![building a colt 1911 a1 building a colt 1911 a1](https://www.fieldandstream.com/uploads/2021/06/10/1911-1-scaled.jpg)
I chose a carbon steel frame and slide (vs stainless) simply because it was available.
![building a colt 1911 a1 building a colt 1911 a1](https://www.snipercountry.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CMP-1911-10.jpg)
Just a perfect tool, not a shiny work of art.”Ī good quality frame integral to your build. “I save my customers money and turn guns out within less than a month because I do not do external polishing, bluing, checkering nor stippling anymore. It will also depend on how much detail you want from your gunsmith.ĭave Salyer, a South Carolina-based master gunsmith takes the minimalist, pragmatic route. If you build it from scratch figure on spending anywhere from $1500 to $2000 on parts.Ī gunsmith’s labor will add a minimum of $750. It’s always a bit tricky to generalize, but depending on the configuration, an off the shelf, high end 1911 will cost around $2000 and up. In the end, you’ll not only have a pistol that will beĪccurate, durable and perhaps most importantly, dependable. If you build it yourself, there won’t be any doubt in this department. It’s hard to know the provenance of parts. Many of the companies producing semi-custom guns use good quality parts but some people cut corners in order to keep the prices down. Not only will it be built to your specs, you’ll know exactly the quality of parts inside. With a custom build, you’re going to get exactly what you want. Depending on the model and price point, there may be some hand fitting, but a mass produced gun will not have the attention to detail that a true custom build will have. You may prefer a particular style of trigger, a brand of barrel or an overpriced red dot.ĭiscriminating shooters also understand that to get a gun to perform to a certain standard, they are going to need more than a semi-custom can offer. In this case I choose t he Greider Precision 1911 V-SERIES MATCH TRIGGER. Those who build their own pistols (or have them crafted by a gunsmith) do it because they need to customize their rig.Ĭhoosing your own parts is what defines a custom build. Hopefully it will be instructive to others. It was time to build my own gun, to my own specs. Or, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, I felt I was capable of more. Most range goers drag out their Les Baer a few times a year, show it off to friends, punch a few holes in paper and lock it up. Nothing wrong with that notion.Ĭompanies such as Wilson Combat, Les Baer, Ed Brown, etc make excellent guns.įor most of us, a stock, semi-custom pistol is more than accurate for our capabilities. Of course, it would have been easy to buy something off the shelf. I wanted a Bullseye style, Government 45, accurate to 50 yards. However, the consensus among my 1911 brain trust was that it would be better to do a custom build rather than trying to create a proverbial silk purse.īefore getting started on a project like this, common sense dictates that we should know exactly what we want to build. Built from a Springfield GI model, it simply didn’t have the accuracy that I wanted. The genesis for this Caspian build began with the idea of tweaking a safe queen that I never quite warmed up to. There is, however, a 12 week delivery delay, mostly due to demand.
![building a colt 1911 a1 building a colt 1911 a1](https://i.imgur.com/yMP3jCm.jpg)
She stated that the infamous “supply chain” is a minor issue with Caspian because raw materials are sourced domestically and the company manufactures its own parts. During the last few years I learned a few things that I’d like to pass that onto my readers and consequently, have updated this article.įor those interested in assembling their own build, Amy Foster Smith, whose family owns Caspian Arms, said that slides and receivers are still available at the time of publication. Covid has given me plenty of time to become acquainted with this pistol and on occasion, shoot it with great accuracy. Author’s Note: I originally published this story nearly two years ago.