Posted: 3/28/2008 3:08:08 PM EDT
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Okay, this is from a reference SGB made in another thread. I'm sure we all (most anyway) remember the 1* guns from YoBo (Yost Bonitz). These were discontinued some time back. Now in another thread I see SGB's reference to the #1 package from Grizzly Custom, but when I clicked the link, I got Grizzly's site, but what look like some of the same exact pics (may be different?) and a 1* package. So, what's up? Did someone leave the fold and start new? Did an existing company pick up the rights to the 1* package? Are these guys anyone I've heard of? I'm reaonably sure they're good, or I doubt SGB would have mentioned them, but, I seem to have missed something so I'm looking for info. I did try a search here first, nada. Little help? |
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www.grizzlycustom.com/ Looks like the pics from the old YO-Bo website. |
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Weird.... if I owned Grizzley Custom, I'd not put pictures of guns on my webpage that weren't actually built by me or my employees. I'm not sure if it's misleading, or if it's just being a bit unmotivated, but I'd only showcase work that actually came out of my own shop. |
Read my post. |
I did. |
OK I'll explain. Lew and Colton (his partner at Grizzly) built many of the guns you see, if not all of them. Many of the 1* were built by them. |
Seems crystal clear to me. If you expand the pics, they clearly have "Yost Bonitz Custom" on the right side dust cover. Lew Bonitz had his name on the pistol. Good enough for me, seems he at least has some credit coming for the pistol. Who actually knows which 'smith built any of these? Whether it was Ted Yost or Lew Bonitz or Jason Burton for that matter, they were part of the YoBo shop and put out as their product. That means presumably that it met with their specs and standards. Being as Lew Bonitz was one of the principals (and retained the rights to the 1* pistols when the principals split), it seems fine to me that he's using the images of pistols built under that umbrella. I have a Wilson Combat CQB. I have no delusions as to whether Bill Wilson himself built the pistol. But it does carry his name, his brand, and his backing. And that's what I bought. |
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For the simple fact of clarification it may be worth mentioning the following... No one “retained” the 1* series... we at Heirloom Precision decided we no longer had the desire to build that level of gun while the folks at Grizzly Custom are still apparently attempting to do so. The only person who retains anything relative to the 1* is the owner of the logo, Gary Paul Johnston. As for who built what and which pistols, all of the pistols pictured on the Grizzly Custom web site were built by either Ted Yost or myself and not Lew Bonitz or any employees of Grizzly Custom. I hope this alleviates any future confusion. 
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