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Custom handguns


SWshooter

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No one's posted here for a while so I thought I'd start something. Who is your favorite source for parts and/or who is your favorite pistol smith. I'm having a Delta Gold Cup completely rebuilt with a fully ramped barrel, new trigger, bobtailed frame and an extra 40 S&W barrel fitted for cheap practice ammo use. I picked up the 10mm and 40 S&W barrels, trigger parts, and bobtail mainspring housing from Bob Serva at Fusion Firearms. I used him because he does a lot of 10mm work, and 10mm parts can be hard to find. Picked up a few specialty tools from Brownells. I'm using a gunsmith by the name of  Don Gabor, first work he's done for me. One of my buddies had him do a trigger job on a Browning Hi-Power and he did a really nice job. Hi-Power's are notoriously hard to put a good trigger pull on. Should get it back in a couple of weeks and I'll try to post some pics.

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Ive done some of my own stuff. Had barrels done by Bo-Mar a few times. The most work I had done out was the Gold Cups Accu-Rails. The guy who did the job did it poorly. Fortunately Krieger himself took the gun in, corrected the rail installation and did some other things.

A few months ago I got to photograph a bunch of 1911 from Ted Yost and the team he works with. The work done by those guys is beyond belief.

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Problem with the really well known custom smiths is the turn around time. You send  them a gun and you might as well pretend you sold it, then when it comes back it's like an unexpected Christmas present. The last custom work I had done on a rifle, the smith promised it would be done in 6 weeks, I got it back almost a year to the day I sent it. I try to have my work done within driving distance of home, then you can check on it once in a while and make sure it isn't covered with dust in a corner. The best work I had done was the S&W factory. I sent them the gun and they sent back a quote. I had questions and called, and the girl asked if I wanted to talk to the gunsmith working on it. He actually disassembled part of the gun while I was on the phone, and we both knew exactly what was to be done when I hung up. I got it back in about a month and it was just the way I wanted it. They do really good work on old revolvers, especially refinishing. Of course they only work on Smith's.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Who is your favorite source for parts and/or who is your favorite pistol smith.

Kimber Custom Shop...  <laughs>  Man, I've never even considered sending out a pistol for work.  The prices scare the hell outta me, and the wait would drive me silly.  er.  sillier.  :o

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I had a factory Kimber and a Wilson at the same time once.  I gave them both to a guy that shoots in all kinds of competitions and wins most of them, to compare and test the accuracy.  The Kimber was way better and only cost half the price.  Kimbers in my opinion are custom right off the shelf!!!

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I'm a big fan of the SV Infinity guns. I find their guns and 1911 parts to be top of the line. They will build you a gun in any configuration you want, of course they won't use any parts other than their own. But as mentioned above your in for a long wait if you place an order to have one made to your specs.

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The straight trigger is supposed to keep the pull weight the same no matter where on the trigger you place your finger. I try to use shops within easy driving distance, so I can check up on things occasionally. To my mind, if a gun is truly custom, I should be able to use whatever parts I want, that's what custom is. Another problem is gunsmiths that won't let you supply your own parts, they want to order everything themselves. I think they just want the mark up for themselves. I can buy parts at dealer myself so I save a lot of money by bringing in the gun and the parts and just paying for the labor to assemble. Of course, if you have a problem, then it's your responsibility to return unusable parts and get the right ones. I don't mind doing this because I've found from past experience that I am willing to devote more time to parts chasing than the average gunsmith.

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The SV trigger has a replaceable trigger "shoe" that allows you to change the part that your finger engages. They have just about every possible configuration you can imagine available. in defferent lengths to accomidate any hand size or lenght preference. I also find it annoying that they don't allow you to select your own parts. They also have come out with their own grip design (shown on the Open gun with the Cmore sight) which is proprietary so you are forced to use their mag release, and magwell, which I don't particularly like. I installed the Cape magwell on the other (limited) gun and much prefer the way it locks my hand in place on the gun. On the other, I love the texture of the new grip. Both guns are beautiful well made peices, but Sv doesn't sell bare frames anymore the way STI does so if you want to put something unique and individual together your out of luck with the SV. Thats one reason I used some of their parts to put this one together using a SV slide and an STI frame.

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I'm a self taught tinkerer, I'm comfortable at this point fitting a slide and barrel to build a 1911 but not sure if I'm ready to build an open gun yet. I have found the AR's to be simpler to work on than the pistols, I also have access to machine tools so I can make certain parts when needed. I made the red dot mount on the last gun pictured and I made the hand guard on the gun pictured below. If your interested in learning more about building your own 1911's, I highly recommend the videos from American gunsmithing institute. You can rent them from Smartflix.com I rented "building the ultimate 1911" and found it to be very informative. If your looking to take the next step past swapping parts just rent the video, pick up some inexpensive components to start with and give it a shot. Good luck. I'm trying to work up the courage to try a bolt gun build.

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yeah, it's a pretty neat toy but I think that it was really designed to be a short barreled FA subgun, which unfortunately is not an option where I live. I have a friend with a .45 ACP AR which, I think is a better option if your stuck with the long barrel. The nice thing about the 45 AR is that all of the AR 15 accessories can be utilized, not to mention that the ergonomics of the AR are better. Another advantage is that if you train with an AR 15, everything carries over to the AR 45 and you don't have to learn a new operating system. I'm thinking that I want to build one this season.

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Even if I had access to machine tools it probably wouldn't do me much good <dontknow>, however i do have access to a brother-in-law who is a machinist <thumbsup>, probably the next best thing. The AR system does seem to be pretty user friendly. Bolt gun work requires a good, long metal cutting lathe and the skill to use it, at least if you want to do barrel work.

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