Don’t hate me, but I’ve fallen into some serious coin and…
I want to buy a custom made 1911.
What do you recommend, and, most importantly, why?
Springfield?
Ed Brown?
Other???
Thanks guys.
personally, I would contact some of the 1911 sponsors/sperts here on M4 and discuss what you want and go with the one that gives you the warm and fuzzy’s
Otherwise, you have brown, les baer, nighthawk, wilson etc…to me, if the throw down coin was there, it would be custom all the way.
check out the stickies on the 1911 forums.
congrats and keep us posted
Thanks, friend, but I’m new to this forum, can you give me links to the experts you recommend I speak to here?
Thanks for your kind consideration.
That is a question and a half! That being said, generally any of the top of the line 1911 manufacturers make an excellent pistol. Wilson Combat probably being at the top of the spectrum (not by much, mind you) esp. with customer service. I like Nighthawk range of models, but the logo is the most unattractive thing about the pistol. Ed Brown has been known for some, how do you phrase it correctly, finicky customer service but produces a quality and handsome 1911 (Executive elite, and Special Forces model). And Springfield makes some excellent production models and nice custom pistols as well, the Professional being one of the most well known 1911A1s on the market.
I’m not sure if I’m permitted to direct someone to another forum on the 1911A1 platform, if I’m not please delete this part of my post, but the forums on m1911.org is a serious forum for knowledge and reviews on this pistol.
A true custom from a competent smith will likely cost as much time as money.
No shortage of quality guys out there to make it for you, but how fast you want it will probably be the deciding factor.
I would personally get MEU(SOC) replica pistol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MEU(SOC)_pistol
http://www.berryhillguns.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=12
+1 on MEU(SOC)
+1 on Dave Berryhill
Figure out what your 1911 will be used for, then select a smith that specializes in that type of build. don’t send your hard use build to a gamer, and vice versa.
take your ideas of what features you want (and why you want them), and talk to the smith. he will, undoubtedly have his own opinions of parts and style.
Talk to more than one smith. find one your comfortable with. find one whose timeline will match yours. the more research you put in, the better the finished product will be. and expect to wait.
ETA: ed brown no longer builds customs.
Personally i like my colts they dont come custom that is where the money goes. I know many say go for the NightHawks, wilsons, and baers , all are fine pistols, but theres something about taking a 1911 off the shelf and making it a one of a kind custom to you. Find a good smith (shouldnt be hard around here) and send off your 1911 of choice. as mentioned before this can and will take a long time but the wait will be worth it.
Good luck
I don’t know how much “coin” you consider “serious,” but I would send it to one of the Louder Than Words gunsmiths and have them work their magic.
If it were me…I would look in to Rogers Precision. Every single 1911 I have seen from them is absolutely amazing. The quality and craftsmanship is hard to find. Take a look over at their website and I’m sure you’ll be impressed. http://rogersprecision.com/
If I fell into some serious coin, my first 1911 call would be to Heirloom Precision. Send them a base gun and wait for the FedEx truck.
I don’t know any “sperts” to recommend but you need to think long and hard before you decide. What the pistol is to be used for is the major consideration. The difference between a “looker” and a “user” is night and day. You might want to keep Jeff Cooper’s ideas of what a 1911 should in mind.
Regardless, pics are required when it (they) are done. 
Get a Mars Armament 1911!
After owning a full Rogers Precision and a part Rogers Precision 1911…
After owning a Springfield Pro sent back to them for more customization…
After owning probably almost a dozen 1911s, mostly Colts (including my semi-customs that had problems) that were customized (from full blown, to one or two mods) by Nelson Ford…
I will never purchase another: Nighthawk, Wilson, Baer or STI. I have had been majorly disappointed by each of these companies so never bothered with a Brown. The lifetime warranty crap means caca after
two or three trips back to the factory and finding that you still have
issues that you end up paying (Nelson) to fix correctly. The Baer and STI were a bit better, in all fairness.
Nelson does not build full customs anymore, but, still does a-la-carte.
Chuck Rogers is expensive (worth every penny) but has a long wait when he even accepts work, although you can see his guns for sale for a premium price from time to time.
The Springfield Custom Shop puts out what I think is by far the best
value in industry. It would be really hard to beat a Springfield
Custom and it blows the other semi-customs away on price, quality
and reliability. A Professional Model is around a one year wait but you
can get the same quality by custom ordering exactly what you want and the wait is half the time or less last time I checked.
Just my opinions that my were formed by having some great experiences and some crappy ones with a lot of hard earned cash.
I also feel a bit of pride of ownership for my custom Colts and Springfield. Did not feel this way about my semi-customs.
The Springfield acts like a full custom and I feel like it is as they do such awesome work in their shop.
Not trying to start a flame war as I know there are many that have
had good experiences with the companies that I have mentioned (the ones that I had problems with, that is), in hindsight, I think all of the ones that I have listed are overpriced
for what you get.
Full custom = Heirloom Precision. They do incredibly nice work.
Take a look at thier website or the pictures of the guns they’ve done that are posted in the 1911 subforum by Jason Burton.
I say this owning/having owned a Heinie, two Baers, two Bedells, a NHC/VT, a YoBo, a SVI, an O’Hara.
I don’t have the experience that Hogsgunwild has with all the Pistols he mentioned,but I like what he says and it sounds like he has some experience with a few 1911 Pistols !!! So before I even read what he had to say,I was thinking almost the same thing !!! I would have 2 choices,and it would be a Colt or a Springfield,take your pick !!! If I was gonna get a Colt I would Start with one of these,http://www.coltsmfg.com/Catalog/ColtPistols/ColtSpecialCombatGovernment.aspx Get it, shoot about 1K through it and send it off to Colt Custom Shop !!! I do hang out over at 1911.org and have talked with lots of guys that have sent there Colts back for Custom Work and they all rave about it & it doesn’t take a year to get it back ! (At least last time I checked) My 2nd choice would be the Springfield,check here. You can get a gun built right from the ground up I think,or start with a TRP,Operator,etc and go from there !!! The Sky is the limit & your wallet !!!
http://www.springfield-armory.com/custom.php Everyone has contributed some good info and there are lots of good Pistols mentioned,but if I was gonna do something like this,I would look,ask,research and pick the one you like the best and the one that can get it to ya the quickest,LOL !!! I hate to wait !!! But thats just me !!! Enjoy,don’t Blow the $$$$ on anything stupid,
& keep us posted !!!
If this gun is for carry/defense, can’t beat a Springfield Professional…
I personally wouldn’t spend over 1k on a 1911. You just don’t seem to get much more out of it the more you spend.
Springfield MC Operator would be about as high as I’d go.