Pricing a 38 spl 1911

Gentlemen,
I have a .38 conversion Jon built me that I am on the fence about selling, but it is a bit of a frankengun so I really don't know how to price it. I have found I really don't care for the 'chug' of .38 spl recoil and prefer the snap of .45. Hoping to get some unbiased opinion here about value, that will probably determine whether I sell the gun (and use the money to buy guitars/amps!) or hold on to it.

Here's the details:
Colt S70 commercial frame
Colt 38 super auto slide (60's era)
Clark custom fast twist 1:10 barrel
KC customs roll trigger set, tuned by Jon for short/medium roll. Sides of hammer shaved to look more period-correct.
Accu-rails installed by Doug Jones
Extended front sight post. Front blade was micro-welded and recut by Jon for proper alignment.
New Kensight bo-mar rear sight
Safeties blended/ no ugly overhang or mismatch (big pet peeve of mine with commercial colts)
Old-school herett's full checker/target grips (brand new)

2 new tuned magazines.

This thing is a shooter. The trigger is absolutely incredible. Cosmetically, it looks good but it certainly not an heirloom or safe gun. The rear sight and slide stop (parkerized) don't match the period aesthetic, but those are pretty easy fixes if you were trying to make it a show-piece. The gun could use a flat polish and reblue, there is cold blue touchup where the safeties have been blended, and the slide had one of those old school positioning tabs inside the dust cover port that was ground off. 

Basically you have the (mechanically) best possible .38 special gun available, with some very expensive parts and work done. 

Thoughts? Again, this is not a for sale thread, I still haven't decided, just trying to figure out a fair market value with the crazy stuff that has been going on.

This is not a collector piece, so the people interested in it will be interested as shooters.  We all know who made it, and that would be hard to beat.  But if you decide to advertise it at whatever price, be sure to include a 50yd 10-shot machine rest group.  In my opinion that is what sells used guns to bullseye shooters.

Oooh guitars and amps! What do you want?
If we were closer, we could play!

Have the day off today and it was windy and rainy, so I hit the range to get my regular camp Perry reality check. I will say, that with the fast twist barrel the 38 does not care about wind. I was pounding them into the black with 2 and 3 shot strings in the lulls with ease. Unfortunately my range has rickety benches so ransom targets are out of the question. I tried with my 22 and got a shotgun blast result!
If I was going to live here longer I would pour a concrete pillar/base to mount the rest to as a donation to the range. 

Bruce,
I really love the vintage sound, I play blues and classic rock on my Les Paul, '58 V, and telecaster. I have a mesa boogie California tweed head that I have been playing using my tweed high power twin (clone) as the cab. It has 2x12 Jensen greenbacks. I think I will get the matching 2x12 cali tweed cab with Jensen blackbirds, that way the HPTT can be restored to a combo amp, not just a good-looking cabinet!

I have been having a lot of fun lately with clean sounds, focusing on my vibrato and bend to get a soulful sound. Too clumsy for speed, I find that I enjoy listening to stuff with more jazz phrasing injected into the 12-bar format. The wife and I went and saw Robben Ford in Nashville a while ago and were completely blown away. Great sax players too!

With a target (25 yards from a bench, 10 rounds?) I’d ask $1800 and take $1600.  As you know it’s not a collector piece, so it’s value is to a shooter.

Realistically I think it would be a stretch to get as much guitar/amp in a trade scenario. 38spl 1911's are a niche gun, and yours is even more so, as it is an irons gun and the vast majority of shooters prefer dots. Realistically it also is missing stippling or checkering to the front strap (could be a positive or a negative). It would probably sell fairly easily for $1400-$1600. Best case it has all the perfect features for someone, then you probably could get a bit more.

Yeah, direct trade is out of the question. Way to specialized item for that. I think the feedback is that the type of money anyone would be willing to pay for this would be a massive loss compared to what I have invested. 

Thanks for the reality check everyone.

Not offering any trades, but I'm letting it be known that I'm in that narrow slice of the Venn diagram that includes BE shooters, guitar players, and vintage amp nerds. And I have way more amps than target pistols.

Come on, share with us? What do you got amp/guitar wise? This is a discussion thread, don't be shy!

My dream, a 1911 in 38 special, some day!

I agree 1600 is pretty close to the max. Is the extended front sight even legal anymore

SmokinNJokin wrote:Come on, share with us? What do you got amp/guitar wise? This is a discussion thread, don't be shy!

