Posted: 2/25/2010 8:34:57 PM EDT
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I thinking of buying my self a custom 1911 following my deployment; I already own a Kimber Custom II (built 2000) was looking at:
1. Wilson 2. Les Baer 3. Nighthawk 4. Ed Brown Of the four who gives the most for your money; quality all looks great. Looking at a full size 1911. Thanks |
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I have an Ed Brown and a Les Baer. Both are hard to beat for what they cost. The Brown is a blued Wilson for less money and the Baer is just a tough as nails well built and fit 1911. Oh and Brown hasnt done the slip fit sights for over a year. With the set screw and the invention of Loc-Tite though it made real sense. Just some people for some reason believe you need to use a 5lb sledge and half inch punch to drift your sights or they might move. |
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Out of the 4 brands listed Nighthawk is the only one that will send you a call tag to pick up your gun for free. I also have seen and heard some bad guns cranked out of their shop.
You can also add Springfield Armory Custom Shop. Choose the FBI 1911 built for the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. Choice of with rail called the OPERATOR or without rail called PROFESSIONAL. Or have them build you a gun to your specs. I actually got a turd of a FBI gun but they fixed it in 1.5 weeks. Rebuilt to my specs. Smoothed out everything and refinished it properly. Wilson Combat has some great guns but they will not change from specs unless you wanna wait for a while for one. You will have to take a off the shelf kind of gun with them. So you have some good choices. Ed Brown will not pay for shipping back. I remember some guy posting saying he just bought a $3000 gun from them and it had a bad trigger with creep. Shipped back to Ed Brown on his own dime and they said there is nothing wrong with it and shipped the gun back without any work. Owner finally shipped creepy gun trigger to Wilson Combat and they fixed it after acknowledging that yes..there is a lot of creep on his brand new gun. It was quite expensive and time consuming but they fixed it. |
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If you arent set on the 4 listed, Try these http://www.fusionfirearms.com/servlet/StoreFront
Extremely accurate and nice from custom to semi custom. Get more for your money. I own 2 of them. 1 in 10mm and another in 9mm They are both longslides http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1255/fusionu.jpg http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/391/1000041edited1.jpg |
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I am looking at getting a custom 1911 also. I have a friend who owns several 1911s from Nighthawk, Les Baer, Ed Brown, and had a Colt customized by Volkmann? He is the kinda person that is very particular about what and how he wants things done regarding his 1911s. He is a machinist himself. He usually calls multiple times and has been on the phone with Les Baer, Ed Brown, Mark Stone, and the Volkmann guy. The nicest and easiest to get in touch with and listen to your problems and concerns would be Mark and Volkmann. I have handled almost every 1911 that this guy owns.
My impressions are that they are all super nice - the Les Baers are very well made but the slide to frame fit is so tight you are going to need to shoot 500 rounds to get it "broken" in. This is from Les himself regarding malfunctions etc. Not saying that is good or bad but just what you will find and that may be a great attribute to his pistols. The Ed Browns are not as tight and again very well made. I like the looks of the scalloping better than checkering but as far as function I think the checkering is much better for me. More coarse = better for me. I like the Nighthawks the best. The fit and finish are in my opinion just a bit better. Mark is one of the owners and you can talk to him directly and he will get things done. The customer service is great. I am surprised to hear a few people saying that they have heard of some of the Nighthawks not being up to par. I would like to hear some more details if possible. The worst I have heard is someone on this board had too much permacoat on the rear of the slide and was sending it back, which he should. Lastly out of all of the 1911s I have handled the individual one that I like best was the Colt lightweight commander that Volkmann worked on. It just "feels" the best and I think has the best trigger. I don't know if it is just the lightweight commander aspect or what but that is a sweet gun. Right now I am about to pull the trigger on a lightweight commander grp from Nighthawk... |
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Les Baer Premier II Super-Tac
