#324 - The Real Cost of Gunsmithing: Why You Should Pay a Pro
In this episode of the Guns Podcast US, hosts Brent Wheat and Roy Huntington dive deep into the often misunderstood world of professional gunsmithing. They tackle the common misconceptions found on internet forums, specifically the idea that specialized tasks like "drilling and tapping" or performing an action job are simple DIY projects. Roy, with his extensive experience as a "practicing unofficial gunsmith," explains why professional tooling, jigs, and expertise justify the costs that often shock gun owners.
The conversation moves to the dangers of cutting corners, quite literally, when it comes to clipping springs or installing drop-in kits without proper fitting. Roy shares horror stories of "kitchen table" gunsmithing, including a Colt Python that was rendered unsafe by an amateur trigger job. They discuss the critical difference between a simple spring swap and a true action job that involves timing, polishing, and safety checks.
Finally, the duo discusses the value of professional deep cleaning and safety inspections, even for "bag guns" that haven't been shot in years. They also manage expectations regarding wait times for top-tier custom smiths like Hamilton Bowen. Whether you are looking to mount a red dot on your 1911 or restore a family heirloom, this episode serves as a guide on why the "buy once, cry once" philosophy is essential for firearm maintenance.
Key Takeaways • "Drill and tap" is not a simple garage project; it requires precision milling machines, centering tools, and carbide tooling to be done correctly. • A spring kit is not a substitute for a professional action job; simply lightening springs without polishing surfaces can lead to misfires and gritty actions. • Professional gun cleaning services are valuable because they often include a critical safety inspection that can identify dangerous wear or missing parts. • Cutting coils off a spring changes its dynamics and reliability; professional gunsmiths use engineered springs or properly reduce diameter rather than length. • Low-cost gunsmithing (e.g., a $50 action job) is often a red flag that can result in ruined parts and more expensive repairs later. • Top-tier gunsmiths often have long wait times (months or years) because they are in high demand; patience is required for custom work. • Attempting DIY repairs on high-value or out-of-production guns runs a high risk of destroying irreplaceable parts.
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1 00:00:03,468 --> 00:00:10,144 Hi there and welcome to this episode of the Guns Podcast US, one of the world's biggest gun talk programs. 2 00:00:10,144 --> 00:00:15,468 I'm your host Brent Wheat and I'm joined of course by my co-host Roy Huntington. 3 00:00:15,468 --> 00:00:17,620 Thanks for, I already said that. 4 00:00:17,620 --> 00:00:18,480 Thanks for joining us. 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,031 Let me, okay. 6 00:00:20,112 --> 00:00:22,033 Blah, blah, blah, blah. 7 00:00:22,934 --> 00:00:28,008 I know what I forgot, Guns Magazine and Tango. 8 00:00:31,278 --> 00:00:34,438 Hi there and welcome to the Guns Podcast US. 9 00:00:34,458 --> 00:00:37,918 I'm your host, Brent Wheat, joined by my co-host, Roy Huntington. 10 00:00:37,918 --> 00:00:46,358 We'd like to thank you for joining us here on one of the world's biggest gun talk programs as we chat about the interesting stuff that makes up the world of shooting. 11 00:00:46,358 --> 00:00:50,738 First, before we get started, here's a quick word from our sponsor, Tango Down. 12 00:00:51,098 --> 00:00:59,198 And I still didn't mention frickin' Guns Podcast, or Guns Magazine, but we'll talk about it So, okay, coming out of the commercial. 13 00:01:01,196 --> 00:01:02,511 Well, hello there, Roy. 14 00:01:02,511 --> 00:01:03,893 How are you doing today? 15 00:01:04,140 --> 00:01:05,905 Just fine. 16 00:01:06,967 --> 00:01:10,130 I always ask you that question and you do always come up with something different. 17 00:01:10,130 --> 00:01:11,891 So that's why I keep doing it. 18 00:01:11,891 --> 00:01:17,796 But oh well, anyway, we've got a great show today, I hope, since we haven't talked about it yet. 19 00:01:17,796 --> 00:01:19,098 But here we go. 20 00:01:19,098 --> 00:01:26,124 It was suggested by Roy and it was again had its roots in the comments and emails that we get. 21 00:01:26,124 --> 00:01:33,080 And it's this idea of when you see something on Internet forums, uh we just have it drilled and tapped. 22 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:33,804 Well, 23 00:01:33,804 --> 00:01:38,998 That's all fine and well, and a lot of us really know what that is, but a lot of us maybe don't. 24 00:01:38,998 --> 00:01:48,754 So Roy, who is a practicing unofficial gunsmith, he's not held his shingle out, but he's more experienced than a lot of folks in the industry. 25 00:01:48,754 --> 00:01:50,405 We're going to talk about that today. 26 00:01:50,405 --> 00:01:55,549 So Roy, it's funny when we were talking about this, you always bring up drill and tap. 27 00:01:55,549 --> 00:02:00,972 And so we're going to start with that when people throw, I'm just drilling, tap it, drilling, tap it, drilling, tap it. 28 00:02:01,233 --> 00:02:03,944 It's not just that, is it? 29 00:02:04,218 --> 00:02:18,610 Well, I think when people say, because you would, let's say, drill a pistol on the slide to mount a plate for a red dot or something like that, drill a rifle to install a scope, I 30 00:02:18,610 --> 00:02:32,272 think in their minds, people either think that somebody's in a garage with a portable electric drill, and drilling, and then now magically threads appear. 31 00:02:33,184 --> 00:02:46,774 You know they go get their old Sears craftsman threading kit with half the taps are broken you know and So so I don't know I mean it's like people they in their mind They see a red 32 00:02:46,774 --> 00:02:57,351 dot sight mounted on their gun or they see a scope on their gun or they see whatever they need a hold drilled for But nobody really knows or few people know really what that 33 00:02:57,351 --> 00:03:01,227 actually entails And yeah 34 00:03:01,227 --> 00:03:03,107 so go on down that road. 35 00:03:03,107 --> 00:03:06,388 I've watched you, you tap something. 36 00:03:06,388 --> 00:03:14,900 I forget when I was out there recently uh on my AMT backup, we were doing something to it and you had to drill and it's a very meticulous process. 37 00:03:14,900 --> 00:03:23,603 I've done it kind of the way you said with my portable drill and granddad's old worn out taps and it didn't work out so well. 38 00:03:23,603 --> 00:03:28,684 But uh now talk about the professional procedure on how 39 00:03:29,635 --> 00:03:31,296 It rarely works out. 40 00:03:31,296 --> 00:03:43,963 What prompted this whole thing though, at least in my mind, and that's what I mentioned to you, is for some reason people just want to underpay gunsmiths badly. 41 00:03:45,155 --> 00:03:48,998 And they're always surprised when you tell them how much something would cost. 42 00:03:48,998 --> 00:03:51,009 Now, you know, I don't do it commercially. 