Hopefully I will soon purchase my first 1911, hopefully in next couple of months.. I am waiting to see what the 2005 Shot Show produces first..Guns on my radar screen are the Colt Lt Wt Commander, S&W 1911SC and I have just recently looked at RRA but they do not seem to have a lt wt version. I will probably want night sights,reliability job,trigger job, dehorned and a few other things that I am still thinking about.  So any input regarding a smith you have used and are happy with and any suggestions on the base gun or semi-custom you think will fill the bill are appreciated.

Thanks

Lloyd

On a carry gun and especially on a 1911 Teddy Jacobsen you would be hard to beat the quality of the work for the price you would pay for it.  Teddy does awesome work.

Before you go out and spend a bunch of money having a new gun modified, shoot it at least a thousand rounds...1500 is even better. This will give you some insight into what you like and dislike about the gun, and will break in all the moving parts. You will find the trigger is better and that the action is smoother. Carry it as well (if it is for CCW) and see how it works in standard form. There is really no reason to spend additional money for most of what you mentioned since a good gun will BE reliable as it comes from the box...if it is not, send it back and let the factory make it that way under warranty, rather than putting money in some gunsmith's pockets. "Dehorning" is rarely needed unless you carry in your underwear or you have a target model with sharp edged sights...the wrong gun for CCW anyhow. ..a good holster and belt is much more important.

By the time you finish paying for the work you mentioned, you could have bought a semi-custom with more features. I might look at Wilson's offerings since they are very nice for the money. Also, Baer builds a lightweight framed gun although you don't see many of them around. It may also pay you to search for a good, used Kimber Series I lightweight Pro Carry or similar if you don't like the new Series II guns. I have a Series I stainless that has been flawless for years now.

My recommendation is to also get yourself some standard Wilson #47 mags and use them. (These are the 7 rounders) they are a bit more reliable and trouble free than the 8 round #47Ds and others. Also, if you get a pistol with replaceable front sight like the S&W or Kimber, etc. you can send the slide to Trijicon and they will install tritium sights for you...and if they screw up the install, they replace the sight at no charge.

JMO after spending waaaayyyyy too much money on custom stuff that was totally unnecessary!

There are many nationally know smiths that you would be happy with.  Unfortunately, everybody else likes them too, so there can be quite a "waiting list".  If you're in a hurry, your best bet is a local smith, but quality could be suspect.  I have personally used Novak's and Cylinder & Slide.
Others include:
Kings gunworks
Wilson Combat
Jarvis Custom
Clark Custom