Anyone here held one? Where can I find one? They look good. I think they run over $2K http://www.jardinescustom.com/
While John Jardine specializes in building custom 1911's and overseeing the Valtro project he also does custom work on all other 1911s and Browning Highpowers. Please call to discuss your special needs. (510) 489-8477
So many brush fires here lately. I'm nervous about the ole G melting on my hip. Needing a man's 1911. I overheard mention of Jardines last week and have yet to find anyone who knows of them.
http://forums.1911forum.com/search.php?searchid=1590416 This will send you to a search for Jardine/Valtro on the 1911 Forum. Go ahead and buy Les Baer. When you buy the best you only cry once. www.lesbaer.com
Thanks EL. So is a Les Baer the very best 1911 if money were no object? Or is this debatable too? I'm just curious as to what the very best is
That is debatable. It's kind of like saying who makes the best car, truck, or AR. If money were no object I would look hard at Ed Brown, he is a quality maker of fine 1911's. The thing is though, Les Baer is also. Brown has a long wait, but you can get Baers quicker, or even get lucky like I did and find someone that has them in stock. Brown is about $1000 higher give or take a few dollars, but I don't see the difference in quality. I would be the first to tell you if I had any problems with my Baer, but it has been flawless since day one. I would buy another in a hearbeat.
I think the best custom 1911 you can buy would be made by this guy http://www.pistoldynamics.com/index.html I had the honor of shooting a Pachmayr customized Colt Combat Commander in the 70's and let me tell you it was the finest gun I have ever fired . I wouldn't turn my nose up to a Yost or a Clark "I have fired those too" gun either but this guy is the best of the best if he worked for Pachmayr in my opinion .
Any good smith can turn out as good a custom 1911 as can be made; there is only so much that you can do to improve on perfection. I have a pair of Norincos that I will match against any custom 1911 made for accuracy and reliability; Form follows function. A custom finish, some little extras like a beveled mag-well and maybe some serations near the end of the slide and it doesn't really matter which car takes the checkered flag, Motor Trend will still devote more pages to the porshe.