43 00:03:51,009 --> 00:04:01,115 uh I know hundreds of gunsmiths who do, and I've worked on thousands of guns for friends and family and people like that. 44 00:04:01,276 --> 00:04:07,780 But pretty much across the board, like when I tell somebody, yeah, I'll fix your broken trooper. 45 00:04:07,901 --> 00:04:11,703 And, you know, we have to buy a hammer and then I'll put it together. 46 00:04:11,823 --> 00:04:13,104 And if I say like, 47 00:04:13,104 --> 00:04:18,444 You know, if you took this to a pistol Smith and had him do this, this would probably cost you $350. 48 00:04:18,484 --> 00:04:32,624 And I mean, they always go $350, you know, and it, and to me, see, I don't know why is that any different than if you, if you take your car to a dealer and have it serviced, you 49 00:04:32,624 --> 00:04:35,144 know, there's, mean, you know, right? 50 00:04:35,144 --> 00:04:37,664 What's most dealer labors per hour? 51 00:04:37,664 --> 00:04:42,804 I'm 60 to $120 an hour is labor. 52 00:04:43,956 --> 00:04:51,516 You know, I have I had one of my cars at a Lexus dealer the other day and I out of curiosity I said well, you know what it's almost due for an oil change. 53 00:04:51,516 --> 00:04:53,956 You know, how much is an oil change? 54 00:04:54,776 --> 00:04:59,096 $350 for an oil change, right? 55 00:04:59,556 --> 00:05:10,976 And I said, you know, that's a little much and they said well, it's a hundred and fifty dollars for labor and then of course, you're not paying the five dollars a court that you 56 00:05:10,976 --> 00:05:11,600 pay 57 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,860 at O'Reilly's Auto Parts, you're $20 a quart. 58 00:05:17,620 --> 00:05:29,680 So gunsmiths aren't that bad, but if I was a shingle-hanging gunsmith, I would have a shop rate of about $65 an hour. 59 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:40,420 other words, whatever I'm doing with your gun, I'm going to get paid $65 an hour plus parts, and then if something else comes up, plus that. 60 00:05:41,073 --> 00:05:55,833 And I just looked the other day, mean literally just a day or two ago, and a full action job on a cult single action army, the cheapest I saw was $300. 61 00:05:56,733 --> 00:06:00,253 And it went up to almost $700. 62 00:06:01,373 --> 00:06:04,673 And I know why. 63 00:06:04,793 --> 00:06:08,293 It's because it's not for the faint of heart. 64 00:06:10,299 --> 00:06:13,866 Well, you just just stone a couple things and there you be fine. 65 00:06:13,866 --> 00:06:16,049 My buddy does it all the time. 66 00:06:16,353 --> 00:06:18,563 gosh, they say that all the time. 67 00:06:18,563 --> 00:06:19,402 Well, I've got a drum. 68 00:06:19,402 --> 00:06:21,234 Well, can I just polish all the bits? 69 00:06:21,234 --> 00:06:25,795 know, it's like, no, actually, you can't, you know. 70 00:06:25,795 --> 00:06:30,656 I mean, it's like if you own a Ferrari, do you try to adjust the valves? 71 00:06:30,757 --> 00:06:34,498 You know, no, you would take it to a Ferrari dealer. 72 00:06:34,498 --> 00:06:43,864 And so I think that's the thing I want people to understand here is that most of the common things that people say 73 00:06:43,864 --> 00:06:47,066 Well, just bed my rifle. 74 00:06:47,187 --> 00:06:48,227 Okay. 75 00:06:49,108 --> 00:06:50,009 Yeah. 76 00:06:51,290 --> 00:06:52,251 Yeah. 77 00:06:52,251 --> 00:06:52,791 Yeah. 78 00:06:52,791 --> 00:07:02,800 I mean, because in their mind, they're seeing it done, you know, and then they get home and they take the action out and they see this bedding in the stock and, know, and it's 79 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:12,367 all, well, and you're looking at an all day job, you know, in many cases, because you have to make sure that the action fits the 80 00:07:13,082 --> 00:07:14,733 fits the stock correctly. 81 00:07:14,733 --> 00:07:23,116 And usually if you're going to bet it, you have to take some of the wood out or the fiberglass from the stock for the room for the betting material. 82 00:07:23,116 --> 00:07:24,526 You know, have to know how to do it. 83 00:07:24,526 --> 00:07:26,116 You have to know where to do it. 84 00:07:26,597 --> 00:07:28,557 You have to know where to buy the product. 85 00:07:28,557 --> 00:07:32,679 You know, I mean, it's like, yeah, you don't just do that. 86 00:07:32,679 --> 00:07:36,360 That's like saying, just rebuilt that car engine today. 87 00:07:36,821 --> 00:07:38,252 Exactly. 88 00:07:39,033 --> 00:07:45,338 And the people that can just do it are there's not that many of them, but that that's kind of how people throw it around. 89 00:07:45,338 --> 00:07:51,793 And the one you already touched on, and I knew going in that I'd have to tell you, remember, we have a limited time here. 90 00:07:51,793 --> 00:08:00,570 Keep it to a uh 30,000 foot view, but action job and, both on auto pistols and revolvers. 91 00:08:00,570 --> 00:08:03,383 Revolvers, in my opinion, are far more complicated. 92 00:08:03,383 --> 00:08:05,090 You have to be more skilled. 93 00:08:05,090 --> 00:08:09,536 But even you can really mess up an auto pistol too, talk about people. 94 00:08:09,536 --> 00:08:12,661 Well, my buddy will do an action job for 50 bucks. 95 00:08:12,661 --> 00:08:21,973 Well, I bet he will good for him, but I wouldn't want to be around that gun when he's done, but talk about an action job and what that entails in terms of your time and 96 00:08:21,973 --> 00:08:22,954 materials. 97 00:08:23,312 --> 00:08:34,249 Well, it's a really a good question because I do a lot of action jobs mostly Smith and Wesson revolvers some Colt revolvers a lot of single action revolvers and uh There is on a 98 00:08:34,249 --> 00:08:45,167 Smith and Wesson revolver And of course, it's situationally dependent because I may get one gun and it's really sick You know, out of time or it's misfiring or you know who 99 00:08:45,167 --> 00:08:53,432 terrible ends shake in the cylinder and so you have to be able to diagnose all that kind of stuff and then you have to Understand what you need to do to repair it 100 00:08:53,556 --> 00:08:54,647 And do you have the parts? 101 00:08:54,647 --> 00:08:55,538 Do you have the skill? 102 00:08:55,538 --> 00:08:56,819 Do you have the tools? 103 00:08:56,819 --> 00:08:59,340 There's a lot of specialized tools involved. 104 00:08:59,340 --> 00:09:07,846 You know, it's the only thing like by a lathe that's easy, but you're going to get twice as much as the cost of the lathe and tooling and a good gunsmith. 105 00:09:07,846 --> 00:09:11,368 It's not all just like eyeball things and use a file. 106 00:09:11,389 --> 00:09:17,974 I mean, there are jigs and fixtures and tools and measuring tools and stuff that you have to do in order to do these things right. 107 00:09:17,974 --> 00:09:21,956 But I would say if it's just a basic Smith and Wesson action job. 108 00:09:21,956 --> 00:09:28,758 There's probably 30 different things that I do specifically. 109 00:09:28,796 --> 00:09:35,520 In other words, there are 30 areas of interest that I address. 