot far, far better than I can ever hold. The SA Trophy Match required a $120 parts kiut (new hammer, sear and disconnector) to get a nice trigger pull. The S&W 945 came with a ggreat trigger pull right out of the box and is supoerbly accurate. It's now my bullseye gun.

The SA came to under $1100 and the S*W945 to slightly over that.

I hear you. I'm sure SA Trophy Match is a good gun. I'm even eyeballing it.

BUT about $1100 for the gun, plus $ 150 for sear, hammer, spring, plus labor for the trigger job, $30 for short trigger another $30 fiber optic sight plus labor will will put me to the price range of a Baer- Premier II or an STI Sentinel....

I'm wondering what should be the reason why not to just buy one of those...

At the and of the day I would have an STI or a Bear, not a pimped out something.

I think I pretty much answered to my own question...now I have to make up my mind Baer or STI....

Edited February 17, 2007 by TheHun

[TonyT]

Both the Baer and STI's are great guns. Im purchased my Trophy Match forless than $900 (so called salesmans sample) unfired. I purchased a Dawson "innards" set and installed it myself - gave a nice 3+ lb trigger pull.

I purchased a SA Trophy Match and S&W 945. Both shoot far, far better than I can ever hold. The SA Trophy Match required a $120 parts kiut (new hammer, sear and disconnector) to get a nice trigger pull. The S&W 945 came with a ggreat trigger pull right out of the box and is supoerbly accurate. It's now my bullseye gun.

The SA came to under $1100 and the S*W945 to slightly over that.

I hear you. I'm sure SA Trophy Match is a good gun. I'm even eyeballing it.

BUT about $1100 for the gun, plus $ 150 for sear, hammer, spring, plus labor for the trigger job, $30 for short trigger another $30 fiber optic sight plus labor will will put me to the price range of a Baer- Premier II or an STI Sentinel....

I'm wondering what should be the reason why not to just buy one of those...

At the and of the day I would have an STI or a Bear, not a pimped out something.

I think I pretty much answered to my own question...now I have to make up my mind Baer or STI....

[chrisjohn]

If you're interested in a SS there is no reason to get anything other than a basic Kimber with adjustable sights. Should run around 700 bucks. Baer is next step up, and worth the money. Only go custom for double stack STI.