austinkroe Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Not sure if this fits within the rules but I will assume it does because I am not mentioning any names, if doesn’t my apologies to the mods. This all started back in may when I down to a gunsmith in my hometown (not KC) gunsmith to discuss having him build me a 9mm 2011. We discussed what I wanted and I gave him considerable leniency with how the gun would look. He claimed it would only take two weeks to complete the gun once he received all the parts. I had a summer job out of town so we agreed on August 18th as a deadline for the gun because that was the day I had to leave home for law school. After we had had several conversations and came to an agreement I put my deposit down. Towards the 18th of August I went to his shop with all the forms I needed to transfer the gun. When I showed up he informed me that the gun would not be finished on time because he couldn’t get a barrel from one of the companies that we had agreed on. I said that was fine and that I understood it was not his fault that he was not able to obtain all the parts in time. He was very apologetic and I was ok with it. It was not until the middle of September that he got the barrel in and this is where my frustration really begins. For brevity I will just list the excuses he has given me for not having the gun ready so far. He ran out of bluing salts or chemicals (I don’t exactly remember what he said). His aunt that he was close to died. He came down with a migraine. Things are busy at the shop. Needless to say I have been calling him with regularity to check in. The week before last he said he was really close to being finished ad that it should be done by the end of the week. So, I mailed out the check to finalize my bill. At the end of the week He had not finished so I called him. He said early next week it should be done. So last week when I had still not heard anything from him I called again on Friday. He claimed that he had just finished test firing it and that he was going to blue it on Monday and that he would mail it to me by this Wednesday. I did not hear from him yesterday so I called again to see what was up. Today he told me that the gun was at the engravers and he was not able to blue it yet. So, he once again has told me that it should be mailed out by “next week”. I feel like he is lying to me. I am furious about not having the gun in my hot little hands. He has put a foul taste in my mouth. I am hundreds of miles away from him so I cant go down to the shop to see how things are progressing and at this point I am not taking his word for anything. I have been more than nice and accommodating to him and my fuse has just about run out on this one. I don’t know what to do other than just rant about it to make myself feel better about it. I want to be able to trust other people but this has been a really shady deal. I am just so mad…I want my gun now. To quote Homer Simpson. “Sir, you will have to wait five days to get your gun.” “I don’t want to wait, I am mad now!” If you have any recommendations on what you feel I should do feel free to PM me. Other than that I would love to hear more crappy gunsmith stories so I will know I am not alone in this boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscbigdawg Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I'd give him one more week then go and get it. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Things are busy at the shop. That's the one excuse that would have really pissed me off! I had an experience similar to this a few year's ago. I bought a ciener .22 conversion for my glock 17. It didn't work very well. I went back to the guy I bought it from. He recommended I try different ammo. I tried every kind of .22 ammo he sold. I went back, and he asked me to give him my lower and the conversion so he could send it to ciener to check everything out. THREE MONTHS later, one of his employees called me and told me it was fixed and everything was working perfectly. Using the .22 ammo he recommended, I proceeded to the range to do some shooting. It wasn't working worth a crap. I went back to talk to him about it. Then he proceeded to tell me that because I had a 3.5# disconnector, it wouldn't work properly. I ended up selling the ciener conversion to a member here (after being honest about my troubles with it). I've never set foot in that store again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimel Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 The old "gun is at the engraver/finisher/beadblaster" line is the oldest lie in the book. Since it is "out of the shop" you can't ask to see progress to that point and you simply infer that it is just about done. So he is out of bluing chemicals/salts and that is an excuse but it is at the engravers? Your BS alarm should be going off big time here. A call to Brownell's can have every bluing chemical known to man on your doorstep in a couple days. Call his bluff and tell him to send it to you "in the white" so you can try it to see if there are any changes you want to make before finishing it out. If he comes up with another excuse then you can be pretty sure he doesn't have it anywhere close to finished. Time to go get your parts and your cash and find a different smith. A friend has had a high-end custom pistol in the hands of a well-known smith (who is also notorious for being slow) that is now past two years. It has been out for finishing for the last six months. My bet is that slide, barrel and frame have not even been mated yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
et45 Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 A gunsmith friend has had my S&W 28 since Jan.I usually see him once a month at our match but he has missed a few this year and so have I.He told me last week that it would be ready next match.He was honest about not fixing sooner as he has been juggling 3 girlfriends this year . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 He was honest about not fixing sooner as he has been juggling 3 girlfriends this year . I guess that's an acceptable excuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Just as a sidebar to the original post, when was the last time anyone had a custom gun delivered on time? I always double the reported lead time, most of the time it is delivered on my timeline or a hair earlier and all is well. I have only done 6 or 8 'full' custom guns, so maybe I am off a little but getting a gun back when the smith originally told me it would be back would be truly surprising. From my limited experience they all make excuses, whether true or not, to explain the delays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtm Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I have had two guns delivered on time or sooner by Benny Hill at Triangle, but never tell him you know me or you go to the back of the list! Ike Starks at Sports West used to be really good, you could set your watch by his delivery times, but I have no idea if he is still doing guns. KURT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liota Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 I'm with Kurt. Benny has delivered three guns (one was his own w/ magazines) and one barrell to me in short order. Can't beat it. I didn't even have to bat my eyelashes. Liota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscbigdawg Posted October 15, 2006 Share Posted October 15, 2006 Every gunsmith I've worked with has got my gun to me on the date promised except for Bob Londrigan and Benny Hill. Both of those were early. Must be something about Texas gunsmiths. