For you 1911 guys

Butter

Butter

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https://carolinaarmsgroup.com/product/privateer-carry/
 
I was able to fondle one earlier this year and from just the feel and inspecting the fit and finish they appear to be very well made ... not firing one does mean I reserve full judgement. As to price, these are truly hand fitted and finished to standards some of the high dollar 1911 use to be finished to before those makers grew to big shops and started letting their stuff slip in craftsmenship. As to buying one, I’d love to but they are 3 times the price I can justify in my financial needs right now. Beautiful 1911 but not in my budget ... :(
 
Certainly a beautiful gun and I'm digging the front of the dust cover... how it angles back and matches up with the lines on the slide.

I'm not a 1911 aficionado, but $4200 does seem a bit steep. What makes this any better than something like a Wilson or Les Baer?
 
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It looks nice but not my cup of tea. If I was spending $4000+ on a 1911 it would be from Yost, Harrison, Garthwaite, Williams, Burton or Christiansen . Their aesthetic fits my taste better. I am sure this is a nice shooting pistol.
 
Nice gun, don’t like a rail on a carry gun.
 
They’re badass pistols. Fit and finish are awesome just judging from the pics. Nice to have a local option for folks that would want a custom built 1911
 
Does the $4,200 include the reachar- erm... nevermind.

Cool to see this being made, but just a tad bit out of my price range. :)
 
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I love high end 1911's and would love to have the budget for a $4200 gun. I have 1 Les Baer and a couple Wesson's. IMO the value in nice 1911's start's dwindling at the $1500-$2000 range. After that it is diminishing returns. And IF I had $4200 right now I'd probably buy a 1911 from a more established name. That may be the best $4200 gun around, but it seems they came on the scene and tried to be super high end without earning their reputation first. Hope they do well and succeed, but that's a tough market.
 
For $4,200, I could have bought nine of my Colt 1991A1's when they were new.

And I'll bet this one is no more reliable than the 1991A1's I have bought.
 
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Looks awesome, but at that price there is so much more you could get, and I just dont see how it'd be THAT much better than what I have already...At least not 3500$ more better.
 
I think for 4K+ I’d buy a Sportster I could toy around with. I’d get much more enjoyment outta that than a weapon I’d likely not fire because of it being $4K.
 
After putting 200 rds down range today of 9mm and 45 I think my new obsession is the 1911,,,,wow thin guns are great. I wonder why they aren't popular.
Dang things are as fun as AK's and Hi points
 
Mike Overlay said:
But Im not gonna kick their buts over it. Capitalism and someone sees the value in their asking price.
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If I understand right, they’ve sold quite a few of that model that Butter posted.
 
Pretty for sure but pretty doesn't justify those price tags - at least not for me. I'm not even seeing accuracy guarantees like I would expect with those price tags. That said, if anyone else buys one I'd love to shoot it and if you're feeling the love and want to start saving for my next year XMas present I'm sure it would be my bestest and most favorite gift and I'll have really super great things to say about you :)
 
The semi-custom 1911 space is pretty crowded with stiff competition. I don't see any compelling reason why someone would go with Carolina Arms Group over Wilson Combat, Nighthawk Custom, Ed Brown, Springfield Armory Custom, or Guncrafter.
 
He would never have said that to Ben Tilghman, Bat Masterson, Lone Wolf Gonzales, or Jelly Brice. They would have slapped the taste outta his loud mouth.
 
Stentor said:
The semi-custom 1911 space is pretty crowded with stiff competition. I don't see any compelling reason why someone would go with Carolina Arms Group over Wilson Combat, Nighthawk Custom, Ed Brown, Springfield Armory Custom, or Guncrafter.
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zero reason. Other than they're built in my current home state. I can fix that by moving out of NC.
 
To be honest, I have fondled several high end 1911's, and can't for the life of me figure out what I would be getting that I couldn't get with a 1500$ Dan Wesson.

I need to sniff more corks I guess.
 
wvsig said:
It looks nice but not my cup of tea. If I was spending $4000+ on a 1911 it would be from Yost, Harrison, Garthwaite, Williams, Burton or Christiansen . Their aesthetic fits my taste better. I am sure this is a nice shooting pistol.
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Custom built 1911s with top-tier smiths like you listed generally go for a lot more than $4,000. Custom builds from Yost and Burton go for $8,000+; Harrison is on a 5-year wait (one of his builds just sold for $6,200 on Gunbroker).

Carolina Arms Group is producing semi-custom guns that more directly compete with Wilson, Nighthawk, Springfield Armory Custom, and Guncrafter.
 
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Stentor said:
Custom built 1911s with top-tier smiths like you listed generally go for a lot more than $4,000. Custom builds from Yost and Burton go for $8,000+; Harrison is on a 5-year wait (one of his builds just sold for $6,200 on Gunbroker).

Carolina Arms Group is producing semi-custom guns that more directly compete with Wilson, Nighthawk, Springfield Armory Custom, and Guncrafter.
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That is not true. Garthwaite, & Williams can do a custom gun for $4000. For example Don Williams Full Monty is $3800 + the base gun and that is for his highest level package. You can do an al carte built for less but even all in with a Colt base gun you are still at about $4,500. Depending on what you have Garthwaite do you can build a bespoke gun for less than $4000. Yes it can climb higher than that but not to $8,000.

Yost and Burton will cost you more than $4000 depending on what you want. Harrison has a wait list but his packages start at $1500 and if you plan ahead you might be about 13 months from starting your build. :DHis Peerless which is an insane build only costs $3800 + the base gun. So yes it is more than $4000 but it is not $8,000. It is more like $4,500 to $5,000 if you shoot the moon. In a Harrison built you are also going to be using his own designed steel tooled parts.

