Longer than usual build time

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Hey guys,

I just wanted to do a quick sanity check to see what the fine world of gun nutz thinks about my current situation, and see if i should start feeling a little impatient.

So here is a little background

I slowly gathered the parts for a custom rifle build over a year or so period (to keep the suspicion of the wife at bay, haha). I wanted to build a 20 vartarg for shooting gophers. So I got myself a Timney trigger, a Remington 700 short action, an HS precision stock, and a Benchmark barrel from Gary at bighorn. So to summarize, i had all the parts. I thought i may want to do a magazine conversion, because I heard that Remington 700's have feed issues when chambered in a vartarg, so the magazine was outstanding. The feed issues are the main reason why i made sure to select a reputable gunsmith.

Anyhow, I did my research and selected Greg from corlanes, who I felt, had nothing but the very best reviews. It was St Patrick's day, this year, I called them and was told that there was no problem, they could get me in right away. We discussed the feed/ejection issues with the 700/vartarg combo, and to my surprise, the gunsmith was familiar with the round, the issues and actually had a friend who owned a vartarg. At that point, I had the warm and fuzzy feeling. So that weekend, i packaged my stuff up, and sent it all away. So the gunsmith has had my parts since the end of march.

So having heard nothing for a month or so, I called to see what was up. They told me that there would be a 4-6 week wait before i could get it in to get the work started. This seemed normal to me, since we all know how busy good gunsmiths are, so I didn't really think much of it. the 6 weeks went by, and i called again. I would usually get a guy telling me that he would look into it and call me back. Nobody called me back. So spring turned into summer, still nothing. In late July I FINALLY got a call. They were having feed/ejection issues, and were going to use the magazines they had in stock, but it would be done in a few weeks. I guess the mag they had didnt work, so they were trying something else. I called in a few more weeks, and got the same thing. We will call you back. Summer turned into fall, and about every 6 weeks, i call again. I get the same thing.

So its now end of November, and they have had my gun for 8 months, and it is still not complete. They have not called me at all to discuss it.

I'm a very laid back guy, but this is starting to irritate me. My question is...am I justified about being upset about this? Keep in mind, this is a very very reputable place. I have heard nothing but good things about the rifles that they build. I don't want to sling mud over it, but i just want my gun finished. Any advice?
 
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I've always learned that Gunsmiths work on their own time schedule, it'll be done when it's done.

Doesn't hurt to make a call, but if they ignore you. Ask to have it shipped back, that usually lights a fire under them, if not you can always send it somewhere else.
 
If the gunsmith has all your parts and the gunsmith has the reamer and headspace gauge a build like this shouldn't take more than a month... if he is so busy it takes several months, he should stop taking work in until gets caught up. It's terrible to have so much work stacked up and waiting.

Making that round feed can be difficult however and I would recommend a single shot follower on top of what there and shoot it one at a time...

The next phone call should be, "I'll talk to the gunsmith now please, and I will wait. Telling me he will call back is not acceptable."

If that doesn't work talk to the store manager and have him send all your parts back.
 
I have never chambered for the 20 Vartag but had a customer tell me he was sending in his components for a semi custom build reamer and gauges included. I was unaware that these rounds gave feeding issues ?? Any heads up advise on how to cure or avoid these feeding problems would be appreciated. In reply to the OP's question regarding wait time I would think that you have been patient enough and should ask for an explanation directly from whomever you contracted to do the job. David.
 
Maybe one should ask how long will the place of business be willing to wait for payment.
Call them back ask to speak to the owner of said business and ask him to send all the parts back.
Ensure you explain the timeline you have shared here.
If your willing to put up with shoddy service I wonder how well this firearm is going to shoot(accurately) given they can not for what ever reason deliver in a reasonable amount of time.
I would be concerned about follow up issues should they arrise.. In this case I am answering the voices in my head telling me to get my property back and cut my losses now and not later.
That's just me though.
Rob
 
I have never chambered for the 20 Vartag but had a customer tell me he was sending in his components for a semi custom build reamer and gauges included. I was unaware that these rounds gave feeding issues ?? Any heads up advise on how to cure or avoid these feeding problems would be appreciated.

