ltwguns.com

Different builds come through the shop and more often than not it is a varied rendition of a modern full house type gun. Flat topped, borders, checkered, barrel fit, with a set of high profile "modern" sights.

Sometimes it is fun to go back and take a look at where this all started. This gun by no means is a fifty year old rattle trap 1911 that has seen several wars and is held together by loctite and armory parkerizing. It is however a beautiful rendition of well, how and why we are where we are, if that makes sense.

Nothing more appealing to me than a simple blued original Colt, that has been unmolested. Well, the only thing more appealing is getting it on the mill and watching Ted "carve".

Anyway, this gun required less time on the mill and more time in Ray's bench vise. Ray did a wonderful job keeping this one looking like a gun from another time and adding some fine touches that Sean Smith is sure to enjoy.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

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

Classy!!!!

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http://www.rogersprecision.com

Really sweet, I have a soft spot for those Army 1911s.

Nice. That is a bit of an inspiriation for the next gun that I have built.

That's beautiful. What kind of trigger does it have?

Looks good.

Gotta wonder what Ted was thinking when I had him on the phone 10 months ago and said, basically, "give me a custom gun, but hold the custom stuff."

This is a commemorative gun of sorts, I had it made to mark the 10th anniversary of my graduation from West Point. It seemed appropriate to me that such a gun would be very old-fashoned in outline, but built like a "real" custom gun all the same. The frame and slide are Caspian, the barrel a Bar-Sto, and Ted and Ray will have to tell you the rest.

Some trivia:

The serial number is my sequence in the order of graduates (aka my "Cullum number"). So in 1995 I was the 52,713th graduate from West Point since 1802. I got out of the Army 1 year before the 200th Anniversary of the founding of the Military Academy.

With the gold line front sight I specified (not visible in the pics), the gun's metal is black, gray and gold, which happen to be West Point's colors. The colors represent charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur, the original ingredients of gunpowder.

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Sean Smith
"Hey don't worry, I can handle it. I took something. I can see things no one else can see. Why are you dressed like that?" -Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China

What a GREAT looking pistol! Nice job. Photos ain't bad either.

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Bob Rodgers
http://www.rodgerspistolsmithing.com
e-mail: bob@rodgerspistolsmithing.com
(870) 499-3125

Wow with a capital W! That almost makes me want to go jump in a trench with my Garand and
fight off the Nazis! Almost......(hats off to those that did and do!)

Wow. Ted is building me a similar pistol based upon a NRM 1991. Now I REALLY can't wait!!

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Wayne Miller

Sean-

Congratulatuons! I know you will cherish it (and shoot it )

And to the YO-BO gang, excellent, gentlemen, simply excellent.

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Sic Semper Tyrannis

Very nice pistol. An interesting blend of retro and modern touches. The grip screws and thumb safety lock make it stand out from other "retro" pistols.

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Scott

very nice .... there is elegance in simplicity..

Very clean lines! Nice job Yost and family.

I really need more money. Another beautiful piece!

DW

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damian@adcofirearms.com
http://www.adcofirearms.com

Very clean i love it.

I may have to pony up some more $ and get another built, i love the clean looking 1911s.

USCG

Beautiful!!!

Theo

Nice set up. I think the simplicity makes it all the more unique.

Enjoy it Sean, and congrats on the 10 year mark! Wonder what you’ll get for yourself at 25 years?!

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"Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us."

Sean,

I really hope you enjoy this pistol and that it commerates your graduation for you in the best of style.

If you ever grow weary of this one, I'll take it back.

This one appealed to me as I was building. Simple, elegant, and classic is what it said to me. Like you mentioned, a custom gun without the custom but yet still being custom. If that actually makes sense. She has all the best components and is silky smooth, yet still appears to be a classic 1911.

Enjoy it and let us know how she shoots for you.

Best,

Ray



P.S.: You are right that you can be a pain with all the detailed descriptions, pictures of the ramp angle, and exact crown you want, etc... Jeez, it is like you think that you are the customer or something. (Just joking as I owed you one.)

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http://www.harmscustomdesigns.com

@ Ray

Most “retro” guns are guns that started as basic Colts, and had a few economical tweaks done to them to make them better shooters. Not may people are crazy enough to have a major custom shop make them a complete gun from scratch just so it can NOT look like a custom job... at least until you look closer and see the workmanship involved. But with $600 factory guns looking like custom jobs used to, at least as far as superficial features go, going retro is almost the new custom look anyway. Still, it is kind of nice to see that other people “get it.” People think I’m a nut for enough reasons as it is.

A side note, the grips are just place-holders I sent with the frame so I’d have something to hang onto the gun with until I found something nicer.

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Sean Smith
"Hey don't worry, I can handle it. I took something. I can see things no one else can see. Why are you dressed like that?" -Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China

A Classic

That is so close to the 1911 in my head for my next one that its downright scary! Very tasteful. What thumb safety is that?

Buckshot,

That is an Ed Brown wide safety that is recountoured and narrowed.

Best,

Ray

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http://www.harmscustomdesigns.com

Gracias, Ray

Sean, your not na ut buddy! Among all the nice guns I've seen on this site and others, this one keeps sticking in my head,

Just clean, no clutter, no nonsense, and looking decidedly stock but not!
You first look at it and you think a basically bone stock gun.

I LIKE!

Tim

Sean,
I saw the pics you posted at another forum, and had to post there to tell you how much I liked it.
I like it so much, that when I saw it here, I had to look again! And it's no small feat getting pictures loaded up with our web connection.

And yes, I had the Caspian catalog and calculator out since the first time, doing some "cipherin'".

Sean,
Really nice piece. Congratulations to YOU for ownership and design. Congratulations to Ray for great execuition of the details. However Sean, don't be too hard on yourself. An old friend has a "litimus test" to determine if he REALLY NEEDS any given item. The test follows:

1. Do I WANT one? (If the answer to this is yes, then proceed to
question 2.)
2. Do I HAVE one? (If the answer to this question is no, then the
conclusion follows.)
3. If I WANT one and don't HAVE one, then I NEED one.

See, so you really NEEDED this piece!!! Enjoy it to the max.

All have a safe holiday weekend,
Jeffro

That is one very, very, very, classy pistol. I have one of the WWI's in process.

Makes me wish the end of the year would get here sooner.

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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