Alchemy Custom Weaponry Prime

[45dotACP]

My analogy for Gods gun is something along the lines of:

"1911s are as unique as the person carrying them. They run the spectrum from old, hacky boomers that you can count on to work forever, but not everyone in the family is comfortable with them, to smooth, well dressed and high maintenance trash that you'd never trust with anything more important than taking out the garbage, to blue collar, hard working, but with no personality, and so on...

all the way up to precise, put together, indefatigable, but just a few rounds short of a double stack."

So being short of a double stack, I did a thing.

Several months ago, but the whole pandemic has kinda screwed with peoples businessman and ACW, to their credit, still completed the gun in the estimated time frame (I had ordered it pre pandemic)

I basically wanted a classic looking, no frills gun that was easy on the wrists, accurate to a fault, usable for carry and just fun to look at and appreciate as art.

Yes, guns are serious, I know, and so for seriousness, it is set up the same as each of my 1911s. Short trigger, flat mainspring housing, U-notch rear sight.

Now for the expression of art: The gun is blued exquisitely, almost like my old pre lock model 57. The gold bead front sight, because fiber optics on a gun like this is probably illegal. It's also checkered on the front strap and undercut at the trigger guard. I left it with no extended mag well because I will probably carry it, and the trade off of 9 round flush fitting magazines is OK to me for better concealment. Oh yeah I forgot to note, it is in 9x19mm. Because cheat codes gun.

I've not yet been past 2k rounds with it (around 1k of handloads, Federal AE, S&B and some assorted HSTs and Gold dots.

I probably won't do 2000 rounds without cleaning, however the gun bears all the hallmarks of superior reliability and I'd trust it to work. As expected, it passed the 10-8 test handily. I will however note that similar to my experience with all 1911s, there were some things I had to change.

Bear in mind they have nothing to do with the builder.

One is that the gun was likely zeroed for someone else, as it printed a little to the right. Itput 5 shots of 147gr AE into a tiny tiny hole at 25 yards...that hole was just a few inches right. Easily fixed. The other was the undercut trigger guard/high grip mod worked a bit too well and deactivating the grip safety was hit or miss. So a quick clearance of the safety arm and all done.

Alright, so the gun is extremely accurate. I have shot some phenomenal groups with it and I'm not a very good shot. Been trying to work up a good handload worthy of it. Certainly the most accurate handgun I own. I certainly cannot make the best use of this guns accuracy potential, but I've put up sub one inch groups at 20 yards and that's by far the limit of my skill. One hole groups at that distance.

And now why:
Why buy a gun that expensive? I mean holy shit all told the gun was a little under 3k. I own and have tuned my own sub 900 dollar 1911s for high reliability, taking them to classes, matches, and carrying them concealed... they're all accurate and reliable and I'd trust my life to them...so why this gun?

Well I asked the girl of my dreams to marry me, she said yes, and to celebrate, I kind of wanted to buy myself something nice and having no predilection to fast cars, expensive booze, cigars or watches, I decided to indulge my main vice. The other reason is more personally meaningful, so I'll keep it to myself.

Putting the order in though? Yeah I was mostly drunk when I did that.

Hey I'm still a cheap bastard what can I say?

Long term reliability and durability reports are pending the availability of 9mm/development of a viable handload.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201027/20f2bed2e69e3c700f285b14e02d4d42.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201027/dace394378e5e2ba2f68d9b9378fc924.jpg

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[JHC]

Very exciting review! 45dotACP

Speaking of the zero how was POI for elevation?

That clearance thing for the grip safety sensitivity was intriguing. My CQB Elite has the undercut trigger guard and I occasionally have grip safety engagement issues if grip is not perfect. I never see this on my SA guns or Sams build. I have to ponder more the relationship to the higher grip.
Reminds me that the FBI Pro did NOT include the undercut or that’s my recollection.

[FNFAN]

Very exciting review! 45dotACP


Reminds me that the FBI Pro did NOT include the undercut or that’s my recollection.

You are correct. No undercut.

[HCM]

Very exciting review! 45dotACP

Speaking of the zero how was POI for elevation?

That clearance thing for the grip safety sensitivity was intriguing. My CQB Elite has the undercut trigger guard and I occasionally have grip safety engagement issues if grip is not perfect. I never see this on my SA guns or Sams build. I have to ponder more the relationship to the higher grip.
Reminds me that the FBI Pro did NOT include the undercut or that’s my recollection.

The effect of undercut or no undercut will vary depending on hand size / composition. For me, guns with undercuts are more consistent in engaging the grip safety. YMMV.