The 20 Vartag is based on the .221 Fireball case... just being a very short case makes it tricky to feed well consistently... just like making a 6mm BR feed reliably from a magazine. Remington produced a 221 in a 700 so I suspect using those magazine parts would make it work...
 
That is kinda what i was thinking. If they made it feed in a 17 cal with the 17 fireball, and they made it feed in a 22 with the 221 fireball, logic would suggest that a 20 cal should be easily doable??? One of the issues is that the case will let go, flip around, and end up back inside the action instead of flinging the case out. I know the feed ramp is different, and the location of the ejector is different on the fireball actions. However, trying to find a fireball action would have been a very tough chore. Unfortunately, this was all something I learned AFTER I had already bought the action. Some guys say the Sako extractor fixes this, but I figured I would leave this to the professionals to figure out and fix. Before I sent all the parts, the gunsmith assured me that they deal with feeding and ejection issues quite often, and it would be no big deal.

Regarding the quality of the rifles, they are a top notch builder, and a very well respected outfit. All of the rifles I have played with that have come out of their shop have been top notch. This is why I am very surprised they are treating the build like this.

My current plan of action is to wait until the end of the week, and see what kind of advice i get from all you guys. So far, you have all confirmed that I am not over reacting, and i am not out of line for wanting this over. Again, I'm a laid back kinda guy, but this is starting to annoy me.
 
I had a similar experience years back. Thinking it maybe the same outfit. When I did get my rifle it shoots great although I'm suspicious that the barrel is not mine.
 
Eight months is certainly a long wait ; but you are in a tough spot now as they have may have already torn the rifle apart . if you demand its return , hard to say what you will get.....
 
So I figured I should post an update and see if I could get some advice again.

I kept calling every 2 weeks to see what the deal was. I finally got a guy to say that they just couldn't get it to feed properly from a detachable magazine, but...and I quote...'it functions flawlessly as a BDL'. So I said I can live with that, as long as it works.

So 11 months later, they finally shipped it to me. The very first thing I notice, it will not feed rounds from the magazine at all. It jams every shot or every other shot. So I took t to the range to see how it shoots. It won't eject empties properly. It just flips them around and back into the action. It's also gouging the rims of the empty cases really badly. I'm beyond frustrated with this. By the way, the build was being done by Greg at corlanes. I'm not really sure what to do here. I'm considering driving the 8 hours from Calgary do Dawson to sit In corlanes, and staying there until the thing is right. I made sure to let them know about all the feed and extraction issues very clearly before I sent it to them, and they assured me that I would have a properly functioning rifle. The magazine box, spring and follower need to be replaced, and the extractor needs to be changed to get them to work. In my opinion, other than a single shot from a bench, the gun is currently unusable. I took it hunting coyotes and it jammed every almost every time loading the first round, and every single time on a second follow up shot.

Am I out to lunch in thinking that this gun should never have been let out the door with issues like this??? I feel like this is horrible quality control.


Any opinions on a course of action here would be appreciated.
 
Sounds like you waited a long time and got a pos. I feel for you, I would be choked.
What I don't understand is the attraction to cartridges that have reputations of horrible feeding.
 
This is a crappy situation and unfortunately one I've herd a lot of coming out of coralanes. If it was me I would get your own reamer and gauges and take it to one of the most reputable gunsmiths in the country how happens to live about 15min east of you. I have never had a gun take more than a week from him as long as I do my part and show up with everything needed to build it.
 
Seems to be the common theme. I'm wondering if I should even bother having them try to fix it? Or just take it to a reputable guy and take my lumps.

And Shawn, I'm assuming you are taking about henry Remple?
 
It's been 10 years now (wow time flies!!) but I dealt with corlanes almost weekly back then, and had many rifles built. Never had an issue!! Sold my last RMR about two years ago.

I wonder if they are just getting too big too fast, most of my dealings happened in their old shop uptown.
 
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