Do the custom makers have as good CS as STI?

[Sandbagger123]

i have been wanting a open DVC. but with the wait i might get a Ck or other brand. one thing i like about STI is that the warranty goes with the gun and the CS is pretty good. They will pay for shipping back and forth to have a gun repaired.

i have never owned a gun from a custom maker. Does anyone offer a warranty comparable to STI? If i were to have problems would i have to pay for shipping to them?

[Haraise]

Watch out... even if they do have customer service, you might be told they can't get to your gun for months or a year.

[Desmo412]

I was at a practice at the local club on a thursday night about 2 years ago. I was shooting the stage we set up and the gun turned into a single shot. I broke it down and found a snapped barrel link. The gun is a FGW custom open gun. Since it was late, I sent Bobby an email with a picture of the broken link. He responded and I shipped the gun to him the next day. The gun was back in my hands on Tuesday (probably would have been faster if there wasn't a weekend involved). He covered the repairs and the return shipping, but I did pay shipping to him. He may have even covered that, but he had been overly helpful up to that point so I didn't even ask. A buddy of mine with several Limcat open guns has had similar experiences when the gun needed to go back to Johnny for repairs.

Another time I developed a crack in my Brazos comp. I sent the gun to Bobby and he installed one of the (not even for sale at the time) Cheely titanium comps, drilled some barrel holes at my request, and shipped the gun back to me for no cost. I was basically doing some beta testing for him at that point.

[Hi-Power Jack]

and shipped the gun back to me for no cost. I was basically doing some beta testing for him .

From reading a few years' worth of posts here at BE, and some limited

experience I have with "top notch custom gunsmiths", I wonder (don't

have enough experience to generalize) if WHO YOU are makes a huge

difference in the service you receive.

Two different "custom" gunsmiths have provided me with sub-par service,

because I'm a "NOBODY" ... One corrected the problem after almost a

year very quickly when they confirmed that I was shooting at the Nat'ls

in a couple months. Before that, NADA.

Not saying this is universal (but it does sound a little bit like human

nature, doesn't it?), and I'm sure that many will tell us about all the

great service they've had in the past, but I'd be cautious of it.

Desmo has had some fantastic experience but he is "doing beta work"

for the gunsmith.

Also seems to make a big difference if the gunsmith is just getting

started and start up a business, or is about to get out of the business.

Both gunsmiths I had a problem with had spent years establishing

their reputations, but were (unknown to me at the time) about to

stop providing those services.

Just something to think about ...

[toothandnail]

Our CS is second to none. Ask our customers

Extremely poor CS is why/how we actually got into this business.

[Sarge]

I have heard great to horrible on virtually every gun builder, company, etc. this leads me to believe they all try extremely hard to have good CS but anybody can have a bad day. Sometimes I think the customer plays a big part in it that gets lost in the noise. There are actually not many companies in this genre that are known to be terrible to deal with.

Matt Cheely builds my guns and he had never failed to answer an email within a few hours no matter how dumb my question might be. My slide cracked last year and he was at the match. He took it home, fitted and milled a new one, and had it back to me in a week. And that was over Memorial Day weekend. He always pays my shipping if he even THINKS it's his fault. And, I still remember the time he offered to go over a Cheely gun a forum member wanted to buy in the classifieds. FOR FREE.

I think that qualifies as pretty good customer service

[blue edge]

First Bobby at FGW built my last one, Great job Im very happy with it! Thanks Bobby

A year or so later, Yes I did have a problem. I sent it back to Bobby he took care of it and shipped it back N/C

I have also had guns built by other big name gunsmiths CS has been pretty good also. I did have one big name gunsmith

tell me it was my problem !

[Desmo412]

Please realize though that I am just another customer to FGW. I just happened to need a new comp when they had just finished theirs. "Beta testing" was probably not the correct way to put it. I asked him to drill some barrel holes (he had advised against them) and then provided him with feedback and load data before and after. Ironically now the CK open guns come with holes.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Desmo412

[FowlShot]

I think any reputable gun maker will take care of you. As iterated before, good customer service will increase wait times. You're almost always going to have to wait for the good stuff.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kimberacp]

as I read the above posts. someone comes to mind in my area of southern California. Wil O Hara. Local guy, works out of his garage. Learn the trade on his own.

Two brand new STI Edge guns, barrel link broke from two different local shooters. Went to Wil, figured out why the link broke and fix them. Among other instances from other "known" gunsmiths that he has fixed issues with their work.

All of Wil's work is from ?work of mouth", no advertising, nada! And he has a two year wait, at least!

I know for a fact that when you get a gun from Wil O Hara, it will not break. period! I believe when you get a gun from a "big" time gunsmith, it should not break, unless the part was faulty.

Saturdays are open to all at his garage for small fixes or just "shoot the breeze" and BTW, he's only a mile or two from Norco run and gun matches.

FWIW