There seems to be a lot of confusion and misconception about quality 1911 pistols.

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You will often hear the terms “custom”, “semi-custom” or “full-house custom” 1911 pistols.  What does this mean?  Noone knows for sure anymore, since so many of these terms are used synonymously.

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Many “custom” 1911 manufacturers are just that, they are manufacturers.  While these 1911 pistols may have many customizable features, they are manufactured in a factory.

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Some of these manufacturers may even have some “hand-worked” features, but they are still factory-manufactured pistols.

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Many of these companies indeed produce a fine 1911 pistol, but most are trying to create the illusion that they have a pistolsmith sitting at a bench hand building your 1911 pistol.  With almost all of these companies, that just simply is not the case.  In the world of manufacturing, volume equals profit and there simply is not time (or often skill) for someone to sit and hand build your 1911 pistol.  This is where we, at Master Gunworks, come in.  We like to use the terms “handcrafted”, “hand built”, or “handmade” when referring to our 1911 pistols.  That is because it is our true process for building 1911 pistols.

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We start with a raw, machined frame and slide.  Just one pistolsmith uses hand-operated machine tools and hand tools to precision fit and finish every part.  What do I mean by hand fitting every part?  This means a highly skilled pistolsmith will use a hand file, stone, hand lapping, or similar process to fit every part.  The end result is a fit, finish, and smoothness that is beyond compare to any manufactured 1911 pistol.  The accuracy of our 1911 pistols also greatly benefits from our process.  The attention to detail of our hand-fitted barrels makes our pistols among the most accurate 1911 pistols money can buy.  Our primary mission at Master Gunworks is not to see how much profit we can make and flood the market with our product.  Our mission is to make just a few of the highest quality, accurate and beautiful 1911 pistols on the market.  When I say “We at Master Gunworks” I am referring to me, my wife, my son, and our customer family.  We don’t want to make a lot of 1911 pistols.  We just want to make the best.  We want our customers to have something exclusive that not everyone can own.  We want our customers to be part of our exclusive Master Gunworks Family.

 

Thank you,

 

Jon