Why no mention of Valtro in any gun mags?

[Pendragon]

Every time I am at the store, I check the gun mags I see to see if any have a piece or a review of the Valtro.

They do lots of unique and rare guns and lots of 1911s - but never any Valtro pieces.

The cynic in me says its because they don't buy space.

Anyone ever see a review of a Valtro in anything other than "Gun Tests" a couple years back?

 

[BlkHawk73]

The cynic in me says its because they don't buy space.

Guess I'm a cynic also. I don't subscribe to any gun magazines anymore because they're nothing but cover to cover advertisements (that includes most of the articles and all the gun tests they write up).
While I've never seen the valtro mentioned in any gun mags, I have seen them listed in one of the yearly buyer's guides.

 

[hansolo]

Gun Mgs/Valtro

I've only been into shooting for about 3 years. As a newbie, I bought/subscribed to almost every gun mag. In the last couple of years,
I haven't read ONE negative review of any handgun/longun.
And, although I love nice 1911's as eye-candy, I've seen different models
of ParaOrdnance on at least 1/3 of all handgun mags. Ditto, Les Baer, SA, etc.....and all the reviews include stuff like, "...this is the finest 1911 the author has ever owned..." S.W.A.T. and Gunt Tests are the exceptions.
I don't say that all gunwriters are hacks, but how many "perfect" guns
are out there? One more thing: they assume all gun enthusiasts are in the top 1% income bracket: EX: Wilson 1911: $3,500.00 Sure, if I had that kind of disposable income, I'd probably buy one.....actually, I'd spend about 1/3 of that amount on a Colt. Just my opinion; I may be wrong

 

[SouthpawShootr]

I seem to remember seeing something in American Handgunner when they first came out. Nothing since. Same thing with STI. Of course these are highend and the editors may feel most readers aren't interested. Additionally, these companies may not be willing to provide examples for evaluation. The gun mags certainly can't afford to layout money on every production or semi-custom gun.

As for gun magazines, I usually don't pay any mind to their recommendations. Basically, they list all the good stuff for you, all you really have to do is look for the bad.

 

[Blueduck]

Open and closed investigation...

18 month backlog of orders means you don't have to hand out freebies to "Gun Scribes" or buy advertising space

 

[Sven]

Yeah, Valtro has its work cut out for it with those internet sites and their members' recommendations.

 

[Gary H]

It does seem that many gun magazines promote their advertisers. I don't know how to put this politely, but the supply of Valtros is somewhat limited. It would be difficult to justify the promotion of a product that would not be generally available to a magazine's readers. IMHO..

 

[Pendragon]

I have seen all kinds of articles on one-of-a-kind guns, historic guns, million dollar guns (Luger .45?) etc.

Many of the full on custom guns have backorders measured in years.

Not to mention, Jardine is blood to - oh crap, kick me out of the 1911 club because I forgot his hallowed name - the square trigger guard guy.

Anyway - the Valtro is notable, but gets no mention.

 

[Master Blaster]

Svenson????

 

[bountyhunter]

Article space is definitely proportional to ad space purchased. Check out Handguns magazine, and you will see Para featured every month in long articles and on the cover at least half the time. The "Handgun of the Year" award almost always goes to Para. They also give red carpet treatment to SA and Kimber, the article's conslusions are sometimes comical. A Kimber "special edition" 1911 which was a regular gun with some slide detailing that sold for $1400 and shot a 3" group was dubbed a fantastic "starter" platform. For $1400, I'll go to STI and get a finished platform that shoots a lot better. STI gets covered rarely, and usually it's one of those one page shorty articles. I read one on their longslide version in .45 Super (ported) and it was a slick looking gun. Hardly got a paragraph of text.

 

[bountyhunter]

It does seem that many gun magazines promote their advertisers. I don't know how to put this politely, but the supply of Valtros is somewhat limited. It would be difficult to justify the promotion of a product that would not be generally available to a magazine's readers. IMHO..

The reason Valtro's supplies are "limited" is simply because Mr. Jardine succeeded in making a gun that has the feel, quality and accuracy of a Wilson and sells for about $800 less. I have shot a Valtro and the feel is unmistakably rock solid. He basically "owns" every gun he makes from cradle to grave, like a custom gun builder. When word got out on the gun, people lined up and lead times got long.

As I understand, he recently increased prices a couple of hundred although IMO, the gun is still a great value for what is received. Mr Jardine is choosing to maintain a low volume, custom quality production environment rather than go the way of Kimber and expand into a mass maker and let the quality fly out the window. I salute his choice, but the upshot is that you do have to wait for one of his guns. And as long as he has customers waiting for everything he builds (and word of mouth is selling his product), why should he pay a magazine to advertise?

 

[45auto]

I thought I remembered reading about Valtro also.

To be honest, another 1911 with low volume output is not really earth shattering news for the mags to jump on.

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Pretty, but I can't find any prices on their webpage. Guess if you have to ask.......

 

[Correia]

Carpet, I believe that they are around $1200 or so. Actually a very good value for the quality of the weapon.

 

[EricO]

Pendragon/Master Blaster: Yes, you are correct. John Jardine is Swenson's nephew. Jardine once had a feature 1911 write-up in Handguns magazine (I saved that particular issue) of a spectacular 2-toned fullsize 1911, using Les Baer frame and slide if I can recall (I'm not at home to check). John lives a city away from me and I luckily had him customize a cmbt. cmndr. 80 series years ago. Absolutely love the pc. I have digipics I can email if anyone would like to take a look-see (I can't quite figure out this posting bit yet).

As for John, like most people who meet him in person, I would say that he is most certainly a likeable guy. I don't believe he cares much about internet hearsay. In the past I'd schedule a quick appt. with him and end up hours later talking with him still. He's a conversationalist, and with some great stories to tell. He apparently was really into some type of skeet or trap shooting (I believe he said he loaded his own, and thousands!) and also has hunted in some of the most unusual places (countries).

Recently I read someone who was (understandably) upset because they couldn't get a response from John. I do know that I've had trouble getting in touch with him in the past also. Keep in mind that I believe he travels frequently (at the time it was to the Brescia valley, Italy - Valtro project) and that you may have to call repeatedly to get him.

EricO