Alchemy Custom Weaponry Prime Elite

I decided a few months ago that the next pistol I wanted was another 1911, but higher end than my ATI FX45 military style 1911. After looking at various options out there, I decided to go with an Alchemy Custom Weaponry Prime Elite instead of a production pistol from one of the more conventional companies that make production 1911s. I placed the order for my Prime Elite on March 8 and was expecting it to take the 3-4 month wait they state on their website. About a week ago I got an invoice from Cabot (parent company of ACW) for the balance due for my pistol and saying that the pistol was ready to ship this week. So I paid off the balance due last Friday and I got notice Tuesday that it shipped and the tracking data indicated a Friday delivery to my FFL guy.

The good old USPS really came through for me yesterday. They delivered the pistol a day early to my FFL guy and he invited me to come by his house at 6:30 PM to pick it up. And as a birthday present (my birthday was April 20), he also waived his FFL fees too! So I got the gun home last night and started playing with it and fondling it and put a coat of Ren wax on it too.

I can't make it to the range today since I have a date with my wife to bring her to the movies and dinner that we made arrangements to go to a few days ago, but I definitely will be heading to the range tomorrow.

A few things I have noticed so far. One, the build quality is just impeccable. The gun and springs are tight, but I know the springs will break in with usage. The trigger feels super crisp and it feels like it breaks around the 3.5 lb range like ACW says. The Ironwood grips are just beautiful and I didn't do wrong spending the extra money for them, as they really look great against the fantastic blue job that ACW does on their guns. A nice soft case is also included with gun too. And finally, the ambi safety was also money well spent as it makes it easier for this lefty to flip the safety off and on with my thumb, instead of having to use my left fore finger to flick it like with my ATI 1911.

I went outside a few minutes ago and took some pictures of it to post up. Here is how it looks after giving it a coat of Ren wax last night.















You will have to excuse the cat hair on the bag; cat decided it made a nice bed last night. You will also notice that unlike the Cabot guns, the ACW gun is very traditional looking, without all the flashy crud that Cabot (and many other manufacturers) put on their 1911s. Blued carbon steel instead of stainless steel. No front slide serrations, no rails, no stars or other holes in the trigger, just a nice, smallish script based name on the right side of the slide and their logo on the right back side of the slide. That is just what I was looking for.

Now that their is how a 1911 ought to look. Fine gun sir!!

Beautiful piece. Congratulations on this fine weapon!

Well done. Rob is one of the best in the business, and the 1911s ACW is building are master level.

Enjoy.

Sweet . Love the understated elegant look . Can't wait to see / hear your range report . How tight are the ACW guns ? IMHO the Baer guns are too tight . Keep her lubed up & break her in gently , it'll payoff in the long run . Hope you get many years of joy from it .

I got back from the range a little while ago. I brought 300 rounds with me, the Prime Elite, my ATI 1911 and also brought my 29-2 and 76 rounds of ammo for it left over from the last range trip. I ended up shooting 292 rounds through the Prime and only 1 mag through the ATI. The feel was night and day difference between the two 1911 pistols and after shooting a mag in the ATI I didn't want to run any more through it. The Prime shoots straight as a laser and didn't have any problems at all. No FTF, no stovepipe, nothing!

I ran all 5 mags I bought with the pistol from ACW; they are ACT-MAG brand made in Italy. I also ran the other 5 mags I have for the ATI with no problems. The one that came with the ATI is also an ACT-MAG brand and the other 4 are Mec-Gar, all 8 rounders. No problems with the Mec-Gars either with their plastic followers. The slide function as smooth as warm butter too. I did put a few drops of oil on the rails about halfway through the shooting session along with the barrel and bushing. And I took it real easy the first 100 rounds or so by shooting at most 2 mags then letting it cool down to ambient.

I can easily say that this Prime is the most accurate bottom feeder I have ever shot. I could take out the middle of the target with a mag or two, then I would start going around the hole I blew in the middle of the target enlarging it. Needless to say, I am really happy with this pistol. My poor old ATI is gonna get lonely in the safe.

The ammo I shot today were reloads consisting of Zero 230 grain FMJ bullets, CCI 300 primers and either 5.0 grains SW Clean Shot or 6.0 grains SW Ultimate Pistol powders. Both loads give a muzzle velocity of around 800 ft/sec. I bought the SW powders when Midsouth was running a free hazmat deal when you bought 4 lbs of Shooters World powder. Muzzle velocities were checked with my ATI pistol at another time over my chrono.

Here are some obligatory dirty pics for your enjoyment!

Great looking gun, and evidently shoots well. The only thing I was surprised about was the ejection port was lowered, but not relieved. Did this ding your brass excessively?

Fine, fine 1911 sir. As has been said, that's what a real 1911 should look like. Subtle beauty.
I do have a Q though, what's the deal with the rifling? In the last pic, it looks, well, weird. How many lands/grooves? It may be an optical illusion but it looks like Marlins micro groove rifling although I'm sure its not.
Just very curious.

