My Greyson/Cyrwus gun.

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aeropb

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The very first time I met Barry Greyson, he shook my hand and said, "I'm Barry Greyson and I stand behind everything I do." Now thats a first impression! Mike's exclaimed before "Barry, I gotta give it to you, your guns run. From #1 to #10, your guns run! Barry completely rebuilt my gun. My gun started its life as a Colt 70 Series. Keeping only the magazine release, frame, slide and barrel. Which were the only parts good enough to bear Barry Greyson's name. The rest of the gun was in tatters... The gun as a whole was completely screwed up. When I handed it to him for the very first time... the very first time he looked at it, Barry spoke to me as true as an honest man could say: man to man.. Because once you know Barry, he's not just your gunsmith. He's a friend. A true friend. For life! As good a friend as any man could hope to have! His mother and father ought to be proud. They raised one hell of a man. I'd be thrilled to raise a child that turned out to be half as good a person as he. Honest and caring. He told me point blank. "You got ripped off." he said. The blood drained from my face and my body filled with a burning anger. He looked up at me and said, "But I'm willing to help you."
"It won't be cheap, but in the end you'll be proud of what you own, and you'll have 4 times the gun you brought into my office." I knew right away that he was my gunsmith. For life. Til death do us part. He's worked on 3 of my firearms, and has impressed me with each and every one.

Mike Cyrwus did a first class finish job for me. More than I imagined for a very fair price! When I dropped it off he was very thorough about exactly what I wanted done, and what I did not want done. Upon my return he had my beautiful 1911 ready for my seal of approval. I'm pretty sure he knew I approved as my jaw was on the floor for about 20 minutes. This gun was bare carbon steel before he laid hand on it. He asked me every question he could think of make sure I was happy with each and every detail he did.

Mike even invited me to the gun range! For free. Snowballs chance in hell that I was gonna turn down a free trip to the range with a master shooter and master gunsmith like Mike! Barry Greyson was privy to our trip to the range and joined us. Shooting both my brand new beauty and having the opportunity to shoot not one but two master gunsmiths personal guns was a wet dream come to life. I wish I could re-create the scenario and do it over and over again. When you shoot a M&P that Mike Cyrwus has worked his magic on, you get this feeling in the back of your head: a common feeling among human beings..... "I gotta have one of those!"

Rule #1 when you build a 1911 is it has to run. This is nothing new, but it is of utmost importance. I want no part of a gun that has exquisitely tight tolerances. I'm not nearly a good enough shot to produce 1 hole groups anyway. I'd rather have a gun that shakes, rattles, and rolls.. and works every time, and yet still keep my shots on a paper plate.

Barry and I sat in his office for hours upon hours discussing things. Barry built my 1911. By hand. To work. To run. #1 and #10 : First and last. From Barry's mouth; from Olyellers mouth: Believe you me, when you ask either of these great Americans what a custom built 1911 should do, they will tell you, #1 to #10, first and last, it should run. It could save your life.

Some things I've learned from this process. Yes, that's right, it was a complete process:

Cheap, Fast, Good... pick your 2. -Chuck Rogers

I chose "I'm not spending $6,000", and "I'm not waiting 3 years".

It was not a day I took off of work, and spent sitting in the lobby while someone was working on my car. This took months!

Barry will keep you in the loop. I was always finding ways to swing by his office to see, feel, touch, and kick around things he was working on for me.

Cost and Quality were the only two factors I considered when making a decision every step of the way. There were several decisions to make.

If someone who you trust does this job professionally and is nationally acclaimed, take their recommendation when it comes to using certain parts. If they feel that after a lifetime of experience they can make part x fit better than part y(Perhaps a part that you heard was really good from your buddy, who likely isn't a gunsmith) you'd be a complete fool not to take their advice.

But believe me it wasn't cheap! However, I could have spent two, three, or even four times the money, and have waited two to seven years longer, for an equal product had I got in "que" with any one of the nationally recognized figureheads of 1911 'smithing.

It is a completely different animal than the POS I proudly carried into his office on day 1. This gun is truly mine now.

I've learned the reality of the "break in" process. Barry believes a firearm need only be shot 20 times to be "broken in". I cannot imagine that your average American would believe that any well built, brand new firearm would require more that 20 "real world repetitions" for a every part to be seated, finally, once and for all. And just work from there on out! "#1 and #10, first and last, the gun should run." As Dr. Barry J. Greyson and Mike Cyrwus would say.









If you look closely, you can recreate the story. Right as we are about to leave the range, I called out, "Hey Mike, I know you said accuracy isn't your thing, and you're more into speed, but could you give this a few shots as accurately as you can just so I can see the accuracy its capable of?" (This was going to be harder on him than you might imagine, as we had just finished shooting for several hours. Also, my gun does not have an ambi-safety, and Mike is a lefty) "Sure" he said. He put his earpro back on and started rummaging through papers looking for a target. If you look really hard, you can see that this target that Mike drew up is on the back of a piece of paper that bears directions to the Oil Capitol Gun Club. I thought you might like to know.

5 rounds at 11 yards. I'd say its fairly accurate. Mike exclaimed "Holy **** I really jerked that one!" By "really jerked that one" I'm assuming he meant he missed the area between the dummy's eyes and put 1 round in the dummy's eyebrow. One day I'd like to get to that point. If I shout out, "Holy **** I really jerked that one", don't even bother looking for where my bullet went.


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With my big bulky Hogue grips that most people seem to hate.
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Its all blurry. Except the front site, which was hand filed by Barry, then squared up on Mike's mill. Barry also hand filed the mainspring housing which started out as an attractive, but rather dull and passive checkered pattern into very attractive, very aggressive pointed metal spikes! I went with the 10-8 rear sight that I am fond of.
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Its a color scheme I like. I'll buy lunch for anyone who know whos' and whats' color scheme I borrowed.
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Mike did an exceptional job on the finish work. Beveling several edges, cutting and recrowning the barrel to be flush with the bushing, and the stylish coating.
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With some of those cool Traxxis Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake Grips.
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Conventionally dressed. A footnote: Barry hand filed all the cocking serrations to point towards the muzzle. There is no way your hand will slip off of 19 metal triangles that are angled into your fingers as you cycle the weapon. Not a chance. I want to give Barry a hug when I think about how thoughtful he was when rebuilding my gun.

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Jerryinokc

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But how do you really feel about it? Teasing..it's a great feeling to find trustworthy craftsmen that take such care and interest in their work. Enjoy that gun!
 

DanB

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Looks like a piece of junk. You had better pass it over here before you hurt yourself on those metal spikes and angled cocking serations.

Impressive piece of hardware. You should be proud to own and shoot the crap out of.
 

JD8

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As I said in the other thread, that's a great looking build. It has C&S, 10-8, EB safety, so you know I like it. :D
 

CASTRATE

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i guess if Greyson says it should only take 20 rounds to be broke in, then my Kimber will probably be visiting him soon. 100-150 rounds fired, and about 10 hiccups here and there.
great right up and referral.
 

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