[LittleLebowski]

That’s purty.

[HCM]

My analogy for Gods gun is something along the lines of:

"1911s are as unique as the person carrying them. They run the spectrum from old, hacky boomers that you can count on to work forever, but not everyone in the family is comfortable with them, to smooth, well dressed and high maintenance trash that you'd never trust with anything more important than taking out the garbage, to blue collar, hard working, but with no personality, and so on...

all the way up to precise, put together, indefatigable, but just a few rounds short of a double stack."

So being short of a double stack, I did a thing.

Several months ago, but the whole pandemic has kinda screwed with peoples businessman and ACW, to their credit, still completed the gun in the estimated time frame (I had ordered it pre pandemic)

I basically wanted a classic looking, no frills gun that was easy on the wrists, accurate to a fault, usable for carry and just fun to look at and appreciate as art.

Yes, guns are serious, I know, and so for seriousness, it is set up the same as each of my 1911s. Short trigger, flat mainspring housing, U-notch rear sight.

Now for the expression of art: The gun is blued exquisitely, almost like my old pre lock model 57. The gold bead front sight, because fiber optics on a gun like this is probably illegal. It's also checkered on the front strap and undercut at the trigger guard. I left it with no extended mag well because I will probably carry it, and the trade off of 9 round flush fitting magazines is OK to me for better concealment. Oh yeah I forgot to note, it is in 9x19mm. Because cheat codes gun.

I've not yet been past 2k rounds with it (around 1k of handloads, Federal AE, S&B and some assorted HSTs and Gold dots.

I probably won't do 2000 rounds without cleaning, however the gun bears all the hallmarks of superior reliability and I'd trust it to work. As expected, it passed the 10-8 test handily. I will however note that similar to my experience with all 1911s, there were some things I had to change.

Bear in mind they have nothing to do with the builder.

One is that the gun was likely zeroed for someone else, as it printed a little to the right. Itput 5 shots of 147gr AE into a tiny tiny hole at 25 yards...that hole was just a few inches right. Easily fixed. The other was the undercut trigger guard/high grip mod worked a bit too well and deactivating the grip safety was hit or miss. So a quick clearance of the safety arm and all done.

Alright, so the gun is extremely accurate. I have shot some phenomenal groups with it and I'm not a very good shot. Been trying to work up a good handload worthy of it. Certainly the most accurate handgun I own. I certainly cannot make the best use of this guns accuracy potential, but I've put up sub one inch groups at 20 yards and that's by far the limit of my skill. One hole groups at that distance.

And now why:
Why buy a gun that expensive? I mean holy shit all told the gun was a little under 3k. I own and have tuned my own sub 900 dollar 1911s for high reliability, taking them to classes, matches, and carrying them concealed... they're all accurate and reliable and I'd trust my life to them...so why this gun?

Well I asked the girl of my dreams to marry me, she said yes, and to celebrate, I kind of wanted to buy myself something nice and having no predilection to fast cars, expensive booze, cigars or watches, I decided to indulge my main vice. The other reason is more personally meaningful, so I'll keep it to myself.

Putting the order in though? Yeah I was mostly drunk when I did that.

Hey I'm still a cheap bastard what can I say?

Long term reliability and durability reports are pending the availability of 9mm/development of a viable handload.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201027/20f2bed2e69e3c700f285b14e02d4d42.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201027/dace394378e5e2ba2f68d9b9378fc924.jpg

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Very nice.

How do you like the gold bead ?

I have a gold bead on my guncrafters 9mm and I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. IME It’s not enough visually to be helpful on the indoor range and outdoors it’s inconsistent, it’s appearance seems to vary in relation to the sun. I have been wanting to swap it out for a fiber optic.

[Lon]

Beautiful. And no need to justify it. “Because I wanted it” is a perfectly good reason.

[Bergeron]

The value to cost ratio of those guns is wonderfully high.

[gtmtnbiker98]

Nice read and awesome firearm, Rob knows how to put shit together that is for sure.

[45dotACP]

Very exciting review! 45dotACP

Speaking of the zero how was POI for elevation?

That clearance thing for the grip safety sensitivity was intriguing. My CQB Elite has the undercut trigger guard and I occasionally have grip safety engagement issues if grip is not perfect. I never see this on my SA guns or Sams build. I have to ponder more the relationship to the higher grip.
Reminds me that the FBI Pro did NOT include the undercut or that’s my recollection.

