EFR Custom Tristar P120's the work has begun

[Brian Ahearn]

I have got to get on the range today even though its zero degrees this morning because we have more of that snow crap now they are saying possible 4-8 inches more of the white crap wed-thru. People around here got used to all the mild winters we have had for the last ten years. So I think about 1 pm toady will be as warm as it gets so that will be my range time. Then tomorrow I have to coat two more arch angel mosins   an Ar 15 and three 1911 pistols then Thrusday I am sure I will waste most of the days snow blowing.

[Brian Ahearn]

Well just south of us they are predicting another foot of this white stuff  - wed- thru so shooting today will be my best shot at actually getting on the range with those P120's. I wanted to get back to everyone this morning with what I spent so those interested in building a custom P120 will understand the total cost  to build one of these.
1. P120 pistol cost - currently $380 to $410 not included in the total below
2.CZ 85 modded trigger kit I will verify this price toady when I call Dave-can't find my receipt for this one -about $80 if I remember correctly -Dave will give me the correct price when I talk with him today.
3. Canik hammer and sear kit$148.00
4. Spring kit $17.00
5. CZ or Cajun Gun Works sights $82 to $87 depends on which you want
6. VZ grips I am a dealer and stock them $75.00 if you want Cz rubber or other grip to cut the cost you can supply them to reduce cost- Cz rubber ones are about $24
7. Cerakote refinishing discounted for CZ forum members only- standard 2 two color refinishing is $190.00 normally your discount price will be $145.00 a  $45 dollar savings
8. Fit and tune Cajun gun works parts and fit sights. test fire. includes ammo $135.00
9. parts shipping misc supplies and return shipping to customer $56.00
10 Ballpark rough cost with out the pistol $743.00 this could go up or down depending what grips you use or maybe you don't replace sights, etc.
11. I am going for an even shorter reset than what I got out of the kit so today when I speak to Dave I will be ordering 3 of his T3 disco's to custom fit to my three pistols to achieve an even shorter reset on the trigger. This involves additional labor you remove some metal from the part and polish it then install on the hammer and test fit and function check it in the pistol. Then repeat the process til you achieve your goal. If you take to much metal off the disco then you just threw out $38 and you are starting over with a new disco. This is something that will add another $100 to the overall cost.
 I do these projects to show you what these pistol can be ,but you have to remember my investment is only the actual costs of the parts and the cost of the pistols. you all on the other hand will end up with a pistol that costs between $1140 to $1240 including the cost of the pistol depending on what you choose to do it. I already have a total of 5 custom caniks in my collection currently and they are all capable of going head to head against my Cz custom pistols with one exception none of them will beat my accu shadow with the accu bushing but that one  cost close to $1800. I don't expect them to beat that one. For the money that I have invested I have added some fantastic shooters to my collection. The replacement of the trigger components really improves the accuracy and group size that you can get out of these pistols. Those of you who have a stock Canik or tristar know the trigger could use some improvement. I have my custom shark compact along with a canik with a stock trigger parts sitting in my shop all the time.I tell customer's to clear the stock pistol to ensure its empty and then point it in safe direction and pull the trigger in SA mode while watching the muzzle to see how much movement they will get - average customer gets a good bit of muzzle flinch. then I have them repeat the process with the custom shark compact that has Dave Cajun Gun works parts in it and they are amazed at clean and smooth that trigger breaks with minimal flinch that's your gain in accuracy- the harder the trigger pull the more likely it is that you will throw your shot off in one direction or another. Don't bombard Dave with calls for these trigger parts as he is currently out of stock ,but expects to have them soon. I bought the last two kits that he had back in the beginning of Dec last year so that I would have them when my P120 arrived.

