Vender/Smith Rating Thread?

[chino1969]

As unfortunate as it may be, the reality is that getting a complete firearm built by a top-ranked 'smith is a long, dragged-out process. They have to deal with metal treating facilities where they may be "small fish" and cannot command quick service; they have to fend in a world of supply and demand where supply seldom meets demand. And most of their work in slow and tedious because the quality we and they demand does not lend itself to mass production.

If we're voting on a thread to "dis" gunsmiths, vendors, suppliers ... my vote is "No".

Reed,
Alot of people don't realize what is involved in having a custom rifle put together and would do well to educate themselves on the mechanics involved. For example, if you want to go soup to nuts in your project, you'll need a receiver. Bat, Stiller, Nesika, Borden, Hall, Surgeon, etc. are all in demand and have a delivery backlog of 3 months to a year. Barrel manufacturers and other suppliers have backlogs as well. The gunsmith is dependent on all these suppliers to put your rifle together. Kreiger, right now, is an in demand barrel. Kreiger has to deal with maintaining the quality of their barrels and increasing production to meet demand; not an easy thing to do. Kreiger is dependent on the steel mill for their batch of rifle blanks that meet their specifications. Not every 'heat' of steel is perfect and there are batches of steel that do not meet the metallurgical specs. of the barrel manufacturer. This now backs up the barrel manufacturer and the problem becomes the gunsmith's. I have a problem with people getting on this site and bitching about this person or that manufacturer without hearing the other side; let's be fair. I'm lucky in that I have Clarence Hammonds nearby and Clarence has done excellent work for me. I can walk into his shop, discuss a project and get some tips I hadn't considered. I know Jim Borden and if Jim were closer, I would use him as well as Clarence. You really have to take the time to develop a rapport with a gunsmith if you want to get exactly what you want; not everyone can do this. Gunsmithing is as much machining as it is an art and your better smiths tend to have a clientele that are willing to get over the smith's initial grumpiness and develop an understanding and friendship. Some of their grumpiness is having to deal with clueless morons who demand the impossible without bothering to do some research to define exactly what they want. In my world, a gunsmith is like my personal tailor. He'll deliver a product to my specifications because: 1) I know what I want, components, tight neck, etc. 2) I've clearly communicated my expectations 3) I've taken the time to get to know the gunsmith and his accuracy and quality meet my requirements.
Chino69

 

[gbp]

I am not sure I agree with a "sticky" as to 'rating' goes, but I would not mind seeing a thread based on peoples recomendations,positive). I am currently looking for a good smith in California and would not mind having a thread to go to for at least some web-sites on phone numbers

 

[ccg]

gbp if you find a good smith in California let me know. My experience with the smiths in Southern California have been abysmal.

 

[jonsidneyb]

I wonder if this is a valid line of thinking that might make this less than a good idea.

Expectations> A couple of people deal with a barrel maker and report that they got outstanding barrels and win some big tournaments with them. We know that barrels are not all the same but have some variance. Well Joe Snuffy gets a barrel and shoots a 2moa group. The thing is Joe has never shot better than a 2moa group. He might have expected this barrel to perform magic. Joe Snuffy had some unrealistic expectations from positive posts from others.

Production times> I have worked for companies that in their area of business set some performance records or did some things that no one has done before. The items that were best of the best in its class had the most variation in production times. More would go wrong trying to keep quality at its highest. Items that were good but not best of the best tended to have very predictable production scheduales. Some might expect items with uncompromising quality to be able to be cranked out with the same predictable timing as common goods.

 

[Shelley]

A completely fair rating system would be a good thing. BUT.... and this is the 800 lb. gorilla. How do you keep it fair? On this board is a post complaining about a company which is named in the post.,Lawton) The complaint is made by someone using an internet handle,Freestate101.)Even if the poster had given a name, what's to prove that it's not a bogus name of someone trying to damage his competition, or perceived enemy?

The only way that complaints and reviews could be fair is if a committee verified the name of the complainer and solicited the vendors side of the story and posted them together.

Mud slinging needs to be carefully controlled to keep it honest and to prevent damage to the innocent. Lacking that, it needs to be banned to prevent petty attacks.

Shelley

 

[butchlambert]

Shelley,
You are pretty sharp for an insurance guy! I agree with what you are proposing. I agree with Lynn when he said communication is the real secret. I am a small vendor and believe that it is very important to be available to your customers. Phone calls can seriously take up our time, but we can call back or email. If a shipping date can't be met, we need to immediately contact our customer and let him know why. It gets a little dicey when one of our suppliers let us down and gets our tit in the wringer.
Butch

 

[LarryDScott]

A vendor should have nothing to fear and everthing to gain if he has served his customers well. My suggestion would be to be able to post the name of the vendor, with two ratings,if both apply)1.Quality of work preformed 2.Delivery time. Both could be rated on a 10scale WITHOUT any comments by any party. The rating party must make him/herself available for PRIVATE contact if they rate a vendor. This way a future customer can form his own opinion by looking at the numbers and if need be, investigating further.

 

[Aussie_bob]

Well maybe we the buyers should just post that we are looking at purchasing from,XXXX) company PM me with any information you think i should be aware of.
Such as delivery times, taking money knowing full well they cant deliver in that time frame.
Incompetence, loosing paperwork that is vital to the delivery of your order very conveniently when the order is supposedly ready to send.
Being informed that the order has been sent to the export firm but when you ring they are closed and will be closed till the middle of next week but they don`t have an export permit for your goods anyway coz the paperwork has gone missing.
There needs to be some way to be able to be for-warned about these company's.
Or am i just having a bad run with a good firm just my stars haven't aligned correctly this year. I could go on but would serve no purpose but if i hear of anyone thinking of dealing with this company no matter how good the product i will certainly warn them of my experience and i have all the emails back and forward to prove it just a pity i haven't got copies of the phone calls as well.

 

[billmo]

Bob, that is some rediculious bull_ _ _ _ man. Who in their right mind would want to deal with a company this irresponsible?
How long has this "company" been in business? Do they know anything at all about import/export rules of law? Apparently they know nothing about the business at all. Sorry, Bob. Don't let this experience drive you away from other good business people in this country. But I know this really sucks. Bill