ltwguns.com

Although I have never met John face to face I have had a couple of phone converstions with him. His work mirrors his personality. First class. Fortunately he sent some guns to the shop that are going on the LTW caravan for display. John, I hope you don't mind but there was no way not to take these home and spend a couple of hours with them. Each gun John built shows some variation between a carry gun, what I call an heirloom gun and another is a little of both. The pictures tell the best story. Enjoy.


The Springfield.




Beautifully cut checkering.












The Colt-









A fine maker's mark. Anyone would be proud to have it on their pistol.




The Carry Gun-

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

Yowza!

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Dave Berryhill
Berryhill Custom, LLC

These are beautiful guns, as I also had a chance to see them in person. Nice work John.



The Ti gun is also a little more unique in that it is 9mm (one of those more difficult calibers in a 1911). I had to look and see what John did to insure feeding and extraction of the shorter round. It's a very nice gun, that I wanted to take to the range SO....... bad and see how it shot. Unfortunately, I resisted the urge because I figured that I would be shot in Vegas. Maybe sometime I can get the pleasure.

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http://www.harmscustomdesigns.com

Damn Steve these pictures are killing me!! Nice looking pistol, especially the beveled slide, flat top (without serrations) and virtually flush crown on the barrel.

JeffVN

Wow! Heck, triple wow! Those are stunning.

Steve,
Any chance I could get my hands on higher resolution pictures? At least 800x600? I think a few of them deserve to go in photo gallery on Precision-Gunworks.com, if you don't mind.

Can't wait to get my grimey little paws on those pistols!!!!

I really love the beavertail fit on the last Ti 9mm. Wow that is a neat job.

All the guns are sweet. See you all next week!

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"The most effective armor is to keep out of range"-Italian proverb

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Mr. Bailey: You take wonderful pictures. I've seen, handle and shot two out of the three pistols and I can tell you that they performed wonderfully. I really like that Ti 9mm But these pictures transformed these pistols from tools into pron stars.

Ray Harms: If the titanium didn't have to be spiffy clean for the SHOT show, I would gladly let you shoot the snot out of it. With roughly 2000 rounds through it, I'm very pleased with John's work. 14 lb recoil spring, lots of lube (lately been using Wilson Ultimalube), Wolff extra power magazine springs and Metalform "front ramp" magazines are the tricks to make the little blaster run.

See you all at the show.

I've been lucky enough to see all of these pistols at John's shop, and while the pictures are fantastic, these pistols are even better up close and personal. Great work John.

I'm glad I've already got a pistol in the pipeline 'cause I got a feeling that after SHOT the line is going to get even longer.

See you at the Shot Show,

Brian

I'll be at SHOT before John gets there. Guess we'll find out if drool and fingerprints will smear on those outstanding gats.

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Mr. Brian:
We've seen pictures of the pretty pistols you've been. It'll be an honor to have one of my pistols inspected by you.

Belay that 'honor' crap. I look forward to it.

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CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Hey John, Ricky said I could take the Commander home with me, said something about my first born and such being in the deal though. ....Still considering it.

Beautiful work, can't wait to see them in person.

Bill

HOLY MOLY!

Steve, That's some seriously fine photography there, my man!

Do I mind? Well I'm actually delighted of course! What nice surprise! And thanks to everyone for the kind words.

If you don't mind, I'm with Alex. I'd like to replace some of my home-grown snaps on my web site with those most-excellent pics of yours.

The Springfield is the one that's actually the heirloom gun. I won it a few years back for a class win at the TN. State USPSA championship. It sat around for a while until I hatched the idea of customizing it and presenting it to my son when he graduated college. I finished it about 3 years ago and gave it to him on Graduation Day. I figured that would be something neat to hang onto and hand down someday. Having some history to go with it is kinda neat and now being on display at the SHOT show just adds to it.

Thanks again Steve!

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www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

They are all very practical and yet beautiful..Everything from the carefully beveled edges to all of the serrations, other machine work, and part fitting looks extraordinary John..I am very proud of the 1911's you have built for me over the years and certainly plan on keeping them and passing them down to my son someday too..The one thing you can not see from those great photo's is how well they run and shoot..I remember you telling me that was the most important thing to you before you built my first one and I can certainly attest to the fact that reliability and accuracy is inherent in your works..I can't wait to see them and you this weekend..JM

OK... cut it out guys...my wife is TICKED!!! Says you're "enabling me" whatever that means. I'm gonna have to get a 3rd job so I can buy at least 1 pistol from all the smiths here. Beautiful work John.. and Steve, great pics!

John, what kinda finish is that on the S/A?

I'm not John but when I saw the S/A in person it was parkerized.

I have seen two out of those three pistols with my eyes, and each one is truly amazing. I am also glad to have a pistol or two in the pipeline with John as well as my completed ones.

Good weekend to be in Vegas at SHOT. Here in Atlanta, we are getting lots of freezing rain.

