by Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Q: Just what is a “custom pistol shop?”
A: “Well, it’s the difference between going to Macy’s or Penney’s and buying a suit off the rack, or going to a tailor and having a suit made to your measurements.”
The question was tossed at gunsmithing maestro Richard Niemer, a fellow I’ve known for years and consider not just a good friend, but quite possibly the most under-advertised Model 1911 specialist on the planet. He’s the cornerstone of Schuetzen Pistol Works (Olympic Arms, Inc., 624 Old Pacific Hwy. SE, Olympia, WA 98513; phone: 800-228-3471; on-line: www.olyarms.com), a division of Olympic Arms (which I’ve written about before in these pages), and a fellow who not only built one pistol for me, he’s worked some of his magic on a couple of other guns I regularly carry, all 1911 clones.
His latest little project on my behalf was tinkering with a Colt Combat Commander Series 70 with a steel frame. Having been back and forth to his shop a couple of times over the past few months on this project, it occurred to me on my latest foray that not a lot of people really understand what goes on behind the doors of a genuine custom pistol shop, or what goes into the production of a custom pistol.
Herein lies a problem for me, and for Olympic Arms’ inimitable owner and founder, Bob Schuetz, another guy I am delighted to consider a friend.
More Than Custom
You see, Schuetzen Pistol Works (SPW) is not just a custom shop, it is a production shop. Niemer and gunsmith Mike Hadley assemble every 1911-based pistol that goes out of this place, and there are a lot of ’em. There are at least 40 different variations in the SPW line, and I’ve had the pleasure to shoot several of them over the years, from my own beloved Street Deuce to the compact Journeyman right on through to the target quality Matchmaster, and the very concealable Enforcer model. I have yet to find a serious flaw with any of these guns, and in most cases—especially with my Deuce and the Matchmaster—accuracy has been so good that, as I wrote once in a review, it actually got kind of boring putting bullet after bullet into the X-ring.
But behind every good gun, there is a hell of a lot of work. Hadley matter-of-factly observed, “You don’t just pick parts out of several boxes and throw them together and call the finished product a custom pistol.”
Not hardly! On a recent visit to Niemer’s shop to let him fiddle with my Commander, I gave him, Hadley and Schuetz pretty much the third-degree treatment, without the hot lights and rubber hoses. But the questions were direct and the answers unrehearsed, because after all, when someone is going to shell out four-figure sums for a handgun, they want to be assured that it is going to go “Bang!” when it comes out of the box—and especially when it comes out of the holster.
Craftsmanship
Schuetz once told me that, in his opinion, Niemer is the “best .45 man around.” Nobody gets a compliment like that unless they earn it, and this guy did. Formerly with the original Detonics many years ago when it was based in Bellevue, WA (it is now based in Pendergrass, GA under the ownership of Jerry Ahern in a new and exciting incarnation called Detonics USA), Niemer has been with Olympic Arms several years now. Though he is considerably younger than Schuetz, he has more gray hair, and I haven’t quite sorted that one out yet!
But watching this guy work on a pistol is a study in excellence. If something doesn’t feel quite right, it’s not leaving his bench.
The Model 1911 is probably the most customized handgun platform on the map, and Niemer credits the genius of John Moses Browning for this pistol’s longevity and adaptability. A custom Model 1911 is perhaps a couple of light years up the evolutionary ladder from what great-grandpa might have carried in the Great War, or grandpa packed along during WWII, or dad had in Southeast Asia. Guys like Niemer made it so.
There is no small premium for custom gun work. I’m not talking here about fancy bells and whistles—though admittedly a lot of that appears on some custom guns that Niemer likes to call “Range Queens” because they are designed to be shown off perhaps more than shot—but the inner workings of a pistol, its components. When they all work in harmony, you’ve got a winner. When they don’t, you have a rather pricey paper weight.
Hand-Fitting
Custom work involves hand-fitting of parts to make them just right. It requires skill and experience, no small amount of patience, good parts and a lot of what Niemer called “dirty work.” Once on an earlier foray into foolishness, I was going to stick on an after-market grip safety on one of my pistols, and Niemer took one look at this beast and told me gently that I was nuts, which must be true because lots of other people have told me that as well.
But when he took five minutes to explain how this particular component was going to give me nothing but fits and bruises, I spent a few bucks on a proper part, fitted it myself and have never been sorry.
That little adventure taught me something about the difference between a parts salesman and a gunsmith. Niemer will discuss a project with the customer in advance of ever pulling out a frame, slide and internal parts.
