Honest Gunsmiths?

[Freestate101]

Do all Gunsmiths tell,Read:Lie to) their customers what they think they want to hear, or are there a few up front,honest) ones out there?
I'm not trying to throw hot water on a sore dog, but I have worked in two shops part time while in the military, and have had work done by others during the past 43 years and none of them will tell you,i.e., it will take me six weeks to get it done, I'm just buried, etc.)the truth concerning turn around time. I'm having these issues with my current "Smith", he called and said he had received my new barrel and that he would start,Chamber & install recoil pad) on it on Monday. After 2 weeks I called him back, he said he'd bring it up to me that evening. Needless to say he never showed up, that's right, he didn't even have the decency to call. It's now been almost 4 weeks and still no call,won't even return my calls). I have a .308 barrel coming in also and I'm looking for an honest Smithy to do this one. Any suggestions guys?
Jim Berry

 

[tightneck]

I believe that most of the accuracy smith's will tell you if they are buried and it will be a while. Some will stop taking new orders until they catch up with the backlog. If you go with one that is listed on this site or Br.com, you will get a great smith and chances are he will be pretty busy. As for predicting exactly when a rifle will be finished, I say this is not a good idea because of all the factors involved. I used to get excited when I thought my smith would have my rifle ready, but I learned that this will only cause grief. A ballpark figure is all that should be given and a warning that availability of components and other setbacks could cause delay's.

 

[Freestate101]

Yes, I agree that parts can play a major factor, that being said, I had already waited 7 weeks for the barrel, and he had the pad and barrel when he called me and was using an in-stock reamer. This smith is an accuracy smith and does a lot of the 1000 yd. guns for the guys who shoot at Quantico. He has also had rifles featured in Varmint Hunter Magazine and is an authorized repair agent for Dakota and Nasika.
Jim Berry

 

[memilanuk]

I've had one gunsmith that is very quick, acceptable results, but I'm kind of thinking I don't get his best efforts based on looking at my rifle next to other examples of his work... it does shoot right with the others, though.

Another gunsmith was quite frank about a long,several month) delay before even being able to start on my project at the time.

Third one has taken a bit longer than I expected on the two occasions I sent work his way; then again he is self-employed and I have a hard time begrudging anyone their vacation,varmint hunting trip) time. The second time was longer and the work less acceptable, though.

 

[BountyHunter]

Freestate

Now you have confused the heck out of me. I shoot at Quantico and the top 3 smiths in this area are all listed on this site as top recommended gunsmiths. all stay busy as heck but it cannot be any of those as none has time to take a gun to you.

I have used all three and if you walk into their shops now, you will find the walls lined with guns waiting rebarreling for sure and at least half a dozen new builds along with all the other work.

I use John Myer,Custom Gunsmithing in Boyce) and he always runs behind but then normally I can get him to jump on something if I really need it.

Guess it comes with the territory that they all normally run a little behind at times and yes they will tell a "new customer" normally it will be longer as they routinely try to take care of their regulars I guess.

BH

 

[USAPatriot]

I've only had one rifle built, a 6BR that I had done in late 2005/early 2006. A smith named Jim Hoag in Canoga Park, CA did the metal work and he was pretty much right on the money with his time estimate. He may have been a week late but that wasn't a big deal. McMillan's did the stock and they were also pretty much right on the money. I think they may have called a week early in fact which in turn caused me to call Jim and ask him to hurry up since I'd tried to time everything so McMillan's would get the barreled action just as the stock was being finished. It almost worked out All in all I'm happy with it. I'll leave the post-build UPS debacle out... -Rod-

 

[CAB]

A word to the wise,....don't try to rush your smith. Be inquisitive, if he is unable to get to your work in a time frame that is acceptable to you, you should probably go somewhere else, albeit politely. Nobody's feelings get bruised.
While I know many will say their smith is above such behavior, It is human nature to do less than an optimal job when rushed.
If you create a "job" for a smith that is unpleasant to complete, well,..... you do the math.

 

[dreever]

I use Bob Green in York Pa. Bob is a straight shooter. If he tells you X number of weeks it will be finished then or before. There is no B.S. with Bob, and I trust him completely.
You can't say more than that.

Danny

 

[PJ]

Patroit,
I thought jim did 1911 work. I have not heard his name in awhile. Is he still working?

 

[Buzzbee]

I’ve used Hammonds, Spencer and had work done by Stolle, all were finished and returned with in the time frame they quoted me, I also had 2 build by Dowling this year both were returned with in 4 weeks, provided I already had all the parts.

This fall I used Gander Mt. in house gunsmith to put a recoil pad because my sander needed a new belt at that time, he quoted me $35 and if I drop it off on Monday & I can pick it up on Friday, I figure that’s not bad since the store is just down the road and take me longer to put on a new belt. Well, long story short, it turned out to be 7 weeks and it looked like he might have used his teeth to trim off the excess. Needless to say, they’ll get my business twice…….. the first and last..