Eb Brown Special Forces - Kobra Wilson Combat CQB - Nighthawk Customs GRP In that order for me. In actuality I would have no problem with any of those models. Of course each one I would have a few modifications I would want on them. |
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Quoted: In classic 'don't answer the OP's question' form... for that kind of money I would call up Don Williams at the Action Works and get a custom gun done. Atleast you werent alone in this thread. Anyhow OP I was thinking a little more and I think most bang for your buck is still Les Baer. Not because I own one, I was a skeptic when I bought it and was hoping to be able to bad mouth it but I couldnt. A lot of people will agree, owners and non-owners that the Concept line, the P2 and TRS are hard to beat for the money. |
Wilson and be done with it. Coming home from deployment you want it done right, ready to work from the first shot. That's what I was going to say and didn't. I usually won't chime in on a piece like this because all options you have given yourself to choose from are good. That is until........... Volkmann Custom was mentioned. Never met him. He's a friend of a friend. I do know what this friend thinks of him and I've followed Volkmann's work since first hearing his name. He comes from Ed Brown's shop. Volkmann does one gun at a time. He's a one man shop and he knows how to get the details right. You'd have to working for Ed Brown as long as he did. Full Custom was brought up by Trumpet, Spook410, and Beltfed74. All three knowledgeable of 1911 lore. Luke Volkmann has the time to give a customer the kind of attention you won't get anywhere in a custom on the level your looking. He runs a one man shop. I'm betting he'd have the time to give you and your " end of deployment prize " the kind of attention you've been giving it in your mind while killing your down time. 
Volkmann Custom |
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Best for the money would probably be the Les Baer TRS. For me:
Ed Brown Special Forces Les Baer TRS with no FCS and no roll-marks Springfield Armory Professional with no FCS and no rollmarks (if that is possible) The Ed Brown will probably cost $300 more than the TRS, and the Pro will be considerably more expensive then both. Still...those are my three dream pistols. |
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The Pro doesn't come with FCS, so that wouldn't be an issue. You're stuck with the rollmarks though. SA only makes the Pro one way, so there are no options. They could build you something similar though, without the rollmarks, it just wouldn't technically be a Pro, and it wouldn't have the CRG-prefix.
ETA: To the OP, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the guns you listed. Just pick the one that suites you the best and has the features that you want. That being said, I think the Baer TRS is probably the best bang for the buck. Quoted:
Best for the money would probably be the Les Baer TRS. For me: Ed Brown Special Forces Les Baer TRS with no FCS and no roll-marks Springfield Armory Professional with no FCS and no rollmarks (if that is possible) The Ed Brown will probably cost $300 more than the TRS, and the Pro will be considerably more expensive then both. Still...those are my three dream pistols. |
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Quoted:
Wilson and be done with it. Coming home from deployment you want it done right, ready to work from the first shot. That's what I was going to say and didn't. I usually won't chime in on a piece like this because all options you have given yourself to choose from are good. That is until........... Volkmann Custom was mentioned. Never met him. He's a friend of a friend. I do know what this friend thinks of him and I've followed Volkmann's work since first hearing his name. He comes from Ed Brown's shop. Volkmann does one gun at a time. He's a one man shop and he knows how to get the details right. You'd have to working for Ed Brown as long as he did. Full Custom was brought up by Trumpet, Spook410, and Beltfed74. All three knowledgeable of 1911 lore. Luke Volkmann has the time to give a customer the kind of attention you won't get anywhere in a custom on the level your looking. He runs a one man shop. I'm betting he'd have the time to give you and your " end of deployment prize " the kind of attention you've been giving it in your mind while killing your down time.
Volkmann Custom I've been following him a bit as well. He seems to be the best kept secret in the custom/semi custom world. For the money, he's at the top of his class. |
| I own an Ed Brown and it is a most excellent 1911. My sights have never moved. Highly reccomened. I also have a Kimber that was completely gone over by Wilson. Very accurate a one hell of a sweet trigger. My 2 cents from from somebody who actually owns the pistols. I did shoot a Les Bear this past week-it was nice too. |