If you called today and got on Yost's wait list your finished gun will not be $8,000. The only Yosts that sell for that are one's that are built for resale to people who need to have it now. He is a great guy to talk to about BHPs and 1911s. One day...

I am not saying that these NC guys guns are not worth what they are asking for them but when you get to $4,000+ you should get a true custom gun built to an individual spec that you and your customer builder develop. IMHO It should not be a semi-custom off the shelf configuration no matter whose name is on the slide.
 
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wvsig said:
That is not true. Garthwaite, & Williams can do a custom gun for $4000. For example Don Williams Full Monty is $3800 + the base gun and that is for his highest level package. You can do an al carte built for less but even all in with a Colt base gun you are still at about $4,500. Depending on what you have Garthwaite do you can build a bespoke gun for less than $4000. Yes it can climb higher than that but not to $8,000.

Yost and Burton will cost you more than $4000 depending on what you want. Harrison has a wait list but his packages start at $1500 and if you plan ahead you might be about 13 months from starting your build. :DHis Peerless which is an insane build only costs $3800 + the base gun. So yes it is more than $4000 but it is not $8,000. It is more like $4,500 to $5,000 if you shoot the moon. In a Harrison built you are also going to be using his own designed steel tooled parts.

If you called today and got on Yost's wait list your finished gun will not be $8,000. The only Yosts that sell for that are one's that are built for resale to people who need to have it now. He is a great guy to talk to about BHPs and 1911s. One day...

I am not saying that these NC guys guns are not worth what they are asking for them but when you get to $4,000+ you should get a true custom gun built to an individual spec that you and your customer builder develop. IMHO It should not be a semi-custom off the shelf configuration no matter whose name is on the slide.
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First, congrats on being about a year out from a build with Harrison--I am sure that will be an awesome 1911!:)
 
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Stentor said:
First, congrats on being about a year out from a build with Harrison--I am sure that will be an awesome 1911!:)

I said custom builds (i.e., built to your exact specifications, not a pre-defined package) with the top 1911 smiths generally go for a lot more than $4k. I state this based on direct interactions and observations.
  • Burton will quote you around $8k (in addition to your base pistol) with a 2 to 3 year wait for a full build.
  • As you stated, Harrison's Peerless package (without any additional desired modifications from the customer) is $3,810 + around ~$800 for the base gun + shipping and insurance both ways (on top of a 5-year wait). As I noted, a Harrison pistol recently sold on GB for $6,200 (as a point of reference--if someone doesn't want to wait 5 years).
  • Stan Chen builds are $10k+ if you could get on his list (he's not not accepting new orders now and his builds rarely/if ever are seen for sale on the open market).
  • I've seen what Yost builds go for in the open market (just observed a full Colt build go for $8k); I am confident a full custom build (with base gun factored in after getting on wait list) with him is significantly north of $4k.
Not interested in arguing--just sharing information directly obtained/observed.

I look forward to seeing pics of that Harrison build next year!
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I hear you and agree 100% that builds from those guys can go well north of $4,000 but they don't have to. You can take any of their base builds and or subtract what you want done to the gun and it will alter the price up or down. What I want from Harrison is going to be in the $4000 plus the base gun range. I paid $600 for the NIB Colt I am going to send him. A lot comes down to exactly what you want in a gun. I am looking to do something similar to this. I have not decided if I am going to hard chrome the entire gun or do a DLC slide. To me a full house custom does not mean you pick every option juts every option you want. LOL ;)

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If I had that coin I would hunt down a Vickers 1911. But any of the custom guys at that level are nothing short of awesome.
 
Last year I treated myself to a Long Slide Les Baer. Out of the box it shot perfectly over the sights, perfectly. I have shot a couple hundred 1911s over the years. Have owned Clark, Swenson, Almond, all tack drivers. Purpose built for that. BUT, this LB Long Slide shoots the best groups I have shot in my life, with witnesses. At 25 yards from bags off the bench, in shot 4 rounds into .44 inches center to center. The 5th pushed it to .78. I got this pistol NIB from a local dealer for $2,000. Out of a Ransom Rest, with match ammo, at 25 yards, it will shoot a knot!! There is a point where you start to wonder.....what improvement will I get for twice the money...or more??? I'm not sure. If reliability and accuracy are the goal {which it should be} spend a little time looking around. You can get both for less than 4K. By the way, I have lotsa guns that cost over 4K. Their intended purpose is entirely different...but that
s another story.
 
William {Billy} Bruton said:
Last year I treated myself to a Long Slide Les Baer. Out of the box it shot perfectly over the sights, perfectly. I have shot a couple hundred 1911s over the years. Have owned Clark, Swenson, Almond, all tack drivers. Purpose built for that. BUT, this LB Long Slide shoots the best groups I have shot in my life, with witnesses. At 25 yards from bags off the bench, in shot 4 rounds into .44 inches center to center. The 5th pushed it to .78. I got this pistol NIB from a local dealer for $2,000. Out of a Ransom Rest, with match ammo, at 25 yards, it will shoot a knot!! There is a point where you start to wonder.....what improvement will I get for twice the money...or more??? I'm not sure. If reliability and accuracy are the goal {which it should be} spend a little time looking around. You can get both for less than 4K. By the way, I have lotsa guns that cost over 4K. Their intended purpose is entirely different...but that
s another story.
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Pics of LB longslide are required under the terms and conditions of this website.
 
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