Ford's Custom Gun Refinishing Wait Time?

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AethelstanAegen

AethelstanAegen

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Does anyone know how long Ford's turn around is on a pistol refinishing (my 1911 frame is getting refinished)? I was curious if anyone had recently got a pistol back and how long it took from when you sent it in.

I sent in my 1911 4 months ago for warranty refinishing. About a month and half ago I heard that they had disassembled the pistol and were getting ready to start the process. A month ago when I called the said it would be a little longer with no elaboration. I wasn't able to reach them this morning and will try again later today.

They do great work but I wish they were a bit better at giving me some sort of timeline.
 
Call them and they will tell you. They were up front when I asked last time I sent the in.
 
6 months? It amazes me how these companies stay in business.
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Someone over at Cimarron told me they've had pistols in there since last November that haven't come home yet. So I guess I'll consider myself lucky if I see it 6 months. It does seem like an awful long time on warranty work (ie fixing some of their work that was messed up to begin with on a brand new pistol).

They certainly do great work, but if I ever have a gun I just want refinished (ie not warranty work which must be done by them) then I don't think I'll send it in to them. It won't be too long before they've had the pistol in their possession longer than I ever had it in mine.
 
Hunterdad said:
6 months? It amazes me how these companies stay in business.
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Well, if you think about it, most small companies would be happy to have 6 months of work lined up.

The easiest way to shorten the lag would be to keep rising the price of their service until the demand goes down and they can turn it around in a shorter time...I think it is rather nice of them not to do that
 
AA, 10/20/12

When I was first looking for a refinisher I did a lot of research on both price and wait-time. I finally ended up with Techplate (www.techplate.com) and have had fourteen rifles and pistols refinished, as well as a bunch of mags. They have done Hardchrome, electroless nickel and one reanodizing (black) of an aluminum CZ Rami frame. I've always been very pleased and the items are usually back to me in 3-4 weeks. I do disassemble them before shipping however. Good luck, I hope yours finishes up soon.

best wishes- oldandslow
 
6 months? It amazes me how these companies stay in business.
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Well, if they have a 6 month lead time, perhaps that says something about the quality of what they do?

Afterall, its the end result, not the time and money spent that is the measure...
 
Well, if they have a 6 month lead time, perhaps that says something about the quality of what they do?

Afterall, its the end result, not the time and money spent that is the measure...
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There's no doubting they do a nice job. The high gloss blue they do is superb. It's just a bummer that the warranty work takes such a long time.
 
If they still do the same quality of their work that I have seen in the past I think the wait will be well worth it. Their polish work is second to none.
 
It is a challenge in the immediate gratification world we've become accustomed to to remember that craftsmen still exist and take the time and great pains to provide something that is a joy to behold to us. Few people appreciate the effort and time it requires and even fewer want to learn to put the effort and time in to producing something that is a pleasure to handle.
 
It is a challenge in the immediate gratification world we've become accustomed to to remember that craftsmen still exist and take the time and great pains to provide something that is a joy to behold to us.
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I understand this is true. And if I was sending in a gun (like my Colt 1903) to be refinished, I'd expect it to take a while. It's just frustrating that I'm having to part with my new pistol for 6 months of repair work. According to the guys at Cimarron, the pistol originally must have had a bad prep job before it's original finish and thus the finish quickly disappeared from large sections of the frame. My understanding is that Ford's does the finish for that version of the Cimarron 1911.

So I'm not a particularly impatient person, I'm just annoyed that it's taking so long to fix a problem with my new pistol that shouldn't have been there in the first place. Now it could be argued that Cimarron should do something about it, but I'm not sure what they could other than to replace the pistol entirely.
 
That would seem to be the obvious remedy.

After all, you bought a Cimarron 1911, not a Cimarron 1911 with finish by Ford. I would have expected that issue to be between Cimarron and Ford
 
That would seem to be the obvious remedy.

After all, you bought a Cimarron 1911, not a Cimarron 1911 with finish by Ford. I would have expected that issue to be between Cimarron and Ford
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My communications with Cimarron seem to suggest they're a little frustrated with Ford's over the slow speeds but as you were saying that's the nature of the beast with such work. I did have Cimarron also do some repairs because the pistol was feeding very roughly (causing bullet setback etc). They fixed that and had it back to me in like a week and a half and it feeds anything now smoothly (including things I have no right to expect a 1911 to feed). So I can't complain about Cimarron's customer service (in fact I was very impressed). It's frustrating but as you guys said, the wait is rather unavoidable.
 
I personally think Cimarron is pushing their issue off on you. They contracted with Ford for a service, they inspected it before shipping it out for sale...it must have passed their inspection at some point...they should be standing behind it.

In my opinion, that would mean they should replace your gun with one without a flawed finish.

My reading of your OP, was that you had your gun refinished after it was purchased. I wasn't aware that Ford was refinishing factory pistols
 
I called them last week about getting a badly nickeled pistol stripped and parkerized. I was told that they were quoting a wait time of 22 week - but could NOT guarantee that it wouldn't be possibly much longer.
 
I went through this same exact headache. Bought a NIB Cimarron 1911 largely due to its gorgeous polished-blued finish, when I received it I found the slide to have permanent splatter marks all down one side. OP you should NOT have to wait 6 months just for the gun you wanted to be in the condition that it should have been. Call Cimarron back and stress that point. I usually believe that being polite is the easiest way from point A to point B but sometimes you just have to be the squeaky wheel.

In my case Cimarron was very friendly and genuine on the phone, and it was Ford's that was a PITA to communicate with. First phone-call with Fords was fine and dandy, I sent them my slide and waited... and waited. Just shy of two months later I started calling them every day just to check on status and they'd say they would call me right back and never would. Finally I get someone on the horn who seems to care and they tell me I'm looking at 20 weeks until I see my slide back... Outwardly I remained calm but I was angry and frustrated with that. I immediately called Cimarron back and told them how I felt about all that and they agreed with me and said they would get in touch with Ford's about fast-tracking my gun since it was 'their fault' that it wasn't as it should be (though I agree with a previous poster here that Cimarron also approved its imperfect condition). So they called Ford's and must have lit some sort of fire under their posteriors, as Cimarron called me back in a few minutes and said I'd have my gun back in less than a month. I got it back as promised just barely less than a month later, and have really enjoyed it ever since. I really love the gun, it's a keeper I won't be selling it, so it was worth the headache, but that shouldn't have happened and shouldn't have been as stressful and ridiculous as it was!

One thing that should also be said is the polished blued finish is very tricky to not screw up when finishing. It requires the bare metal to be absolutely sterile and is quite a process.


Best of luck, keep us posted here on your progress. Once you get your gun back, I'd bet you'll absolutely love it :)
 
iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns, it sounds like a very similar experience. Cimarron has been super friendly and responsive and I get the impression they're rather frustrated with Ford's. I'll give them a call but I'm also worried that if I rush Ford's, they won't put the same care into it they might...I don't know. But yeah, it's a beautiful finish (the reason I went with a Cimarron) and I love mine. It's a great shooter. Thanks for all the input, everyone! I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
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