The fact this is an expensive project means it should be done in a professional way. If there's a credible delay you should be notified and possibly offered a discount, but just taking months to do a job that normally takes weeks is BS.
You do recognize the Smith is working for you, as in you are paying him money to do a job right. That means he should be working to satisfy you, you allowing him to waist months of your time (not to mention ours on this thread LOL) w/o negative consequences (like a discount or slap in the head) reassures him your an easy person to continue neglecting/abusing.
Go to this shop or call there and give this gunsmith some understanding on what quality customer service is, you could also remind him/her the reputation of their shop is going to sh*t on the internet as I and many others will now avoid dealing with this shop due to the delays you've faced on this project.
Or you could come to your senses and realize it's wasn't meant to be and request the rifle back asap in it's original form, allowing you the ability to re-sale it w/o losing your shirt over this ordeal (not to mention the expense of these modifications).
My recommendation is cancel the work and spend all that money on ammo. instead... However if you do continue and create what is sure to be an interesting (that's putting it nicely) firearm then please post the pic,'s asap as I'm always in for a good chuckle.
Cheers D
