What was the final resolution with your rifle? Asking as someone who also has skin in the game with MARS.
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This thread has taken a right turn, mods may want to split this off...
Sorry if my post misled, my situation was not with MARS.
My situation happened in 2010 with another local gunsmith. He was putting a new barrel on an action for me and originally quoted 4-6 weeks. It ended up taking 5 months and he finally finished when I threatened to come pick up the action and take it somewhere else. When I shot the finished product, it shot great but left lines in the brass so the chamber wasn't done properly. He took it back to finish it and since it wasn't completed after another 12 months, I took it to another guy who refinished the chamber.
A good friend put down $2,900 on a custom rifle, from a well known gunsmith in Wyoming, and was promised 6 weeks. He ended up getting it almost a year later.
This story can be repeated a thousand times. I honestly don't think that there is a lot of money in gunsmithing until you get a good reputation going and can charge whatever you want. Since my last experience I have found a guy who is 5 minutes from my house, turned around my project in 2 weeks for a reasonable price, and the gun shoots fantastic.
SC
if you have a quality guy local whose turnaround can be measured in weeks, not months or years, you might consider having him to do whatever you want done sooner v. later. It seems like these folks, once the word gets out, their work becomes near unobtanium as well.
Generally:
I have only experienced this phenomenon in holsters. A local kydex bender made me wait months for a 2 week job. I had to go to the shop to collect my gear. No price break. No apology. He is no longer in business.
I am told that Cylinder and Slide back in the day had you cue up and they did not have you send in the pistol until your work window opened up. The result was the process might take a 12 to 18 month overall, but you were only out the pistol a 6-8 weeks.
The cynic in me thinks that a lot of these folks know that the "value/amount of loss" in a sub 1000.00 base pistol is not worth suing over in small claims court when it can cost you 300+ just to get the case filed and the guy served six states away. Add some value for your time to figure it all out and you are "losing" money to pursue it further.
I found an old pic!
https://i.imgur.com/4ODKxEn.jpg
Nice! Was that issued to you or just your first handgun purchase? ;)
That made me chuckle when I read it! :cool:
This old 1902 Military Colt .38 is quite a cool piece of hardware. When you handle it, you can see how the design evolved into the 1911/A1 that we all know and love.
Plus it has one or two rather unique features. I should probably take some updated pics and do a thread. It is a very neat old piece of history.
That big old chunk of steel it rests on is another interesting piece as well. A World War 2 USMC bolo machete. I can see how easily one could chop through whatever one needed with a piece such as that.
Cross posted in the leather gear, but...
This is my 1973 Colt Lightweight Commander.
https://i.imgur.com/27oyws7.jpg?1
I wanted a small lettering Colt and searched for a long time to find one in proper shape before I came across this one. Funny thing, it required me buying another one initially. However, I discovered it was a first year production Colt and in immaculate shape. I did not want to customize such a unicorn, so I stuck it in my safe and went back to searching for another early Colt, when I found this old gun, complete with a J Frame S&W rear sight. The work done on it was/is exceptional.
Me coming into this thread whenever I see Lost River has posted in it:
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