Local Gunshop HORROR story

[GUNKWAZY]

I'm in one of my local Gunshops yesterday just BS'n as usual when another local gentleman chimes in about some guy wanting his Colt Revolver ported.
He said that his friend went to a local shop out here in Arizona and asked the shop owner if he knew of anyone that could port his King Cobra.
The shop owner informed him that he was capable of doing that for him. The gentleman went and gave the shop owner the gun, only to find out later that the owner ported the barrel himself with a hand drill. Also, get this, while doing the drilling, he broke a drill bit off in the barrel when it grabbed on the way through the hole. The drill zipped down through the barrel and made contact with the inside of the opposite side when it grabbed.
Thus breaking off the bit. It's too funny when you hear horror stories like that.
You guys got any stories of Home gunsmithing ?

Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

 

[grimjaw]

My own stories are too embarassing to list, but they only involve cosmetic damage, thankfully.

jmm

 

[P95Carry]

I think this can best rest in the gunsmithing forum - a salutary lesson to avoid ''amateurs''!

 

[homeka45]

Broke a mauser firing pin by incorrectly reassembling the bolt from memory...then broke a punch trying to get it apart. Good thing wildalaska offered to fix it for cost and shipping. I'm sure there will be fewer screw ups in the future, mostly because I recognize my limits.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Checkmate Custom in Florida made a horrible, unspeakably wretched mess of "refinishing" a Colt Python for me.

A local yokel did a so-called "action job" on another Python to produce a "two-pound" single action trigger pull that measured three pounds.

Another local yokel butchered a High Standard for me, which is now on the waiting list at http://www.cylinder-slide.com

You don't always get what you pay for, but you never get what you don't pay for.

 

[larry starling]

Sorry to hear about your horror storys, I think I would have lost it and said a few choice but very ugly words to the owner.....

 

[mnrivrat]

I have many regarding our somewhat local warranty repair shop . ( they have been in business for many years and do warranty repair for many major firearms brands ) : I'll share just one -

I took a M1 carbine into this shop to have a new barrel installed. When returned I couldn't get the bolt to completely close when chambering a round.

I returned the gun to the shop to have them re-check headspace. The smith took the gun back into the shop as I waited . He returned and gave me a few rounds of ammo to test fire the gun on their range. It chambered and fired them just fine so I made the 85 mile drive home.

At home I loaded the gun and went out to fire it some more and found that I was getting some rounds that would not completely chamber again. I took an empty brass and installed shims on the base to try to determine the headspace and discovered it was still not headspaced to spec.

When I called back to the shop to discuss this I found out that this long standing warranty shop did not have a headspace gauge for 30 carbine - nore did they have chamber reamers for it. I asked how he set up the headspace and found that he was removing material from the bolt face and was headspacing it to Winchester ammo, rather than to sammi specs. The owner would not stand behind the bad work " we set it to use Winchester ammunition which we feel is the best in the industry" was his reply - when I asked about sammi specs , he just repeated his reply.

I took the gun somewhere else and spent another chunk to get it properly headspaced.

 

[GUNKWAZY]

Wow, I posted this in the Revolver section due in part that us Revolver guys are always talking about porting. The good & bad about it. So I thought it was good for a laugh about the ugly side of non-professional Porting.
I didn't expect to get it kicked into smithing. Hhhhmmmmm


Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

 

[Spot77]

I heard some kind of rumor on some gun board once about some company called Bearcoat........

 

[FunYet]

I once paid to have a front sight added to one of my J-Frames. I should have become nervous when the gun wasn't finished 2 weeks in a row after the promised date because of a "backlog". I could tell there was something wrong when talking to the smith. When I finally got he gun back there were scratches on the barrel (I assume from a vice) and globules of glue, or some such matter, around the sight pin. It looked like he may have drilled the hole too large and tried to fill it in.

 

[45crittergitter]

Well, what you do is POST THE NAME/ADDY OF THE OFFENDING SHOPS here.

 

[BluesBear]

the owner ported the barrel himself with a hand drill...The drill zipped down through the barrel and made contact with the inside of the opposite side when it grabbed.

Sounds like justifiable homicide to me.