Suz, like Vince said, he didn't get away with anything. You've already spread the word and its amazing how far and fast information moves on the internet. Heck, even folks in Australia will be avoiding him!

Well Suz, theirs at least 10115 members on this site that probably won't go to him because of this thread. Also have to remember the people that read this without being members, and last but not least-the search engines.

Yep...as my Dad used to say..."All smart hens crap in their nest sooner or later"...and he's certainly crapped in his.

As I said mate...rest easy...he ain't gettin' away with anything. I know I certainly won't send him any work.

Cheers, Vince

I freekin had to do this......I found the same guy again on a forum. He does a question and answer sort of thing on there and is very friendly and yes sir, no sir and all that. You should see some of his answers though. Oh later on that, I have to tell ya what I did. I wrote to him again and only slightly re-worded my question to him. Didn't ask for a quote this time, just asked him if he could do it.

Wanted to see how he reacts with the entire forum watching, because he has a following on there that seems to support him. Here's what I wrote;

Hey George let me know if this is something you could do. I have a Mauser 98 action that I have installed in a wood laminate stock. I have a take-off 8mm Mauser barrel that the military 'steps' have been turned down to a taper and would like it cut to 22", crowned and installed (headspaced) onto the action. I would like an inexpensive low scope safety installed, and the bolt needs a tune-up of some sort, it opens very hard (cock on opening). Then to finish it off, just an inexpensive flat black finish, except for the bolt. When I say inexpensive, I just want to make sure you're not going to use the most expensive materials you can find, this is going to be a back-of-the-truck gun when I'm farming.


Ok now here's his reply;

Without seeing the firearm, there is no way to give a quote. That's like how much to restore or repaint my car. I only do quality work but at a good price.
If inexpensive is the key word then all's I can say is I don't turn out "inexpensive" kind of work on firearms. It's first rate, quality work or I don't/won't do it.
It is the shop's name going out on the completed job.


And in return I sent him this tonight;

Hey George I didn't ask for a quote, was wondering if you do that kind of work or not. I also didn't ask you to do inexpensive work. Please re-read my statement. I'm not asking if you do shoddy work! Let me know what you think I'd be glad to bring it by.



It's gettin
to be funny
Suz

hes messed with the wrong gal
hehehehehe....
keep us posted.

You crafty bugger Suz...good for you...don't let the bugger rest mate.

As Elvis says...keep us informed.

Cheers, Vince

Suz,
Your not part Scottish by any chance?

The land of long memories and the flying headbutt.

I dont think you approached him correctly in the first place, but thats just me, as mentioned above email's are not the best way to ask about jobs like yours, too much of a fiddle factor to easily create misunderstandings.
He also seems to equate inexpensive with cheap or shoddy, which wont have helped your cause.
Bear in mind he probably gets a couple of emails a day that all want cheap work done and he's classed yours as one of those.
Face to face is a much better option, but if its as you have stated and its email and pick up from gun shop only, that makes it bloody hard. He must miss out on a lot of work that way.
The up side is you guys have gunsmiths a plenty, they are a rare and dying breed over here, so there's not a lot of choice.
Goodluck with it, keeps us posted with his reply.

Suzanne wrote:

I freekin had to do this......I found the same guy again on a forum. He does a question and answer sort of thing on there and is very friendly and yes sir, no sir and all that. You should see some of his answers though. Oh later on that, It's gettin to be funny Suz

Hey Suz, I'll be waiting for the next episode. Like you, I've already decided that this guy has way too big an ego. I wonder if "reasonably priced" sets him off as badly as "inexpensive". I'll bet it does because he probably often hears that that is exactly what his work is NOT.

He still just may be an excellent gunsmith (or maybe not) but either way it has obviously gone to his head. In my opinion, the very best gunsmiths are basically humble because they have come to realize that there is always more that they can learn. That's what makes the work so interesting to them.

Just my opinion: how many good gunsmiths still have the time to be on the internet?
In our part of the world even gunshops are not decently represented on the net.

Here's some interesting advice from this guy, the question is asked;

I'm doing some work on a Marlin 336 for a buddy of mine, & one of the things he wants is new sights. This gentleman has shot with open sights on all of his guns for over 50 years. He has very poor vision these days, & is having trouble seeing his sights. When I started talking scopes with him, he responded with "I don't want no dam scope"!

This guy's advice;

I set up a lot of Marlin's by cutting the Bbl's to 16 1/4", cut down the mag tube to match, scout mount and peep sights, then a duracoat job. Willaims, Brockman, XS Sights, Williams Firesight seem to be the ones my customer's like.