“You want to know what the gun is going to be used for,” he explained, “and what the client expects.”
Recalling my experience with the Street Deuce project several years ago, Niemer and I spent time on the phone, and I was down to his shop at least once before the gun went into production. I had wanted night sights and he steered me to the Heinie Straight 8 design, which has suited my purpose very well. I wanted a beavertail safety and flat mainspring housing, and that’s what I got. I wanted a two-tone pistol, and he delivered. I asked for a 4.5-pound trigger pull and that’s exactly where it breaks.
Most importantly, I wanted a gun that would be accurate, and I got that and then some. None of that happens by accident or just good luck. All of that happens inside a custom pistol shop.
In the Details
The Devil, as they say, is in the details. And so, also, does old Lucifer lurk around inside an occasional off-the-shelf handgun.
Don’t get me wrong. The majority of today’s firearms are the best you can buy for what one pays, but keep in mind that production pistols are what they are; mass-produced arms built for average consumers who want something that works, and may never fire more than 1,000 through it.
Custom guns are finely-tuned sports cars while everyday production pistols are workhorse sedans. If you’re like me, you’ve got a couple of good Smith & Wessons in the gun safe, along with maybe a Ruger or two. I used a Model 57 S&W in .41 Magnum a couple of years ago to take second place in the Elmer Keith Memorial Long Range handgun shoot, and my favorite outdoors gun is a Ruger Blackhawk that you probably couldn’t break. But aside from the aftermarket “Old Ivory” polymer grips I added from Ajax Custom Grips (9130 Viscount Row, Dept. GWK, Dallas, TX 75247; phone: 800-527-7537; on-line: www.ajaxgrips.com) it’s an off-the-shelf sixgun; nothing special about it at all.
Custom pistols are a different breed, and as Niemer said, they can be tailored to fit the individual. It’s not unusual to find a custom gun with a personalized serial number. Someone may want a certain type of grip panels, or they may have a preference for specific sights. Another person may require a very light trigger, while the next guy may want a stiffer trigger pull.
Occasionally, while Niemer and Hadley are busy with the important work at the bench, a detail is being handled by Clinton Pederson, who works in the shop. He does a lot of the “dirty work” that goes into producing a quality pistol; work that customers never think about, but it is essential. We found him doing some work on a lathe, but he is quite handy at many other tasks, not the least important of which is the bead blasting of all components that need it before finishing. Niemer told Gun Week that “of all the people who have ever worked back there, he is the sharpest and best organized…he is a real asset.”
“As part of the manufacture of any firearm,” Niemer said, “there is a lot of real dirty work involved, and I mean dirty. We have a room in the back of the shop we call the dirty room, and it’s where the blasting and sanding is done. It’s the kind of work for which you need to wear a mask, and Clinton does that work. It’s important and it’s dirty, and nobody realizes this is a big part of the job.”
Also on my visit, which involved cutting a dovetail in the Commander’s slide for a front sight, machinist Shane Barker’s talents were tapped. Here’s a guy whom Niemer described as “a natural born machinist.” During his career in the military he was…a cook, even though he was jump qualified and has abundant skills. Go figure!! A brief chat with Barker revealed him to be one of those guys you find now and then who is low key, almost laid back, and who is likely so good at what he does, he doesn’t feel any need to prove it.
Case in point: Niemer gave him the slide to notch and in what seemed like only a few minutes, he was back, with an apology for “taking so long.” You don’t see that every day. Niemer later observed, “It’d take me a couple of hours to do some of the things that he does.”
Back at the work bench, though, the real tedious work is performed, whether it involves filing or stoning a part, perhaps hand-lapping the rails of a slide or frame to make everything run smoothly, or setting the proper tension on a spring for the right trigger let-off.
“It’s the tedium that makes the difference,” Niemer said.
And perhaps that’s what it comes down to. Picasso did not produce works of art in a single morning, nor did Rembrandt. And let’s face it, according to reliable sources, it took God six days to finish up on the heavens and Earth, and word has it He’s still tinkering with mankind, so cut the custom gunsmith a little slack.
Having personally watched Niemer at work, the word craftsman comes to mind. Having fired guns that came off his bench, another term might equally apply: Perfectionist.
There you have quite possibly the definition of a good gunsmith, and what equally defines a custom gun shop. You won’t find sorcerers or a witch’s brew behind those doors, but what comes out can be magic all the same.
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