I have been toying with the idea of getting a 1911 and if I do get one I'll want one built. I just don't like too many of the mass produced ones out there. Plus I think the attention to detail would pay off. If I do it I will buy most if not all of the parts from Brownells. How much could I expect to pay to have the smith assemble and finish the pistol? Also who is a good 1911 smith? I remember there was a guy with a website in Layfayette and some where up around Hobart or something. Can you point me in the right direction? TIA

If it was mine and I couldn't do the work myself I'd take it to Elmore's.

But I'd want Russ and only Russ to do the work on it,and if it took sometime for him to finish I would rather wait than have him let someone else do the work

I though about that but I read a thread where someone hear had bad work from them. So I was wondering , maybe someone else could do it.

I've heard there was an article in some magazine a long time ago about the work done by Gutridge in Griffith. I'm not sure if it was the guy who is there now or his dad who didn the work at the time. I've never had anything done by him.

Take a trip over to 1911forum.com and have a look around there. I'm not sure what 1911 smiths are around here as I have done all my work myself. By the time you buy all the parts and pay to have it built it'll be a small fortune

Here's one of mine.
Mike

www.kustom-ballistics.com, which is in Decatur IN, is a great place to have 1911 work done.  Very good work with a very reasonable price and time frame.  He is also a member of the American Pistolsmiths Guild.

I would avoid work done by Russ at Elmore's like the plague!!!  He ATTEMPTED to install an ambi saftety on my Kimber Compact and it never did work after he told me that it needed to "break in."  I ended up sending it to EGW to have it fixed.

Thanks for the link Troop and the heads up!

Neil Keller in Decatur, IN

Kustom Ballistics

He can build anything from a sweet carry gun up to a top of the line USPSA/IPSC Open Division race gun and everything in between.  His turnaround time is better than most smiths at his level, and he usually has it done by the time he tells you it will be done in my experience.

He's also a really good guy.