 

[robbor]

You are correct, the worst lieing I had was from Volquartsen Custom Rifles. I odered a 22wmr rifle with a 20" barrel with NO compensator. 3 different Volquartsen employees quoted me 4 months. I called them every month to check status. If i did not get a hold of a real person, then I did not receive a reply. If I got a hold of some one I got a birrage of answers from, your barrels in but no one wants to do the work, to you rifle will be done in 2 weeks. Well I kept calling and even spoke to the owner after probably 9 months. They never even looked into my rifle. After 16 months I got tired of their run around and wrote a letter to the BBB. Volquartsen then sent a reply to the BBB stating the wait was normal and I was impatient, then promptly canceled my order told the ffl I canceled the order. When I called Volquartsen again, they first denied canceling my gun then fessed up, andlet me know that a 20" barrel with a comp was CUSTOM, and Volquartsen Customs, does not do custom work. From 16 months of calling every month and nicely checking, I only receive one phone call from them and all the left was their name and no status. They are #1 for the worst customer service in my book.

I also had a smith that I took a bolt to to ge reblued, he told me 2 weeks. I told him that was fine I just needed the bolt back in 2 months for hunting season. I called him after 2 weeks then a month. I picked up my bolt the day before deer season and it had never been touched.

I learned my lesson the hard way. Now I will request that delivery dates be state in writing along with a 10% discount for lateness. If that is going to be a huge problem they will not accept the work, and you move on to the next smith.

 

[Aussie_bob]

Somewhere on this forum either early this year or in 2005 we had a thread discussing how long it took to do each part of a rifle as in Thread, Chamber & Crown a barrel Pillar bed an action etc.
My Smith here is virtually retired and mainly does machining and making tooling etc for one off jobs for the auto industry but keeps his hand in with some repairs and re barreling.
I Imported a 7mm Barrel for him as he wanted to try the new 6.5X47 lapua Cases with the 7mm you will find the results in another thread. But the thing is he made the reamers threaded Chambered and crowned and fitted the barrel in just over a week while still getting his other work done. I think most of the time was taken making the reamers as he mad a roughing reamer and finish reamer he then had to harden them in the flume oven so a day was taken there and final sharpening but man they did a beautifully job.
He just machined an aluminium bedding block for my Sako mod 75 6mmPPC so i could put it into a carbon fibre stock and still have magazine etc all work so this block 1.5inches thick X 1.5" shaped and machined on a milling machine manually operated was done in a day while i was at the range running a shoot we made a couple of mods and i have been fitting etc to the stock, I take more time fiddling than he does making the dam things.
So why is it that you blokes take a barrel and action to a bloke who has the reamers and it takes months to get it back.
If he can`t do the job in a reasonable amount of time he shouldn`t take it on.

 

[USAPatriot]

Patroit,
I thought jim did 1911 work. I have not heard his name in awhile. Is he still working?

We talked some about his 1911 work. He seemed pretty proud of his stuff but it seems to me that 'someone' was able to do what he was doing faster and cheaper. I don't recall the details. According to his business card he's also doing hunting rifles, tactical rifles and repairs. I don't know him hardly at all but it seems like he's been around since dirt was invented. He finished my build in April of this year so he was still working then, anyhow. I'll be up his way on Thursday. I'll try and remember to swing by his little alley and see if he's around. -Rod-

 

[Kittitas George]

In my experience many people work for themselves (self employed) because they can't work for someone else. Nothing to do about the quality of their work BUT! That being said, most of the gunsmiths I've known over almost 60 years are a little out of step.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I learned my lesson the hard way. Now I will request that delivery dates be state in writing along with a 10% discount for lateness. If that is going to be a huge problem they will not accept the work, and you move on to the next smith.

Still looking then i guess?

 

[Edd]

I have had two barrels threaded and chambered by Mike Bryant in Wheeler TX.

I emailed him before I shipped the stuff and asked what his lead time was. He told me two weeks if I supplied the parts.

Both times UPS delivered my barreled action back to me exactly 7 days after I shipped it.

 

[DirtySteve]

The thread is from 2006. The OP last visited this site Dec 27, 2017.... So...........

 

[Edd]

So...........he may still be waiting on his 308.

 

[ND shooter]

So...........he may still be waiting on his 308.

Haha good one!! You may be right.

 

[butchlambert]

I’ve used Hammonds, Spencer and had work done by Stolle, all were finished and returned with in the time frame they quoted me, I also had 2 build by Dowling this year both were returned with in 4 weeks, provided I already had all the parts.

This fall I used Gander Mt. in house gunsmith to put a recoil pad because my sander needed a new belt at that time, he quoted me $35 and if I drop it off on Monday & I can pick it up on Friday, I figure that’s not bad since the store is just down the road and take me longer to put on a new belt. Well, long story short, it turned out to be 7 weeks and it looked like he might have used his teeth to trim off the excess. Needless to say, they’ll get my business twice…….. the first and last..

Stolle? Ralph passed away many many years ago. Dan Dowling is a great guy.