Gunsmiths gone bad?
- Thread starter HeadDamage
- Start date
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
When you work in industry doing custom machining with exotic materials, it has to be done right the first time EVERY TIME.
There are good machinists and there are incompetent machinists. Same as gunsmithing, same as any other trade.
Personally, I do my own work. I have the tools in the garage and if I can't get it done there, I take it to work.What they don't know doesn't hurt them.
The guy I use for stuff like tuning martini triggers, making claw mounts for drillings, manufacturing rails, and other stuff that would cost an arm and a leg ( if a good gunsmith could find the time to do it) is a Checeslovakian trained tool and die maker who is working here as a general machinist.
he is very good at what he does, but does it for fun. I always pay him much more than what he charges me.
Cat
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My reviews to date:
Tactical Ordnance: Awesome! I've had several firearms worked on and have been impressed with the work everytime. He's my current go to guy when I can't complete a job myself.
Bits Of Pieces: Excellent work for the few requests I've had him do, but very busy (at least it was when I was seeking smithing services) so the waits were long.
DLASK: Dlask is more of a factory now so emphasis is not so much focused on smithing than it is producing - Jo's work is great though and he can do almost anything with his massive shop. If you need something special done and no one else can help you - DLASK is where you go.
...I do my research and there are too many horror stories to go with the other smiths in BC (along with the praises) to make me feel comfortable in sending off firearms to them to be worked on.
Tactical Ordnance: Awesome! I've had several firearms worked on and have been impressed with the work everytime. He's my current go to guy when I can't complete a job myself.
Bits Of Pieces: Excellent work for the few requests I've had him do, but very busy (at least it was when I was seeking smithing services) so the waits were long.
DLASK: Dlask is more of a factory now so emphasis is not so much focused on smithing than it is producing - Jo's work is great though and he can do almost anything with his massive shop. If you need something special done and no one else can help you - DLASK is where you go.
...I do my research and there are too many horror stories to go with the other smiths in BC (along with the praises) to make me feel comfortable in sending off firearms to them to be worked on.
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Interesting thread.
Having swapped a few shootin' irons around the country, I have seen some pieces that would make a grown man weep. Some were obviously the work of home hobbyists, some the work of men whose gun was a tool and so he fixed it as best he could with whatever was at hand, but yes some of the stuff was done by so-called gunsmiths.
My own personal horror story was a British fellow who called himself a Master Gunsmith. He had a good reputation locally, so I took a Franchi semi-auto 12 gauge to him to have the barrel cut and crowned and the receiver tapped and fitted with a scope mount, rings and scope. When I picked up the gun, it looked very pretty indeed. When I sighted the gun in with slugs, the scope ripped free of the receiver and opened a dandy hole in my skull. The medical folks said it could have killed me..............because that moron put stainless screws in a thin aluminum receiver................. So when I wanted to discuss his work, and my ruined gun, he would not even talk to me, just referred me to his insurance company. Shortly thereafter he moved to BC and is one of those guys that you west coasters are complaining about I reckon.
My smith is our very own smoji here on the board. He will tell you up front whether he can do a job or not (for example he does not do shotgun choke work), is not afraid to say he doesn't know something when he doesn't know it, and does excellent work for extremely reasonable prices. I dare say he is one of the best guys in Canada for stock repairs and refinishing - and personally have never seen ANYBODY's work on wood that I thought was better. I have sent a lot of guys to him for gun repairs, and all of the feedback from them is also highly positive. And yes he does take guns by mail or courier and ships them back to the customer. I highly recommend him as an honest, competent, good guy to deal with.
Doug
Having swapped a few shootin' irons around the country, I have seen some pieces that would make a grown man weep. Some were obviously the work of home hobbyists, some the work of men whose gun was a tool and so he fixed it as best he could with whatever was at hand, but yes some of the stuff was done by so-called gunsmiths.
My own personal horror story was a British fellow who called himself a Master Gunsmith. He had a good reputation locally, so I took a Franchi semi-auto 12 gauge to him to have the barrel cut and crowned and the receiver tapped and fitted with a scope mount, rings and scope. When I picked up the gun, it looked very pretty indeed. When I sighted the gun in with slugs, the scope ripped free of the receiver and opened a dandy hole in my skull.