H Richard said:

Great looking gun, and evidently shoots well. The only thing I was surprised about was the ejection port was lowered, but not relieved. Did this ding your brass excessively?

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No, the brass looks just fine. No bad dings in the brass at all. The ATI dings the brass worse than this pistol, but even it isn't bad.

BillBro said:

Fine, fine 1911 sir. As has been said, that's what a real 1911 should look like. Subtle beauty.
I do have a Q though, what's the deal with the rifling? In the last pic, it looks, well, weird. How many lands/grooves? It may be an optical illusion but it looks like Marlins micro groove rifling although I'm sure its not.
Just very curious.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed that in the last picture too. It does look like a micro groove barrel in that dirty pic, but the barrel has a traditional 6 lands and grooves. I think it's just the way the carbon deposited itself in the barrel end that made it look like that.

One thing I noticed when cleaning is how well fit the parts such as the bushing and slide are. The work internally is just as nice as the outisde. They include a bushing tool with the gun and it's needed to turn the bushing to break the gun down.

Outstanding . Great when one runs out the box . While many don't like a bushing that needs a wrench to turn they definately improve accuracy , especially with a well fit barrel with great lug engagement . Only caveat is push your slide out of battery before turning the bushing . That gets it off the muzzle end of the barrel that's fitted to the bushing ID . I fit mine to .001" clearance to both barrel & slide . I'd keep the gun wet while breaking in as you want to burnish working parts that have been fitted to close tolerances not induce premature wear . You've also discovered that 230 ball is more accurate @ 800 - 820fps than when loaded to original GI specs . Years ago WCC had to apply for a waiver to get USAMU to buy certain lots that did not meet the spec velocity . When tested the ammo outshot the hotter spec ammo by a considerable margin . Certain lots of WCC Match ball which ran 800-820fps were highly prized for CMP / EIC matches . Of course the Service teams bought up whole lots & civilian shooters got drips & drabs . Curious as to which brand barrel he uses in his builds . Many contractors made NM barrels for the Military teams including Barsto , Kart , IMI , KKM even S&W & High Standard . I like Kart but for jacketed KKM is hard to beat these days . However like Nowlin barrels they require a special chambering reamer due to tighter bore / leade dimensions . Congrats on a very sweet gun that shoots as well as it looks . Baby her & you'll get many years of enjoyment before she's ready for a refit .
P.S. Even the cat approves & has marked it with his scent letting all know who it belongs to .

Thank you for that helpful post, boatbum101. I am relatively new to the 1911 platform and helpful hints on break in are much appreciated. And yes, I was making sure nothing was running dry this time out to the range. And I will take your advice about pushing the slide out of battery before turning the bushing in the future too. That sounds like prudent advice for a tightly fitted bushing. I don't know what brand the barrel is that Rob uses on his builds, but I sure can't complain about accuracy.

I do have a question about the recoil spring in my ATI FX-45 military though. It's had roughly 3,000 rounds through it and I was noticing that as compared to the ACW, the slide pulls back much easier than the ACW. And I seem to remember that when new, the spring was much tighter than now. Do you think the recoil spring has gotten weaker over the course of shooting it? And do you all think I need to change it out? I don't know how often the recoil spring needs to be changed out on the 1911 platform. I will say that I haven't had any problems with malfunctions with the ATI so far. But I don't want to beat it up either. Even though it's a $350 pistol, it's still a good shooter and I would rather change a cheap spring instead of beating up the slide and frame.

Springs are cheap & should be changed every 4,000 for a 5" Gov't size . 16lb is standard recoil spring . Mainspring should be changed every 10,000 rounds & 23lb is standard , although some use a 19lb when trying to get trigger lighter than 4.5lbs . Depends on what intended use is as to how I set one up . Lets assume you're only going to shoot 230 ball or self defense loads . Then I'd stick with 16lb recoil & 23lb mainspring . I also fit & install a small radius firing pin stop as it increases the time before barrel unlocks & for slide to reach full rearward speed . As fulcrum point working against hammer / mainspring is moved it takes more effort for gun to recock before slide starts forward . Added plus is it changes recoil impulse & lessens felt recoil . For one that shoots a variety of loads including light target loads I stick with the standard radius on the FPS & will lower mainspring to 19lbs . Light target loads only I'll go lower on springs & if slide mounted optics sometimes as low as a 10lb recoil spring . Trigger pull if hammer / sear engagement is good can be adjusted by bending leaves on sear spring . Use only Colt , Wolff or ISMI springs . Wolff recoil springs also come with an extra power firing pin spring . I don't care for progressive wind recoil springs , but many target shooters do . I also do not like full length guide rods or recoil buffers & especially abhor the Sprinco " recoil reducer " guide rods . Feel free to PM with any questions always happy to help if I can . Since your ACW is under warranty I would get express permission before changing anything .