Never look at the money

When making your custom 1911.

I've been pricing parts.  Just parts.  Getting higher end parts with the store discount that's about $675.  Not including the slide and barrel and frame and any magazines.   Slide is $267, retail, barrel will be about $200 I bet, and the frame is $222. 

Labor is free.  Because is it me.  Unless you count the class tuition, which is $800 for this class, plus the pre-reqs of the Advanced class, Intermediate ($300) class, and Basic ($175) class before this.  It's $2500 to take the Larry Vickers class, tho, so I come out slightly ahead, here.  And I already have the tooling, but that cost big money.

Phew.

So, subtotal of just this class and gun parts is north of $2500. 

You see where custom 1911s get their prices?  And, again, just the high end parts for an ordinary, functional, Government model without any bells and whistles is $1700.  If you want checkering on the grip of that frame, that's an add on.  Different serration on the slide?  More.  Maybe if you were going to make a professional go of it and sell homemade guns and you go the manufacturer discount and bought in bulk...  It's still hard to get the good parts down below a kilobuck. 

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All for a gun that shoots as well with fewer bullets as a S&W M&P .45.  And only costs $600.  Holy damn, what have I done?  This is a sickness I have.  Never look too close at the money.  Just have fun with it and pay the bills with your eyes squinted up for a few months.