$80 to re-blue SG barrel.....too much??

[Rob62]

I recently took an 18" vent rib Remington 870 barrel in for a new bluing job. The barrel was not damaged or pitted and I wanted and received a flat hot blue finish.

The finish turned out OK. When I received the bill I was a little surprised by the cost of $80. The gunsmith said that part of the reason it was so much was that he did not do the bluing himself, but had to ship it to someone else, so the $80 included shipping both ways.

I knew from previous dealings with this gunsmith that he did not do the bluing in house, but that he farmed bluing jobs out to another FFL/gunsmith, about 50 miles away. In this previous instance I was charged about $85 to blue a complete bolt action rifle. There was no mention of shipping the rifle to the other gunsmith - I presumed that the 'smith I was using simply dropped off and picked up the bluing projects with the other 'smith face to face.

So my question is how unreasonable is it to charge $80 to hot blue a single VR shotgun barrel, even considering shipping/insurance. Seems out of line to me with what the costs should have been.

Thanks for any thoughts or opinions.

Rob

 

[Dave Sample]

I think the price was very fair but you should have been advised of the cost before you OK'ed the job. There is a lot of work involved in bluing and a workman need to show a profit on the bottom line. Also, if you knew about this other guy, why didn't you just drive the 50 and give it to him and pick it up? I drive 35 miles each way to blue our PATRIOTS and am glad I can do it because the shipping would be $ 60.00 total for each gun. Long guns are cheaper to ship but it still would cost at least $20.00 for your gun. Let's see...................................$60.00 time 46......................Wow! No wonder I do it that way!