[abnranger]

Over the last many years I have been fortunate to own or shoot several of the biggest names in the business's 1911's/Hi-Power's. At the same time I have shot and own several "semi-custom" 1911's.

Not to knock the work of any one or a company, but why does everybody seem to insist on "the way it came from the shop isn't good enough"? My only exception to this would be the crappy sights that Kimber uses; especially the night sights; in many folks opinions they are lacking at best.

I have seen several comments on why hammer/sear/disconnectors needs replaced--on my Kimber Gold Combat I have over 10K through it and no failures or hammer follows.
The need to change out grip safeties of the Kimber style to Ed Brown Memeory Groove, for whatever reason. Change for cosmetic reasons thumb safeties, exception being the GI style.

If you drop $1200+ on a semi-custom 1911, why are you going to drop another couple hundred to change it? For that you could be in a fullhouse custom carry 1911.

It must be me. I have found that the higher end 1911s all perform above the user ability, accuracy and reliabilty wise. ALl of these so-called accuracy promises aren't and can change day to day using the same ammo same 1911. Many here seem to be striving for the one upsmanship game.

Amazingly in the quest for the perfect 1911 and I have 1911s in my stable from Novak's, Cylinder & Slide, Wilson, Millennium(out of business), Kimber Custom Shop and they are all full house jobs; the Kimber Custom Classic work as well as any other. IMNSHO all it needs is 20LPI-sorry 30LPI just doesn't get it- checkering to the front strap, a repointed 20LPI S&A AMSH-Magwell and Heinie or Novak Night Sights. Accuracy and reliabity wise they run and are capable of better accuracy than most owners.

Like I said it must just be me, but I would rather invest the money in shooting more.

 

[Kavall]

I can only speak for me but the reason I aspire to own a full custom 1911 by either Burns or Heinie is because the attention to detail. I have handled a Heinie and I have handled a few semi-customs like WC CQB, a Les Baer, and a Rock River limited match. All guns would shoot way more accurately than I EVER will. They all performed without a failure to feed. But only the Heinie had the details, it had a different feel to the thumb safety, a different feel to the trigger, the grips safety, and just racking the slide. I could feel the quality holding the gun. It shot even better. And to make this point clear, I had no idea who Heinie was when I shot that gun, you could just see and feel the difference in the way gun was put together. The only reason now I would consider Burns is his beleifs on here impress me as someone I wouldn't mind making a gun for me. His photo's also showcase his work quite well.


To sum it up.

1. Build quality is the difference!
2. Can you have too much reliability? I don't think so!
3. Can you have too much accuracy? Nope, I think I will take as much as I can afford. The nice thing about a custom is you can spend a little tuning a stock gun or you can build a lot. What do you want?


My first custom will probably be a Burns "Best Grade" gun or a similar idea from Heinie depending on slide length and caliber. How long will I wait for it? HOWEVER long it takes!