I've been talking about this gun for a while and its nearly done.  This is a gun that was built by one of the Marine armorers at Quantico.  His primary duty is building the MEU(SOC) pistols.  With that background, I knew a few things going in.  First was that I would be getting a reliable and accurate gun.  I also knew that aesthetics would not be at the top of the list of things to do.  

Well, I took possession of the gun yesterday.  I'm not taking pics yet and I'll explain why in a moment.  There are still a few things that need attention but here are the highlights:

Caspian frame and slide with front serrations on the slide (angled Colt style), carry bevel and serrated front strap.
Bar-Sto barrel
S&A magwell
Kings thumb safety
Brown grip safety
C&S internals
VZ Gatorback grips
Wilson rear and Novak front sight
KG Coating's new Ceramic based finish

The good:
The trigger pull is awesome.  Its a crisp 54 oz with no creep.  
The beavertail is extremely well fit.  The guy obviously takes a lot of pride in fitting this.  
The magwell is perfectly blended into the frame.  
The finish is slick, hard and consistent.  
Its tight.  I'm talking Les Baer tight.  I actually want him to loosen up the bushing a bit, but I expect accuracy to be fantastic.

The bad:
The slide stop doesn't work.  I'm going to shoot it tonight to see if this is just a break-in issue but it will not lock back on an empty magazine, nor will it release when the mag is removed and you slingshot it.  
There is a gap between the bottom of the frame and the magwell.  I can see light all the way around.  
There is a gap under the front sight.  I'm not sure how this hapens, but the front sight isn't flush down on the slide.
The mags will not drop free.  This is actually my fault.  I bought a CMC mag release and didn't realize it was MIM.  The armorer didn't touch it.  I've ordered a new Brown release.
The beavertail needs sensitized a bit.  It has to be ALL the way down to disengage.

The strange:
I provided all the parts for this project.  I seem to have purchased stainless pins that he didn't refinish so I've got stainless pins and mag release retainer.  I ordered new ones last night.
He didn't refinish the recoil spring plug.  I'm not sure why not, but it looks strange against the satin black finish on the rest of the gun.
The back of the extractor is actually recessed into the slide.  In fact, I had him fit two extractors and both are like this.  I've never seen a 1911 like this, but I assume its a quirk of the Caspian slide.

I'm going to shoot a few hundred rounds through it tonight.  I'm hoping the slide stop starts working, but I think it has to do with the barrel lug.  I will take it back to him next week to clean up the last few issues and have the new mag release and blued pins installed.  At that point, I'll take a bunch of pics.  This is my dream 1911 and its almost there.

Sounds sweet, but I can't judge without pics.  

PICs please.

OK... heres's some pics.  I'll take some better ones once the final pieces are on it.  

I shot it last night and figured a few things out.  First, the slide stop failure isn't due to the tight fit.  Its because the EGW part is cast.  There is a casting makr right at the point where the detent needs to go over it.  This creates too much resistance so the slide doesn't lock back.  I could polish it up, but I ordered a Brown hardcore stop.  I'm not interested in making due with anything on this pistol.

Next. the barrel bushing loosened up just enough that I can get it out by hand.  The slide smoothed out a lot as well.  

The finish is incredible.  I wish it wasn't quite so glossy, but it rock hard.  The USMC is using the flat black version of this stuff on the MEU(SOC) but the armorer who did this gun bought a personally owned bottle of satin black.  Since this pistol could use no USGI parts, I couldn't get the flat for now.  The satin is growing on me though.

The slide stop, magazine release and the new blued pins will be here next week.  That should finish off my "untlimate" 1911 pistol.

Very Nice!!

Very nice!

Let us know how it shoots.

If it breaks in anything like my Baer, it'll be tight yet functional at first.  After about 1k rounds it'll have NO play at all, and be as smooth as grease on glass.

Very nice Cliffy! I love 1911s...D

Looks good, how do you like the VZ's?

Quoted: Looks good, how do you like the VZ's?

I've got them on every 1911 I own.  This is the first time I've got the canvas and I wish I had tried them before.  I like them better than the linen and paper because they have a bit more grip.

OK... its finished.  We got a bottle of the Gunkote ceramic in flat black.  Sgt. Albright also blended the back of the slide, broke the edge on the magwell and finished up the last few issues I mentioned before.  Here's the results:

Dayum!

Beautiful!

--NICE!

damn, people like you are the reason people like me go broke buying new guns

Quoted: damn, people like you are the reason people like me go broke buying new guns

Plus 1

thats a great looking handgun

She's a keeper, Cliffy!

Congratulations!

kk7sm

Wow ! Nice piece !

Somebody sent me an IM about the finish.  I lost the IM, but I have more info for you.  Whomever that was who was intersted in getting his gun refinished, shoot me another IM.  The guy who handled all this for me would like to talk to you about it.

dam that turn out sweet,can't wait to shoot it

Sweet.

I love it.

I agree, that is one fine pistola, flat black looks much better. Enjoy your shooter, how the accuracy?? do you handload??

Sweet pistol!  Thanks for the gun porn, it is just what I needed to see before going to bed for the night.  Now I can dream about what I am going to do for my next .45