POI for elevation was the top blade of the front sight. So much that while the windage did need some adjustment, I could kentucky windage it by placing the 90 degree angle of the front sight's right side on the bullseye and be confident of a hit.


The effect of undercut or no undercut will vary depending on hand size / composition. For me, guns with undercuts are more consistent in engaging the grip safety. YMMV.

This was my experience for sure. The gun was clearly set up for the grip safety to be disengaged when fully depressed, but I personally am more of a fan of a grip safety that deactivates somewhere in the first one third of it's travel because I might have problems deactivating it when I get my hands up really high on the gun. I'm sure if I had thought to tell Rob he would have seen to it, but it didn't occur to me. I have a small safe sided file though, so no harm done.


Very nice.

How do you like the gold bead ?

I have a gold bead on my guncrafters 9mm and I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. IME It’s not enough visually to be helpful on the indoor range and outdoors it’s inconsistent, it’s appearance seems to vary in relation to the sun. I have been wanting to swap it out for a fiber optic.

I actually waffled on what to make the front sight for a while. I figured the bead was a nice touch for a classic style pistol, but after I shot it a little, I basically came some similar conclusions. And one thing that surprised me was how thick the front sight has to be for a gold bead. I typically run a very slim front sight on account of usually shooting a fiber optic front. I probably wouldn't do a gold bead for the front knowing what I know now. It's still a pretty decent setup for me as I can pick it up decently well.

[Rex G]

Wonderful weapon. Enjoy!

[Rex G]

Very exciting review! 45dotACP

That clearance thing for the grip safety sensitivity was intriguing. My CQB Elite has the undercut trigger guard and I occasionally have grip safety engagement issues if grip is not perfect. I never see this on my SA guns or Sams build. I have to ponder more the relationship to the higher grip.
Reminds me that the FBI Pro did NOT include the undercut or that’s my recollection.


The effect of undercut or no undercut will vary depending on hand size / composition. For me, guns with undercuts are more consistent in engaging the grip safety. YMMV.

An undercut, a.k.a. relieved trigger guard & front strap, helps me get consistent operation of the grip safety. During my last great 1911 purge, in 2002 I only kept my Les Baer TRS, for that reason. (No worries; I am back up to four 1911 pistols.)

A gas-pedal-sized thumb safety, however, can work against me, negating the relieved trigger guard, as I learned when I bought my most-recent Baer, a Monolith, with an ambidextrous thumb safety, with a wide pedal-like pad for the right thumb, and a narrow pad for the left thumb. The lower-profile thumb pad, on the right side, for the left thumb, when shooting lefty, is no problem. I have not started carrying the Monolith, or keeping it loaded for home defense, so it has been a moot point. I am still deciding whether to try re-profiling the existing gas pedal, or have a whole new safety fitted. (I am reckoning that my re-profiling job will probably look like a pile of crap, unless I can rig an effective jig.)

[MGW]

“That’s nice” is an understatement. I like it a lot. However your user name is now in conflict.

[Rex G]

Very nice.

How do you like the gold bead ?

I have a gold bead on my guncrafters 9mm and I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. IME It’s not enough visually to be helpful on the indoor range and outdoors it’s inconsistent, it’s appearance seems to vary in relation to the sun. I have been wanting to swap it out for a fiber optic.



I actually waffled on what to make the front sight for a while. I figured the bead was a nice touch for a classic style pistol, but after I shot it a little, I basically came some similar conclusions. And one thing that surprised me was how thick the front sight has to be for a gold bead. I typically run a very slim front sight on account of usually shooting a fiber optic front. I probably wouldn't do a gold bead for the front knowing what I know now. It's still a pretty decent setup for me as I can pick it up decently well.

Add me to the list of those underwhelmed by gold-bead front sights. I, too, experienced shifting POI, depending upon the direction of the dominant light source.

I think, perhaps, that a recessed gold block, with a flat rear-facing portion, might offer the benefit of gold, without the shifting POI. I seem to remember reading about such custom sights, and by that I mean one-off, made-to-order.

[Wondering Beard]

I actually waffled on what to make the front sight for a while. I figured the bead was a nice touch for a classic style pistol, but after I shot it a little, I basically came some similar conclusions. And one thing that surprised me was how thick the front sight has to be for a gold bead. I typically run a very slim front sight on account of usually shooting a fiber optic front. I probably wouldn't do a gold bead for the front knowing what I know now. It's still a pretty decent setup for me as I can pick it up decently well.