110 00:09:35,660 --> 00:09:37,690 And every gun is different. 111 00:09:37,690 --> 00:09:41,341 Every gun may require more work here, less work there. 112 00:09:41,576 --> 00:09:45,052 It may require new parts, you know, and stuff like that. 113 00:09:45,052 --> 00:09:48,713 So it's not something that you just knock out. 114 00:09:48,713 --> 00:09:52,024 I mean, if I do an action job on a revolver, 115 00:09:52,593 --> 00:09:54,713 And it goes perfectly. 116 00:09:55,433 --> 00:09:58,613 In other words, I get a guy and there's nothing wrong with it. 117 00:09:58,613 --> 00:10:00,233 It times correctly. 118 00:10:00,233 --> 00:10:01,993 The end shake is correct. 119 00:10:01,993 --> 00:10:03,613 mean, everything is there. 120 00:10:03,613 --> 00:10:06,453 There's nothing grossly wrong with the action. 121 00:10:07,213 --> 00:10:11,253 I'm still looking at probably four hours, right? 122 00:10:11,253 --> 00:10:13,373 So now let's do the math, right? 123 00:10:13,373 --> 00:10:14,793 For say, it's $60 an hour. 124 00:10:14,793 --> 00:10:20,793 So there's 240, $250 of my time just for labor, right? 125 00:10:20,820 --> 00:10:25,363 And I know people would say $250 for an action job. 126 00:10:26,864 --> 00:10:30,026 In 1968, I got an action job done for $30. 127 00:10:30,026 --> 00:10:37,490 Yeah, well, and that's of course, could you find somebody to do that cheaper? 128 00:10:37,490 --> 00:10:42,734 Maybe, I'm not sure that I would want that person to be doing that on my gun. 129 00:10:42,734 --> 00:10:46,716 uh But yeah, I am amazed at how. 130 00:10:46,780 --> 00:10:49,651 on the forums they throw these things around all the time. 131 00:10:49,651 --> 00:10:59,635 Now there are people who say, you know what, I would only use this person, his action job is going to be $340, just pay it, it's the best you'll ever have, you know, and it's like, 132 00:10:59,635 --> 00:11:01,746 well, that's the idea you have to have. 133 00:11:01,746 --> 00:11:04,667 So I think there's several layers of people here. 134 00:11:04,667 --> 00:11:14,811 The ones that understand and are willing to pay for the work done, you know, there's other people who just want you to fix their broken 22 rifle and they think it's going to be $20, 135 00:11:14,811 --> 00:11:16,720 you know, but guess what? 136 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:21,900 If it takes me an hour, times $65, right? 137 00:11:22,940 --> 00:11:31,440 So maybe to fix your $250.22, it might cost you $150 or $200. 138 00:11:32,660 --> 00:11:39,140 You know, I fixed an old pump shotgun for somebody the other day and it was a model that I had never worked on before. 139 00:11:39,220 --> 00:11:43,560 So it took a lot of figuring out, you know? 140 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:45,960 I mean, it literally took me 141 00:11:46,002 --> 00:11:51,462 Probably close to two hours to finally track down what was going wrong with this gun. 142 00:11:51,462 --> 00:11:53,142 It was really interesting. 143 00:11:53,742 --> 00:11:57,102 And then I had to track down get the parts that I needed, two parts. 144 00:11:57,102 --> 00:11:59,942 I had to make one part because it wasn't available. 145 00:12:00,422 --> 00:12:04,622 And then when the parts came in and I made the part, then I had to reassemble it and function fire it. 146 00:12:04,622 --> 00:12:09,582 And so, jeez, you I was into this for at least a half a day if you add it up all the time. 147 00:12:09,582 --> 00:12:11,682 And I don't, it was a family heirloom. 148 00:12:11,682 --> 00:12:15,523 And I don't know that the gun was worth more than $250, you know. 149 00:12:15,523 --> 00:12:15,889 Yeah. 150 00:12:15,889 --> 00:12:28,809 So like I told him I said man, it's a good thing you're a friend But yeah, let's get back to the action jobs, but the drilling and tapping thing Just because it happens all the 151 00:12:28,809 --> 00:12:41,509 time and I get questions and comments regularly in our YouTube videos and You know, I have a milling machine and so if you're drill and tap the top of a slide You know, or if you're 152 00:12:41,509 --> 00:12:44,731 gonna cut a dovetail on the top of a slide for instance, you know, we'll 153 00:12:44,731 --> 00:12:46,062 Well, you need to have the milling vice. 154 00:12:46,062 --> 00:12:47,293 You need to have an accurate mill. 155 00:12:47,293 --> 00:12:53,048 You need to have very expensive carbide tooling, you know, that cuts what you're talking about. 156 00:12:53,048 --> 00:12:55,340 You have to have the ability to find the center. 157 00:12:55,340 --> 00:13:01,055 You have to have the ability to tram to make sure that it's level before you make the cut. 158 00:13:01,055 --> 00:13:04,667 You have to be able to find the center of whatever it is that you're looking at. 159 00:13:04,667 --> 00:13:09,151 And so, I mean, you see, that's not really some skills that a lot of people have. 160 00:13:09,151 --> 00:13:14,129 And so if you have somebody who has those tools, who has the skills, 161 00:13:14,129 --> 00:13:16,664 uh Who has the tooling and fixturing involved? 162 00:13:16,664 --> 00:13:18,516 Who has the experience? 163 00:13:18,658 --> 00:13:20,360 It's gonna cost you. 164 00:13:21,142 --> 00:13:23,425 I mean, it's as simple as that. 165 00:13:23,661 --> 00:13:24,411 Yep. 166 00:13:24,572 --> 00:13:37,442 Well, I've got a uh related story from this week and I hadn't told you this Roy, my son called and he said that the dealership called and his wife's car needed a $2,000 belt. 167 00:13:37,442 --> 00:13:39,634 And he goes, is that a thing? 168 00:13:39,634 --> 00:13:41,575 And I'm like, no, no. 169 00:13:41,575 --> 00:13:45,449 So turns out there was some miscommunication third hand. 170 00:13:45,449 --> 00:13:53,615 What had happened was when the car was in for service, they found a uh sensor to the oil sensor, oil pressure sensor. 171 00:13:53,687 --> 00:13:58,428 had somehow gotten cut, don't know if it got caught in a belt or sabotaged. 172 00:13:58,428 --> 00:14:06,711 They all decided that it was probably the low budget oil change place because where this on this particular car, it's real close to that. 173 00:14:06,711 --> 00:14:09,091 And if you're not careful, you can damage it. 174 00:14:09,091 --> 00:14:19,554 And it looks like maybe somebody taking a pair of side cuts, cut the rest of the wires and then realized I can't get this special connector and I don't have enough wire to do a 175 00:14:19,554 --> 00:14:20,314 repair. 176 00:14:20,314 --> 00:14:22,415 So they just kind of left it and 177 00:14:22,415 --> 00:14:26,467 Apparently she didn't notice the oil temperature or pressure sensor. 178 00:14:26,467 --> 00:14:39,505 But anyway, so what ended up happening was and the dealership is a very reputable dealership because I checked uh there in a very upscale area, but uh they can't fix it. 179 00:14:39,505 --> 00:14:40,306 There's not enough. 180 00:14:40,306 --> 00:14:46,390 It's like somebody taking side cuts and cut right at the base of this this uh connector. 181 00:14:46,390 --> 00:14:49,187 So they're going to have to do it right. 