You know Sig really nailed it this time and caught everyone else sleeping with the modular system in the P320. I keep buying the P320/parts because I keep coming up with new ideas for different builds. I see one Glock based gun that has a modular system now and that's a good thing but Sigs way of everyone. My problem is Sig just doesn't produce enough parts to support all the builds.
I thought the new custom FCU that's an ugly gold was expensive but when you try to get the parts and put one together doing it is more expensive than buying the custom FCU. Somehow that seems wrong but it is what it is.

I went for quite some time without building my P320's except for modules then recently started building now, waiting for a Killer Innovations Velocity slide for my carry and looking for a AXG titanium for another build. More is better!

Who's in the process and what are you doing?

I was able to get an early German P250 recently.

The P250 and P320 allow for customization that is hard to beat.

I'll shop for the P320 when if the 10mm version presents itself.

Buying all the parts at retail to assemble something functionally the same as a stock or custom gun is a trap. And I have two AR15's plus another getting assembled to show as an example. I got the specific parts and appearance I was striving for, the performance is in the barrel and my skill to justify it.

The larger makers buy all the parts wholesale, assemble, and make their profits while still being under the collected retail for each part. That's American Commerce in action, not smoke or mirrors there. We do not get individual parts for less than bulk rate to put our stuff together.

In the 80's it was calculated the cost of a 1974 LTD Ford in over the counter parts from a dealer would run $24,000, a new one on the lot was $4,500. Putting together a gun isn't that steep when we compare it. Assembling a P320 or P365 isn't any different, altho the scale of markup is much reduced. Of recent note was the introduction of a new alloy grip unit for the 365 retailing at $350 . . . a bare grip unit. Some have revealed more than $1000 in a custom build, hey it's America spend your bucks as you see fit. I have.

As for a duty sized 9mm I bought a Turkish brand P99 clone - and paid $399 last March. The P365 was $499, so, I get it, Less is More. What I can do with the P365 is alter it over time, myself and that largely saves gunsmith fees I would be forced to pay to alter the Canik. And it can be done on my timeline, not sitting at the gunsmith's safe waiting in line for weeks/months. Order parts, receive, take it apart that night assemble done. That is a distinct advantage and is exactly what the AR builders have been doing for decades now.

There is, in the watch parts world, a few platforms that allow a knowledgeable assembler to build their own Dive component watch these days. And more than a few do - if you plan on using an assembled automatic wind movement. Most are available under $65 dollars, including those in four figure Swiss watches . . .

So yes you can save money. Just be careful not to fall into the trap of using only high end proprietary parts each individually ordered and shipped separate. I put over $100 into shipping costs for one AR and that was a lesson learned, too. Even in this current climate I've done better getting off the shelf parts - like, a lower from a local gun dealer for $79 which avoided shipping and FFL costs. I could have gotten PSA for $80 plus $12 plus $45 - the one I got machines other brands and looks better. One the other hand, the 6.8 I built a decade ago ran me over $1200. But its not low bid scrounged up parts, either.

It's mostly in the barrel, all the rest is just icing the cake.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
I was able to get an early German P250 recently.

The P250 and P320 allow for customization that is hard to beat.

I'll shop for the P320 when if the 10mm version presents itself.

You know there's a lot of people that don't know that the P250 is a DA hammered gun. They are getting difficult to find now and the sellers are asking more money than the P320's. I was going to purchase one but when I searched everything was about $600 so much for maybe I can get one cheap since I purchased my last P320c for $435 shipped

Tirod: Ya you know I've had the same experiences you've had. Many years ago a AR15 build cost more but of coarse you get to have exactly what you want, but I found out that gun you wanted was tuff to sell once you were finished with it, tuff to sell a Frankenstein gun. But it was fun building them.

Why I thought the Custom FCU was expensive was I just purchased a P302c for $434 and of coarse it has a new FCU in it and after doing some research I find that the new custom FCU's don't have anything much different about it just a straight trigger and a couple springs and gold color, So just buy a P320 keep the FCU and sell the parts on Ebay, probably get about $300/350 so the FCU ends up costing little. Of coarse you have to take the time to sell everything. Building a FCU doesn't work for me.

Actually the way Sig had it figured out was you'd buy one gun and use the FCU for building other guns from parts and that's a good idea and it works but again they want extra bucks for the slides, barrels
grip modules and some inner parts. When you can buy a P320 for $450 nothing else works

I have an X5 and an AXG Scorpion and I’ve built two other P320 Carry from CW FCUs. One is built on an AXG frame and the other is built on a Wilson Combat module. Both of my AXG 320s wear LOK Veloce grips with palm swells which is as close to perfection as I can dream. I’ve spent the last year training hard on this platform and I really like it. The triggers are phenomenal and the gun points naturally for me. Like building an AR to my specs, I don’t save money and selling as a whole is way more difficult. The thought of either never crossed my mind when I set out on this journey. I like the modularity and the platform and plan to run these guns hard.

320's cost more to build because the parts mostly come from Sig, or from Sig blanks (ZEV). And the competition tends to sell custom parts at Sig prices or higher. I do want to build a Killer Innovations upper though, but for now I am doing ZEV uppers with Wilson Combat grips, and one Sig upper on an AXG grip. Buying the slide internals for non-Sig slides for $100 sucks though. They are worth a fraction of that and should be included with any slide.

AR's are a different story. Building your own saves a lot of money relative to the parts quality. And that is because of competition. One well known OEM selling $1000 AR's is building a precision AR and made note of the "Ballistic Advantage" barrel they are using and its accuracy.

BA is good, but not exactly high end. I can buy a BA for less than $200 retail. For a bit more I can get White Oak Armament or Criterion, and a little more I can get Bartlein, Douglass, or Krieger. Or I can get a CHF Centurion with MG chrome lining if I want longevity. Mil spec small parts can be bought cheap, but I like Radian small parts and Geissele triggers.

And I really can't see the value in something like a $1800 DD M4V7 that I can build myself for far less. The only "factory" AR I would buy at the moment is a Geissele, during a holiday sale.

Well, I'm really tempted by the B&T imported Haenel 10.5" 416 copies, but that's a different ballgame...