High end 1911s worth the cost?
- Thread starter Alpena
- Start date
One of the many nice things about a custom gun is that your intended use is taken into consideration when it's built and it is set up accordingly. High end, custom, reliability, accuracy, appearance, and so on, are not mutually exclusive. You can have everything you want, you just have to find someone that can build it.
The problem with the term "semi-custom" is that it's so ambiguous. I mean, what's "semi" anything? I used cars in my example because, like some "semi-custom" 1911s, you have a list of options to choose from, but selecting a different color paint or interior or a bigger engine doesn't make it a custom car. Limited production may be a better term. Ducati builds some motorcycles that they only make a very small number of each year, limited production models that get more attention and higher end parts and accessories than the other motorcycles coming off the line but it's not considered a custom or semi-custom, how can it be? There's another one just like it parked right next to it and they'll make more just like those.
Now, that's not to say that some of those same companies won't build you a true custom gun, either using your own piece as a foundation or one of theirs. As I understand it, the Colt custom shop will build pretty much anything you want, same with Springfield's, and I think Wilson may still take on custom builds. I'm sure that other high end manufacturers will as well.
So, you (or the industry) can use whatever term you want but I calls 'em the way I sees 'em and there isn't much, if any, custom about most "semi-custom" guns. They're really nice, expensive, accurate, well fitted, well finished, but not custom. And there's not a thing wrong with that, look through the catalog and if one of them fits you're needs then you're all set.
Thanks. And, yes, it does shoot as good as it looks.
I will, and thanks. I agree with you on the grips, I really liked the stags but I think the clean, simple look of these make for a nice contrast against the rest of the gun (just wish I could remember what kind they are
)That gun is the product of two shops. Clarks did their Meltdown package on it back in '98 shortly after they started doing them. The melts were more radical then, the ones they've been doing for several years now look more like the Kimber CDP. I think people must find them more palatable that way.
Anyway, Clarks parkerized it after they did the work and when I got the gun it hadn't had many rounds through it but it had been carried a lot and the finish was worn and it looked bad, especially with the ORM 1991A1 billboard rollmarks. It shot great and was perfectly reliable, just like you'd expect a Clark gun would be. I carried it like that for a while then took it to Dietrich Gunsmithy in Otis, ME to be refinished. Robin Dietrich is the gunsmith and he's a very talented young guy (he's only 27). I had him clean the rollmarks off the slide, fit a checkered S&A MSH, hand checker the front strap, do an 11deg crown on the barrel, bead blast the sights and put a brass insert in the front, then polish the gun and the barrel to a mirror finish and blue it. It turned out better than either of us expected and still shoots just like it did before.
The full size gun in the other picture is also an ORM 1991A1, a .38 Super. Robin did the build on that gun, everything except the finish, which is Ionbond DLC. That one is neat because in addition to the Super barrel it also has 9mm and 9x23 Winchester barrels fitted to it.
This is what the Meltdown looked like before it was refinished-
Yeah, he put a lot of time into it, he's very detail oriented, the polish is even all over the gun.
Dietrich did all the prep (mirror polished flats and fine matte rounds), Ionbond applied the DLC coating in their facility in Greensboro, NC. They did an outstanding job, every part, inside and out, was coated except the front sight and the springs.
