Originally Posted by
Bill Riehl
I'll shed some light -
A few things happened, and a SME on the forum took it upon himself (without what I would term due diligence) to "protect the public" against me. The things I did, as they were disclosed to me by said SME:
1. I had Todd's Warren gun for about a year. We all know the situation, and Todd said "no rush." I took a bunch of pictures, measurements, and so on. Shot it with John Johnston one afternoon for accuracy and feeding evaluation. Neither he nor I noticed anything about the gun. Stuck it back into it's box, put it under my desk waiting to send it back. Sat there for about a year. Todd said he was ready, and I sent it home. Todd sent me an email describing rust on the MSH. I missed the email, and never responded. Not really sure what happened. I talked to Todd, he said wasn't an issue, as it came off with a little solvent and wire brush.
2. I coated some magazines and AR BCGs for a company. The SME claims someone at the company said I ruined them. Another person, a user of the mags and BCGs claimed otherwise. And stated so in an email to the both of us.
3. Apparently, Todd's SIG that I worked on a couple years ago went back to Todd shooting something like 16" high. It shot nearly POA/POI when I sent it. When I found out, I asked for the gun back to see what was up. Never received the gun or any word on it again.
4. I tried to coat Todd's Burton gun, and could not blacken it to the standard that one would expect from Heirloom. I took a LONG time, and many many tries to get it there. We ran out of time, and I sent the gun back to Jason. The gun had feeding problems, and a discussion with Jason indicated it had nothing to do with my work. I also ruined a mag catch, and recoil spring guild in my many attempts at plating it.
5. I tried coating an LW Commander for Jason. Again, a blackened gun. And again, after many many efforts and tries, I didn't get the quality needed, and ran out of time. The gun went back, and was bead blasted to clean it up prior to anodizing. During that, a small section of the checkering broke through. The SME claimed it was my fault, and my process ate through the frame. Checking the frame with Jason indicated that no other part of the gun was out of spec, nor was any part pitted or damaged. Likely, it was just a thin front strap to begin with.
These were the "charges" leveled against me. I cannot verify any details concerning the SIG or the Warren gun.
And I will also note, all of these jobs were done without pay.
In addition to this, I ruined a few magazines for members here. I sent either replacements or checks to cover their cost. If I missed you please contact me, and I'll get a check to you right away.
I did not quit the forum because of this, as anyone who knows me can say, I simply focused my time and efforts on my real job. I was getting burned out on my actual job, and turned my attention for a bit on my hobby.
I don't really think I need defending, as I said, everyone who I did work for knew it was R&D, not ready for commercial work. And no one ever paid me a dime to do any work for them. Todd included.
I personally chock this up to a high stress level on the SME's behalf, and do not hold any grudges or anything of the sort. Life is too short for pissy internet behavior (of which I've done my share).