ltwguns.com

Happy Monday. I typed "custom 1911" into a search engine and Jardine's Customs was the first on the list. Can anyone give any backround or opinion on this shop and its work. Apparently these guns are made of unobtainium.

Everything I've heard about John and his work has been great. Every Valtro I've seen, and the few examples of his custom work on other brands I've seen, make it clear that here's a guy who has known the 1911 inside and out for a long time. I met him at SHOT several years ago and he treated me like an old friend. He didn't talk about himself but I could see a real depth of knowledge and confidence there.... based on what I've seen, I look up to John Jardine.

I understand the Valtros are hard to get but from the first one I saw in maybe 98 or so I was really impressed.

John is a personal friend of mine and has performed work on several of my 1911's. His skill, knowledge and shooting ability is second to none! Bonus?: He lives about 30 minutes from me.

Great guy, great builder!


Mace

had the opportunity to buy a jardine and i jumped on it.
Bryan

I havn't heard much about the Valto's for some time now. Seemed like they were highly desirable for a while but became too difficult to get. Anybody know what their status is?

From other forums he is doing most of his work for military and law. So is wait is very long, some people have stated multiple years.

Bryan

John is a great guy with a great heritage in the 1911 business. His mechanical understanding of the 1911 is impressive. He is a master with a welding torch as well as bluing tank-2 dying arts in the gun world.

I was critical of the Valtro initially because I thought it looked too much like a Les Baer! When I met John and he went over the parts and the specs I was pretty impressed. The Valtro small parts are well made and the improvements he has made to the 1911 design were subtle, but intriguing. He lowered the location on the extractor tunnel to grip the rim better. He increased the width of the slide slightly and improved the material specs on the major components-all forged in the mother country.

Nice guns. I would love to own one. Not the equal cosmetically of any of the masters here, IMO, but mechanically quite fine indeed with a lot of hand work

I am a past owner of a Jardine custom so I do have some experience here..

At the "old price" of $1299, the Valtro is a major steal. I have a verbal order in but doubt I will ever see one.

I have heard rumblings that the Italian supplier's parts have dried up for the most part. They were always hard to deal with.

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

CHECK OUT MY CUSTOM 1911 BLOG
http://thearsenalofdemocracy.blogspot.com

John is a rare find, great guy to deal with, and very passionate about 1911... nuff said!!!!

_________________
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" Gandhi

John Jardine is considered one of the most sought after and hardest to reach smiths available. He's been referred to in old articles interviewing other noted combat armorers such as Vickers.

I believe Valtro is Italian imported, making the pistols even harder to come by-- but the man's education speaks for it's self as nephew and apprentice to Armand Swenson. And I'm sure more than a few folks might agree with me when I say that the legendary smith's work has futhered our understanding of 1911 design theory.
There is a fine line to the craft in what can be done to squeeze the gun for every ounce of accuracy. Swenson's standards had to fit a reliable carry weapon--and he wouldn't stop until he achieved the required grouping.

While the LTW consortium are the finest in the industry, I'd actually compare his work to Liebenberg (Pistol Dynamics). Having read about these two men over the years, both turn out a wonderful heirloom shooter.

Only down side I've heard is getting in touch with him.

Thankyou all very much for all of the info.

I talked to him yesterday!

Mace

Is there a better time to call him, or is it potluck.

I feel that amidst all this praise, I must be candid. John built me one of his Valtros and I have no complaint with the man or his work. He was quite the gentleman with whom to deal, and the Valtro was without flaw. I had ordered two Valtros at the same time and he promised my second would be the very next gun he built after I received the first since the orders were simultaneous. That was many years ago. The few times he answered the phone when I called after that, he gave me some verbage and a promise. Finally after a few YEARS, he said he is doing only work for the military so not to expect the second gun. I felt slighted and still do.
I was raised to believe that my word is my bond and still live by that. Many here know me and have dealt with me and know that to be true. I expect that of others. I wish John no harm and only good fortune, but reading all these glowing remarks only kind of opened old disappointment.
Best regards to all,
Jeffro

I'm fortunate to own and I have put alot rounds down range from custom 1911s from well known commercial vendors and custom gunsmiths. My opinion comes from 15yrs of shooting experience, SWAT deployments/training, and shooting schools.

Currently John Jardine rebuilds my 1911s. The Jardine 1911 platforms I have are the most functional and reliable ones I own. John builds his guns from the inside out. They are made to work mechanically right. He does great work on the externals (ie really nice dehorning mods), but the mechanics of the 1911 is his focus and should be for any weapon. Here's an example of the durability of his trigger jobs he likes to demonstrate. John will repetitively rack and let a slide slam forward on an empty chamber. The hammer on his trigger jobs do not follow. That's an important feature on a combat gun that's run hard.

The Valtros that come out of his shop are all hand built by him. John incorporated alot if subtle design changes to impove the function and durability of the 1911 design, such as the extractor tunnel angle described in a previous post.

His 1911s are frequently involved in righteous LE and military gunfights and they work. Because his guns are going into harms way and we are at war, I don't blame him for focusing on the military/LE guns.

John is a one man shop, so his output is limited. He still does civilian work, but expect a long wait. If you want a 1911 built by him his contact info is on his website. I would not recommend emailing him though.

