Nice guys and I appreciate the comments. No question Walter isn't going to ever recognise me again other than to do bodily harm after I besmerked his charater as a USSSA. As they say, "my bad".
OK, since you sissys won't give me some ideas up for me let me give you my list
Here is my must have and why they are and what they are.
Colt Pre War National Match fix sights. Simply the best gun Colt built by hand in a time when men took pride in what they did.
Swenson 5". The start of "our" generation of guns. Not as nice as you might have thought but good working pieces. The legend lives on. Buy it to look at, not shoot. They'll cut you bad!
Hoag. A Swenson contemporary. Still working and building good guns in a timely manner. A blend of old and new from a guy who shot at Big Bear and knows what a gun is meant for.
Heinie. The new kid on the block. (yes, he is MUCH older than me) Needs no introduction.
THE guy to bring the quality and high
PRICES to the public's attention. Like Hoag he got national attention via mass media. TV for Heinie, Hoag in the movies. It helped to build an exceptional gun all along.
Wetstein. Who? Craig Wetstein. He was hired out of gunsmithing school, trained by Pachmeyer and Dornhaus and built the majority of the Pachmeyer Combat Specials and all the Auto Shop guns in the late 70s and early 80s.
I'll give honorable mention to Nastoff because he built to Heinie's level for a good period of time. Enough that they could have traded crowns IMO, while they both were active building guns. But like Westein he is no longer building full time. Krebs has to get another honorable mention for his incredible machine work and eye to detail. He is the only guy I thought surpassed Heinie in a magazine photo. The "Snake Skin" gun was a master piece I have not seen rivaled. But then I have only seen one. How long did Kregs build best grade guns? Is he still doing it? I know Heinie has an order in for one but that isn't the normal "off the street" customer so I suspect Dick gets soem special treatment :grin:
There is no one yet that has surpassed Wetstein IMO. Several are close to his equal but not many and none have surpassed him IMO on a 5" gun, having seen most of the current makers the the gun press has celebrated.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dane Burns on 2001-05-26 01:01 ]</font>