[Brian Ahearn]

 I just returned from the range- pistols shot flawlessly - no misfires, light strikes or ejection issues the only issue is the sights that I choose for these projects. Before the black one  shot dead on with the stock  sights and the hard chrome one was shooting just below the 3 inch circle targets at 7 yards about an inch to 2 inches when using the point of aim as dead center on the 3 inch target
 I am getting the same results with the black one as well. So if I take aim at about 1 to 2 inches above the circle even out to ten yards I had no trouble hitting the 3 inch circle target at 7 and 10 yards. I called Dave at Cajun Gun works and he advised me that it would be easier to fit the T1 disco for a shorter reset so those are coming my way. I will have to get an assortment of front sights and resolve the point of aim verse impact issue so that when I draw and shoot there is nothing to think about. The last shooting that I did was to use dead center as the point of aim and just dump the mag as fast as I could knowing that my shots would be low- results were a nice ragged hole just below the three inch target accuracy is not an issue and I can resolve the sight issue. So now I will order up some different height front sights and a couple of Cz tactical rear sights just in case I have to swap out the rears as well. I would like to stay with the cajun rear sight because I like the sight picture better than with the Cz tactical rear, but I want these to be point and shoot pistols no compensation required so I will experiment until they are to my liking. Then after sights and short reset triggers are perfected I am going to do some serious mag dumps to see how fast they can be shot while hitting the targets and to see if I can break them. They are good now ,but they can be a lot better so its time for more experimentation before I build any for customers. I have had several phone calls and one email on a trigger job and 2 P120 builds  today -I advised all three that Dave has more Canik kits coming  about 50 kits in all but ,its going to be a few weeks or more til he has them on hand. In the the meantime I can finish these two pistols so that I am 100 percent satisfied with there performance.  So if you are interested in one of these custom pistols there will be little wait time . As far as the stock ones go they're  not bad they are very good shooters for $400 bucks. The P120 series is a winner in my book.

[jwc007]

Sounds great................and very tempting!!!   

Glad you had a good day at the Range and what must have been a whole lot of fun! 

[Brian Ahearn]

Range day was great and the new discos are on the way from cajun so I can shorten the rset further and even better Dawson Precision makes a selection of the front sights starting from .140 tall on up over .195 so I ordered 2 of all the one that they had in stock and the rest they are making for me. about $500.00 dollars in front sights . That will give me a good selection for stock and to use to correct the point of aim verses point of impact issue. Now tonight starting at midnight and going thru to Friday morning we will behaving somewhere from 8 to to 12 or more inches of snow so no more range trips for a few days. On the plus side I am sure nobody will come to the shop for the next two days so I can coat rifles, pistols and shotguns nonstop. I should be able to coat about 15 to 18 guns over the next two days . we have already prepped nine today so first thing tomorrow they will get there final degreasing and pre bake and then coated and baked. while they are baking we will tear down some more and prep them so on Friday we can coat all day again. Then on Saturday we will build guns all day.

[Bob928]

Is this a family business Brian or do you hire outside help as needed? I see you are the owner and operator but you kept saying "we" so it made me wonder.

Seems to me to be a great way to make a living and do what you love.

[87CZ75]

As much as I like the black P-120 and T-100, that cobalt P-120 is absolutely awesome looking.  Awesome job as always.

[Brian Ahearn]

First off my 22 year old son Zachary is the web site designer and I call him tech support. He also disassembles, repairs, and  assembles firearms. He also does the art worK design for camo patterns
and cuts them with our vinyl cutter which is simply an over sized ink jet printer that cuts patterns based off what you tell it to do from your computer. My son David and the one I call my adopted one -Devon help with media blasting de-greasing and racking the parts for coating. They are also now learning dis-assembly and assembly of the firearms and both boys shoot IDPA now with me.  I coat the firearms and disassemble and assemble as well as handle gunsmithing work and all email and most of the phone calls.. There are three other young men Enrigue , Forrest or as we call him FO  and Ryan who are employed  on a part time basis when the volume of firearms is to heavy. We ship refinished firearms across the USA. I also have a program for gunshops for volume work we offer different levels of discounts based on the volume of firearms coming in each month. We are handling refinishing for 16 guns shops in Pa . NJ, NY, and Virginia. I simply can't do this on my own or take total credit for the work - I forgot to mention my wife Cynthia who handles all the billing and accounting. 
  Yesterday we got another 17 inches of snow so much for global warming and we are getting another 1 to 3 inches today and Mon thru Tues we are getting some more. So getting back onthe range in the next few days with the P120's ain't gonna happen! On the bright side The T1 discos should arrive from Cajun today or tomorrow and I should get my .140 and .170 tall Dawson sights by Monday with the rest coming by the end of next week. That will as allow me some time to fit the disco's and put lower front sights on for the next range session.
  It is a team effort here at EFR to turn out the firearms that you see in the pictures and because these young men do such a good job working for me I always reward them . They have all become decent safe pistol shooters at my expense and I enjoy my range time with them. If it would stop snowing we would be getting more range time, but March is around the corner and we should be able to get in some training before our first outdoor match for IDPA this year.

