I Was looking at at grizzly G4003G model lathe for doing hobby gunsmith work. whats your guys opinion on this machine.
if I ever get enough money saved up I will be buying one, thats about the cheapest and best way to start your own hobby smithing.
I bought one, and I like it. Although I never used a lathe before so I don't have much of a point of reference. I think they went up $200 the first of the year. I had some shipping damage to the stands and Grizzly refunded my shipping,$257). I had to have two parts replaced under warranty. The light bulb, and the forward/reverse switch. Grizzly has excellent customer service.
I have one and think that its a great machine for the $$. It does have its limitations. The main ones are that the slowest speed is 70 rpms, and the distance between centers is not enough to put a 28" barrel in an contour it. For what you receive its the deal of the century. The benchrest snobs will tell you that you can't chamber a barrel on a cheap chinese machine but everyone I have done has shot great. Of course I use an evil JGS floating reamer holder to do my chambering and everyone knows that is wrong.
The G4003G will help you produce chambering jobs that will out shoot the shooter everytime. Thats what I use and it's GTG.
I am just starting on the 3rd year with my G4003G and so far I am very happy with it. For the money it is a very good lathe. James
My dad has a grizzly lathe, it's chambered about a dozen BR rifles and the owners have no issues with it. It works great, sure, a Hardinge collet machine is nicer to work with, but for the price difference you can buy an entire machine shop from Grizzly.
I just ordered a Precision Matthews PM1236 which has most parts interchangeable with the Grizzly G4003G and the harbor freight 12x36 machine. I think that both the G4003G and PM1236 are close to the minimum cost that will buy a gunsmithing lathe that does everything. On the 10% chance that Chinese quality rears it's ugly head, both Grizzly and PM's dealer will remedy with parts and advise on the spot quickly.
I just bought a chinese lathe. Not a Grizzly but the identical machine from a different vendor. I searched high and low for either a new american lathe,too expensive) or a used american lathe,most worn out to repair). If this new lathe is half as good as I hope, it's well spent. Where else can you get a lathe delivered to your door for around 2K? The shipping on some of the used lathes I saw was nearly that much. Everyone cries buy american and so do I but, c'mon, its too cheap to pass them up. I hope you and I both don't regret our decision.
I don't regret buing mine. I went in on it with a friend that was interested in learning how to build guns. We have learned a lot and have had some successes and a few failures but in the end we have built some good shooting rifles on it. It was my best option for an entry level lathe where I live.
You could definately ask the people that previously posted , this post is 9 yrs old ! I'm sure they have used it bye now .
Being a Taiwanese built lathe they are generally a lot better quality and have a much better refinement than the mainland Chinese lathes. Chalk and cheese.
If the G4003 is Taiwanese, then I think you'll be good. If not, then go with the PM Taiwanese model. I've had both. there is a big difference. --Jerry
If i was to get a new lathe it would be a grizzly gunsmith model. They make 3 sizes i think- the smallest one would be what id go with if theyre the same as the last time i looked
I have used my PM1236 nearly every day for 10 years. I have repaired the DRO and the threading gear box. I have upgraded all the chucks and changed the lighting.
Plenty of Benchrest matches are won with rifles chambered on Grizzly and other Chinese machines. The group that criticizes them are primarily old school guys that appreciate the quality of American machinery, and may dislike using imported equipment. I see their point completely, but for hobby guys and competition shooters that use a smith named "Self" they are affordable and perfectly adequate.
