ltwguns.com

http://www.edbrown.com/specialforces.htm

It looks like Ed Brown has been paying attention to what custom builders are doing lately. This new pistol sure looks an awful lot like recent Yo-Bo work and the work of other builders on the forum....

I have to admit that I like it. As a matter of personal preference, I would install a long solid Videki trigger and MAYBE a Heinie rear, but other than that, it looks pretty darned good.

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Wayne Miller

The name is sort of corny, all the "special forces extreme super tactical stuff" these days seem silly to me. Other than that the gun looks good. I bet it will be very popular.

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Hard work pays off

Yeah, I'm not too thrilled with the name either. What do you suggest? "Hardcore", maybe?

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Wayne Miller

Stupid name but very nice looking gun. I wonder how long before he offers a bobtailed commander version?

Perhaps "Extreme"?

Personally, the names are the only thing I really don't like about Brown pistols. They all look good. They run well, too. The names are just corny. Fortunately, that is a very small issue.

And to be fair, it isn't just the Brown lineup; look at Wilson, Nighthawk, RRA (at least they don't put it on the slide), and even the standard production guns. It's marketing. It is the nature of the beast. No big deal.

I'm sure the SF is a fine 1911, as all Browns are. It'll be good to talk to them again, at SHOT.

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damian@adcofirearms.com
http://www.adcofirearms.com

I'm pretty sure our SF guys here on the forum will tell you that it takes more than a gun named "Special Forces" to be just that. But some think if you have a gun called something cool.....it must be cool.

You think they were paying attention to what the best smiths are doing? I guarantee it. Oh well, so much for originality.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

Darn.

the funny thing is HOW MUCH the pattern on the front strap/slide ect.effects sales! i see it all the time. heck it even catches my eye!

it could be a bare bones factory gun with golf ball snakeskin ect. and the uninformed would probably buy it, because it looks cooler....


really to me. the gun doesnt look all that special... (man i really gotta stop hanging around this site)lol! cant even be happy unless i get a $3,500 1911!lol....

As a rule..I wont look at a whole lot that has a name like Tactical or in this case Special Forces...bottom line, its marketing and plays on something it may or may not deliver...

It actually bothers me when someone says something like that...hard to explain why other than I’ve seen a lot of “Tactical” stuff get destroyed in the field or just never be carried for one reason or another....best “tactical” anything I ever saw in the field was a Gerber Multi-Tool...basically because it was always carried and it worked when it was needed most. Most of the other stuff with names that imply its more, I’ve seen sitting in a case...nothing wrong with someone collecting them just doesn’t seem like they’re being very tactical sitting in on display....
just my .02..

Jim

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"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin , 1759

This is complete conjecture on my part.

Did Ed Brown submit a 1911 for the Marine Corp trials for their Special Operations unit and this represents the production version of that pistol?

Just wondering.

Tag

Sans rail? I don't know. It seems like, at the moment, you have to have a rail gun to be taken seriously in some circles.

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damian@adcofirearms.com
http://www.adcofirearms.com

To the best of my knowledge the contract submission for the Marine Corps required a rail...last I knew Kimber had the MEU contract...

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"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin , 1759

Sorry I doubled the post...

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"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin , 1759

The Special Forces name is not new to Ed Brown's 1911s. Around 10 years ago, he had another SF named 1911. It was less equipped than this revived version.

RT, your age is showing...

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damian@adcofirearms.com
http://www.adcofirearms.com

Shame isn't it...

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Heirloom Precision
http://www.heirloomprecision.com

How about training and time behind the trigger? Experience over gear. Common sense versus internet training. Rail or no rail the bullet comes out the front.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

I'm catching all kinds of grief for mentioning the same thought on another forum.

Innovative ideas always becomes part of contemporary designs when there's a demand for it and someone thinks it'll help them move product.

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"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."

- Sigmund Freud

I kind of like it.

I would bet very few of the SRP, SRT, Tactical, BFP package guns profiled on this forum are acutally used in "tactical" situations. But all are certainly capable of it. Plus hard to sell a gun for 2K if you name it "Sit in the dresser drawer" "safe queen special" like most of mine do.

Phoning in an order for a SFSQ (special forces safe queen) as soon as Brown opens tomorrow.

Happy holidays and C ya all at shot!

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

Looks like a cool gun but I dislike the name as well.

So someone explain this to me. I know Ed Brown makes some awesome pistols but it seems to me that they seem to 'adopt' special features from other gunsmiths. For instance, the 'snake skin' treatment was orginally developed by Mark Krebs. The 'chain link' pattern was a Richard Heinie development. Are there agreements made to use these special features from the developer? I always thought that this stuff was considered a trade mark or an identifing feature of a gunsmith.

Is this typical in the gunsmithing industry and perfectly acceptable? I'm all for adopting best working practices so long as both parties are in agreement. I know Mark doesn't work on pistols anymore and Heinie is backloged until my future great grandchildren are born... So I suspect that arrangements were possibly made to meet demand.... Just curious how this is accepted among professionals.

