A lot of our readers don’t need to win the lottery to buy whatever handgun tickles their fancy. Otherwise, high-end gunmakers wouldn’t exist. But judging from the comments underneath reviews of just about every $1000-and-up firearm we publish, it seems some of you would need a radical change in financial circumstances to buy lay out four figures for a firearm.
No shame in that. And no shame in owning any of these three astoundingly good handguns.
1. Bill’s Custom Automatics Master Grade 1911 – Starting about $6000
TTAG’s resident war hero Jon Wayne Taylor is our go-to 1911 guy. He’s shot a few. Reviewed a bunch. None of the 1911’s Mr. Taylor’s held in his XXL mitts has found more favor than Bill’s Custom Automatics Master Grade 1911. [Click here to read the review.]
The MG 1911 is not a flashy piece. Nor is Mr. Bill a famous maker — outside the rarefied air of people who know about such things. What captivated Mr. Taylor: the gunmaker’s fanatical attention to detail and flawless workmanship. Strike that. It’s the 1911 astounding accuracy.
This gun shot so well that, at 15 yards in slow fire on paper, I made a game of shooting through the hole caused by my first five-round group to shoot another target behind that one for the last three. When you have to come up with stupid games like that, you’re into serious fun.
A moment of zen, then. In fact, Jon’s only five-star handgun review. Bonus! You “only” have to wait 60 days from order to delivery. In the world of customized handguns, that’s a firearms femtosecond. What are you waiting for? Go buy that ticket.
2. Korth Super Sport STX .357 Revolver – Starting at $5,199
Smith & Wesson’s Performance Center revolvers are awesome (as in standing mute in the face of God). They’re as smooth as Sade. As accurate as a TAG Heuer Calibre 360. What’s more awesome than awesome? The German-made Korth Super Sport .357.
When I first fired this gun at SHOT Show, Korth’s Roller Trigger shot holes in my idea of what makes a perfect trigger. If your idea of perfection differs from the factory setting, Korth importer Nighthawk Custom will gladly adjust the wheelgun’s trigger stop, trigger return, main spring, double-action trigger progression and sear adjustment to your specifications.
So what’s the Korth Super Sport for, exactly? Self-defense, hunting, target shooting, competition, inducing the admiration of friends or dry fire fondling? Yes. Any and all of that You can even can fit the Super Sport with Korth’s optional patented 9mm/.38 Special conversion cylinder. Oh, that costs extra.
SIG SAUER P210 Legend Super Target – $3499
It’s hard to spend a lot of money — in lottery ticket terms — on a semi-automatic handgun. But not impossible, as Jim Barrett’s 2012 review of the SIG SAUER P210 Legend [not Super] Target pistol proves. And guess what? The price has risen by some $600 in the interim.
Your money buys you a 34.7 ounce now made-in-America semi with a slide fashioned from billet steel, sliding back and forth inside the frame rails, rather than on the outside. That and careful craftsmanship makes it tighter than OBSCENE SIMILE DELETED. Which makes the SIG P210 extremely accurate.
No P210 leaves the factory until a marksman puts five rounds into a two-inch circle at 50 yards. The walnut-handled handgun’s sights are fixed — unless you stump-up for the more expensive tactical version. Extra mags run $75. Chump change after those lottery numbers rock your world. You know, in theory.