Matt Rigsby said:
right. If going from stock parts to egw yeah there's a huge difference in price.
I thought you meant it as sti parts vs. the parts I use.
"I took it as two smiths who are using the same parts, why are the prices so different from there?"
ability, the quality of the final output, reliability, and the performance of the thing when it goes bang bang bang really fast.
1911's can be ticking time bombs; competition guns are used exponentially more than most other guns. Lots of do it yourself hacks can cobble together a gun from videos, by going off another gun they have, etc, etc. and it very well can work for 1k rounds, 4k rounds, even 25k rounds. but the stresses that are put on gun parts in the first 500 rounds by a improperly timed 1911 barrel, can doom the gun, and never make it capable of getting a 2nd replacement barrel, or 3rd or 4th, every
125k rounds.
Blows some client's minds when I say "see you in a couple hundred k's" when they leave.
Now granted, I dont have a elephant dung ton of guns out there, but the guns that are out there, Ive had 0% come back w a cracked slide, or sheared lugs, because I wanted hurry things to keep up my 3 week turnaround time. I dont have enough fingers to count all the cracked slides and misfit barrels that Ive fixed and/or replaced for guys that have come from known smiths, local and national.
Now I know that day will come where I get one in, and thats why I have every major part in my gun marked and I have a build sheet with specs that would allow me to refit a barrel into your slide without having any part of your gun in front of me. Because I know that the chances that gun having been fingered with or bubba-ed, or having the guy do something stupid to it, like not replacing the recoil spring with a proper matching one, etc. Is going to be the reason its now toast.
Finally, Im not taking on any pistol orders right now, and I probably never will again, Ill only offer finished guns up for sale however often I build them. So I'm not doing a sales pitch here; the point of me typing this stuff is to inform you guys. I want you to be able to count on your guns, and take them for granted, with only a reasonable amount of maintenance. Cause Im only one of you guys, not some marketing behemoth that need to upgrade their yacht.
No I wont recommend anyone, or tell you who's a hack. Im not in a mood to get sued or be in a flame war.
I will say this last thing; if your main concern is how your gun looks and what stupid cuts are on the slide, then I cant help you, Ill tell you this; a guy running the elephant dung out of an old worn out glock or unassuming 2011; winning matches and championships (like vogel and Sevigny did) thats the sexy elephant dung, thats the cool stuff. If you spend your time taking photos of your new fancy 2011 then shooting it and training with it, then I cant help ya.