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Scott

Just got back from the show. The rest of the LTW crew are still there. The LTW booth was a hit, they'll have to get a bigger booth next year. This year's booth was next to some outdoor calender with a couple of booth babes, but the calender babes hardly got noticed with all the 40+ 1911s, rifles, shotguns in the LTW booth. I'll post some pics later.

Finally got some time after the Shot Show to get a word or two off. The picture the previous posted probably keep for himself was the one of the display case with the guns in it. I got real lucky or feel very fortunate I got to meet the makers in person.

The booth was a success. In fact, after going to about 9 or so Shot Shows. I felt this was one of the best. The general feeling about the folks there Friday and Saturday was good. The crowd was upbeat for a change and did not have the "just another Shot Show" feeling I got from the last few.

Saw some incredible work from the guns at the Louder than Word crew. Yes, I bought one of those that were not claimed.

It was a pleasure to meet the crew in person and see the work.

Guys, if you are thinking about getting something done. Find a builder and get it to one as the waiting list will definitely grow after this show.

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Be safe and keep the brass flying

Terry Peters

Do your research but you get what you pay for front end or back end
http://www.pt-partners.com
@ptpartners_tx

"Oh No! It's Dave



Well, maybe if we ignore him, he will go away!

This was the best Booth in the Show. The guns were the best I have ever seen in my lifetime and they put what I used to do way down the line. I am happy for these fine men, but sad for me. De King Fish is Dead, Long Live De King Fish.
My Compliments, Gentlemen.

BTT - Because I had to. I loved the Ti Commander in 9mm the John had at the show.




















Beautiful work John.

Smooth One - You are absolutely right. I have been playing with a basically stock series 80 Colt Commander trying to get it to run reliably. What worked was a 14lb. spring, proper throating of the barrel and the feed ramp, a Wilson .38 super extractor tuned correctly, a slightly extended ejector (not the extra long factory Colt), and those Metal form "front ramp" magazines. When I was still struggling with the standard Colt magazine, Rob Leatham gave me one of the Metalform mags and said try this. It solved my last issues perfectly. It also seemed to take some of the "clunkiness" out of the traditional 9mm in a 1911.

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http://www.harmscustomdesigns.com

Ray:
Sorry I missed you at the SHOW. I really appreciate your kind words on the little Ti9. I just picked it up from John this afternoon after letting Mr. H. borrow it for the SHOT show for 6 weeks (refinishing, advanced package to Mr. Yost, etc.). I'll let it rest awhile until Spring then I'll break it out again. 9mm in 1911 is a pussycat to shoot. Good luck with your 9mm project.

Ray,

The Smooth One actually found what was killing off the last 3% of reliability. We were both getting just a couple of nose dives every 100 rounds or so. Mostly when loading from full mags. He stuck in Wolff extra power mag springs in his and that made his gun (and mine) run 100+% with the Metalform "Springfield" mags. I was surprised that it didn't have a negative impact on the cycling of the slide, as light a recoil spring as we were running (mine a 12# on my 5" Springfield), but they both run great.

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www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

John & Smooth One,

Thanks for the information. I had acquired a Colt Commander in 9mm with the initial intention to convert it to 9x23. However after seeing your Ti9 and having so much FUN just shooting mine in 9mm. I think it is going to stay 9mm.

I struggled with reliability at first until making the same changes you guys have listed with the only exception being the mag springs. It has run 100% for a few hundred rounds now, but I'll try the mag springs as an added safety factor.

Thanks,

Ray

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http://www.harmscustomdesigns.com

Ray:
Glad you got your 9mm working, please post pics. Being cheap, I didn't see any need to reload 9x23 or 38stupid or any other snobby 9xYZ calibers. You can get 9mm Winchester from Walmart for $10.96 and you don't have to reload.

Smooth One,

I'm with you on the cheap 9mm and not having to pick up the brass.

Right now it's just a stock looking 9mm Colt Commander, that has a Wilson BP extractor, the factory ejector shortened to what I normally do on .38 super, factory barrel throated, feed ramp adjusted, 4 lb. trigger job on factory parts, and the Metalform "Springfield" mags.

I did fit up a BarSto 9x23 "unramped" barrel to it this weekend. I had the barrel as a take-off out of my old Govt. model. I cut it for the Commander and fit a new Kings bushings to it. It also got my take-off Aftec extractor and EGW square firing pin stop. The gun ran beautifully like this. (20# spring)

What has surprised me the most about this Commander is that when set-up with the Aftec/square firing pin stop, factory ejector shortened to what I normally do on .38 super, factory barrel throated, feed ramp adjusted, 4 lb. trigger job on factory parts, and the Metalform "Springfield" mags, it does NOT have the typical "clunky" feel of 9mm 1911.

I'll post some pics of it in the future, when I actually have time to complete the gun. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying shooting it.


Best,

Ray

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