Opinions needed on repair of rifle

[JesterRock]

Looking for some personal opinions regarding my rifle that is being repaired. I dropped off an ak47 four weeks ago to a gunsmith to get canted barrel components straightened out. I was told to give him two weeks to repair it, and I'm starting to get concerned now four weeks later. The gunsmith has great reviews, and he specializes in building and repairing AKs. I called him a week ago just to check on the status of it, and I was quickly told that it wasn't ready. I'm really not in a hurry to get it back, but I also don't like waiting without knowing what's going on. I also do not want to keep bugging him (especially since he still has to work on my rifle). Anyone else have any experience regarding a similar situation? Am I being too unreasonable? This is really my first experience with a gunsmith so any opinions are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[d2wing]

If he is reputable I would wait and be patient.

 

[USAF_Vet]

If he said two weeks, you called at three and got a canned response, and it's now been four, it wouldn't be unreasonable to give a call and follow up in another few days. Like most gunsmiths, he's probably backlogged and underestimated his schedule when he said two weeks. It happens.

If he's reputable, you know he hasn't lost it and will get to it eventually, be patient but persistent in calling about it every couple weeks.

When it gets to the point where the delay is ridiculous (a time period only you can determine) let him know you'll be in (give the guy 24 hours as a courtesy) to pick it up. Then you can take it elsewhere, with the understanding that it may take the same amount of time to get fixed.

 

[Fast Frank]

As a guy that fixes things, I can tell you that it's frustrating having to stop fixing things and go talk on the telephone about something that isn't fixed yet.

Not only does it increase the amount of time that it takes to get the job finished and out the door, but it also prevents me from making any money during the time that it takes me to stop working, walk up to the front desk, look up the job, discuss why it's not done yet, guess how many more phone calls I'll have to answer, add that time to the the number of jobs in front of the one I'm talking to, and then go back to work.

If that takes ten minutes, then six of them shoot down a whole hour of my day.

There's a whole lot of people in the world that sit at a desk all day and talk to people. It's what they get payed for, and how they make their living. Of course these guys want to call and "Just Touch Bases" with their little project.

But when things get backed up and I'm at my busiest, this is a real hassle and totally kills production.

If you believe the guy is trustworthy, and his work is good, then leave him alone and let him make a little money!

I promise- getting a good check is why he is there and he doesn't get payed by the hour. He wants that job done more than you do so he can put some food on the table for his family.

 

[bainter1212]

As a guy that fixes things, I can tell you that it's frustrating having to stop fixing things and go talk on the telephone about something that isn't fixed yet.

Not only does it increase the amount of time that it takes to get the job finished and out the door, but it also prevents me from making any money during the time that it takes me to stop working, walk up to the front desk, look up the job, discuss why it's not done yet, guess how many more phone calls I'll have to answer, add that time to the the number of jobs in front of the one I'm talking to, and then go back to work.

If that takes ten minutes, then six of them shoot down a whole hour of my day.

There's a whole lot of people in the world that sit at a desk all day and talk to people. It's what they get payed for, and how they make their living. Of course these guys want to call and "Just Touch Bases" with their little project.

But when things get backed up and I'm at my busiest, this is a real hassle and totally kills production.

If you believe the guy is trustworthy, and his work is good, then leave him alone and let him make a little money!

I promise- getting a good check is why he is there and he doesn't get payed by the hour. He wants that job done more than you do so he can put some food on the table for his family.

As another guy who fixes things, I can tell you the best way to make sure you get those annoying calls is to promise something that you can't actually deliver.
I have found that it is best to overestimate times when talking to customers. That way if you get done early, the only possible reaction is pleasant surprise.
If something is going to take longer than planned, communicate that immediately to the customer. I can bust through dozens of phone calls of this nature in under an hour. This will "head off at the pass" all the annoying nanny calls. Plus you get a reputation of being highly communicative and your customers will trust you more because of this.

Unfortunately most people who repair things are *not* good businessmen. I have been forced to learn a lot of things about making people happy since becoming a business owner myself.

 

[hso]

Email him and start off recognizing he's getting lots of work because of the recommendations about his work so you know he's trying to meet an increased demand. Then ask him for a realistic estimate of when your carbine will be ready considering the 2 week estimate is now gone on to 3 or 4. Realize you're not rushing him, but you want to schedule your time so you're able to receive it.

 

[Jackal]

I too have a canted front AK sight, on my semi rare NHM-90 7.62x39. I tried fixing it myself (normally an easy job), but the Chinese press the front sight on and no amount of heating/lube/hammering would make it budge. I personally found that the best fix was a simple rear sight swap, to a windage adjustable Vepr/RPK take off. With the front sight now centered and not adjusted all the way to the right like it was previously, I dont even notice the cant through the sights. Might be an idea.

 

[dogtown tom]

Under promise, over deliver.......

awhendricks .... I was told to give him two weeks to repair it, and I'm starting to get concerned now four weeks later.

The first rule in giving a customer a "date of completion" is "Under promise, over deliver"......meaning if you KNOW you can have the project completed in two weeks, tell the customer six weeks.......that way when you actually finish the job in four the customer is ecstatic.

Promising two and not having it ready in four? Apparently he's not the best at managing his time.

Being short, curt or cryptic in his reasons why the gun isn't ready......warning signs that you need to go get your gun and find another gunsmith.

 

[orionengnr]

As a guy that fixes things, I can tell you that it's frustrating having to stop fixing things and go talk on the telephone about something that isn't fixed yet.

And it's equally frustrating being told one thing and later finding that that thing is untrue. And even more frustrating when the guy who is holding onto your piece of gear is blowing you off.

