Who would you have build a 1911 for you?

I would take the Vickers Tactical 1911 Gunsmithing class. From Vickers Tactical website...
1911 gunsmithing; – 6 days- $2375 This picks up where the armorers course leaves off and allows the student to build a complete custom 1911 from a box of oversize gunsmith fit parts; complete details of fitting an oversize match barrel, slide to frame fit, fitting and blending thumb and grip safeties, trigger job, complete blending of all components for a custom pistol are covered. In addition metal checkering is discussed and practiced on a limited scale. Recommended parts and sources are also covered. This is the complete package and is a great start to anyone wanting to do get into building custom 1911′s. Students of this course have had very positive comments thus far. Max class size is 7 and a specific tool and part list (student supplied) is part of this course.

When you are done, you have handbuilt your own custom 1911 under the guidance and hands-on instruction of a master 1911 builder. And you spend an entire week learning all kinds of larryisms.

I'd love to take the class, but the cost of the class itself it more then I have set aside to put the 1911 together. Then I'd have to get parts. Plus if you've ever seen the work I have done by myself, well, you wouldn't recommend I do my own work on this nice set...... [laugh]
 
Well, you should care. Proper heat treating is critical or the frame will not have the required strength, hardness, and ductility.

I'm sure Les Baer is aware of that.[rolleyes] Besides I shoot them,I don't build them.
 
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I'm sure Les Baer is aware of that.[rolleyes] Besides I shoot them,I don't build them.

If you shoot 1911s, you should care about heat treating. I believe that Rob Boudrie has direct experience with a Les Baer 1911 that was not heat treated and, as a result, it did not work properly for the owner.
 
However, I would definitely consider SAI's custom shop.
My experience with the Springfield Armory custom shop is limited. A friend bought a new Springfield Armory 1911 and sent it to their custom shop for a lot of work. He had them do extensive dehorning of the gun. It looked very pretty, but when we shot it side-by-side with my basically stock Kimber, the Springfield was significantly less accurate. When I pushed down the barrel hood, there was noticeable movement on his gun -- in my opinion, that was an inexcusable lapse by their custom shop, they should have seen that and not let the gun go out the door without fixing that.
 
I had an issue with a custom gun. I brought it to several of the names mentioned on this post, but only one fixed the issue, though several charged me for it. most never heard of the problem. I knew I had the right guy in Greg when I called him and explained the problem. He sain the problem was not common, but he had seen it several times. Fixed it in a few days. Great rates for even better work with Greg Derr.
 
I had an issue with a custom gun. I brought it to several of the names mentioned on this post, but only one fixed the issue, though several charged me for it. most never heard of the problem. I knew I had the right guy in Greg when I called him and explained the problem. He sain the problem was not common, but he had seen it several times. Fixed it in a few days. Great rates for even better work with Greg Derr.

What was the problem?
 
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