The medical folks said it could have killed me..............because that moron put stainless screws in a thin aluminum receiver................. So when I wanted to discuss his work, and my ruined gun, he would not even talk to me, just referred me to his insurance company. Shortly thereafter he moved to BC and is one of those guys that you west coasters are complaining about I reckon. My smith is our very own smoji here on the board. He will tell you up front whether he can do a job or not (for example he does not do shotgun choke work), is not afraid to say he doesn't know something when he doesn't know it, and does excellent work for extremely reasonable prices. I dare say he is one of the best guys in Canada for stock repairs and refinishing - and personally have never seen ANYBODY's work on wood that I thought was better. I have sent a lot of guys to him for gun repairs, and all of the feedback from them is also highly positive. And yes he does take guns by mail or courier and ships them back to the customer. I highly recommend him as an honest, competent, good guy to deal with.
Doug
CptnBlues63
Regular
- Location
- Northern Alberta
I bought a Savage 99C sight unseen from a gun dealer in SK as recommended by my uncle (I'm from SK originally).
When I received it I immediately inspected and the first thing I noticed was that the lever wasn't tight to the underside of the stock. It had about 1/2 to 3/4's inch play in it. If I removed the magazine and slapped the side of the stock, the action would just fall open. Also, even with the magazine in, you could push down on the back of the bolt and again, the action would pop open. It didn't feed shells properly either as the bolt seemed to run about 1/4" lower than it should.
Not wanting to part with this gun I took it in to a gunsmith in Edmonton. Now, I'm not sure about whether or not naming them is appropriate in here but I'm going to and if it's not, my post can be removed or edited.
Company name is: Lock and Load
The guy at the counter told me it was probably a loose locking bolt and they could fix it no problemo. Feeling much better, I left it with them and picked it up a week later. I immediately inspected it and saw no difference. I looked at the guy who had told me over the phone, "It's all fixed" and raised an eyebrow and said I didn't see a difference. I popped the mag out, slapped the stock lightly and watched the bolt pop open in front of him and asked him just how much he wanted to charge me for this "repair".
His answer was "nothing" so I agreed that was fair considering how well he'd repaired my rifle and left.
I got a takedown guide online (for $8.00) and went over to my hunting partner's house. He had a .300 Savage 99 he had to put the firing pin back in and we took them apart side by side.
End result was........now nobody laugh here ok, what I discovered was that the Lever Bushing was terribly worn. I replaced mine with my partner's and VOILA, like a new gun. Action worked perfectly and there was no slop, no falling open and it fed shells properly.
I ordered replacement bushings and screws from Numrich Gun Parts
http://www.e-gunparts.com/
and had 4 sets (brand new) within a week.
When I received it I immediately inspected and the first thing I noticed was that the lever wasn't tight to the underside of the stock. It had about 1/2 to 3/4's inch play in it. If I removed the magazine and slapped the side of the stock, the action would just fall open. Also, even with the magazine in, you could push down on the back of the bolt and again, the action would pop open. It didn't feed shells properly either as the bolt seemed to run about 1/4" lower than it should.
Not wanting to part with this gun I took it in to a gunsmith in Edmonton. Now, I'm not sure about whether or not naming them is appropriate in here but I'm going to and if it's not, my post can be removed or edited.
Company name is: Lock and Load
The guy at the counter told me it was probably a loose locking bolt and they could fix it no problemo. Feeling much better, I left it with them and picked it up a week later. I immediately inspected it and saw no difference. I looked at the guy who had told me over the phone, "It's all fixed" and raised an eyebrow and said I didn't see a difference. I popped the mag out, slapped the stock lightly and watched the bolt pop open in front of him and asked him just how much he wanted to charge me for this "repair".
His answer was "nothing" so I agreed that was fair considering how well he'd repaired my rifle and left.
I got a takedown guide online (for $8.00) and went over to my hunting partner's house. He had a .300 Savage 99 he had to put the firing pin back in and we took them apart side by side.
End result was........now nobody laugh here ok, what I discovered was that the Lever Bushing was terribly worn. I replaced mine with my partner's and VOILA, like a new gun. Action worked perfectly and there was no slop, no falling open and it fed shells properly.
I ordered replacement bushings and screws from Numrich Gun Parts
http://www.e-gunparts.com/
and had 4 sets (brand new) within a week.