182 00:14:49,187 --> 00:14:51,879 they're going to have to take part of the wiring harness off. 183 00:14:51,879 --> 00:14:53,970 So it's going to cost $2,000. 184 00:14:53,970 --> 00:14:59,414 And after we learned all this, my son had called me and filled me in and he goes, what do you think? 185 00:14:59,414 --> 00:15:02,556 And I said, I don't think you've got a choice here. 186 00:15:02,556 --> 00:15:13,264 It would take you and I, if we can find that wire harness and then track down all, I mean, we're talking two or three days and who knows if it'll even be successful. 187 00:15:13,264 --> 00:15:17,166 This is one of those you're just going to have to bite the bullet and let the professionals do it. 188 00:15:17,166 --> 00:15:18,591 m 189 00:15:18,591 --> 00:15:22,264 assuming you know that they know what they're doing, you just got to pay him. 190 00:15:22,264 --> 00:15:24,075 And I said, and don't look back. 191 00:15:24,075 --> 00:15:29,019 You've got to pay him what they're asking for the right part to make sure it's done. 192 00:15:29,019 --> 00:15:31,000 And then it'll be under warranty and all that. 193 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:37,745 And I think that really applies here too, that that was one of the points that I wanted to make because I've been on the receiving end of this. 194 00:15:37,745 --> 00:15:39,696 Yeah, a guy can fix a gun. 195 00:15:39,696 --> 00:15:43,068 He may be a gunsmith, a long time gunsmith. 196 00:15:43,249 --> 00:15:45,671 I've had repairs that didn't repair the problem. 197 00:15:45,671 --> 00:15:46,607 And that's 198 00:15:46,607 --> 00:15:48,827 one of the most frustrating things in the world. 199 00:15:48,827 --> 00:15:58,227 And that's how you learn real quick that the hundred dollar action job is not really a bargain because then you're going to have to call somebody like Roy Huntington. 200 00:15:58,227 --> 00:16:01,607 And he says, well, yeah, it's gonna be 250 bucks plus parts. 201 00:16:01,607 --> 00:16:06,067 And then it turns out you got to replace three or four parts because the guy used his Dremel tool. 202 00:16:06,067 --> 00:16:10,927 So the older I get, I've said this many times before, buy once cry once. 203 00:16:10,927 --> 00:16:16,351 If you're sure that the person and what they're doing is 204 00:16:16,351 --> 00:16:27,095 on par with professional standards and their price list of which most gunsmiths publish a price list is on par for those top-notch guns. 205 00:16:27,095 --> 00:16:29,085 Just pay it and don't worry about it. 206 00:16:29,085 --> 00:16:30,816 Know you got the work done. 207 00:16:30,816 --> 00:16:35,637 It's when somebody low balls and yeah, I can do that for 25 bucks. 208 00:16:35,637 --> 00:16:38,148 That's when the alarm bell should be sounding. 209 00:16:38,148 --> 00:16:40,909 And like I said, those guns usually end up at Roy's. 210 00:16:41,393 --> 00:16:49,253 You know, it's funny that people they they hear that they say well $50 that sounds like a really good deal inside their little voices going I don't know. 211 00:16:49,253 --> 00:16:50,573 It's I don't trust this. 212 00:16:50,573 --> 00:17:03,193 It's too good, but then they do it anyway, you know the other thing that I don't know why people think that That they can work on their guns when they don't have any skill, you 213 00:17:03,193 --> 00:17:09,803 know or experience but they do Yeah, I mean they do all the time, you know and 214 00:17:09,803 --> 00:17:20,692 And what can be particularly infuriating is when you, I work on somebody's tune it all up, everything's dialed in right, you know, and you give it to them and then they buy like a 215 00:17:20,692 --> 00:17:25,385 wolf spring kit and they put it in the gun on their own. 216 00:17:25,486 --> 00:17:29,329 And then now suddenly it doesn't work, you know, it's misfiring. 217 00:17:29,329 --> 00:17:34,313 And they said, well, I thought that, you know, if I just put this kid in here, that it'd be even better now. 218 00:17:34,673 --> 00:17:39,390 And I said, no, actually, yeah, it was correct before. 219 00:17:39,390 --> 00:17:43,511 And then what you've done was made it incorrect. 220 00:17:43,692 --> 00:17:50,424 But I don't know why it's like King's Axe, like men think, we all are expert car mechanics. 221 00:17:50,424 --> 00:17:52,475 We all are experts with everything. 222 00:17:52,475 --> 00:17:55,316 We're good at mansplaining things. 223 00:17:55,316 --> 00:17:57,837 And so for some reason, I mean, it's like shooting. 224 00:17:57,837 --> 00:18:04,780 Everyone who went hunting one time with their grandpa when they were 17 years old is now a gun expert. 225 00:18:07,349 --> 00:18:19,413 For some reason I see this all the time the the other thing is that People think when you buy a spring kit and I love wolf springs I have Hundreds of them. 226 00:18:19,413 --> 00:18:21,054 I have a lot of their generic springs. 227 00:18:21,054 --> 00:18:31,297 I used to replace things and stuff but a lot of people think that that's an action job and And it's not You it's not 228 00:18:31,313 --> 00:18:38,293 because you haven't gone in and diagnosed no one's polished what needs to be polished, no one's timed what needs to be timed. 229 00:18:38,453 --> 00:18:47,593 If your action's a little crunchy and hard to pull, when you put a spring kit in to lighten it, it'll still be crunchy, it'll just be lighter. 230 00:18:50,033 --> 00:18:52,513 And it may start to misfire. 231 00:18:52,953 --> 00:18:58,129 a $25 spring kit isn't an action job and... 232 00:18:58,129 --> 00:19:07,789 I think before you take your gun somewhere, like if you're take your gun to somebody or you're imagining I'm gonna have somebody, as a of fact, just this morning, a friend of 233 00:19:07,789 --> 00:19:12,729 mine sent me a note and says, hey, I have one of those Browning 380 1911s. 234 00:19:12,729 --> 00:19:14,849 They're real cute, you know? 235 00:19:14,849 --> 00:19:16,229 I always liked them. 236 00:19:16,229 --> 00:19:22,369 And he said, I was thinking, could you like mill it and put a red dot on it? 237 00:19:22,369 --> 00:19:24,829 know, he said, I'd really like to have that. 238 00:19:24,829 --> 00:19:26,049 And so. 239 00:19:26,417 --> 00:19:28,917 I just wrote him a note back and I said, you know what? 240 00:19:28,937 --> 00:19:29,717 I don't know. 241 00:19:29,717 --> 00:19:31,217 Anything is possible. 242 00:19:31,797 --> 00:19:36,737 will the slide, is it big enough to accept the base plate for the red dot? 243 00:19:36,737 --> 00:19:39,857 Is the red dot of a size that will fit the gun? 244 00:19:39,857 --> 00:19:46,457 you know, I mean, you need to look at, is there enough metal in the top of the slide to accept being milled? 245 00:19:46,457 --> 00:19:48,577 Or, you know, and then he sent me a note back. 246 00:19:48,577 --> 00:19:52,057 said, oh yeah, I didn't really think about that, you know? 247 00:19:52,457 --> 00:19:55,027 So I think fortunately it died a natural death. 