If I get I chance I'll post a pic of the Colt 9mm 1911 he built for me.

It is ashame that I didn't grab one of the Valtro's when they were available. I have regreted that for a while now. This post is like cleaning a cut with lemon juice. I really wish Jardine would get the Valtro imports back up and running.

I've owned many custom "high end"(3-4k plus) guns and I've been disappointed with almost every single one of them. I will not mention any names as one of them is a builder who is listed on this board. The pistols were beautiful on the outside but most of them did not function under hard use. Upon inspecting the inside of the pistol, it seemed like there was almost little or no attention put on the inside(function) and all the work was focused on the outside(cosmetics). I currently own a Jardine built custom pistol and although granted it isn't pretty with fancy engravings and other nick nacks, it straight WORKS like a champ. I've stripped the pistol down with my everyday gunsmith and he was amazed at the attention to detail on the inside of the gun. I've spoken with John a few times when I went to get my pistol upgraded and his knowledge and work is AMAZING. He can make a real pretty gun too but his main focus is FUNCTIONALITY. In today's world, many of the "high end" gun builders I think realize that most of the guns they are building/decorating will never see HARD use. Therefore they optimize their time in the most profitable manner. I shoot approx. 20k a year and at least 300-500 per session and my pistol has never failed. Although I do not consider this hard use, I've seen other pistols go through 40k in one year and we could not discern any loss in accuracy or reliability. My $0.02.

Those strike me as some bold and presumptuous statements especially considering the company you're in. I suppose the internet will never rid itself of those who can and will anonymously point a finger without accountability and of course a full back story, but this is the internet after all.

I'm sure your Jardine pistol is nice but I'm not sure it's so nice that it gives you cause or justification or maybe even knowledge enough to make statements about 'smiths and their building/business practices... especially when you claim to be referring to one who you say is a member here.

Sorry for the rant... sometimes the internet just makes me scratch my head.

thats what im sayin, man up and say what you have to say. Inuendo is lame.

Due to the spirit of this board and its mission, I do not want to turn it into "x gunsmith is better then y gunsmith" war that so many boards are infected with.

You can search quite a few boards(lightfighter, snipershide, sigforum, lugerforum) and I use the same screen name everywhere.

The main point of my post was not to put down smiths here and say Jardine is better then everyone else. I've seen so many of so called custom pistols just plain not work and it is flat out BS to pay thousands of dollars and have a non functioning show piece. Jardine builds his guns from the inside out whereas it seems most smiths build from the outside in. Someone else posted earlier on this thread that his guns are not the cosmetic equal of the members here and although that could be true, I'll take a functional gun over cosmetic gun any day.

If I show this thread to John he would laugh at it. John is the type of person who doesn't care for accolade or recognition. All John care is about building great working gun to the best of his ability for his customers. Those who doesn't know John can make any kind of judgement they want, for those of us who know John... We know what John is all about! John is a very busy smith, if he doesn't have time to build you a gun... Just wait longer

_________________
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" Gandhi

"His 1911s are frequently involved in righteous LE and military gunfights and they work. Because his guns are going into harms way and we are at war, I don't blame him for focusing on the military/LE guns."

That is refreshing ...like Swenson did in the old days

_________________
My future's determined by Thieves, thugs, and vermin
My rights are denied by Those least qualified
Everything's backwards In Americana

John Jardine would find himself truly welcome and in like company here. The concept of "My smith can beat up your smith" is really inappropriate for a board like this anyway. Our industry has a way of sorting itself out with regard to those who deliver substandard quality. I like the saying "You can fool the fans, but you can't fool the players".

_________________
Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

TR

I have a Yost-Bonitz 1*, that I shoot the SNOT out of. A Don Williams Full house BHP that runs like a gazelle!

Dave Erickson is AWESOME. Chuck Rogers a gentleman! Jardine has done some work for me that is second to none.

Group HUG!!!

Mace

Gary, you have enough nice guns to soothe that sting.

_________________
"Domari Nolo"

Can you guys post picks of some of his customs?

_________________
Hard work pays off

Scot,
check out his website http://www.jardinescustom.com/photographs.html

_________________
"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" Gandhi

The custom 2 tone is a beautiful example. The fluting on that pistol is gorgeous. My favorite is the custom blue steel. A NBS fighting firearm. Awesome.

Here ya go Scott.
http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums/a/tp ... 7981016632


EricO

"His 1911s are frequently involved in righteous LE and military gunfights and they work. Because his guns are going into harms way and we are at war, I don't blame him for focusing on the military/LE guns."

What units/PDs have the time and money to wait on these pistols? I am not being an ass but this claim is heard all too many times and I'd like to hear some corroborating evidence from the forum member who posted this.

It may not specifically be the PD's that are purchasing the weapons, which is probably not the case, but individual officers that purchased or had weapons built by him for duty use. I carry an EGW modified Kimber Warrior as a plain clothes duty weapon/off-duty weapon that was funded by me and not my department. That's my guess anyway, because you are right, departments generally are not going to spend that kind of cash on a duty weapon, but the military may be a different story.

_________________
Graduate:
Pat Rogers EAG Carbine Operators Course
Thunder Ranch Team Tactics Course