ltwguns.com

It seems the term "Full House" is as overused as "Tactical", "Dynamic", and "SpecOps". This seems to be more marketing than substance, and the lack of standards associated with the terms is disgusting.

I'd like to hear the LTW gunsmiths, customers, and friends opinions on what exactly "Full House" should constitute. A quick glance at the For Sale Forum gives a few examples of what people believe are Full House, but without a standard, it's an easily misused marketing term.

Should they include a minimum of these details?
1. Barrel (fit an aftermarket barrel and associated bushing and link).
2. Sights (something cut into the slide).
3. Ignition components (something more than just stoning a factory sear).
4. Frame and slide fit.
5. Some kind of finish other than a "Bondo Bodyfiller" type paint.
6. Checkering on the frontstrap. Something that requires handwork?
7. Dehorn, tool mark removal, beveling.
8. 100% reliable with commercially available ammo.

I'm sure this list is too short for most (me included), and would think it would be a minimum starting point. What other features would you consider mandatory to earn the title of "Full House"?

To me, it'd be hard to call a gun "Full House" that wasn't significantly better than some of the semi-custom stuff available from Les Baer or Ed Brown. If it wasn't even as good as a TRS, for example, it certainly couldn't be considered much of an effort for a custom job in my opinion.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Old post with some knowledgable people talking bout what you're talking bout
http://www.louderthanwords.us/forum/vie ... full+house

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Im not a smith but...

To me a full house gun is a gun built up from an oversized frame/slide with every part and detail being done by the particular smith.

Anything else is a package of sorts. Or a random selection of parts/services by the gun owner.

Full house to me is a gun that shows a large cross section of a smith's work.

You can certainly build a "full house" gun on a Colt or Springfield base gun. Smiths on this site do it every day.

I think a fitted barrel, slide/frame and checkering or other grip treatment is certainly mandatory.

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My take on it.... Sure, you can build a "Full House" gun on a commercial gun like a Colt or a Springer, but the only parts that should be used are the slide and the frame, and THOSE should be fitted and lapped together. ALL other parts should be of the best quality available, and ALL parts should be fitted to the individual pistol for the best possible available operation, be that accuracy, thumb safety operation or trigger pull. To me, the operation of a Full House gun should be OPTIMAL.

From a finish standpoint, all flats should be flat and all angles should be correct, preferably polished by hand. While hand cut checkering isn't an absolute necessity, I think it serves as a good benchmark of a smith's attention to detail. Blue? Hardchrome? I don't care. But, having said that, I agree with Eric in that a painted finish has no business on a Full House build. With a polished blue or hard chrome finish, the smith is required to produce his best finish because anything less is glaringly obvious. A painted finish allows finish glitches to be hidden.

In both appearance and operation, a Full House build should represent the best quality that an individual pistol smith is capable of producing. I have problems with a gunsmith who produces a "Best Quality" "Full House" build, only to find out later that he didn't do the checkering or any of the machining because he had neither the equipment nor skill to do so. Is THAT a Full House build? I don't think so.

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Wayne Miller

I agree with most except that I have seen some Full House guns done by chuck rogers that have a final gunkote type finish (might be some other finish too) like his "sand" combat gun. it's about as Full House as you can go, and he used a finish other than hard chrome or blueing....and I think chuck's attention to detail is second to none and what finish his customer chooses is subjective and really inconsequential in the end.

What about the collaborative LTW projects? They've produced some beautiful guns that would qualify as "full house" by most people's definitions except they were done by an number of gunsmith's and not by the hand of any one man. Also, what about some smith's who have some work done by master machinist's like gunsmith's who send their frames to Pete Single for checkering or other's who Chuck Rogers does golf balling for? I'd never question Wayne's knowledge or taste in custom pistols, but such collaborative efforts like I've brought up have produced some extremely fine guns.

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Ted