I agree.

Left to right: Ed Brown EE, Guncrafter No Name, No Name CCO, No Name, and Springfield Professional.

I've since traded off the CCO and the Ed Brown, I regret getting rid of the CCO but I'll get another one of these days.

If I could only keep one it would be a Guncrafter without a doubt.

I'd also like to hear where Rock River fits in since they are making 1911's again.

RRA never stopped making 1911s.  They did cut production to almost nothing in the black rifle hay days though.  Not sure if they would be considered full custom or semi though.  Awesome 1911s though.

They are very similar to Baers in build philosophy and aesthetics.  Fit and finish might be a tiny bit nicer.

Limited catalog of old school offerings, including Hardballer guns.

They technically never stopped making 1911s, you just had to call the right person to get them to build you one.

"Best"  Well... how much do you want to pay?

Was seconds from buying a basic carry at Camp Perry yesterday. I really want a Tactical so I think I'll old out, but it was a NICE pistol with a bit of s discount, too.

I'm one of those guys that normally says "why spend that much for a name when I can get so much cheaper over here", then I won a Les Baer Premier 2 from a raffle. Holy night and day difference, Batman - and this is just LBC's "base" model gun!?!?! I thank God on a regular basis for that raffle win, because I would have been so ignorantly cheap if not for it. I had to go buy a second one, and the only difference between the two right now is spring weights and round counts.

One of the initial things that impressed me is how, despite being their least customized model, all the little parts are mated and matched to the gun. The first time I noticed that the barrel bushing had the serial number on it was an eye opener.

I would have to agree with the guys who have said Les Baer is the best bang for the buck in a custom or semi-custom 1911...

The first generation SS Kimber 1911's out of their Yonkers plant were superb in material quality and super tight tolerances
and a true bargain, unfortunately that is not case anymore with Kimber 1911's...

A close relative purchased one when the plant/factory opened since it was only a mile or so away where he lived, he had
me look over the piece once he received it, the build quality and the fit were Impressive...It was the tightest 1911 I have
ever handled, period. I did tell him you will likely see some failure to feeds or other related Issues to the extremely tight fit
of the main moving parts like slide to barrel to frame fit, etc. Sure enough that is what eventually happened, several failures
to go Into battery, although this lessened over time, so I suggested to him to bring it back to the factory so they can re-fit
the very tight fitting parts, so he did just that a year or two later (he had several other nice pistols to shoot in the meantime
one of which was a superb commercial Belgian made BHP in royal blue). So long story short he brings the Kimber back to
the factory and one of the senior g'smiths takes the pistol in and drools and looks at it in amazement and he tells my relative
the story behind the Gen-1 Kimbers  on how the material quality, tolerances, and overall fitment were superior compared to
the newer/current models of today...

Sadly, few 1911 manufactures of today source their frames, slides and other components from American made or sourced
stock/materials and when they do they charge a sweet premium...

Thanks for letting me rant a bit.

LB

I'm still in for Les, I shot my 4.25" Baer today, we were popping 12 ga hulls at 20-50' very regularly. And that Baer has a bunch of rounds thru it.   Just aim at the bottom of the hull and they go into a low earth orbit.  Any decent 45 should do that at 20' but at 50', not so many.