[Bob928]

I'd say you all are very lucky Brian! One more question. Do you do this out of your home, a shop on your property, or a shop on a different property? It sounds like everything is on a property on or near your home which, if so, is great. Sure beats commuting to work everyday.

Pardon me for my curiosity. I often wonder how businesses like yours get started in the first place. Sometimes a hobby turns into a career and visa versa.

[Brian Ahearn]

I actually retired from one business in in properly zoned building and got it rezoned for a firearms business- that was a bit of a slow process and of course I needed an ffl license. I have thirty years of auto refinishing experience and cerakoting is a similiar process. Before that I was a Marine Corps 2111 armorer working on firearms. I was looking for business that I could do into my seventies , I am 54 years old. This actually happened by accident I was looking for someone to refinish some firearms for me and I did not find what I was looking for in the way of final product or decent pricing.
  Then I began experimenting here in the shop with different coatings which led to me trying a lot of different systems. That led me to settle on cerakote, it is the best ceramic coating currently available. I was looking for a part time retirement business that would allow me to spend more time enjoying my firearms hobby and I had originally intended to keep my other business. Now I am retired from my original business and working 6 days a week on my firearms business putting in more hours than I did with my other business. When I get to old I will cut back my hours some, but I really enjoy working full time on firearms. and I am happy with my life change. I would rather be at the range testing someones firearm than working on autos.

[milq]

Hey neighbor! (Well, on Camp Lejuene we could've been neighbors). I was a 2171 Electro-optics/TOW tech

[Bob928]

Great story Brian! I think it's great when one trade or profession transitions into another one more enjoyable. I will keep the cerakote in mind when the need arises as the top notch coating.

[Brian Ahearn]

Well the lower Dawson front sights arrived ,the only parts that have come in since Tuesday, but we did get 17 more inches of snow Thursday and Friday  and now we are getting 2 to 4 more inches with another storm Monday night. I have not received the discos from Dave at Cajun yet hopefully they will arrive on Monday. The .125 tall sights are going to make a significant change to the point of aim so I will start with those and work my way back up if i need to. The rest of the Dawson fronts will come in next week
  Fortunately on Wed/Thurs its going to rain and hopefully wash some of this away because temps are supposed to be in the 40's something that we have not seen for a long time. If that's the case then Friday I could be on the range in the morning for a final lengthy round of testing.

[ljutic]

I'll be following this thread with much interest.

[Brian Ahearn]

  Tomorrow I will be on the range at 8 am to test out the two P120's to ensure that I have corrected the point of aim verses impact with the new front sights. I also had time yesterday to fit the T1 disco from Cajun into the Cobalt one. Shortened up the reset even further that the base kit. It finally warmed up last week and some of the white crap melted, but on Thursday we may have another 1-3 inches coming. Most of our local IDPA matches have been getting canceled every week due to all the snow and poor range conditions.
  I should be able to get plenty of quality time with the P120's tomorrow with a variety of 9mm ammo. I throw it all in a 50 caliber ammo can and mix it up so that I can get a general view of accuracy and reliability. I am not building bullseye pistols here ,I am building fast shooting combat pistols that just happen to look good to.. Once I have completed 7 and ten yard testing tomorrow if point of aim is dead on with no further front sight height adjustment needed i will start 20 and 30 yard testing using IDPA sized targets. As long as I can hit the head and center mass circle on a regular basis I will consider these two pistols finished.
  I do want to finalize these two because later this week I am starting on two match quality 1911's a GI Tisas 9mm and a 45 acp version- both will be seriously upgraded including adding modern beaver tails . match speed hammers and match triggers -a match 9mm barrel installation along with a match bushing and of course sight improvements, grips and mag releases, custom mainspring housings with mag wells. The 45 acp pistol is already really accurate so I will leave the barrel alone on that one, no need to replace something that works well.
  PS I need to post an updated picture of the cobalt one because now it has VZ carbon fiber grips as well.