When asked about building your own 1911 his reply was (I xxxed out his location)

As about the only guy in xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx that has a 2yr in house A of S Gunsmithing Degree, taught gunsmithing for 3yrs, a "class" on how to really build a 1911 is tough to pull off. An Armorer Class, maybe. I have pistol's in here that some have paid to have worked over by people who attend Building Courses and the pistols still wind up here. My dad had a large gunsmithng shop in the Detroit, MI area when guns were in their hayday. All the people who worked there had been to Trinidad or Colorado School of Trades. Even then there is a learning curve. I served a very tough 4 yr Journeyman's Machinist / Machine Repair program in Detroit. Mfg Tech Deg with 4yrs documented time in grade. It gave you good basics but it took time doing it to get really good. I started building 1911's & Browning HP's in the mid 70's. There were no drop in parts, mostly you made your own. Now its's easier but there are a lot of inferior made parts with a "big name" on them. Really there are only about 4 companies making everyone's parts, it's kinda funny.

Yes I'd say he's full of himself.....still waiting for a reply from him

Suz

With enough people doing it, he could be kept very busy just answering internet questions... (hint, hint)... all for an economical price:)

Stirring the pot Suz?...

I've seen more misunderstandings result from email than any other reason outside of a bar (excluding gender reasons of course . Either the choice of words or failure to completely read and understand what is being said/asked is often a root cause. The older one is, the higher the chance of this happening. On top of that, many of the "gunsmiths" I have come across in person are often egotistical, arrogant and difficult to deal with unless they are put on a pedestal and fed lots of $$ or BS (which ever is handy at the time). Internet "gunsmiths" are worse.

This guy seems to be a little of both.His published prices seem in line with others I've seen advertized (a little overpriced). He seems to have a legitimate shop but doesn't want to deal with public walk-ins (hmmm is there a reason behind that? - like maybe he has a problem dealing with people?) Without being able to talk to him face to face, it's unlikely you will be able to get what you want- you will get what he sends you thru his retail outlets. It's easier to ignore come-backs that way.

You can get a ballpark cost by looking at his website. He tells you he deals with Brownell's and probably most other major suppliers. He gives base labor prices for some of the work you asked for, so it is a matter of selecting the actual parts from Brownell's and adding his labor.

Then, you could try to get him to agree to let you bring the gun directly to his shop for a looky-looky estimate. Then have your list of specific parts you have already looked up on the internet. If you want that $55 scope mount and his site says he charges $45 to mount it plus $18 x 4 holes, you know that part of the job should cost you about $172 (which is high if you ask me) - if he quotes you $225 then you know something is very wrong. His price from the inspection with you should be pretty firm since he has all this experience and should know what it entails. These types get greedy quickly.

If he looks it over and makes some reasonable suggestions, maybe give hime some of the work to do first - see the quality. Some of it you might be able to do yourself - like install the low safety ($30+) or a brownells spray on finish (easy and looks good). get him to do the hard-tech stuff you can't. Who knows, he may be better than expected.

It would be nice to have a local place to do work for you.

As a comparison of cost, here are a couple rifles I bubbatized.

2007- On the advice of a friend, took a 6.5 Arisaka to our local world renowned gunsmith. Some of the stuff I did myself.

Boyd Stock $72.00 (I inletted & finished it)
Parkerize Finish $15.00 (I parkerized on the kitchen stove)
Bolt+Safety Parts $25.50 (I bought & installed the parts)
260 Rem re-chamber $75.00 gunshop
Turn Bolt handle $50.00 gunshop
Crown bbl $N/C gunshop
gunshow Scope Base $6.00 I provided - they mounted
Drill/Tap receiver $15.00 gunshop
Timney Trigger $65.00 I installed

2007- Bought a Spanish Mauser at a garage sale for $35, bought a synthetic stock and .26 cal barrel blank and other parts on internet. Took the box of stuff to the local InterGalactic Renowned Gunsmith to assemble.

260 Rem Ream chamber, install & Headspace $75.00 gunshop
he had to pull the old bbl and install new - included in above price

Drill & Tap receiver $15.00 gunshop (I provided gun-show scope mount)
Bolt Bending $35.00 gunshop (to clear scope)
Bold Trigger w/safety $43.56 (I installed)
Bolt low Safety Shroud $32.35 (I got off inet & installed myself)

Both of these guns look good - way way better than a typical truck gun but I wouldn't hesitate to use them as such.
Hope this helps

SyberShooter Thanks! Yeah I've been doin that stuff myself too, but the point here is the lame gunsmith. I'm not going to send anything to him. I'm only going to frustrate him as much as he frustrates me. Ya gotta read the first pages of this post and see what's goin on. I like you! You're doin the same stuff I'm doin. Cept I've just decided to quit doin it and go for some more modern light-weight-girls-can-handle-easier type guns.

Where are you anyway? I grew up in Tucson.



Suz
wants
ta
know