Acceptable build time

[Edd]

Just curious what everyone's thoughts are on acceptable time frame for a build if you walk into your gunsmith with ALL parts required for the build?

You ask him how long it will take to have it finished. If that is longer than you want to wait, you find someone else.

I sent a barrel, action, and reamer to a Gunsmith in December for chambering. He told me it would be 6-9 months before it was finished. If it takes him longer than 9 months, I will consider that unacceptable.

 

[Gunslinger1]

This is a great question I have often considered and have had enough guns built at this point to have an opinion.

1st rifle I had built took 2 yrs

At this point the smith I now use gets my stuff done in a week and does an excellent job.

The difference as far as I can tell......this guys WORKS..... He has children to feed and gets his work out the door.
At this point for me if all the components are sitting there I am not waiting over a reasonable time.... And today that's about 6-8 weeks.
Reasonable time is certainly governed by circumstances of the situation.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Never tell a gunsmith you're not in a hurry! Lol! You will continually get put on the back burner. With the handful of gunsmiths I've worked with over the years...you have to stay on them if you want your project done in a timely manner. Squeeky wheel gets the grease!

 

[Susquatch]

He received my barrel and muzzle brake in April a year ago. So he's had the parts since then. Last August I called him wondering on eta, he's like I thought you weren't in a hurry, well I would like it by dec I said. He said no problem. Talked to him a bit ago, all He's got to do is chamber and spin the barrel on. Good thing I'm patient lol

I see he just posted my action and barrel on fb so should be soon

From a previous post, I know that you are in Canada. This makes a HUGE difference. Although you gave him the barrel and brake a year ago, he might need other parts like reamers, special tools, etc. These can take months to order for a US based smith's and a flipping eternity for a Canadian Smith. The border control folks have their own schedule and you can not escape if they choose to pull your number.

That said, there aren't very many good precision smith's in Canada. Lots of mediocre ones though. The few good ones that do exist are backlogged pretty heavy.

I usually tell folks what to expect, tell them what I can control and what I can't, and I keep them informed of progress and significant delays that arise.

One last comment, it seems wierd to post the status of a project on Facebook.... But then again, I am an old man who doesn't trust any software that requests permission to monitor and digitize your voice calls, text messages, emails, etc. Read their agreement sometime - it will scare the hell out of you!

 

[Canhunter35]

From a previous post, I know that you are in Canada. This makes a HUGE difference. Although you gave him the barrel and brake a year ago, he might need other parts like reamers, special tools, etc. These can take months to order for a US based smith's and a flipping eternity for a Canadian Smith. The border control folks have their own schedule and you can not escape if they choose to pull your number.

That said, there aren't very many good precision smith's in Canada. Lots of mediocre ones though. The few good ones that do exist are backlogged pretty heavy.

I usually tell folks what to expect, tell them what I can control and what I can't, and I keep them informed of progress and significant delays that arise.

One last comment, it seems wierd to post the status of a project on Facebook.... But then again, I am an old man who doesn't trust any software that requests permission to monitor and digitize your voice calls, text messages, emails, etc. Read their agreement sometime - it will scare the hell out of you!

I was told I could expect top quality precision work but not speed from other people, I decided I was fine with that.
Yeah he just likes to post the parts of builds and finished builds without names, I just recognized all the pieces lol

 

[Naymola]

My Riflesmith is at least a one year wait to have a gun built. I've been using him for 15 years. He doesn't advertise and is always backed up at least 1 year to 1-1/2 years. That's what you can expect from the better Smith's along with paying top dollar for his services. The end result is "the best money can buy". Hell, I just ordered a couple barrel's from Bartlein last week, that's a four month wait. Last year I waited 6 months for a barrel from them. I've been on a "one gun built" or "re barrel" once a year schedule with my Smith. I simply just have to plan ahead and keep the parts flowing.

 

[ar10ar15man]

lol

2-4 months

 

[ar10ar15man]

do you know what his current backlog is when you walk in ??

Holy crap brother! Is this with all the necessary components handed to the gunsmith?

 

[C.O. Shooter]

What is so funny?

lol

 

[FEENIX]

do you know what his current backlog is when you walk in ??

Not sure why you're asking me regarding my response to Canhunter35, but yes I do know my own gunsmith's workload?

 

[Deleted member 48126]

What is so funny?

You having a reliable smith, duh!!

I don't know why that's funny honestly lol.

 

[yorke-1]

I've had build times range from 3 hours to 19 months when I've walked into a shop and handed a complete collection of 100% compatible parts to a smith. There are a lot of times when somebody walks into a shop with what they believe are compatible parts but actually aren't and that will add to the wait time.

I had my 338/408 CT improved rifle built in 3 hours and 12 minutes (I timed it) while I hung out with the smith at 2 AM at his shop. He was an active duty Ranger at the time and was heading out the next day, but he really wanted to build that gun before he left. That rifle is capable of holding .75 MOA to 1 mile, but I"m not saying that I can always hold it that well! LOL

My 338/408 CT improved specialty pistol was built in about 2 weeks (3 weeks from the day I shipped the parts to the day the completed gun was in my hands) by Alex Wheeler, and that included finishing the wood stock. I was very fortunate in that case because I happened to catch him in between other jobs or while waiting for parts for other builds. I don't expect that type of turn around from a top name smith.

Benchmark barrels took 19 months to complete my 338/375 Ruger specialty pistol after I provided them with all the parts and I was told that the barrel was done and ready to go. Clearly, the barrel was not done when I gave them the rest of the parts and that 19 months included waiting for them to make the barrel. Benchmark also took 14 months just to make me a 6mm BR Savage prefit barrel.

A more recent project started by sending a complete pile of parts to a well known smith who quoted me a 3 month wait time. At about 11 weeks I was told the project was done and I paid in full. I was told roughly 1 week later that my reamer broke while chambering one of the barrels and I would need to source a new reamer. This was 1 week AFTER I was told the project was finished and shipping out, after payment in full was sent. After an additional 2-3 weeks I retrieved my parts and another smith finished the work in about 3 weeks.

The reality is that wait times are never what you think they'll be. Sometimes it's the smith's fault, sometimes it's the customer's fault and sometimes it's just the way things are. Most smiths I've dealt with struggle to honor time commitments because they're spending too much time dealing with customers who are bugging them about when their project will be done. These days I just send in my parts, wait however long the smith quoted me, add 20% to that wait time, then make one call to check up. If my project isn't done after 120% of the quoted time, I take my work back and go somewhere else unless there's a very good explanation. I won't give false lead times to my customers, and I won't tolerate it from any of my vendors. I expect the same courtesy from other businesses when I'm a customer.

 

[Locknload]

Rule of thumb is six weeks verbal and six months actual. However a truly good and well known smith can easily be one year backlog, without disaster, fire, flood or heart attack. Buddy started acting strange, took him to the hospital, early onset dementhis, 54, no known cause. So it happens.
Ed

 

[HARPERC]

.......The reality is that wait times are never what you think they'll be. Sometimes it's the smith's fault, sometimes it's the customer's fault and sometimes it's just the way things are.......

I realize the question specified components in hand.....but it seems the wait times on firearm related components are longer than most things we wish to purchase