248 00:19:55,027 --> 00:20:01,107 But when you want something like that to be done, I would recommend that you jump on Google, Dr. 249 00:20:01,107 --> 00:20:11,287 Google or Duck Duck Go or one of those things and do a search for how much does it cost to have the slide of my 1911 machine for red dot site. 250 00:20:11,827 --> 00:20:25,187 Now, because a lot of people do that and you're going to see, I mean, you're going to see from maybe the low of $150 up to maybe $500, you know, and, and I think to me, 251 00:20:25,458 --> 00:20:36,898 At least somewhere in the middle there is probably where I would go, you know, unless it's something really unusual, but but not the hundred dollar one, you know, uh, I mean, uh, 252 00:20:36,898 --> 00:20:39,738 yeah, I know I had somebody It was a matter of fact. 253 00:20:39,738 --> 00:20:41,218 I did a video about it. 254 00:20:41,218 --> 00:20:52,818 He had a sharps rifle, uh original sharps rifle and he wanted somebody to drill it and tap it and mount a old style malcolm scope on it and uh, but he I knew him he's like a a 255 00:20:52,818 --> 00:20:55,154 friend of a good friend of mine here, right 256 00:20:55,154 --> 00:21:06,214 And so this guy had gone online and the guns, the basic price he found was like $100 a hole to drill and tap for the scope. 257 00:21:06,434 --> 00:21:10,014 And he needed one, two, three, four, five, six. 258 00:21:10,434 --> 00:21:11,934 So $600. 259 00:21:12,894 --> 00:21:17,294 And so he just like went, what? 260 00:21:18,514 --> 00:21:20,834 And I had that conversation with him. 261 00:21:20,834 --> 00:21:23,954 said, well, it's a lot of work and that's a big gun. 262 00:21:24,114 --> 00:21:29,594 You know, you have to set it up in your vice and fixture it and align it and it's scary because you're working on a gun. 263 00:21:29,594 --> 00:21:31,734 You know, this is 150 years old and priceless. 264 00:21:31,734 --> 00:21:34,254 You can't get another anything if you mess it up. 265 00:21:34,254 --> 00:21:38,034 I said, so actually that price sounds pretty good to me. 266 00:21:38,314 --> 00:21:48,134 You know, and so then I foolishly did it as a favor for my friend, you know, but, but yeah, I mean, it took me half a day, you know, I did it mostly because I was curious to 267 00:21:48,134 --> 00:21:51,658 see if I could do it and what it was like, you know, but. 268 00:21:52,199 --> 00:21:58,093 But if he didn't know me, then that was his options. 269 00:21:58,296 --> 00:22:01,232 And so, yeah, you gotta pay. 270 00:22:01,309 --> 00:22:02,189 you got to pay. 271 00:22:02,189 --> 00:22:03,439 And here's an interesting one. 272 00:22:03,439 --> 00:22:06,630 And I would be interested to get your thoughts. 273 00:22:06,771 --> 00:22:14,454 Every gunsmith price list, because I went down a bunch of them to kind of prep for the show, and all of them offer cleaning. 274 00:22:14,734 --> 00:22:17,955 And people, why would you have a gunsmith clean? 275 00:22:18,276 --> 00:22:20,036 And I was kind of of that mind. 276 00:22:20,036 --> 00:22:25,418 And then I also thought, but how many guns, as Roy, you've said, they're a bag gun. 277 00:22:25,499 --> 00:22:27,059 They get it apart. 278 00:22:27,243 --> 00:22:29,244 and then they don't know what to do with it. 279 00:22:29,244 --> 00:22:36,451 So, you know, if it's a single shot rifle or a semi-auto pistol that you're familiar with, that's one thing. 280 00:22:36,451 --> 00:22:44,117 But if, like you said, Roy, you've got a sharps rifle that has got gunk and cheeseburger lint and whatever else in it. 281 00:22:44,217 --> 00:22:47,860 And you're thinking, you know, this, this might be just fine if it was cleaned out. 282 00:22:47,860 --> 00:22:56,067 And, you know, that might be a time when a professional gunsmith with the right experience and tools and parts, it might be worth it. 283 00:22:56,067 --> 00:23:02,035 to have him, uh what we call detail strip and actually clean down the nooks and crannies and crevices. 284 00:23:02,035 --> 00:23:12,980 So talk about that kind of aspect of when it is advisable to pay somebody to do something that on the surface just seems like a Q-tip full of uh Hoppies number nine, but there's a 285 00:23:12,980 --> 00:23:14,131 lot more to it. 286 00:23:14,918 --> 00:23:17,280 Well, you know, that's actually a very good point. 287 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:18,391 There's two things here. 288 00:23:18,391 --> 00:23:30,551 Number one, I can't tell you the number of 22 rifles I've repaired simply by cleaning them and lubing them correctly, you know, and it's like, oh, look, the bolt operates now, you 289 00:23:30,551 --> 00:23:37,176 know, uh yeah, 50 years of gunk and goo is cleaned out of the breach area. 290 00:23:37,457 --> 00:23:40,299 But that goes actually that goes for a lot of other guns, too. 291 00:23:40,299 --> 00:23:43,702 You just have to clean them and lube them and suddenly everything is all better. 292 00:23:43,787 --> 00:23:46,829 I think we've all washed our cars, right? 293 00:23:46,829 --> 00:23:48,390 Yeah, we've all done it in the driveway. 294 00:23:48,390 --> 00:23:49,550 You wash them. 295 00:23:49,550 --> 00:23:53,162 Maybe if you're feeling really good that day, you might throw a little bit of wax on it. 296 00:23:53,162 --> 00:23:54,973 It looks pretty good, right? 297 00:23:55,393 --> 00:24:04,198 But if you've ever had your car professionally detailed, the difference is astounding. 298 00:24:04,198 --> 00:24:04,878 Yeah. 299 00:24:04,878 --> 00:24:08,060 I mean, it's like, holy cow. 300 00:24:08,060 --> 00:24:12,900 Every little tiny nook and cranny is clean and beautiful and 301 00:24:12,900 --> 00:24:19,454 Everything has been treated with a proper product, you know, and your car is sitting there just beaming at you. 302 00:24:20,075 --> 00:24:21,015 Right? 303 00:24:22,256 --> 00:24:24,378 It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it? 304 00:24:24,378 --> 00:24:25,798 Well, guess what? 305 00:24:25,879 --> 00:24:27,480 Guns are the same way. 306 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:36,658 I mean, honestly, unless you have the ability, unless you know what product to use for what, if you have the right tools to clean with, uh you know, you're not compromising. 307 00:24:36,658 --> 00:24:39,928 Well, I don't have any of that, but I'll use steel wool, you know. 308 00:24:39,928 --> 00:24:42,490 uh Then... 309 00:24:42,512 --> 00:24:49,026 You know, do your regular gun cleaning that you do, but boy, I'll tell you once or twice a year, just take it down to your local gun store. 310 00:24:49,026 --> 00:24:53,488 Most full service gun stores usually offer some kind of a gun cleaning service. 311 00:24:53,488 --> 00:25:01,012 You you drop your gun off, pick it up a couple days later, and it's usually pretty reasonably priced, 35 bucks, know, 40 bucks, depends on the gun. 312 00:25:01,593 --> 00:25:06,296 But I think the difference will be amazing because the stains will be gone. 313 00:25:06,556 --> 00:25:08,077 It's going to run smoother. 314 00:25:08,077 --> 00:25:10,198 It's going to be lubed properly. 