gunners thread on his new Nighthawk pistol led me to do a little research and then I found some stuff that I have some questions for those that might know.
it would appear that Nighthawk in Wilson combat are made in the same place in Berryville Arkansas.
is this a place that just takes some basic 1911s and customizes them? do they produce their own frames? can somebody shed some light on this?

https://www.guns.com/news/wilson-combat-vs-nighthawk-custom
I've been on the Google search ever since I made the first post found lots of good information answered most of my questions above us a link to a very good write-up..

Same town.

Not same place.
I'm thinking the Nighthawk guy was a Wilson employee?




Kinda like how Les Baer worked for Springfield,
along with the Larson brothers.

The Larsons threw in with Les, then separated and started Rock River.
Which was big into 1911s (in a small outfit) before ARs exploded.


All 3 in the same area, linked, but seperate.

yes the link article about says that it was a certain gentleman that worked for Wilson then split off and started the Nighthawk company.

not same building but same town still..

must be something about Berryville Arkansas.
the bad boyz mowers someone from them split off and started Spartan mowers and there's a certain site beside they make and I can't recall the name of it at the moment.

Lady working at our office has a grandson at Nighthawk who’s a gunsmith, assembling their 1911’s. He loves his job, evidently a great company to work for.

She says they pronounce Berryville, sorta like “buryvul”…

Ya gotta slur it together for full effect. Takes some practice.

DF

😁 I probably pronounce Berryville the proper way then it's less than an hour from home or about an hour from home.. we are definitely in a redneck region of the Arkansas Missouri area

Ha!

How ya sort out Hillbillies from Rednecks….

DF

acreage

That’s my understanding, too.
Both build super nice 1911’s, but their pricing has gone off the charts!

For the best bang for the $$$$$, though, I still don’t think you can beat a Les Baer Custom 1911 for reliability and accuracy, even though they might not be as nicely finished or fancy.
I also owned of the earlier Les Baer AR’s. It’s one of the most accurate rifles I’ve ever owned, bar none.

It would consistently put the first 4 rounds in one ragged hole at 100 yards, than I’d usually mess up and “pull” the 5th shot. 😬

LOL !

Agree on Les Baer. They make super accurate pistols. Seems to me Nighthawk and Wilson put more finish into their guns, thus they’re more expensive. Les makes them as accurate, in fact don’t think you’ll beat Baer for accuracy.

Nighthawk is a Wilson spin off company. Mark Stone seems the main one. They bought Cooper after Bill Wilson bought NULA. He also bought Lehigh bullet co, moved it from Utah to his East Texas ranch.

Interesting bunch. Looks like they’re both succeeding.

DF

I like my Les Baer long slide .45. I thought my Gold Cup was accurate until I traded for this thing. It shoots like a rifle.

DF

Agreed !

Nice! I’ve always wanted one of his Long Slide 10mm’s.

Yeah a 10 would be better. But this one is pretty cool.

DF

oh hell let's start the big fight which one's the most accurate of the expensive 1911s..
I'll be straight up with you I've got a bull armory that I'm absolutely impressed as hell with. doesn't cost near the money these others do and cost quite a bit less than Dan Wesson does and as smoked and lesson every time and they'll like category...

You forgot about the Tisa’s from Turkey. 😜

now I've got one of them too and it works just fine.

and the bull armory is from Israel they seem to really like to fight over there.

Yeah, them Israelis do know to fight, pretty good at it.

And they make some good guns.

DF

Nighthawk would get my vote.

Yeah, they very nice. Just a tad pricey.

And the one you get could have been fitted by my office worker’s grandson. He’s young but evidently pretty good, or he wouldn’t be an assembly gunsmith there. Those guns gotta shoot before they ship.

BYW, he’s getting married this weekend. His Grandma left Thursday for “Buryvul”. We’ll get pictures and a report Monday.

DF

I shared that info with my wife who was born in southern Missouri. I accuse her from time to time of being a Hillbilly.

She let me know her grandpa was Superintendant of Schools, so I guess he could read. And his family came from Old Virginia. OK.

Old Virginia types often inner married to keep land in the families. But only the oldest ended up with the estate, younger ones often moved West to do their own thing.

So her folks were kin to the Lewis and Clark families, the Warners, the Beazleys. George Washington was born at Warner Manor, his kin. So they all cousins. Grandpa was a Beazley.

So she let me know everyone from the Ozarks aren’t Hillbilly’s. But, how long does a blue blood need to live in the Ozarks before becoming a Hillbilly. We haven’t worked that one out quite yet.

DF

where was he superintendent at schools at? and what area was she from? there is some Beasley's not too far away from here..

Willow Springs. Their Beazley has a “z”.

Although she was born in Carthage. They later lived in Wichita.

DF

Howell County.

Willow Springs is a fair bit from me but Carthage is just about 45 minutes to the West

Well I’ve passed thru your area. Nice country.

A bit colder than Louisiana, y’all get snow.

DF

I would not worry about name or place of origin, but what shows up little used at local shop. Chances are greatest savings will be realized by finding Les Baer vs. Wilson Combat vs. Nighthawk.

I’ve read that Wilson has an assembly line kinda operation, each smith performing a task.

Nighthawk, if I understand it right, has a gunsmith build one pistol at a time.

Not that it matters, as their end products speak for themselves.

Anyone been to “buryvul” and seen their shops?

Just curious.

DF

Wilson assembly is seen all over youtube. Larry Vickers did a series.

Thanks for sharing that, had not seen it.

My co-worker is back tomorrow from her grandson's wedding in "buryvul". Expect to get a full report.

Nighthawk may not be as big as operation as Wilson, not sure. Does anyone know?

DF

I moved to Arkansas in October of 2022. Just bought a 5.02 acre property. Am I a Hillbilly or a Redneck. I gots ta know!

Guess we need to get idholton to differentiate just where the “acerage” criteria between Redneck and Hillbilly exists.

Maybe he’ll check in.

DF

well to get the correct answer the first question would have to be moved from where? two about what area?

From Oregon to Franklin County.

oh my from Oregon well it's going to take years to get that off of you from the locals.

so until then it's probably up in the air ..

May want to keep that Oregon business sorta quiet, or be considered neither.

Visiting from Louisiana, I found what I perceived to be Hillbilly’s rather standofish to us flat landers. And we weren’t from Oregon, but definitely are Rednecks.

Interesting. Check back in a few years. Let us know.

DF

Ha ha. Don't hold my place of birth against me. I left there for a reason. Sadly a bunch of whackjobs have taken over the politics of that once great state.

Ed Brown makes em all in-house with all machined parts up the road in Perry Missouri. Having owned both a Nighthawk and Ed Brown at the same time, there were minor differences. The NH was ever so slightly tighter slide to frame fit. I actually preferred the trigger on the EB and the safety on the EB had more tactile resistance and a noticeably louder audible “click” when going off/on, which I prefer for carry.
Accuracy-wise I couldn’t see a difference.
I’ve had custom work done on both by their OEM facilities. EB is much faster in getting the gun turned around than NH in my limited experience.

Guncrafters is in Huntsville Arkansas.
Another good 1911 maker in the same area.

I'm not a fan of the over-the-top styling on many of the Nighthawk pistols. The automobile equivalent would be a 59 Caddy with fuzzy dice and curb feelers.

I laughed out loud reading that, sitting here by myself.

Good one.

DF