I had never heard of them until Sandy called up for help writing a post processor one day. Looked them up afterwards and man are those some nice looking guns they have up there on their site.
You probably noticed they have high end everything, from the software you worked on to the machines. If you ever have the chance to service them in person, don't pass on the opportunity - you will be impressed.
I saw one gun leaving the factory for $18,000 (hand engraved, gold inlaid titanium gun).
SVI guns are "full custom", but only with their parts. You have to pick from several dozen options (both parts and machining operations) then your gun works its way through the factory over about a year. Everything is machined or EDMed, and their adjustable sights are better than Bomars ever were. Some of the options are not practical to get from custom smiths, as they are machined into the part at time of manufacture (for example, you get a choice of several slide profiles ranging from round to 3, 5 and 7 sided).
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Greg makes an excellent point on value. If you are going to have a no-name or regional name gunsmith build a gun, a Colt frame will hold the value best. When dealing with frames from companies like SVI, STI, Baer, Nighthawk, etc., there are two types of guns - the "Real thing" make by the OEM company and "Frankenguns". Since Colt does not make high end custom guns, there is no "real thing" standard you are going to be on the losing end of a comparison with.
Some regional smith are superb, but the name does not hold long term national value. The fact that some of these folks like Derr remain "regional" is because they do not do things like buy full page ads in American Handgunner; donate a gun for the magazine's monthly give away; etc. Notice how the mags review only two types of guns: Modern guns built by advertisers or old guns of interest .... which is why you will see regular articles on Nighthawk and STI but never see an article on Infinity. (Which used to be regularly covered, back when they bought ads).
You will even find that certain "stock" guns from big names (like Wilson Master Grade, anything from SVI, and a few others) hold their value better than "full custom" jobs from independents.
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You can find a great smith anywhere in the country via the American Pistolsmith Guild
Les Baer is no longer a member. I heard that he resigned because nobody was going to dictate his customer service policies. Note that Greg is a member.
I know when a friends Les Bar 45 blew up (over charged load) and self destructed in a manner not typical of overcharged rounds (frame split along a manganese sulfide stringer) Les said "I stand by my customers. I'll offer you $50 off full price on a replacement gun". He also said he would charge to do a failure analysis on the frame. That part is not a rumor, I was in the room when the owner had it in speaker.