315 00:25:10,382 --> 00:25:20,336 And this is one of the most important points while they have it and they're doing that they're probably going to do a safety inspection too You know, so you're gonna find out, 316 00:25:20,336 --> 00:25:28,243 know And when you come back they say, know, well, we noticed your trigger spring is hanging up a little bit I recommend that you have that replaced, you know, so 317 00:25:28,243 --> 00:25:36,247 And that was where I was going with this, that a, again, a reputable professional gunsmith will check, do the safety check. 318 00:25:36,247 --> 00:25:44,440 And I always loved it, Roy, when I watched guys that did it a lot, do function checks on revolvers, because they're going so fast. 319 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:51,013 I can't even figure out what they're doing, but they're check, check, check, check, click, click, bang, chick, chick, you know, all this kind of stuff. 320 00:25:51,013 --> 00:25:53,554 And well, that, you know, the, seems a little out of time. 321 00:25:53,554 --> 00:25:55,705 It's like, how did you have time to even know that? 322 00:25:55,705 --> 00:25:56,415 But 323 00:25:56,484 --> 00:25:59,305 that in itself, there's specifications. 324 00:25:59,305 --> 00:26:00,745 It's not just that's good enough. 325 00:26:00,745 --> 00:26:11,347 uh Trigger pull, for example, if it's supposed to be between three and five pounds, they'll use a trigger gauge and yours is coming in at one point five, which grandpa always 326 00:26:11,347 --> 00:26:12,328 said it was a hair trigger. 327 00:26:12,328 --> 00:26:13,088 Well, yeah, it is. 328 00:26:13,088 --> 00:26:18,299 And that could lead to uh negligent discharges, which can always lead to a tragedy. 329 00:26:18,299 --> 00:26:22,690 So, you know, it's not just a matter of making sure the gun works, but be being safe. 330 00:26:22,690 --> 00:26:26,553 So uh talk about the revolver checks that just 331 00:26:26,553 --> 00:26:27,881 fascinates me. 332 00:26:28,002 --> 00:26:33,702 you're right and actually brings up a good point which is someone you know, I'll Will say hey, would you look at my gun? 333 00:26:33,702 --> 00:26:38,042 think it needs something and as I'm looking at it You do like these little safety checks. 334 00:26:38,042 --> 00:26:40,642 I check the timing check lock up check all these kind of things. 335 00:26:40,642 --> 00:26:45,182 You can't help it and Often you'll find something else. 336 00:26:45,182 --> 00:26:56,614 It's like, you know, yeah, I can see what you're talking about But this also has this wrong with it, you know that you know because I've held 5,000 of them a good 337 00:26:56,614 --> 00:27:00,397 case of this safety check thing is a dentist I know. 338 00:27:00,397 --> 00:27:07,702 oh I fixed a couple of dentist guns right so the word gets out in the dentist community. 339 00:27:07,702 --> 00:27:10,364 I like to take care of them, they're nice guys. 340 00:27:10,364 --> 00:27:12,445 I like to do the work that's why I do this. 341 00:27:12,445 --> 00:27:15,807 Like I said I don't do it professionally, I'm not licensed for it. 342 00:27:15,807 --> 00:27:18,429 They don't pay me anything more than parts. 343 00:27:18,429 --> 00:27:24,513 But this guy said hey I have a python and it's pretty good but I want you to look at it to make sure everything's alright. 344 00:27:24,513 --> 00:27:25,646 So I said sure. 345 00:27:25,646 --> 00:27:28,339 and he brought it over here in the garage and I picked it up. 346 00:27:28,339 --> 00:27:31,312 It was a nice old Python, two and a half inch gun. 347 00:27:31,313 --> 00:27:36,619 And so I pulled the trigger and it was like way too light. 348 00:27:36,619 --> 00:27:40,133 You this was like a way too light double action trigger pull. 349 00:27:40,133 --> 00:27:40,784 yeah. 350 00:27:40,784 --> 00:27:42,994 uh 351 00:27:42,994 --> 00:27:46,281 coils did you find cut off the spring? 352 00:27:46,436 --> 00:27:47,917 I know, no, wasn't that. 353 00:27:47,917 --> 00:27:49,948 didn't, I mean, he didn't know enough about these guns. 354 00:27:49,948 --> 00:27:53,490 Plus it's a Python and it's a very complicated leaf spring setup. 355 00:27:53,490 --> 00:27:57,491 ah I said, I said, does this work? 356 00:27:57,612 --> 00:28:03,995 And he said, I don't know that I can't really remember the last time I shot it. 357 00:28:03,995 --> 00:28:04,915 Right. 358 00:28:05,316 --> 00:28:08,597 So I started looking at it more and more and more. 359 00:28:08,597 --> 00:28:13,370 I realized that there's a mechanism to prevent uh a firing. 360 00:28:13,370 --> 00:28:15,661 If you drop the gun, it's like a hammer safety. 361 00:28:15,661 --> 00:28:16,335 Right. 362 00:28:16,335 --> 00:28:18,867 Well, I looked and it was gone. 363 00:28:20,128 --> 00:28:24,912 And so that was part of why the action was so light. 364 00:28:24,912 --> 00:28:28,315 I said, I said, the gun is really unsafe. 365 00:28:28,315 --> 00:28:38,783 And if you were to load it and you dropped it, the way they tend to drop is they like a cat, you you invert a cat and when you turn, let go, it always ends up on its feet. 366 00:28:38,783 --> 00:28:42,306 These guns always end up hitting on their hammer, it seems like. 367 00:28:42,306 --> 00:28:46,169 And I said, and this gun would more than likely have fired. 368 00:28:46,211 --> 00:28:48,123 And he just went, really? 369 00:28:48,123 --> 00:28:50,364 But it has like a really good action. 370 00:28:51,405 --> 00:28:54,587 And so I took the gun, I took it apart. 371 00:28:54,587 --> 00:28:59,111 And sure enough, somebody had, man, had filed things that you should have never filed on. 372 00:28:59,111 --> 00:29:02,293 And somebody ground things that they should have never ground on. 373 00:29:02,293 --> 00:29:05,375 I mean, it was just, it was a terrifying thing. 374 00:29:05,435 --> 00:29:09,518 I actually sent the gun to Bill Lockridge at the cylinder and slide shop. 375 00:29:09,518 --> 00:29:12,600 And I said, Bill, this is out of my league. 376 00:29:12,793 --> 00:29:13,701 Hahaha. 377 00:29:13,701 --> 00:29:17,021 something else that a gunsmith should be proud enough to do. 378 00:29:17,021 --> 00:29:24,221 You know, you see something and you just say, you know what, I'm out of my, one guy wanted me work on a Parazzi shotgun one day and I went, nope. 379 00:29:24,381 --> 00:29:28,701 You know, I am not working on your $50,000 shotgun. 380 00:29:28,961 --> 00:29:30,025 So, but. 381 00:29:30,172 --> 00:29:31,693 my ignorance right there. 382 00:29:31,693 --> 00:29:39,218 I know that uh Colt revolvers tend to use leaf spring or they all use leaf springs, but I don't know anything about Colt revolvers. 383 00:29:39,218 --> 00:29:44,602 I've shot a lot of my own a couple, but my experience has all been with Smith and Wesson revolvers. 384 00:29:44,602 --> 00:29:50,086 And that's the one where the gun plumber gets in there with some side cuts and a few coils off the spring. 385 00:29:50,086 --> 00:29:50,897 And there you go. 386 00:29:50,897 --> 00:29:56,711 So that's, know, right there, I was, I was really basically out of my league making that comment. 