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitman Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Your smith is blowing smoke. When I build a pistol for someone I call them if I run into problems, most other smiths I know will keep you up to speed on whats going on with your pistol especially if there are any problems with the build. We all add time to compensate for delays. And yes multiple girlfriends would constitute an invocation of man law #77. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 (edited) hitman, sure that isn't man law # 69? LOL didn't somebody else post a "what I hate rant" about a gunsmith in MO he kept shrugging off his end of the bargain, like w/in the past year?? yeah, I think it was the guy w/ the avator of him slipping at a match. yeah, that guy. PM him and see if it's the same guy. Edited October 16, 2006 by Chills1994 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moneypenny Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 If he's so busy maybe he just needs to send you his gun and let you get it finished by someone else.. because if he is so busy he doesn't need the money right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscbigdawg Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 When I first read this thread, I was thinking exactly what Chills said. The KC Metro area isn't that big. I'd like to think the word would have got out about less than desireable/performing 'smiths. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resjudicata Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 (edited) My suggestion is have him send it to you now without Blueing. You can refinish it yourself with Norrell's which has held up very well on some of my guns. Or send it to a reputable refinisher for hard chrome. Bottomline is get the gun so you can see what level of finish it is in. Then you can assess what he owes you for refund. Right now you don't have much information. BTW, where the hell have you been? You show up and kick my ass at Millcreek from out of the blue and never come back to receive my revenge? That isn't right. Chris Edited October 16, 2006 by Resjudicata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 Get the gun. Overnight it to Virgil Tripp and be shooting it in a week. (with an outstanding hard chrome finish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinkroe Posted October 16, 2006 Author Share Posted October 16, 2006 BTW, where the hell have you been? You show up and kick my ass at Millcreek from out of the blue and never come back to receive my revenge? That isn't right. Chris Chris, Don't worry I will be back. I was just waiting to get this gun to come shoot some more. You will have your chance to shoot against me again. To everyone, I called him today and we talked for a while. He has said he will have it out by the end of the week (Friday). I let him know that I expected it to leave the shop on Friday no matter what. I figured I should at least give him a week to redeem himself and make everything good. He was very apologetic and even gave me his cell number which I think is a very trusting thing to do. We also agreed that i will call him everyday to check in (I'm in school so I prefer to make the calls when I have time to talk). I am still hopeful that everything will turn out fine but if I dont get the right vibe by Thursday I will be taking everyones advice and getting my parts and running to someone else to finish the job. -Austin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resjudicata Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 BTW, where the hell have you been? You show up and kick my ass at Millcreek from out of the blue and never come back to receive my revenge? That isn't right. Chris Chris, Don't worry I will be back. I was just waiting to get this gun to come shoot some more. You will have your chance to shoot against me again. To everyone, I called him today and we talked for a while. He has said he will have it out by the end of the week (Friday). I let him know that I expected it to leave the shop on Friday no matter what. I figured I should at least give him a week to redeem himself and make everything good. He was very apologetic and even gave me his cell number which I think is a very trusting thing to do. We also agreed that i will call him everyday to check in (I'm in school so I prefer to make the calls when I have time to talk). I am still hopeful that everything will turn out fine but if I dont get the right vibe by Thursday I will be taking everyones advice and getting my parts and running to someone else to finish the job. -Austin Of course, I might not win next time either. On second thought, Stay Away. Getting his cell number does sound promising. Hope you get it soon. BTW, are you going to be shooting it in Limited? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hitman Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Chills you need to get the updated 07 edition. It used to be #69 but they uped it to 77 so you get 8 more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSEMARTIN Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I called him today and we talked for a while. He has said he will have it out by the end of the week (Friday). I let him know that I expected it to leave the shop on Friday no matter what. I figured I should at least give him a week to redeem himself and make everything good. He was very apologetic and even gave me his cell number which I think is a very trusting thing to do. -Austin If he doesn't ship your gun out friday, you should post his cell number so all of us can start calling him. We'll help you get your gun back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justinwb Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Gunsmiths are like friends, when you find a good one you tend to keep them around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I called him today and we talked for a while. He has said he will have it out by the end of the week (Friday). I let him know that I expected it to leave the shop on Friday no matter what. I figured I should at least give him a week to redeem himself and make everything good. He was very apologetic and even gave me his cell number which I think is a very trusting thing to do. -Austin If he doesn't ship your gun out friday, you should post his cell number so all of us can start calling him. We'll help you get your gun back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronEqualizer Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 If he doesn't ship your gun out friday, you should post his cell number so all of us can start calling him. We'll help you get your gun back. +10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Reminds me of why I had to reluctantly learn how to smith all my own guns. I always say that gunsmiths strut like movie stars and charge like brain surgeons. They charge $50 to answer a question... which seemed a little steep to tell me where the toilet was. This story reminds me of the MANY MANY home improvement projects that my wife has done to the house. Contractors ALWAYS juggls multiple jobs and the squeaky wheel gets the grease..... You are probably being punished for being a nice guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austinkroe Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 Well I finally got it in so I cannot complain anymore. After a minor problem with UPS I got it this past afternoon. I took it home for some SG and headed to the range. I would say after all the wait and the excuses it was worth it. Still wish I had felt the smith was being more straight with me in the process but the gun is flawless so I am happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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