The gold bead on my 1911s and one of my G17 is about the thickness of those with tritium; just about .125. Fiber optics beat gold beads if one is looking to go thinner. However, as the light goes down, indoor or outdoor, I have found that the gold bead reflects ambient light longer than a fiber optic. I don't know by how much, just that when I couldn't see the FO, I still could see the GB, though not as clearly as in full daylight, of course. I'm not sure how much difference it makes for shooting at those times of the day/night as either the target would still be lit enough to distinguish in the now near totally black sight picture, or if it isn't, we'd be using a light, weapon mounted or handheld.

[Stephanie B]

That's a gorgeous sidearm.

[Toddles]

Congrats on your Prime. :cool:

I've never been much of a 1911 guy prior, but I *really* like my ACW Prime.

[theJanitor]

Why buy a gun that expensive? I mean holy shit all told the gun was a little under 3k.

$3k for a handgun isn't a bargain. But that's pretty much a bargain, IMO

[EVP]

I think the Primes are a excellent value. I almost ordered one when I was looking/into 1911s.

The only thing is for me I would want a rail, other then that it is setup how I would want a 1911.

[Robinson]

Congrats, you made a great choice.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Very nice.

How do you like the gold bead ?

I have a gold bead on my guncrafters 9mm and I don’t like it as much as I thought I would. IME It’s not enough visually to be helpful on the indoor range and outdoors it’s inconsistent, it’s appearance seems to vary in relation to the sun. I have been wanting to swap it out for a fiber optic.



I actually waffled on what to make the front sight for a while. I figured the bead was a nice touch for a classic style pistol, but after I shot it a little, I basically came some similar conclusions. And one thing that surprised me was how thick the front sight has to be for a gold bead. I typically run a very slim front sight on account of usually shooting a fiber optic front. I probably wouldn't do a gold bead for the front knowing what I know now. It's still a pretty decent setup for me as I can pick it up decently well.


Add me to the list of those underwhelmed by gold-bead front sights. I, too, experienced shifting POI, depending upon the direction of the dominant light source.

I think, perhaps, that a recessed gold block, with a flat rear-facing portion, might offer the benefit of gold, without the shifting POI. I seem to remember reading about such custom sights, and by that I mean one-off, made-to-order.

I'm intrigued by this offering. It is sold as a blank and needs to be filed down, but looks like it would be better than a bead or dot.

https://shop.harrisoncustom.com/yost-001

[dsa]

Very nice! I think Alchemy is the best bang for the buck in the semi-custom 1911 market. I'm planning on getting a Quantico when they are released.

[RevolverRob]

You're killing me 'Smalls.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

___

The gold-line/ramp sight is an excellent choice and used by Jason Burton on many guns. It works very well if you have a "dot the the i" type brain (like I do). However, Alchemy will not install that sight option. For their options, a tritium dot front and Novak adjustable rear (less 'old school' I know) are probably ideal for a fighting gun.

[Guinnessman]

I’ll be in my bunk........😍

[feudist]

How come nobody uses Ivory for front sights? Or white plastic like the Big Dot?

Personally I've given up on tritium and just paint my sights orange. It's highly visible and durable.

[Elwin]

How come nobody uses Ivory for front sights? Or white plastic like the Big Dot?

Personally I've given up on tritium and just paint my sights orange. It's highly visible and durable.

Second. At the very least, I’ll definitely go with orange paint over a difficult sight replacement (or one I have to pay for), as long as the sights shoot POA for me.

I hadn’t heard of Alchemy before the recent posts on them. If I’m ever dropping money on a semi custom/made to order 1911, they’re definitely going to be on the list. I really like the “everything you need and nothing you don’t” aesthetic. It reminds me of classic customized Colts that only have those specific features that the user wanted added, which are aesthetically among my favorite pistols.

[JHC]

I think the Primes are a excellent value. I almost ordered one when I was looking/into 1911s.

The only thing is for me I would want a rail, other then that it is setup how I would want a 1911.

I know right? I was strongly considering until I got into Kevin B's SACS tuned LW Operator for a bunch less $$$. But a ACW is in my future.

[vcdgrips]

That is a very nice 1911. It sounds like this outfit is still on the way up re pricing/quality. One should probably not dawdle if one wants something like this in the sub 3 k space.

[MattyD380]

Man, I’m jealous. If I had the dough for a custom 1911, it would be an ACW—Government, .45. They look classy, discerning and expensive... and they don’t need a bunch chintzy tactical shit to achieve that.

Plus... slanted rear serrations with no fronts? Sold. For some reason I struggle with vertical serrations on any gun. They just look kinda 19th century to me.

Anyway... I digress... you own my dream 1911. Awesome.