From all the stories I've heard about old gun smith's taking forever and still not finishing the job, I would be very hard pressed to send anything to a shop that's too far away for me to go knocking on the door when my phone calls and emails go unanswered... It's a sad state of affairs when this sort of thing is par for the course, or at least seems to be from the stories on here...
OP I agree with others who say anything damaged while in the smith's possession is on the smith to replace at his cost, and any fitting ect required to make it work should also be on his dime.
