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custom shops / gunsmiths

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:00 am
by htxred
Im looking to have a custom 1911 built chambered in 9mm. Can anyone shoot me in the right direction to find a gunsmith that could help me? pref in the houston area or surrounding counties.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:06 am
by AEA
I can't help you specifically on that, but I would suggest that you check out the .38 Super round.

Re: custom shops / gunsmiths

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:53 am
by G.C.Montgomery
htxred wrote:Im looking to have a custom 1911 built chambered in 9mm. Can anyone shoot me in the right direction to find a gunsmith that could help me? pref in the houston area or surrounding counties.
In a thoroughly random order of guys that come to mind....
Bruce Warner
Ed Vanden Berg (vandenbergcustom.com)
Eddie Jimenea
Jack Green
Teddy Jacobson (actionsbyt.com)

I'll have to look up contact info for these guys since I'm at the office and don't have it handy. FWIW, if you want to build a 1911 in 9mm, seriously consider building with a commander length slide. While government length 9mm will run, I find them a little too sensitive to things like thumbs brushing the slide.

38Super on the otherhand works just fine in government length 1911s. One bit of caution though...Unless you are reloading or happen to have a good source, 38Super ammunition can be hard to find at major retailers and it tends to be fairly expensive to buy from real gunshops. Also 38 Super is almost always more expensive than 9mm.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:02 am
by gmckinl
Just call up Wilson and place your order???????

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:24 am
by Doug.38PR
http://www.briley.com
I've heard good things about Briley. They work on 1911s.

Bruce Warner (G.C. Montgomery mentioned him too) works over at Top Gun off of Beverly Hill (singular, not plural. That isn't a typo) off of Fountainview. He did a little work on a friend of mine's 1911 SA Micro to satisfaction.

There is a guy that a lot of LEO seem to like named Herman Muschkee (I may have very well spelled that wrong) that works on handguns. He's over in the Heights. I don't have the number or the address. I could drive there and find it again, but that doesn't do you any good. Somebody else in here may know how to find him. He did an EXCELLENT reblue (looked almost factory) job on two of my Colt revolvers. I know he works on 1911s. Again, LEOs seem to like him and know of him when mentioned.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:38 am
by htxred
i stop by topgun every now and then, i'll be sure to toss the name around next time im there..

what im thinking is to get a kit from fusion, it doesnt seem so complicated from then on. just get the internals seperately. only problem i see would be fitting the pieces together.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:55 am
by Doug.38PR
Actually, now that I think about it....I'm not sure Bruce is still at Top Gun....seems like last time I was in there his card wasn't by the cash register and they told me he wasn't there anymore....but I could be wrong. I just went to their website and there is no mention of gunsmithing services.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:20 am
by htxred
i guess they couldnt afford to keep him with their 50% above retail markup on ammo....

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:50 am
by Doug.38PR
HAHAHA. Could be worse. They used to indirectly force you to buy their 50% above retail ammo WINCLEAN? Remember that? "you can only shoot Winclean in here" (and guess how much more expensive it was....and Top Gun was one of the few places that sold it)

Now you can shoot lead, FMJ and pretty much anything except Magnums, nonfrangible rifle ammo and shotguns (and they just recently stopped letting people shoot shotguns as it was tearing up their backstops)

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:03 pm
by htxred
cant shoot blazer aluminum last i checked, thats why i stopped going there since i only am able to get blazer alum 10mm, and i do not want to pay 30/box for their remington 10mm.

although its an nice facility, i'll drive the extra few miles and go to Marksman in south houston instead.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:50 pm
by Jeremae
I would add Robert Potter at http://www.operatorsedge.com to the list. He is just off i45 in the woodlands and a Real Good Guy.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:36 pm
by G.C.Montgomery
Doug.38PR wrote:www.briley.com
I've heard good things about Briley. They work on 1911s.

Bruce Warner (G.C. Montgomery mentioned him too) works over at Top Gun off of Beverly Hill (singular, not plural. That isn't a typo) off of Fountainview. He did a little work on a friend of mine's 1911 SA Micro to
Bruce left Top Gun a little more than a year ago to start his own shop at home and concentrate on customers' guns rather than being saddled with being Mr. Fixit for not just guns but any mechanical device in the range that broke. While I do have his personal cell number, I didn't feel comfortable passing it out on the web. I'll check with him and PM his email address.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 6:10 pm
by Skiprr
I posted some Houston contacts several months ago with a few of the names G.C. mentioned: http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... ght=#73334.

Re: custom shops / gunsmiths

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:44 pm
by KinnyLee
G.C.Montgomery wrote:Eddie Jimenea
If I have the funds, I will have this guy build a 1911 for me.