picked up my stuff from the gunsmith..
 

So I had some work done on some rifles recently at a well known gunsmith, who will remain nameless, and im somewhat displeased in the workmanship. I had some stock inletting and action machining done from the smith and it doesnt seem quite up to par with my standards of what a professional well known gunsmith should produce.

In my eyes when you have a stock inletted professionally, there shouldn't be chips or chunks out of the stock and straight lines should be straight not crooked in efforts to follow a straight line.

Also in my eyes, when there is machine work done on an action, you'd think they would clean out the fillings and shavings from the action to ensure nothing ends up where it shouldn't be or something getting damaged.

Now I'm not trying to raise a huge stink, but I'm thoroughly disappointed. The damage is already done on the stocks, and yes the actions could be cleaned (so long as there is no damage) but what are my options at this point? What would you do as a customer?

I did not have the time to inspect the work before taking it home, so I have yet to discuss this with the smith. I have been completely satisfied as a customer with them up until this point, and I would like to continue as their customer.

Thanks guys

pictures?

pics
 

I can take some pictures later, but the point is that they didn't go there in this condition

as far as the cleaning goes. well they should have cleaned it but it's easily done yourself. i wouldnt personally raise a stink over that.

the stock all messed up is another issue. i would just go back to the smith and ask him how he wants to fix it/ replace it. there's a reason you didn't just get toothless jimmy to go at it with a dremel you hired a professional. professionals fix their mistakes it's not that they don't make them.

Could have one of his underlings forgot to clean it up or did the damage and the actual gunsmith forgot to check his work over? I would go back to the actual smith and bring up your deficiencies with him and see what his stance is. You may be in for a good surprise.

if gunsmith takes money for his services he must do a proper, professional job. Otherwise, - he is just a crook :(

The fillings is kinda icing on the cake or salt on the wound type thing. I can clean it myself, but at the same time, its their name on the finished product.

That might be the case exactly that the work wasn't looked over

To me all this thread proves is we have become way to reliant on others' opinions. You have not even raised the issue with the smith, so good on you for at least not posting his name, but all in your first step is to go back to him and find out what he says.

Everyone makes mistakes, and if you have staff working for you then there will be even more mistakes. What you need to judge is how he deals with the issues and how satisfied you are with the finished product once he has fixed the errors. His previous work was fine so at least give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Let us know how you make out once you talk to the smith.

I agree with Dean2 in that you should talk to him about the work. If you have personally seen similar work done by him that is of higher quality then you know he is capable of better work. If similar work is the same as yours then he is working to the best of his ability and doesn't meet your standards. If that is the best he can do all I can suggest is let it go and don't deal with him anymore and be careful about recommending him to others. Everybody has a bad day and not everybody can meet others standards.
Go talk to him and see if you can work it out. If he becomes defensive and obstinate then chalk it up to experience. Who knows. He might surprise you and make things right. And not mentioning him by name is very respectful at this stage.

being fair!
 

I haven't been able to get back there yet because of work so I haven't spoke with the smith! Just looking for outside opinions and ideas on how to handle the situation. I will post pictures later and let you guys know what happens!

respect
 

Respect is everything! Im not looking to bash anyone, just looking for a solution

"And not mentioning him by name is very respectful at this stage"

This is merely a compliment on your handling of the situation so far. Many guys fly off the handle and start with the finger pointing before obtaining all the facts.

if you took your vacuum cleaner to a repair shoo, and it came back not repaired properly, what would you do?
come on the internet to pizz and moan about your dissatisfaction, or return it to have the problem solved?
are you 15 yrs old; not schooled in the ways of conducting business between two parties?
people need to grow up and grow a set; crying on the internet is not going to clean the shavings out of your action or repair your stock.
pretty hard for a guy to fix a mistake when he doesn't know about it.
now, if you place a call and recieve poor service after explaining the situation.......

this..
 

Take a step back and relax.. Im simply asking for opinions and experiences. When im off work I will see what happens.

And if he let the rifle leave his shop he should already know about it

Hope this isn't the same smith the last fellow was complaining about. I also hope its not the one I'm about to use.

Before you wait any longer give the individual or company a call to describe your concerns, then when time permits go back?

i think your missing the point of my post.

it appears that you are not aware of how normal business is conducted between a purveyor and customer.

rather than spend the 10 minutes on the computer complaining about poor service you received while you were at work, you should have taken 5 minutes to call the smith to see what he had to say about how a gun got out of his shop in the condition you describe, while you were at work.

if you took the gun to a large shop; ie, more than 1 guy working, the 'boss' may have missed the final inspection on the gun before it went out the door.

if it's a 1 man show, then we know exactly where the responsibility lies. (still lies with the 'boss', no matter how the gun slipped by.)

like i said, if your call to make the shop aware of the problem is met with poor service from there, then you have a reason to rant.

looking forward to hearing how the situation is handled. lee

rifle #1
 

This is the first rifle, I have owned it since new. Its a stainless fluted Remington 700 in an hs precision stock. I dropped this one off Nov 14

rifle #2
 

This is rifle #2, Remington 700 stainless in a hs precision stock agian. I've owned it since new. Dropped it off December 9th

I would be super ticked off. Super ticked off. The guy is not a craftsman and is on the sauce while at work. Wow.

Id be more than ticked off. I can even imagine paying for someone to destroy my guns.

Change your heading to; Picked up my stuff from the butcher.

Ouch!!! Nuff said.

Not to stick up for shoddy work but....I have an HS precision stock that hasn't been abused and it is chipped in a similar fashion without having anything done to it....

LC

Time to bed and repaint.......

assuming the stocks were new, and needed fitting to your metal, you definately have something to be pizzed about.
if the guy had issues fitting, there should have been a conversation upon pick up for sure; i know in my business if things change such as estimates or more work required than originally discussed; communication starts right away.
if that can't happen for whatever reason; i make sure i deal with the customer personally asap.
so what did buddy say when made aware of your frustration?

It looks like he used a drunken beaver to notch that out! Dude, I'd be ****ed and tell the guy he just bought himself a couple stocks.

And if he won't replace or reimburse, I would be posting this on every outdoor forum I could join. The Internet works both ways.

This is a whole different animal than failing to clean a gun after working on it like the other dude was doing.

And I wouldn't be accepting a "repair" either.

I feel bad for you, AMisler.

One thing I can tell you about those stocks is they tend to chip easy. If there was any kind of void in the stock when milled it will chip away like that, I've had it happen more than once. Like double gun had said the solution would have been to bed the bottom metal and either touch up the chip or repaint the whole stock. I think the smith should have made you aware of the damage there is no way he could have missed it.

Nope.
Something stinks here.
I am giving zero input on the quality of work. I am the last guy to ask about that sort of thing.
How have you pist and moaned this long on the internet but not called the guy?
Call the guy, ask for an explanation.
Maybe those are speed holes (to make it shoot faster)

Maybe your stock looked like that to start with. (I'm not calling you a liar. Maybe you haven't looked so hard at your stock as when it came back from the smith?)
Maybe you like drama on the internet? (And who doesn't?:) )