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Wilson Combat 1911-Are they worth the $$$$

Rockrivr1 said:
I'm sure somebody has. The closest I have is around 20,000. That is through the first run Smith and Wesson 1911 that they produced. The gun is still solid and functioning fine so I'm sure I could get at least another 10 to 20,000 at this point. Though that would just be a guess on my part.
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Gun must've been made on a monday, like Atilla's SW1911. A friend of mine also has a couple of solid SW1911s. I would not hesitate to buy either of
his guns. Then again I've shot them enough that I know they're fitted properly.

Other people have not been so lucky. [laugh].

I even saw one of them at a pin shoot where the locking lugs were rounded off inside 1000 rounds.

Then there were lots of guys who had the plunger tubes fall off. At one point several years ago, that was practically a rite of passage for anyone that owned an SW1911 or Scandium SW1911 commander.. "Hey so and so, did your plunger tube fall off yet?" Thankfully when this happened usually only one of the studs would break so you would get some advance warning before complete failure occurred.

My dad's E-series seems to work fine, but his ambi safety was not fitted properly from the factory. As in, fitted so poorly it fell off the gun with minimal
handling.

A lot of the SW1911s that came out of ware gun shop (waaay back when all the skinflints went there, because they were THE CHEAPEST, lol) were dumpster fires, it was kinda funny, it was almost so absurd to be "just a coincidence" that shop sold an abnormal amount of "brand new, but pretty much defective" S&W product. Almost like S&W or some disti was sending them busted shit and hoping nobody would notice.

-Mike
 
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Fondled the WC EDC 9mm and the Hackathorn Special 9mm. Almost went full retard and asked about the cash discount for getting both. Somehow sanity was kept in check.

WC_GA_20170425_zpswleex7ls.png


WC_GA_20170425.jpg
 
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I would get a custom 1911 from Lou at Business End Customs before I'd buy one of those. His guns are amazing.
 
M1911 said:
I suspect that depends a great deal on what you want.
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This^ Will you be providing the frame/slide or are you letting him choose it for you? What kind of parts are you looking for, what barrel manufacturer, what coating/treatment, grips, sights, special requests, etc', etc', etc'. Derr Precision has a form that you need to work with him on to determine exactly what you want before he starts building. Plus with his workload you have a bit of time to determine what you want. If you provide the frame/slide I'm thinking you'll be looking around $1500-$2500 depending on what your selections are. In talking with him he's built 1911s that worked into the $4000-$5000 range.
 
M1911 said:
I suspect that depends a great deal on what you want.
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Rockrivr1 said:
This^ Will you be providing the frame/slide or are you letting him choose it for you? What kind of parts are you looking for, what barrel manufacturer, what coating/treatment, grips, sights, special requests, etc', etc', etc'. Derr Precision has a form that you need to work with him on to determine exactly what you want before he starts building. Plus with his workload you have a bit of time to determine what you want. If you provide the frame/slide I'm thinking you'll be looking around $1500-$2500 depending on what your selections are. In talking with him he's built 1911s that worked into the $4000-$5000 range.
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The OP seemed to know what the cost of BEC and WC guns were. I was trying to get him to commit to a comparison as much as I was looking for what custom guns cost.
 
wahsben said:
I've wanted a Wilson Combat for a long time but the price has kept me from getting one, although they do offer financing now. I've wanted a 1911 from this guy even more: http://www.ctbrian.com/Photos.html
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I'd heard of Tim's work, & wrote him after checking out his website. (Thanks for that link Wahsben) Unbelievable work, just incredible. I asked him how he did all the work himself & also if he would take one of my 1911's to customize. I also asked him to give me a rough idea of time out to deliver a full-house custom, and also approximate cost. (His site has an added comment; "only taking orders for full house customs right now") He wrote back just a few hours later: 3-4 years out, $7500 - $8500, depending of course on several options. So, that being said, somebody commented that for the cost of a WC 1911, 6 or so Glocks could be bought, with zero waiting. I submit that for the cost of a CT Brian Masterpiece, and they truly are Masterpieces, one could buy at least 2 and probably 3 WC 1911's, or (at LEAST) a DOZEN GLOCKS! Value is established by what somebody is willing to pay for something. Over the years, I have collected an assortment of pistols that are pretty much normal, factory guns. I've started to sell several of them in order to fund something along these lines. I doubt I'll go $8000, but I'll definitely look at something for $3k. I look at it this way; I've got a bunch of perfectly good Chevy's in the garage. Now I want to upgrade to 1 or 2 Mercedes. Or maybe even a Bentley.....[wink]
 
It does look incredible.