387 00:29:56,711 --> 00:29:57,285 oh 388 00:29:57,285 --> 00:30:06,339 I was out of my league with this guy and you know, interestingly enough a little of after action report uh Is bill told me that this was this was the like? 389 00:30:06,479 --> 00:30:09,940 Most complicated repair he'd ever done on a python. 390 00:30:09,940 --> 00:30:16,323 He actually ended up having to reweld and remachine Surfaces inside of the gun. 391 00:30:16,323 --> 00:30:25,720 Yeah, and of course you can't get new parts So you have to buy used parts So then you have to hope that you can still get them to work, you know, so yeah, it's complicated 392 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:35,344 And uh yeah, as far as that, this isn't really talking about why do you have to pay a gunsmith, but yes, it is also talking about why do you have to pay a gunsmith because a 393 00:30:35,344 --> 00:30:38,475 good gunsmith won't snip springs. 394 00:30:38,635 --> 00:30:47,639 Because people don't realize this, is if you have a spring and the spring is this long, well, usually uh springs and guns are engineered. 395 00:30:47,639 --> 00:30:52,871 And so these springs have a certain pressure that they collapse. 396 00:30:52,871 --> 00:30:55,026 They have a certain length of travel. 397 00:30:55,026 --> 00:31:06,006 And all of that is taken into consideration for the action for Smith and Wesson revolver It's a trigger return spring for instance and those are classic people take them out and 398 00:31:06,006 --> 00:31:15,766 they cut two three links off or you know coils off of them and the reason why that lightens the trigger post is as you pull the trigger that compresses that spring and as it 399 00:31:15,766 --> 00:31:21,026 compresses the spring And then when the gun fires that spring returns the trigger, right? 400 00:31:21,026 --> 00:31:23,302 So there has to be a string a spring there 401 00:31:23,302 --> 00:31:32,347 But what people do is that when they clip the coils, that changes the overall length of the spring, which changes the dynamics of that considerably. 402 00:31:32,347 --> 00:31:40,072 So yeah, it works sometimes, but it's erratic and it's not a good thing, period. 403 00:31:40,072 --> 00:31:42,272 No. 404 00:31:43,594 --> 00:31:49,817 Yeah, if you're going to do, well, you can modify a spring, but you do it differently. 405 00:31:49,817 --> 00:31:51,620 For instance, what I do is I. 406 00:31:51,620 --> 00:32:00,844 I chuck it in a piece of drill rod and you actually put it up against the belt sander and what you do is you decrease the diameter of it a little bit, right? 407 00:32:00,844 --> 00:32:06,796 So that gets rid of some of the steel which lightens the spring a little bit because they can be lighter. 408 00:32:06,796 --> 00:32:18,681 uh The only thing is though it uh goes hand in hand with, okay, now that's lighter, but that means now all the bearing surfaces have to match perfectly and be smooth. 409 00:32:19,457 --> 00:32:28,130 Because if you have a lighter trigger return spring and you have a crunchy action that it may not be able to return the trigger uh Smoothly, you know, and so it'll be catchy and 410 00:32:28,130 --> 00:32:37,703 then you have so that's what I mean It's not you don't just drop a trigger return or you know a spring kit in it really is part of a whole Series of things that you need to do uh 411 00:32:37,703 --> 00:32:44,725 Eddie Janice who has passed away years ago did peacemaker specialists and he was he did an unbelievable action job. 412 00:32:44,725 --> 00:32:45,605 He called it as like 413 00:32:45,605 --> 00:32:59,897 Master gunfighter action job on 1873 Colts A uh stock 1873 Colts peacemaker is pretty crunchy, you know from Colt I mean they're like You know you you can feel it and they tend 414 00:32:59,897 --> 00:33:07,184 to break they break springs especially the trigger spring and And that's just because everything they make them they throw them together. 415 00:33:07,184 --> 00:33:08,145 They ship them out the door. 416 00:33:08,145 --> 00:33:09,346 It's Colt right? 417 00:33:09,346 --> 00:33:13,609 They'll sell them anyway Yeah, yeah, so 418 00:33:13,765 --> 00:33:16,807 What's what was interesting is that? 419 00:33:16,868 --> 00:33:32,040 His action jobs Eddie's action jobs he he basically Re-engineers the way the action fits together He changes the way angles are he polishes things the way they're supposed to be 420 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:38,276 polished and And then he's actually had springs made to his specifications. 421 00:33:38,276 --> 00:33:42,889 So trigger springs and the hammer spring uh 422 00:33:43,453 --> 00:33:54,954 and the difference is absolutely astounding and and like he said it not only is it smoother when you cock one of his guns you think it's broken i think you've had you cocked 423 00:33:54,954 --> 00:34:07,234 the one at my house that i have that eddie did yeah you hand him a single action they cock the hammer they always look up at you and go what you know but they last forever he said 424 00:34:07,234 --> 00:34:12,873 he's got people with single action armies that he did an action job on that have 50 000 rounds in him 425 00:34:12,891 --> 00:34:16,624 Well, you will never go 50,000 rounds for a stock colt. 426 00:34:16,885 --> 00:34:20,027 I promise you it will be broken long before that. 427 00:34:20,248 --> 00:34:25,573 But I think that's a, in a microcosm, that's why you have to pay somebody who knows what he's doing. 428 00:34:25,793 --> 00:34:30,037 Whether it's to fix your 22 or drill and tap a hole for a site. 429 00:34:30,244 --> 00:34:31,024 Yeah. 430 00:34:31,085 --> 00:34:41,370 Well, we're about out of time here, but the last thing and this is the closing uh point to make is, well, I brought my gun in this morning. 431 00:34:41,370 --> 00:34:43,251 Why isn't it done now? 432 00:34:43,251 --> 00:34:55,888 And especially when you're talking about the Bill Lockeridge's and the Bobby Tyler's and the we're we could talk about the whole the top tier, uh you know, tier one gunsmith guys 433 00:34:55,888 --> 00:34:58,739 and uh builders and restorers. 434 00:34:58,739 --> 00:35:00,200 uh 435 00:35:00,634 --> 00:35:04,396 But you're going to wait and you may wait a long time. 436 00:35:04,396 --> 00:35:11,069 Now, it shouldn't take as long for somebody to, you know, clean and look at your gun, safety check. 437 00:35:11,069 --> 00:35:18,872 But if you're talking, especially, you know, porting and maybe a new barrel and that kind of thing, talk about the wait time and what people should expect. 438 00:35:19,154 --> 00:35:23,136 And gunsmiths are their own worst enemy when it comes to this. 439 00:35:23,296 --> 00:35:33,807 just talked, I mean, just the other day I talked to a guy, he sent two 1911 pistols to a name brand custom gunsmith for some pretty basic work and pretty simple work, action work, 440 00:35:33,807 --> 00:35:34,773 you know, and stuff. 441 00:35:34,773 --> 00:35:38,683 mean, stuff literally you could probably do in two or three hours, right? 442 00:35:39,043 --> 00:35:41,804 This guy had his guns for two years. 