When the colt combat unit rail gun came out I traded my stock colt rail gun in and avoided the whole gunsmith wait.
The reason I asked;
I crunched a few numbers (based on their prices and your wants) and it totaled over $2k and you still won't have a pistol with a fitted slide/frame and barrel. The used market is pretty rich with some very nice (new or like new) 1911's and the same outlay of cash will buy you a LOT more gun ..... without a wait.
The path of least resistance will seldom get you where you need to be.
My Rail Gun is pretty much good to go as is, but it's a newer generation. I think Evolution Armory is a good choice, they seem willing to listen to customer input and have a reputation for quality work at a fair price. Plus they know Colts.
Colt's MIM parts are mostly very good, so swapping them out would be a matter of preference not necessity. I do agree that the ambi safeties they used on the XSE guns weren't the best. My Special Combat Governments have Novak safeties which are better parts.
I'd be tempted to have Evolution swap out the sights, install a better ambi safety, and do 25 LPI checkering on the front strap. Possibly have a S&A mag well installed and ask them to bevel it a bit on the outside edges to make it less angular. That should match the 25 LPI checkering just fine. Slide to frame fit doesn't affect accuracy much, some people just prefer a tight fit because it feels more like quality than a loose fit. My Rail Gun has a very good slide to frame fit but probably doesn't shoot any better than yours.
It boils down to either having Evolution just correct the things about your gun that are lacking, or paying more and having them take the gun up to the next level. It sounds like you want the latter so go for it.
Yeah, I know. It’s expensive for sure, and I’m sure that I could get way more gun checking out the used market and prowling the classifieds on addicts or something. This school of thought is how I wound up with the Specialist I bought last year. I bought that DW in lieu of sending the Colt to a smith. It’s a beautiful pistol without a doubt, but still left me longing for something truly my own. My thought was to put together a pile of top end parts over a longer period, and pay for the labor to have everything installed, as well as the other services I mentioned in the OP. I’m thinking I could bring that $2k+ down to my target budget if I stretched it out that way. I wasn’t including those parts I intend to gather in the budget. I may be way off base here too, I’ve never sent a gun in for custom services.
@Crash41984 It's not a bad plan. You just need to find the smith that will accommodate you, and your ideas. The right smith is out there for you. Good luck!
p.s. if you do start to buy parts before finding the smith, stay away from Ed Brown parts. I've seen too many that were not suitable for use. Stick with the heavy hitters (wilson, EGW, etc). And if you're already narrowing down the smith list, and he has his OWN line of products, assume he wants to use his own stuff.
Isn't anyone going to make a "Well, *I'm* building a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range" joke?