I think it was my Glock comment you might be referencing. I really only apply that towards carry guns. I don't see the point of a $3000 carry gun. I owned a Nighthawk Custom Tallon 2 Lightweight Bobtail. It was the perfect carry 1911 for me.

But I didn't shoot it any better than a G19. And it didn't shoot as well as my Government sized Wilson or Baer. So I sold it.

In my mind a carry gun is a tool.

When it comes to range guns, now we should be talking about hand made works of art.

Its all about the appropriate tool for the task.

A buddy of mine has a $15,000 parker DHE in 20 Ga that was restored by Turnbull. He hunts upland with it.

But his saltwater duck gun is still a Rem 870 Express that he bought at Walmart.
 
Expensive watches don't take batteries.

I have a relatively simple Swiss watch that uses a common ETA movement. Its 22 years old and gains about 4 seconds per day. If I wear it every other day it never stops. I roll it back about 2 minutes every month. I don't know of any timex that can do that.

Even still, I understand Supermoto's point. A well made 1911 will run for 100K rounds with little maintenance.

Don
 
rwl1955 said:
Anyone own one of these from S&W? Been thinking of buying one.
https://www.smith-wesson.com/firearms/sw1911ta-e-series
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My dad has one, nice gun for the money, but it depends on your luck of the draw. On my dad's gun the safeties were fitted improperly and in the course of just field stripping the thing and so on, the lever fell off the gun. Instead of messing with S&W I brought it to Lou @ Business End, and he got it fitted properly.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
My dad has one, nice gun for the money, but it depends on your luck of the draw. On my dad's gun the safeties were fitted improperly and in the course of just field stripping the thing and so on, the lever fell off the gun. Instead of messing with S&W I brought it to Lou @ Business End, and he got it fitted properly.

-Mike
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*******
I bought one of the original S&W 1911's back in 2003/2004 in stainless. It had to go back to the factory twice but was great after fixes. I regret selling it
 
My Kimber CDP works fine more me, and besides some Hornaday JHP it's fed everything that I throw at it. I 'could' have gotten a Wilson, but personally I can't see a major advantage. It even came with an ambi, which i need. And my old Colt 1991 fed anything and they were dirt cheap. Rather spend the difference on a nice defense shotgun.
 
My humble opinion, having never held a Wilson gun, is that you are buying the name. Now admittedly it's a very good name and reputation, but it's still the name.

If someone gave me one I would not turn it down by any means but I think I'd be loath to use it for any hard use shooting. At least not if I had a less expensive, reliable gun available.

If it was my money I'd probably stay local and get either Greg Derr or BEC to build me something.
 
FPrice said:
My humble opinion, having never held a Wilson gun, is that you are buying the name. Now admittedly it's a very good name and reputation, but it's still the name.
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IMHO it all depends on what you're comparing it to, it's more than just a name; but in terms of value proposition, I agree law of diminishing returns kicks in. You take a DW or an STI... they make a bunch of guns about half the price of a typical Wilson, and although Wilson makes a very nice gun, I doubt you're buying twice the gun vs one of those.

If someone gave me one I would not turn it down by any means but I think I'd be loath to use it for any hard use shooting. At least not if I had a less expensive, reliable gun available.
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BTW the whole point of a Wilson, etc, is to shoot it hard. If you're not willing to beat on it, you defeat the whole purpose of the gun- which is that it won't break as much as
cheaper ones do, particularly under duress. If you want a safe queen you can buy a Krapber, not shoot it and pocket the difference. [laugh]

Then again I generally don't believe in safe queens, they get sold, because otherwise they're just wasting space in my safe.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
BTW the whole point of a Wilson, etc, is to shoot it hard. If you're not willing to beat on it, you defeat the whole purpose of the gun- which is that it won't break as much as
cheaper ones do, particularly under duress.
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Yep. I have no problem taking a file or dremel to fit a $3k gun to my hand. They are tools to be used
 

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