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My local shop has a Jim Hoag custom colt combat commander, hard chromed, checkering, mag well, swenson ambi safety, beavertail, with holsters and lots of mags. Asking price $2000. Is it worth it? Gun feels great in the hand, tight lock up, smooth operation of all controls. Looking for feedback from people with knowledge of custom 1911's (unlike me) Thanks in advance, Dean

Sounds like a nice gun.

Mr. Hoag is still alive and working on guns. You may want to look him up and chat about it.

armstrong, should you pass on this can you pass along contact info for the shop, maybe a spy photo or two?

I am lucky enough to own two Hoag Mastergrade guns. One on a Colt Gold Cup, the other on a Springfield Champion. Jims work is excellent, functional, accurate but I don't think quite as artful as some of the smiths here. Depending on condition I don't think the price is out of line. To make sure it is a Hoag gun, remove the slide and look on the bar (timing bar?) and see if his name is stamped or scratched on it. During my conversations with Jim, he told me he usually "scratches" his J. Hoag with a carbide scribe but has used punches on occasion to stamp this name. Good luck, let us know if you buy the gun.

As a follow-up, I have been on the lookout for a Hoag 6" longslide forever. I wonder if there is a better chance of finding one in the Cali area ?
Kinda showing my age, I know I remember reading about them, and lusted after the one a guy in my 1980's IPSC club had.

2000 is not a bad price if it is a full house Hoag gun.

I'd snag it.

Mr. Hoag is indeed still working, last I knew. I had the opportunity to see some of his recent work about a year and half ago and I was very excited to learn he is still at it. I wrote him a letter and asked him if he might be interested in joining our discussions here at LTW but never got a reply. Anybody having face to face communication with him, please see if you can't get him interested.... I think we'd all be honored and pleased to have him here with us.

Ned,

Jim built a gun for me last year that I posted some pics of here on this site. I asked him about emailing him digital pics and he said he doesn't use computers so I doubt we could get him to post here. He is still alive and well and building pretty good guns

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Ted

Oh yeah, he still in business. I had him do a high-grip cut on a NRM 1991 last week. He did his usual superb job, and turned it around, including rebluing, in 3 days!
I actually talked to him about this, but he is definitely a computer Luddite and didn't seem at all interested. Too bad too, 'cause he's probably forgot more stuff than most 1911 smiths will probably ever know. It's absolutely fascinating to shoot the breeze with him. Hmm, maybe I could bring a tape-recorder with me next time, and transcribe this stuff for posting.....

Do it!

Well, I stopped back by the shop today and unfortunately, or fortunately, the Hoag was gone. I'm probably lucky about that because I do have a Yost 1* enhanced on order and a colt lw commander being customized by a local smith. I was trying to figure out where I could sell a kidney or if I could put it on the credit card before the wife's new divorce attorney froze the accounts! I will however post pics of the new ones as they come in. Thanks for everyone's advice. Dean

Dean...I need a kidney, maybe we could work out a deal the next time you find a treasure like that! It might save me alot of time and frustration on the transplant list!

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"There is a true glory and a true honor, the glory of duty done, the honor of integrity and principle."--Gen. Robert Edward Lee