From reading on here, it appears most people use Colts as base guns for a custom build, but is there any disadvantages to using a Springfield or Rock Island or Dan Wesson or Norinco as a base gun?
A Colt or Springfield make fine base guns to customize. Dan Wesson is a pretty high dollar gun because they are kinda semi custom as they come with a lot of the common custom features in a production gun. The RIA and Norinco I dont think a whole lot of smiths would work with them for a custom build. They can have quality issues. And most smiths that build high end custom guns wouldn't want to take a chance on something that you cant be sure of its quality. You have to start with a good base to build upon. In saying that if you are going to have a full custom built the majority of parts in your production gun are going to get tossed for better made higher quality parts. So it would be more cost effective to just buy a frame and slide set like a Caspian , Jem etc to build upon. You will get a good frame to slide fit out of the gate as the frame rails are oversized to be fit to your slide so you get a match grade fit. Most production guns would require some work to get them anywhere near that type of fit. Several different ways to do that such as welding, peening, swaging, squeezing the slide etc. Those things are labor intensive and cost a decent amount of money to have done. Just some things to consider.
Colt is probably the best base gun in terms of aesthetics and potential resale value. Springfield comes in second as their frames and slides are generally considered to well made / good tolerances.
I wouldn’t personally touch a ria or norinco for a build, too much to be done to them, no resale value, poor aesthetics to me, hard to find a smith willing to work on them.
Nothing wrong, in my opinion, in using a Wesson, Wilson or Baer as a base gun - less aesthetics and resale potentially than a Colt but on the other hand the gun is already built at a level that your Smith will have less to fix for you and just has to improve some things and tailor the gun to your specific desires.
No slam against Wesson, Wilson and Baer but they are semi custom and can’t match a gun being worked on by one smith at high level.
Interesting! I hadn’t thought about Kimber as a base gun. From the ones I see for sale on the used market, Kimber would be an expensive base kind of like DW.
As I say that though, most of the older 70 series Colts I’ve see lately have had asking prices from a grand up to $1500. I only paid $1600 for not even broken in Baer TRS last year.
If you already have a base gun or in a state with a roster list then I guess a base for a build is the best option.
Me personally ..I prefer to build from scratch... I start with high quality oversized parts .No curve balls or additional cost to the client and the biggest plus is consistency.. I plan to stop taking base guns at some point soon and just focus on building full BEC gats only.
@FWoo45...... I have a perfect base gun for you!!!!! Its a near virgin 1976 Colt .38 super Combat Commander. I just picked it up in a really good deal and can let it go for TWICE what its worth. :grin::grin:
Funny this thread popped up. I was looking to send my DW to get some parts fitted tighter than it was. Was wondering if a DW would be a worthwhile endeavor or to start from scratch.
I’m not a fan of thread revivals, but since I started this one and have a similar question, I don’t see any point in starting a new thread.
I’m constantly looking for another gun for Steve O to work his magic on and have got a hankering for a commander. I’ve located two...one is an old stainless Colt and the other is a Caspian by an unknown ‘smith. The Colt is what it is, and the owner of the Caspian can only tell me it has Wilson and Brown parts. The “asking” price on the Colt is $800 and the Caspian is $1000, but I can probably negotiate both down a little.
Which would you pick as a base for a commander build?
They posted something about the supplier for slides last week on their social media . It doesn’t sound like a JEM slide will be happening anytime soon.
So I’m planning a NightHawk slide and JEM frame for my next project.
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