Pathfinder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northeast Ontario
Has anybody here dealt or know John Rempel (JRS Custom Gunsmithing) from Toms Lake (or Dawson creek) B.C. ?
Steve David
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Oshawa, Ontario
I have personally had great experience with Rick at ATR and Stelios at SC Gunworks Stelios is the true meaning of old world craftsman. Ones that I will stay away from are Longs, the new ownership, apparently his son, is terrible, he screwed up a simple shotgun sight, also Jeff at Valley is someone I would never deal with. He was supposed to do a rifle rebarrel for a good friend of mine and 15 months later and $600.00, the gun is now at TAC-ORD getting a new barrel installed with the old one not having a round fired through it. When Casey started to turn the barrel out, after the first turn the barrel wobbled in all directions, and also, the quality of the finish, which was supposed to be Duracoat was not as good quality a BBQ paint.
I`ve dealt with a few and for the most part the where fine but I have had 2 real standouts, one really good and one pure garbage.
Gunnar is pure garbage in my book, all this guy did was lie to me and what I got back from him was garbage.
Casey at Tac-ord is pure class and knows how to run a business, straight forward, good comunicator and awsome work.
Gunnar is pure garbage in my book, all this guy did was lie to me and what I got back from him was garbage.
Casey at Tac-ord is pure class and knows how to run a business, straight forward, good comunicator and awsome work.
I've only had one job done at a gunsmith. Just recently I took my 870 express into Safari Gunsmithing (Dave Fuller) in Calgary to have the front pressed in bead removed and a hole drilled and tapped for a tru-glow sight.
I called him before I brought the gun down and asked what it would cost. He said $20, easy job.
He's old and gumpy as hell which should have been the first sign for me to leave. Second sign was all the rifles he had stacked up on his bench. All leaning up against each other. Lots of people will be taking damaged rifles home. Not even slightly professional. Figured it probably just went with the job.
I show him exactly what I want and tell him there isnt a rush. Take all the time he needs.
2 days later a friend (who also dropped off a rifle for some work) calls me and tells me mine is done. The guy calls my buddy to tell him about his rifle and says..."tell your buddy with the site his gun is ready and come and get it right away, I want it out of here"
I go in after work one day (dressed up in my Corporate clothes). The price is now $30. I asked how the price has changed and he said "I told you $30". Whatever! Now annoyed, I give him $30 and I take my shotgun and head outside to my truck.
I go to put the gun on the backseat of the truck only to find the tru-glo sight has already falled off. I spend the next 20 min crawling around in the alley behind his shop on my hands and knees (in nice corporate office job clothes) to find the tiny little sight.
Now I'm really mad. I go to screw the sight back in only to find that he did a half-a$$'d job. He ground off the old bead sight and started drilling it but it obviously gave him grief so he just drilled a new whole right behind it. The new tru-glo sight covers the origional hole mess but now I'm stuck with using the tru-glow sight. Cant ever go back to a bead sight.
When I got home, I used a dremel, cleaned out the origional bead sight hole and put some black silicone in there to keep the water and moisture out.
I loctite'd the tru-glow sight in so it wouldnt fall out (because you couldnt tighten it all the way due to the thread timing from when he taped the hole).
Quick version of my experience with Safari Gunsmithing:
- change in price
- didnt do what I asked
- new hole not drilled in the wrong location
- new hole tapped incorrectly (bad thread timing)
- left vice marks on both sides of the barrel
When I called him a couple days later after I had a chance to calm down, all he said was "I did what you asked for".
All I can do now is warn people to stay away from this clown.
On a more positive note, a couple days later I was over at Aberta Tactical Rifle to purchase some Gunjuice and had quite a good talk with Rick.
I didnt have any gun work done by him but the fact that he came out and spent time talking with me shows he understands what customer service is.
I called him before I brought the gun down and asked what it would cost. He said $20, easy job.
He's old and gumpy as hell which should have been the first sign for me to leave. Second sign was all the rifles he had stacked up on his bench. All leaning up against each other. Lots of people will be taking damaged rifles home. Not even slightly professional. Figured it probably just went with the job.
I show him exactly what I want and tell him there isnt a rush. Take all the time he needs.
