Posted: 3/16/2008 12:13:24 PM EDT
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Hi, can anyone recommend a good 1911 smith in the Valley...preferably west side? Thanks! |
| Nelson Ford The Gunsmith specializes in 1911 work. His shop is at 32nd St. and Shea (roughly )His phone number is on the website, and the shop is open after 11:00 a.m., Tuesday thru Sat. He's done some good work on two of my 1911s and is well known in the Valley. |
and is one pompus asshole. |
+1.... And Heaven forbid if your 1911 is in something other than .45 ACP... A few years ago he gave me no end of grief because I brought him one of mine that's in .40 S&W (factory Colt Series 80). After he did a trigger job on it, the sear wouldn't hold I and ended up having a very unsafe, runaway gun. When I brought it back to him to fix, I got 10 minutes of insults and BS about how 1911's should only be in .45, the pistol went FA because it's in .40, etc, etc. After his tirade died down, I asked him, if that's the case why did my buddy's Colt Series 70 in .45 ACP go FA after a Nelson Ford trigger job? I walked out and have never been back. |
I got the same impression from BigBore when I went into his shop and talked with him. Granted this was about 2 years ago and maybe I caught him on a bad day.... but I never bothered going back after the experience. |
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Gunsmith at Bigbore has his views,but was not an Ass.I walked in with Colt Special Combat wanting to see what he offered for a front sight .Front sight on this gun was a staked jobber.I decided on a XS big dot,but slide would need to be machined and dovetail cut.He did this while i waited,Did an excellent job !! My Aged eyes can actually see the front sight again !!! He has provided me with solid information on some other Colt guns,very knowledgeable. The other place that has a Good Gunsmith is Gun's Etc. in Chandler,just have to drive out there,they are on Alma School and Warner i believe. The issue ive had with local Gunsmith's is some of them take forever,took one rifle in(Magnum Precision) to have the barrel threaded,was promised 2 weeks,waited 5 months!!..That was a Looong two weeks!!!! Some other gunsmith shops i have visited are down right unfriendly,an most WILL NOT sell you parts if they dont get to install them,found this out the hard way,parts hanging on the wall,but wont sell to me !hen |
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A lot of gunsmiths I've meet have attitude problems. It must be some requirement or something. Give Ed at Cameron's Customs a call (623-780-2708). He's up north Phoenix though. He works out of his garage and takes a while but his work is top notch and he is a great guy. You won't get attitude from him. |
I have to concur the Gordon at BigBore is a bit of an elitist with 1911. Basically if it isn't made by him, its anything from flawed to downright crap. His prices are decent. I had nightsights installed on 3 guns, one being a Kimber Pro Carry and basically told by him if I would have just spent only $1000 more I could have bought a BigBore or I can spend just another $500 and he could go through my gun and make it a "pretty decent gun".  The first time I went in he seemed standoffish and I thought it might just be a bad day too. The next time I went in there I was overly nice, tried to strike up conversations, ask him about his guns and basically got nothing. While he is relatively close, I'm a big fan of customer service and at the very least being polite to me when I'm handing over my hard earned cash, so he won't get another dime of mine. Kind of like the Ceiner .22 conversions for AR's. I don't even want to buy one from another company as I don't want that prick to get a dime. |
Ed does all of my pistol work, and he's building another for me now. |
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www.rogersprecision.com/ Chuck is a cool character, I was aquainted with him through an interest apart from firearms before I had an interest in guns on any respectable level. I recall him in a conversation saying that he was a gunsmith who worked primarily on 1911s, 4 years later after the I became very much interested in firearms I read his name in an article on 1911forums. He said he was a gunsmith, I had no idea how humble his statement was. I have owned one of his 1911s, crazy fucking outstanding, though I sold it many years ago in when I was still living in Vegas. Looks like he is not currently taking on work, if you ever get the chance and the motivation for a smith who knows how its done, you really should include him in your search. |
Nelson did some work on my 1911, but the front sight he put on it looked like my second grader installed it it was so crooked. When I took it back to him his exact words were" That sight is perfect, I'm not a good enough gunsmith for you you'll have to find a better gunsmith." this was before he even looked at it. When he looked at it and declared it "perfect" again I figured anybody would have to be an improvement and walked out, I don't have time for inept assholes. |
They seem like pretty good guys, but I don't know what their pistolsmithing is like. I just had them cut, crown, and thread the barrel on my AR-10T, and then install a JP comp on it. The blended the comp into the barrel so it looks like an integral unit. Great work, and turnaround was about 3 week (they quoted 4). |
Last time I talked with Ed, he said he is not doing any more gunsmith work, just building guns. |