The guitar stash is a bunch of oddball items; acoustic, electric, bass, 12 strings, strat/tele/LP-styles, etc., probably over a dozen.

But the amps....

1974 Hiwatt DR103
1972 Fender Vibrolux Reverb
1970 Fender Vibrotone {Leslie)
1967 Danelectro DS-50
1965 Vox AC30
1965 Vox Pathfinder (tube)
1966 Vox Pathfinder (solid state)
1965 Silvertone 1484
1960 Fender Concert
1952 Supro Spectator Model 1614

... among others. Pedals, speakers, microphones, recording equipment, vacuum tubes. On and on.

Extended front sight is legal so long as it does not exceed maximum sight radius  of 10 inches. For CMP Match Pistol rule 4.2.1 e, and NRA rule 3.2.

In regards to the Bullseye shooters/guitar players, I think the overlap is probably pretty good. I don't actively collect/acquire that gear like I attempted to when I was in high school, but I have enough goodies to pass some time every now and again.

Boy don't tempt me.  If you compare this to the price of a new custom built 38 special conversion purchasing this one for less than 2k would be a steal. Smokin how does it compare to a S&W model 52?

thanks

He ain't selling, already offered 2k for it. Would make a nice companion to the full custom 38sp dot pistol Jon is finishing for me. I tried.

I am curious about this gun since I am looking for another SW model 52-2 and it appears to be similar.  What ammunition does this gun shoot?  In the posts I have seen references to 38 super barrel and 38 special ammunition.  My guess is it will only shoot the 38 mid-range like a model 52 but I am guessing.  Also, what magazine does it use?  Are they custom made or can they be purchased new?
Doug W

Doug,
Gun shoots .38 special, flush seated wadcutters like the model 52. Thats where the resemblance ends. In my opinion, the 1911 conversion is better than the model 52 in every way. The 1:18 twist barrel in the 52 was way too slow and they do not have great accuracy at 50 yds and are sensitive to wind. The guns are also complicated and fragile. They are out of production, and parts are hard to find. 

In response to the talk about selling, its not that im completely against it, there’s just no way im willing to let it go for the amount anyone here is willing to pay for it. I paid 2k in parts alone, plus the money to get Jon to build it (not enough honestly, he should hang a shingle and charge more) plus a very, very long wait to get what may be the most niche 1911 only a handful of guys in the country can build. So no, I have zero interest in selling it at a big loss.
Likewise, I totally understand why its unlikely I would ever be able to sell it for the amount I have into it. No big deal.

Magazines might be the one area where a model 52 is better than a 1911 conversion. The conversion magazines are fragile, have stiff springs and razor sharp lips. The 52 mags are fairly conventional. 
Triple K makes new conversion magazines for $36 when you can get them in stock, but they require tuning. S&W 52 mags are getting expensive. So I guess its a toss-up.

Another thing I forgot that a 1911 is better than a S&W 52 for is dot mounting. Correct me if I am wrong gunsmiths, but drilling and tapping a 1911 slide is a lot less of a hassle than doing it to a model 52. I think it is much easier to tune springs to run a slide mount as well with a 1911.

For what it's worth I know a person who builds these and if I remember correctly he is charging something like 5k to do them.  One of his earlier builds resold in a blink of an eye for at least 3800 about 3 years ago.  As the poster said these guns are expensive to build and only a few people know how to do them.

I do feel like a full custom 38sp like Jon is finishing for me will hold value better than something like this which has a mixture of parts and work from a couple smiths. I found a decent deal on some like new Colt 38sp mags Jon is fitting to it.

What parts did you use in your build?

Custom guns have resale value that is often depressing when compared to the cost of buy in. This particular gun being a 38 vs  a 45 probably hurts more, as it is more of a "fun" gun than something to use to compete.

SmokinNJokin wrote:What parts did you use in your build?

Caspian slide and frame and I believe most of the rest is EGW.

I was just looking at JEM frame/slides they look pretty good quality and options for the price.

This one might be a worthy candidate to finish cosmetically, find a matching ss pin, have the front strap serrated and master polish/blue. 

I mean that’s the obvious answer here, I have a gun that I have way too much into it to sell without a big loss, so my only option is to put more money into it! Just kidding. Maybe.

Zane’s 38 Special 
Caspian/Caspian/KKM 10 twist with custom Keefer collaboration chamber reamer.
EGW parts throughout.