2 days later a friend (who also dropped off a rifle for some work) calls me and tells me mine is done. The guy calls my buddy to tell him about his rifle and says..."tell your buddy with the site his gun is ready and come and get it right away, I want it out of here"
I go in after work one day (dressed up in my Corporate clothes). The price is now $30. I asked how the price has changed and he said "I told you $30". Whatever! Now annoyed, I give him $30 and I take my shotgun and head outside to my truck.
I go to put the gun on the backseat of the truck only to find the tru-glo sight has already falled off. I spend the next 20 min crawling around in the alley behind his shop on my hands and knees (in nice corporate office job clothes) to find the tiny little sight.
Now I'm really mad. I go to screw the sight back in only to find that he did a half-a$$'d job. He ground off the old bead sight and started drilling it but it obviously gave him grief so he just drilled a new whole right behind it. The new tru-glo sight covers the origional hole mess but now I'm stuck with using the tru-glow sight. Cant ever go back to a bead sight.
When I got home, I used a dremel, cleaned out the origional bead sight hole and put some black silicone in there to keep the water and moisture out.
I loctite'd the tru-glow sight in so it wouldnt fall out (because you couldnt tighten it all the way due to the thread timing from when he taped the hole).
Quick version of my experience with Safari Gunsmithing:
- change in price
- didnt do what I asked
- new hole not drilled in the wrong location
- new hole tapped incorrectly (bad thread timing)
- left vice marks on both sides of the barrel
When I called him a couple days later after I had a chance to calm down, all he said was "I did what you asked for".
All I can do now is warn people to stay away from this clown.
On a more positive note, a couple days later I was over at Aberta Tactical Rifle to purchase some Gunjuice and had quite a good talk with Rick.
I didnt have any gun work done by him but the fact that he came out and spent time talking with me shows he understands what customer service is.
So far I have had work done by Gunnar...Top shelf, like everyone says. Very pleasant guy to shoot the breeze with too. You get the sense he's taking a minute to rap with you on the phone even though he has about a hundred thousand things do to.
Jeff Smith, another guy I think really highly of. He knows his stuff, charges a fair price and gets the turnaround done pretty snappy.
My favourite tho is Fritz Matti of Matti Fine Arms in Blue Sea, QC namely because he actually taught me a few tricks of the trade. Older Swiss gent, and one hell of a craftsman!
Jeff Smith, another guy I think really highly of. He knows his stuff, charges a fair price and gets the turnaround done pretty snappy.
My favourite tho is Fritz Matti of Matti Fine Arms in Blue Sea, QC namely because he actually taught me a few tricks of the trade. Older Swiss gent, and one hell of a craftsman!
Safari Gunsmithing
My experience wasn't as bad as yours. But, he will never get my business again either. Hard to believe some of these guys stay in business. Russell's should stop giving out his info.............
My experience wasn't as bad as yours. But, he will never get my business again either. Hard to believe some of these guys stay in business. Russell's should stop giving out his info.............
Recently got two of my revolvers back from a 'smith that comes highly recommended here. The side plate screws are mangled and the same goes for the mainspring screws. Christ, they don't even match anymore. He put the new sights on the wrong gun because he mixed the tags up but he 'made it right' but the front sights have peening and marks on them because he used the wrong type of hammer. Both guns were rock solid reliable when I took them in and now one isn't: I'll shoot another 300-500 rounds through it before I bring it back... I was curious and asked some guys and store owners about this 'highly recommended' gunsmith and the general consensus was he runs 'hot and cold'. I must have caught him during a cold spell......my gunsmithing needs go out of Province from now on.
I have had hit or miss with one ofthe local stores in the next town over, they did an excellent job installing the sights on my 1911, and have done other work great.... BUT I got them to install a nice mcmillan kevlar edge stock on on mdl 70 featherweight and they did not free float it, what kind of company Fits and beds a rifle in an $800 stock and does not free float the ####ing barrel ???
man I was pissed, the barrel was tight in the stock from the tip of the stock right to the action.
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I have had great service from armco, alberta tactical rifle, darrel marsh gunsmithing and a couple others I forget..... recommend all of the above 100%.
man I was pissed, the barrel was tight in the stock from the tip of the stock right to the action.
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I have had great service from armco, alberta tactical rifle, darrel marsh gunsmithing and a couple others I forget..... recommend all of the above 100%.
