Those of you that have dropped some coin on a custom handgun

[Sovblocgunfan]

I had a buddy who had a 1971 Cessna 172. He bought it with money he’d won in a poker game.

Plane was perfectly safe, but wasn’t much in the looks department. It was painted with a brush and bucket. It passed its inspections and he replaced things as necessary with utilitarian parts to keep it flying.

But he spared NO expense on avionics and instrumentation. The plane was nice where it needed to be. In his mind, all of that made flying easier and more pleasurable. Hard to argue with. And he loved that plane like a kid does a raggedy teddy bear.

My guns aren’t “nice”. They are well-kept tools. They are all perfectly serviceable and do their job if I do mine. I don’t bother with spending a lot of money on cosmetics. But am interested in doing certain things to my guns if they help me shoot them better.

 

[Zerodefect]

Sounds like American Airlines? Is it possible they have a single seat that doesn't smell like the concrete floor of a cheese factory, in summer?

I beat on my custom guns as well. Blue finishes be darned.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Not custom but I had it sent in and rebuilt the way I wanted it.
In about 1985 or so I wanted a 1911 for Bullseye specified to shoot 200 gr H&G SWC at 750 fps or so for a 25 yd Fall/Winter league (reduced yard slowfire).
The gun was a Springfield standard model and I had Bomar rear sights and a Patridge front with a lowered slide, match barrel and bushing (link, trigger work, etc).
After I had the front sight fall off and replaced twice (!), I (finally) was quite happy with my scores and the way it ran. VERY reliable; never failed to feed or fire.
Later; 25-30 years later. I tried to shoot "hardball" Bullseye; 230gr RB at 850 at the 50yd EIC matches and had trouble with case failures blowing out my magazines and grip scales.
Problem was oversize chamber/ramp.
Gunsmith made my gun run exactly the way I told him I wanted it to. Be careful what you ask for...

 

[tarosean]

Did you get one of the GI Day of the Dead pistols?

That's a heck of a guess..
That is correct though.

 

[Labguy47]

I’ve spent the money 2Xs on a custom job, and I’ve yet to be impressed. Good guns just fit right, shoot to point of aim, and truth be told it depends on the shooter.
My Thunder Ranch S&W customized doesn’t hold up against my old 40% bluing left 3” model 10. I can shoot aspirin with the 10.
The Kimber I bought customized did nothing my old FNP won’t do. Basically all I did was purchase a couple of safe queens.
That’s not to say I don’t customize. Almost every gun I own has had some good work done to it. And what was done makes them the perfect shooter for me.

 

[Doublehelix]

I have a custom STI 2011 that I shoot for competition. It is the sweetest gun I own and there are no regrets. I upgraded the internals *after* buying it to even higher-end components. No regrets. I easily have over $3K in this gun, and I bought it used!!!

 

[Zaydok Allen]

But I wanted it and there is only 10 in existence.

Sounds like a really good investment. I couldn't even think about buying something like that, because I chose the wrong career.

I blame myself.

 

[rduchateau2954]

Wow, this got some traction!

Couple things. I have not shot a CZ97. I've never even seen one in person. I've only shot an SP01 and it was filthy at that. I shot the Sig 220 better.

If I want a 97 I have a couple options.

1.) There is a guy 3 hours away selling one for $700
2.) Drop a few bucks at my local gun shop and get put on the list. I've been told the wait could be up to 1.5 years. Cost of new is $599.
3.) There are a few on gun broker for $700+
4.) Directly from Cajun. They want a bit over $1300. The package installed is over $600. So they're basically selling the stock gun new for $700.

Ideally, I'd buy one new, shoot it for a while, then maybe send it out to cgw. I would not do the work myself.

I'm really hesitant to buy one from cgw without shooting one first. I don't like a lot of guns everybody seems to love. For example, I hate Glocks, plastic walthers, plastic Springfields, Ruger sr9c (varients), plastic Sig's, HK vp9, the Sig P938, beretta 92, etc.

So here's what I'm thinking:

Option 1 - Buy the Sig, forget about the CZ
Option 2 - Buy the Sig, go on the waiting list for the CZ
Option 3 - Buy the Sig and spend $130+ retail for a CZ off GunBroker.

 

[d'zaster]

I have an Officers ACP series 80 that I have probably spent too much money customizing and refinishing.

 

[WVsig]

If you have never shot the 97 I would not get the CGW gun. It is too much to lay down for a love or hate platform. For me they are too big relative to their capacity and the trigger reach
And grips are too big.

Also they don’t have one in stock to build on.

I would go with the used Sig and wait for a properly priced 97. Shoot the gun and then decide if you want to customize it.

If you get the Sig and want to customize
It look up Robert Burke The Sig Armorer. He does amazing work on P series Sigs.

 

[Jim Watson]

CZ 97 is Yuge. I would not buy one as a pig in a poke.

 

[tarosean]

If you have never shot the 97 I would not get the CGW gun. It is too much to lay down for a love or hate platform. For me they are too big relative to their capacity and the trigger reach

I am going to agree with this.
If you have never seen a 97 in person, much less gotten your mitts on one. You may very well end up with a case of buyers remorse.
Every single gun I have either bought customized or customized myself. I have had prior experience with the platform of choice.

 

[rduchateau2954]

Hi all, I want to thank you for all your help.

I actually ended up finding a new 220 for the same price as the police trade in guns. Say hello to the newest member of my collection!

 

[a2x4bbl]

View attachment 812097

Freedom Gunworks 5.5” 40 S&W that I use for USPSA Limited division. Not very practical for anything other than competition but I enjoy the hell out of it. $2500 or so.

Worth every penny.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I actually ended up finding a new 220 for the same price as the police trade in guns. Say hello to the newest member of my collection!

And with that comes a good time to close this thread