I picked up a Water Pistol at an auction, started looking for a spare magazine for it. Epps had the only one in the country. Trouble was that it was between pension days.
So I e-mailed them..... and they HELD IT until my Money Order got there (I have no plastic)..... and shipped it out right away.
Can't fault the service at all!
On the other hand, it is the only place where I nearly got my head bitten off for asking a question! (Long story, but it was when I finally met Ellwood - a lifetime ambition for a Prairie kid. I asked what he thought of the Ross Rifle and he exploded! Turned out we were on the same side..... and it was a WONDERFUL experience to meet this GREAT Canadian. So nice that his traditions are being carried on.)
When he was working at one of the mines out of Whitehorse he came to visit my next door neighbor in the Okanagan in BC. He made some pretty fantastic claims about his 303 improved in either a No4 or P14 action. I had one of both that had been cut back and asked him if he would build one for me. He was just getting to be famous back then and getting written up in some of the US gun mags.
That's when he laid down the boom. He wouldn't work on just any rifle and as often as not preferred to use a commercial rather than a military barrel unless it had perfect specs and a perfect bore. Even then, he liked more meat around the chamber for stiffness.
Anyway, he slugged the bore on the No4 and rejected it out of hand. Then he did the same on the P14 and did the same thing. I didn't know enough about such things then and to my surprise he was willing to explain it to me. So to make a long story short, he picked the No4 MKI that was built by Maltby and told me if I was willing to pay the piper he would install a barrel and chamber it to 303 Epps Improved.
After about 6-8 months the rifle appeared with the bill. I went through a bit of shock when I saw it. The custom rifle cost me more than a new Remington or Winchester would have. I bit the bullet and didn't complain. In those days, getting funds to Whitehorse was a much more tedious process than it is now. The money had to be WIRED and the transaction wasn't cheap. I didn't make much in those days and the rifle cost me about two weeks wages with a bit of OT thrown in by the time everything was said and done. The rifle was gorgeous. Nicely figured Birdseye Maple for the fore end and butt with a walnut diamond shaped inlay one each side of the butt and fore end. Then he did a very rare thing, he checkered the pistol grip and fore end then added a sweeping wooden grip cap made of ironwood he had scrounged from the mines. Not only that but he made up a set of sizing and seating dies from the extra barrel length. Fireforming was mandatory.
Well that little rifle, complete with scope only weighed in at 8 pounds. Ellwood loved them light and handy.
That thing bucked and kicked like the proverbial mule. I still have a scar in my eyebrow from the scope it wore, which was a German made item for Weatherby. That was class glass in those days.
I never did find anyone with a chronograph in those days. I always used the exact load he had worked up for the rifle and all looked well but by today's standards and what I know now about the strengths of receivers, I would likely be a bit leery.
I wish I had kept that rifle but in all honesty, when it hurts to shoot there isn't any fun in it for me.
Anyway when Elwood got out of the business the fellow that took over seemed like a nice guy. That was quite a while ago but most I've talked to are satisfied with the store and its service.
