I have decided I would like a customized revolver

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No apologies necessary- the Mylife outfit arouses quite a few legitimate concerns.
 
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I only have one custom revolver. I initially contacted Bowen, but he was too busy and wouldn't take the work. So Alan Harton got the job....a relatively simple order. He took my bright stainless .40 S&W Vaquero and re-chambered it to 10mm, added adjustable sights, and bead blasted the god-awful bright finish to a matte stainless. He did a great job, it cost next to nothing, and was done quickly. Here is the firearm:

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My issues with Reeder are twofold.

1. His work is cheaper (or at least it used to be) because he does less to his guns. Numerous times I've heard the argument from his fan club that Reeder's work is "just as good" but cheaper. It ain't. He doesn't linebore. He doesn't block the action. He doesn't enlarge the frame window for oversized cylinders. Nobody knows where he sources his barrels and cylinders from but he isn't making them.

His turnaround is quicker because he has a team of gunsmiths working for him. By his own words, all Gary does for the last several years is polish, "engrave" and blue. By "polish", I mean like a gorilla. By "engrave", I mean he places the stencils on the guns where he thinks they best fit and puts them on the EDM. They're all done with stencils, that's why some patterns don't really flow where they're placed. I've seen them run off the edge and others where they just end abruptly.

Reeder's guns are basically just gussied up factory guns. They are certainly not the hand fitted customs you'll get from Bowen, Huntington, Stroh, Harton, the late John Gallagher, Clements, Horvath, Linebaugh or a few others.

2. He's nuts. Gary has a great knowledge of handgun hunting and I appreciate that but he also thinks his way is the only way, no matter the subject. If you question him, he'll go ballistic. I've seen him go off on folks who simply asked about getting their old parts back or sending the gun without them. Gary must have a deal with someone to sell the old parts because he loses his mind over this. The liability thing is just an excuse. For years I watched him talk about what crap the Ruger Old Models were and how the New Models were superior in every way. Then he figured out he could make money converting Old Models to .44Spl. His fan club talked as if he invented the concept.

I think this is spot-on, and I’m not trying to get us off-topic from the original post, however, there are better (much better in terms of experience and technical expertise) when picking a GS to work on your gun, be it a revolver or pistol.

Disclaimer: I do have a couple of his Encore barrels in some wildcats he’s created, but not ever had him touch a pistol or revolver of my own. My own personal experiences and observations have been satisfactory with those Encore barrels, but I’ve had other ‘smiths work on my pistols and revolvers. It’s entirely one thing to cut up a piece of pipe - and an entirely different thing to work on, or build a quality handgun. You pays your money and you takes your chances, or caveat emptor.
 
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