Re: Kimber vs Nighthawk Custom
There is a TRP with a rail. It has a bull barrel. It's called the "TRP Operator."
The TRP (any TRP) has machine-cut, 20 LPI front strap checkering that tends to be very sharp. This is a feature that I personally really like (my Kimber has 30 LPI and it's sharp, but it could be sharper---I like a good grip).
Ten years ago, a "Kimber vs. custom gun" thread would have been a great discussion. In the 90s, Kimber brought things to the market that totally changed how 1911s are sold today. They showed the gun market that you can get what are usually "custom" features on a mass-produced gun. They also showed us the caveats of some manufacturing process. This allowed the custom gunsmiths to claim that there parts were superior (bar stock parts, no MIM, etc), whereas it allowed Kimber to offer a nice gun with the goodies (beavertail, checkering, magwells, rails, adjustable sights, etc.) at a price only a few hundred more than a GI style 1911.
Nowadays, plenty of manufacturers, even Taurus, are offering these features on $6-800 guns. Thank Kimber for that.
It is surprising to me that companies like Ed Brown, Wilson Combat, etc., sell so many guns. Mostly they go to rich people who are collectors and want a nice gun, and that's fine. But a guy like most of the people posting in this thread, if he was going to spend $3000 on a pistol, would want it 100% custom, where he picked the parts--all of the parts. Wilson/Ed Brown etc., sell a lot of guns to people who have no clue what they want, and would honestly be better off buying a Springfield Loaded, or maybe a TRP if they had to spend a few hundred more, or even a Taurus for that matter. For them, having a more "refined" gun does nothing but subtract from their bank account.
I do think it's a shame that companies like Kimber and Springfield (and even more so, S&W) don't offer a few options on their guns through some sort of custom ordering process that doesn't add a lot of price to the gun. I think there's a huge market out there selling to shooters who don't want to pay for and don't need a full-custom gun, but want the option to spec their sights, beavertail, want some factory trigger work etc. Because local gunsmiths can have a lukewarm reputation, too, it'd be on a product that they could warranty from the factory.
I know my list of features that I want on a 1911 are all pretty common, but to get that bundle on a pistol from the factory, you're looking at $13-1400, plus a swap of at least the front sights and grips.
An STI Spartan with the front strap checkered 20 LPI, a full trigger job done including squaring/shortening the hammer hooks, cutting the sear relief angle, etc., a Dawson front sight and magwell, ISMI springs, a good set of sharp grips, and a hard chrome finish would be pretty unbeatable, and probably last 50,000+ rounds before it'd need anything.
For competition shooting outside of the more mainstream divisions, the guns need to be more well-fitted to the shooter (slides lightened, weight added or removed, etc., sometimes even a shorter or longer gun) so those will never be made cookie-cutter. Single stack division, on the other hand, is really straight forward, and it's a shame that we don't see more. Competition shooting is exploding, though, and as it does, I think more shooters who don't compete will see the benefits of many of the features that those of us who do compete, demand from our guns.