And Wilson, NH, LB, et al, don't use treatments that originated elsewhere?

Well, in order for the trade to continue to grow in strength and size, there has to be some sharing of ideas, etc. I am sure there are some exceptions, but as long as you don't just swipe a style and name, I would say "no harm, no foul". If we saw conamyds and golfballs, there could be an issue.

Each manufacturer, and certainly custom pistolsmith has his/her own style. Most are very easy to pick out of a line up. There is plenty to go around, and noone is really getting rich building pistols. As Chuck told me once, "the main difference between a large pizza and a pistolsmith, is that the pizza can feed a family of four".

In addition, I would say that limited production shops don't take business from custom pistolsmiths. There is a definite difference. For many, the limited production guns offer everything they wanted in a 1911, before they really knew what they wanted, and in the tradition of (relatively) instant gratification. So then, for some, the limited production guns are the be-all, end-all. For others, just another step in their evolution toward becoming an exclusive custom gun shooter/collector. There is room for both.

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damian@adcofirearms.com
http://www.adcofirearms.com

I'd be a little disturbed if somebody started doing Conamyds..... but I don't know whether I would criticize Ed Brown for using scallops, not just yet-- for all we know there is some kind of gent's agreement between Ed Brown and Richard Heinie. And, some patterns seem to have caught on well enough, and not really been staked out as proprietary either at the US Patent Office or just via public statement..... that they have sorta become public domain. My patent guy twisted my arm until I agreed to let him patent Conamyds (6860053), and I must admit that I don't have any reason to regret it, although I also don't have any reason to think I'da been ripped off by now, either. Guess I can just say that if you see them on a production gun some time in the future, you can figure that it is through some kind of arrangement. It has been discussed but no agreements at this time.

Another angle on this is that Ed Brown has been an innovator in the 1911 biz and some of the things he's come up with that have become standard have been copied by others. Not that he was the first guy to ever solder or weld a piece of steel on a gun for a magwell, but he made it easier for the rest of us, and then so did some other folks. Same with beavertail grip safeties.

I have for some reason been very lucky with some of the big, storied names in gunsmithing-- both Ed Brown and Richard Heinie have always been frank and very kind to me in my few conversations with them. Not to say I would blindly defend either one, but I'm not sure there's a transgression here. But it's cool on the other hand that we notice and wonder.

Other than the name, it sounds like a great gun to me. Ed Browns are great guns from what I've heard. In fact, how many of you would actually be MORE turned on to the gun if it had a regular name like, "Plain John" pistol or some plain letter-number designation like, "C12"? I know I would. This gun seems like it'd be in the same bracket as a Wilson CQB, Les Baer TRS, Nighthawk Talon, or Ed Brown's own Kobra. In fact, I think this pistol may sell better than the Kobra since many may want a more traditional look. Nevertheless, I think some may be turned off by the name. What do you all think? I wonder what the finish is...they didn't give any details.

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My Weimaraner shoots a 1911 better than I can.

I'll be talking to Ed at SHOT quite a bit about the pistol. In the limited production genre, I look on his work favorably. I have heard tell of the make up of the finish, but it is, as yet, unsubstantiated. I could call and talk to Travis or Ed, but that is what SHOT is for. I prefer to let them do their thing, and schmooze when the time is right.

Ned, my discussions with Ed, and Travis for that matter, parallel yours. They are clear and helpful. Good folks.

As I said before, there is enough to go around. Look how many gunsmiths aren't even taking any work right now. I would suspect that the "sharing" may become more common as the demand for custom pistols continues to grow.

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damian@adcofirearms.com
http://www.adcofirearms.com

With a FEW exceptions 'there ain't nuthin' new' in the pistolsmithing world.
I first saw 'scallops' on some STI single stacks more than a few years ago.
Using 'dimples' to texture a frontstrap goes at least as far back as 7-31-2002 when Mark Hartshorne of http://www.pinnacle-guns.com showed this picture on the 1911 forum:



Makes me wonder who FIRST checkered a frontstrap?

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http://www.rogersprecision.com

For those who don't want to wait to get an extremely nice 1911, this pistol will fit the bill. I sure wouldn't mind one, but my next 1911 will be a true custom.

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Hard work pays off

Thanks for the info. I'm not remotely knowledgeable about how things work in the pistolsmithing business especially regarding such developments etc.... Nice to hear that you all seem to work together to build new better and faster mouse traps. The business that I'm in is a little more cut throat and it's refreshing to see common sense prevail.

While I don't have any Ed Brown guns I have his parts on my custom Springfield and they are awesome. I've handled his Kobra line and have been very impressed with the quality. I look forward to checking out his new offering....hopefully he will do something about the name though.

Bingo...

Mace

Bailey and his goofy ideas......