Once upon a time, I had a 1911 that I took to a local semi-"name" guy for the removal of an ambi safety and replacement/fitting of a single side safety. He said "two weeks".

A month later, I'm still waiting. Done. picked it up and took it to someone else, and have never spent a dime with him since.

I've been using the second guy ever since (ten years or so), and he has always been as good as his word.

 

[thump_rrr]

As a guy that fixes things, I can tell you that it's frustrating having to stop fixing things and go talk on the telephone about something that isn't fixed yet.

Not only does it increase the amount of time that it takes to get the job finished and out the door, but it also prevents me from making any money during the time that it takes me to stop working, walk up to the front desk, look up the job, discuss why it's not done yet, guess how many more phone calls I'll have to answer, add that time to the the number of jobs in front of the one I'm talking to, and then go back to work.

If that takes ten minutes, then six of them shoot down a whole hour of my day.

There's a whole lot of people in the world that sit at a desk all day and talk to people. It's what they get payed for, and how they make their living. Of course these guys want to call and "Just Touch Bases" with their little project.

But when things get backed up and I'm at my busiest, this is a real hassle and totally kills production.

If you believe the guy is trustworthy, and his work is good, then leave him alone and let him make a little money!

I promise- getting a good check is why he is there and he doesn't get payed by the hour. He wants that job done more than you do so he can put some food on the table for his family.

I am a technician and a business owner myself however if I tell someone 2 weeks and I'm at 3 weeks and still haven't looked at it I would give a revised time estimate and make sure I stick to it even if it means coming in early, leaving late, or even working on a weekend to get it done.
If I didn't have a time estimate I would have simply told the customer that it would be longer than what I thought.
If you tell somebody 6 weeks and you get it to them in 4 they would be happy versus telling them 2 weeks and taking 4.

 

[thebaldguy]

I once had a gunshop "forget" to let me know that repairs were done. I needed a new rear sight on a revolver and was told it would take a few weeks. Two months went by, so I finally called them. The work was done weeks ago and they claimed that "someone" should have called me. I picked it up, and told a manager that they need to do a better job of contacting customers. He just shrugged. That was the last repair I took there.

 

[gspn]

I've never met a gunsmith who could meet the timeline he gave me, OR communicate effectively. I live in a city of a million people, and I've only been able to find two gunsmiths that people recommend.

The guy I now use exclusively is extremely bad about this...but he is really good. This is how it usually goes with the GOOD smith:

Me: can you fix this?

Yep

How long do you think it'll take?

Ah...two weeks and I'll have it done.

Great.

Two weeks goes by with no word. At three weeks I call him.

Me: Have you had a chance to get to that gun? Is it ready?

Smith: I don't have it ready yet, but it's up next, it'll be two weeks.

This routine goes on, sometimes for months. He won't call and he won't do it in the time he says he'll do it in. But...he has hooked me up in a hurry before. I once had a problem with a gun three days before going out west and when he heard that he fixed it overnight. He had it back to me the next morning. He is a genius gunsmith with no business or communication skills. I've got no doubt that as I develop a deeper relationship with the guy my experience will get better. Heck, once or twice I decided to just wait for him to call me. 6 months later he called and apologized because the gun had been ready for a while and he just forgot to call me.

The other gunsmith was the same thing, except he wasn't as talented, and I caught his shop just blatantly lying to me about the progress of the gun just to get me off the phone. I'll never use that one again.

 

[joem1945]

I took my M1 to be rebarreled to a local smith (really old guy). I had the barrel and when i called him two months later it wasn't done. Excuse after excuse like my tool broke taking off the old barrel, my chamber reamer broke, on and on. He had it a year and I picked it up and drive 1 1/2 hours to a smith that did the work while I waited. I keep using this smith and he does good work. He is busy so I can't wait anymore for my stuff.

 

[230RN]

<total thread veer for the sake of a grin>

Reminds me of the old story about a guy in December 1940 who brought his shoes in for repair.

Shoemaker looks the shoes over, gives him a receipt, tells him "They'll be ready next Tuesday."

Pearl Harbor Day occurs, the guy runs down and enlists, is sent to the European Theatre, fights everywhere, rises to the rank of Sergeant, gets several high class medals, takes part in the D-Day invasion, is entangled in the Battle of the Bulge. (This can really be dragged out to make a shaggy dog story.)

Finally a month after V-E day in 1945, he's mustered out.

Finally gets home, finds the receipt for his shoes in his dresser drawer.

Goes down to the shoemaker to pick them up, presents the ticket.

Shoemaker goes to the back of the store, comes out in less than a minute, hands the ticket back to the guy and says, "They'll be ready next Tuesday."

</total thread veer for the sake of a grin>

 

[BSA1]

I am picky about who work on my guns and, as a result, am overly patient about getting the gun back from the gunsmith.

I have a gun that was promised in six months. It is a totally custom gun with a wildcat cartridge. Not only did he have the base gun but also a large cash deposit. Truth be known I totally forgot about the gunsmith having my project for over a year. It wasn't until a buddy asking me one day about it that I remembered it and contacted the gunsmith to get it finished. The gunsmith had the usual excuses about why he could not get the gun done.

Anyway after three years he finished the gun. It is everything I wanted and I have a unique revolver. While three years is a bit longer than the original six months promised just take a look at the waiting list like Bowen Arms.

 

[entropy]

That's why I've been working on my own guns since I was 14. But when I worked in gun shops (at the counter) I told people honestly we couldn't be concrete on delivery time due to variables involved. (Parts availability is always a huge one, followed by disassembling and finding much more needs to be done than initially thought.)

When I worked at the gun bench, I rarely had contact with the customers, I was there to fix guns; the counter help talked to them.

Oh, that reminds me, I have a .22 belonging to one of my son'd friends I need to look at.......