Best High End 1911 Shop?

[CmdrSlander]

If you had say, $3000 to spend on a single 1911 where would you spend it? Ed Brown? Nighthawk? Les Baer? etc.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Depends on what you want to do with the gun somewhat.

All things equal I'd probably buy an Ed Brown and a bunch of magazines and ammo with 3 grand. It's a fun position to be in that's for sure Enjoy worrying about it til you make up your mind!

 

[Walkalong]

Definitely a nice position to be in.

Ed Brown, Les Baer............

Too bad RRA quit doing 1911's. The one I handled was sweet.

 

[Nacho Libre]

I would get an Ed Brown. Their Kobra Carry is a beauty. Nighthawk is good but price are a lot higher.

 

[cacoltguy]

I'd go with a Les Baer, Wilson Combat or Nighthawk. As far as Custom guns go, I've heard of more complaints about customer service from Ed Brown.

 

[Jim Watson]

A Colt S70 and $2000 worth of work by John Harrison.

 

[RightCoastBiased]

I'd take a plane old Ed Brown Special Forces and mags/ammo with leftover cash.

 

[Skylerbone]

I was thinking a 1991 Colt and a weekend in Vegas but I guess I missed the point 8-(.

Judging by the other responses I guess a Colt 70 Reissue, $1700 to Mountain Home, AR and the rest for a nice Royal Blue.

 

[Zerodefect]

Severns Custom

http://www.severnscustom.com/


For $3000 I could have him ordera custom LesBaer Monolith with no billboards, no ".45ACP" or any other retarded markings.

Then have him add:
My sights
EB Big paddle thumb safety
EB Bushing and recoil plug
Carry melt
Hard Hat black the whole thing, everything black.

For that kind of cash I'd recommend getting a 1911 you like. Then send it off to get perfectly customized to your taste after you have shot it enough to know what you'd like to change.

 

[Zerodefect]

A Colt S70 and $2000 worth of work by John Harrison.

If your going to spend that much why start out with a loose ill fitted Colt? Why not send the guy LesBaer or Fusion kit???

 

[SnowBlaZeR2]

If your going to spend that much why start out with a loose ill fitted Colt? Why not send the guy LesBaer or Fusion kit???

Because then instead of a nice custom Colt, you have a nice custom kit gun. Not saying one way or the other, but there are reasons.

 

[Zerodefect]

I understand. If it's called a "gun collection". Minus well have something with a collectable name. I have a Colt 6920 and paid extra for a stripped Noveske lower for similar reasons.

But the Colt 1911's I've handeled are really loose. I's rather have something that starts out too tight that needs lapped perfectly then has a perfect fit.

 

[Armed012002]

Another vote for Ed Brown.

I like their "lower end" models such as the Special Forces or Kobra.

You can have them customize it while at the factory being built. Such as solid trigger, short trigger, different sights, magwell, slim grips and bushings, bobtail, etc.

Another cool feature is that you can have them do no engraving on the slide. So if you don't like the name "Special Forces" or "Kobra", they'll omit those engravings.

 

[kamagong]

$3k is a heck of a budget. If I had that much to play with I'd get a matched Caspian frame and slide. Add in a Barsto barrel, various EGW, Cylinder & Slide, 10-8, Wilson Combat, and Harrison parts and I'd drop it off with Jim Hoag for a gun built just the way I want that'll shoot right along the best of them.

 

[Shipwreck]

Honestly - they are all good. At that price - you need to look at what YOU want. Try to find a guns tore in your area that carries different ones. You can look at the catalogs all ya want - but until you actually hold one....

I prefer Ed Brown over Nighthawk. But, I like the Custom Shop Springfields more than the Browns (the Custom Shop guns are made like Nighthawks, Browns, etc - they are NOT standard production quality Springfields).

You need to decide which grip safety, which thumb safety, what style of checkering, what finish and sights, etc - what YOU want. All are great companies who make great guns...

 

[valnar]

I'd say a Les Baer *unless* what you want in a custom gun happens to be the same options Valtro uses in their semi-custom model. You'd save some money too.

http://www.valtrousa.com/handguns.html

 

[Jim Watson]

It has been a while since you could actually buy a new Jardine Valtro:

"This page was last updated on: September 15, 2003"

But they are/were very fine guns.

 

[38 Super Fan]

Plenty of great options in that range, Springfield Custom Shop and GunCrafter are worthy of consideration as well.

 

[ClangClang]

Look very closely at Dane Burns Customs out of WA.

 

[tuj]

I'd save up 2k more and go with a Chambers custom. I didn't have 3 or 5k to drop, so I went with a Les Baer myself. But Joe Chambers makes some great guns, the tolerances are amazing as is the accuracy.

 

[dcarch]

Les Baer. But, they're made less than 45 mins from my house, so I'm a little prejudiced.