Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    NWPA, Pennsylvania
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    Default Refinishing a 760... time it should take?

    I took my grandad's 760 out to Sportee's gun shop (between Jamestown PA and Kinsman OH... like 1/8 mile into Ohio) back in January for some work. Grandpa never took care of his guns, so it was getting the steel re-blued and the wood refinished. I was told by the owner that it would be done in April, that's fine, was supposed to be a fathers day gift for my dad - getting his dads gun fixed up.

    Well here it is mid-August, gave the guy a call and I can't even get the guy to tell me how many more hours he needs to put in on it or when he expects to be done. Then he gets mouthy and starts telling me he can't get anything done if he's always answering the phone when I call to check on it.. I call maybe once a month, leave a voicemail (this call I'm talking about is the first time he's actually answered).. I remind him of that he starts yelling at me 'don't piss off your gunsmith!' over and over. Usually I have to drive the 25 miles to his shop to check and see if it's done after they don't answer the phone or call back for a week - and he's standing there BS'n with his buddy.

    I understand he's been having some health issues and has been in the hospital lately, but that's all I hear about when I ask if it's done. I'm not sure how many hours go into refinishing and reblueing but it seems to me that even if he isn't physically able to finish the job then he should have found someone who could or returned the gun to me a long time ago.

    Suggestions? Anyone know a competent gunsmith that could finish the job in the NWPA area?

    Sorry to make my first post here flaming a shop/gunsmith but I'm running out of options and patience.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    NWPA, Pennsylvania
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    Default Re: Refinishing a 760... time it should take?

    I just figured I would take a sec to update and close this out. I ended up getting the rifle back in pieces this September. The guy wouldn't answer the phone until I left a message telling him to set it outside in a box and I'll be by to pick it up tomorrow and that he wouldn't be getting paid. He demanded $100 for the unfinished wood work and made sure he had a loaded pistol in his hand when he greeted my father and I when we came to pick up the rifle. The pieces were on a shelf, he wouldn't even provide a box to put them in. Luckily we had some things in a rubbermaid tote in the van so I dumped it out and picked up the pieces. The guy did all he could to let me know that he 'knows everyone who blues guns for 100 miles' and he's gonna make sure nobody finishes the job for me. This was somewhat disturbing as my family heirloom was in pieces in a rubbermaid tote and I'm no gunsmith. When I got home I called and asked around a few places, A week or two later Tamarack Armory was recommended to me. I have Tamarack a call and they seemed agreeable, had never heard of the other guy, and said it should only take a couple weeks. I was going out of town so I left the money for it with my dad who dropped the pieces off and picked up a completed rifle just this December (2013). Tamarack Armory did an excellent job. I found out later that Sportees had shorted us some parts when we picked up the pieces in September, the gunsmith at Tamarack installed them adding an additional $19 to the cost.

    In anycase, It took a year but the rifle is looking like new and I figured out where not to do business.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Mohnton, Pennsylvania
    (Berks County)
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    7,194
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    Default Re: Refinishing a 760... time it should take?

    Good for you, glad it turned out well. Smiths are a slow lot, when it's good work it's ok but a year is just way too long unless he is god of guns or on his death bed. My pop left a watch at a jeweler for over twenty years. I couldn't figure that one out either. Mom and I forced him into calling the guy. They buffed the case to hell, something the guy said not to do way back then. At least it ran when he got it.

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