Clint Smith
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am constantly getting requests to review, test and write up firearms that range from really good stuff … to bluntly, “losers” I choose not to
write about. I know full well people are betting their lives on these guns so I take them and what I write about them very seriously. In today’s world the “creation” of a 1911 had better be pretty good, as I am a really finicky about how 1911 pistols work.
With the statement of “one master- piece at a time” being the logo line for a business; the company who uses that pitch line to describe their product better put out some pretty good steel work — and in this case I think they do.
Volkmann Ideology Based in Colorado, Luke Volk-
mann like many of us, got his start in the firearms industry working with some other people; and like many of us, after a time he moved on to start a new direction. This is Volkmann Custom, with Luke building his own brand of high-quality, top-of-the- line 1911 pistols. Volkmann says: “I want the public to know we are giving them a pistol
that was built one at a time, hand built for the same price as a produc- tion built gun, built on an assembly line. I managed a team of gunsmiths for a number of years before decid- ing to manufacture and build my own pistols. We want our custom- ers to have more choices and yet not break their bankbook. My pistols only range a few hundred dollars between all of the models. Whether they want a durable, reliable work- ing pistol or a flashy, polished, safe queen, the prices won’t make their decision for them if we are consistent on cost. We can get away with this because all of our pistols are built one at a time and the intensive labor is the same all of the time. Having said this we can only make a frac- tion of the guns that our assembly line competitors can.” I would add the fraction of guns Volkmann does make … are good ones! The Volkmann 1911s are built
AMERICAN HANDGUNNER • 2011 SPECIAL EDITION
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