443 00:35:43,305 --> 00:35:44,125 And 444 00:35:44,286 --> 00:35:54,113 wouldn't return calls and wouldn't anything and finally when he got through and The gunsmith actually answered the phone it had been almost two years and the gunsmith said 445 00:35:54,113 --> 00:36:05,921 yeah, know, I was pretty busy I'll get to those right and My friend said well, no, actually just put him in a box and send him back, please you know and And so that's a 446 00:36:05,921 --> 00:36:11,725 shame but but as you're saying if you send a gun to Hamilton Bowen at bone classic arms 447 00:36:11,961 --> 00:36:22,027 You're having him build you some custom gun on this Ruger single-action or something and he says well, it's about a year out You know, well that's reasonable. 448 00:36:22,027 --> 00:36:35,595 It doesn't take a year to make it to do it but remember that you're entering into the line of Products that are here is working on now And so, know you he may not be able to get to 449 00:36:35,595 --> 00:36:39,237 yours for four months or six months 450 00:36:39,477 --> 00:36:48,281 Because he has take the other ones, you know and get them up to speed But if you don't give him the gun now, then you don't get in order, right? 451 00:36:48,281 --> 00:36:54,943 So if you wait six months and give him a gun Well, you're not it's not gonna start work working on it that day, right? 452 00:36:55,064 --> 00:37:04,097 It's it's six months out and then the other thing it when you're doing a custom gun like that is Maybe the gunsmith doesn't do the refinishing himself, which means that now he'll 453 00:37:04,097 --> 00:37:08,419 do the metal work Now it goes out to a polisher and refinisher 454 00:37:08,599 --> 00:37:11,110 That may take two months, right? 455 00:37:11,110 --> 00:37:13,050 Three months depending on their workload. 456 00:37:13,050 --> 00:37:24,594 uh Maybe he's, Hamilton had one, a gun for me one time and he actually had the factory barrel re-bored and re-rifled for the new caliber. 457 00:37:24,594 --> 00:37:26,634 uh And so he was doing the work. 458 00:37:26,634 --> 00:37:29,415 He had to send that out and had that work done. 459 00:37:29,515 --> 00:37:33,136 So in those situations, yes it takes time and that's all there is to it. 460 00:37:33,136 --> 00:37:35,943 But if you take your Glock into the local 461 00:37:35,943 --> 00:37:45,739 Gun store who says we have a gunsmith on premises and you want him to put an action kit in it or some new sites or something like that they tell you six months you should pick your 462 00:37:45,739 --> 00:37:56,645 gun back up put it back in the paper bag and leave the store but if they tell you yeah two weeks you know maybe a month that's because they probably have a backlog right so they're 463 00:37:56,645 --> 00:38:01,548 working on these other guns but you have to get yours in there so you get in the waiting queue 464 00:38:01,788 --> 00:38:10,144 But yeah, no and gun like I said gunsmiths are their own worst enemies there and I don't think they've done any favors To a lot of people because I know I've been on farms and 465 00:38:10,144 --> 00:38:13,816 people just curse some of these guys You know, he's had my gun for five. 466 00:38:13,816 --> 00:38:24,123 Well, there was one custom pistol Smith in the industry who no longer works He's retired now, but when you gave him in 1911, he looked you in the eye and told you it would be a 467 00:38:24,123 --> 00:38:30,456 eight-year wait Really I know really 468 00:38:30,456 --> 00:38:32,631 It's now, now, now. 469 00:38:32,651 --> 00:38:33,894 it was amazing. 470 00:38:33,894 --> 00:38:37,939 But I used to hear from people every once in and say, hey, I finally got my gun. 471 00:38:38,221 --> 00:38:40,644 After like seven or eight years. 472 00:38:41,346 --> 00:38:42,228 I know. 473 00:38:42,228 --> 00:38:43,829 All right, you're right. 474 00:38:44,211 --> 00:38:46,128 We beat this into the dirt, so. 475 00:38:46,128 --> 00:38:48,961 have a real quick couple of things. 476 00:38:48,961 --> 00:38:53,685 uh First of all, we want to hear we say it a lot and we mean it. 477 00:38:53,685 --> 00:39:03,213 A lot of our topics, a lot of our ideas come from either comments off of YouTube or you can reach out to me, editor at guns podcast dot us. 478 00:39:03,213 --> 00:39:09,358 And we always like to hear what you think, what you like, maybe what you don't like if you remain civil. 479 00:39:09,358 --> 00:39:12,020 And uh we get a lot of feedback. 480 00:39:12,020 --> 00:39:13,491 on how to do things here. 481 00:39:13,491 --> 00:39:15,191 So we certainly appreciate that. 482 00:39:15,191 --> 00:39:21,794 And as I always say, and I mean this in a complimentary way, Roy is the the wrangler of the YouTube comments. 483 00:39:21,794 --> 00:39:26,156 He gets on there a lot and he triages those for me. 484 00:39:26,156 --> 00:39:27,507 So I certainly appreciate that. 485 00:39:27,507 --> 00:39:30,548 But he, even if we don't respond, we see them all. 486 00:39:30,548 --> 00:39:36,371 uh Yeah, that is fantastic. 487 00:39:36,371 --> 00:39:37,852 So, okay. 488 00:39:37,852 --> 00:39:39,185 Big announcement. 489 00:39:39,185 --> 00:39:39,925 Bum bum bum. 490 00:39:39,925 --> 00:39:42,665 Can you do a drum roll thing, Roy or something? 491 00:39:43,165 --> 00:39:44,145 OK. 492 00:39:44,665 --> 00:39:46,685 Not bad, not bad. 493 00:39:47,565 --> 00:39:53,525 Anyway, if you've been to Guns Podcast US, you might have noticed the website's a little bit different. 494 00:39:53,525 --> 00:39:56,845 We've talked about this, I think, last week, week before. 495 00:39:57,125 --> 00:39:58,925 Everything is now working. 496 00:39:58,925 --> 00:40:01,005 Knock on wood on the electronic side. 497 00:40:01,005 --> 00:40:06,005 So if you go to Guns Podcast US and you will see. 498 00:40:06,305 --> 00:40:08,085 We've got merch. 499 00:40:08,112 --> 00:40:09,972 We have merch. 500 00:40:09,992 --> 00:40:17,372 Uh, we've had it for a while since, uh, we rebranded his gun pod guns podcast us, but the stupid thing never worked. 501 00:40:17,372 --> 00:40:21,972 I tried to buy some stuff myself just to check the quality and it works. 502 00:40:21,972 --> 00:40:28,132 Now we've got t-shirts, you know, can you see it on, on camera? 503 00:40:28,292 --> 00:40:28,852 Okay. 504 00:40:28,852 --> 00:40:29,472 That's funny. 505 00:40:29,472 --> 00:40:32,612 I tried to hold it in front of my face and then you can't hear me in the microphone. 506 00:40:32,612 --> 00:40:37,124 But anyway, coffee mugs and hoodies, and, uh, we may add more stuff. 507 00:40:37,124 --> 00:40:48,992 But if you want to wear your guns podcast gear proudly, you can go to guns podcast us and uh it's kind of serving as, as my personal, uh, junk drawer. 508 00:40:48,992 --> 00:40:53,656 So we'll have everything we do for guns magazine and the podcast. 509 00:40:53,656 --> 00:41:00,280 then I've actually, now that it all works, Roy, and I've got spare time, I'm actually just writing for some fun. 510 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:06,144 So, uh, anything that, that, catches my fancy. 511 00:41:06,228 --> 00:41:11,029 You need to go out and check the story about the crotch pot. 512 00:41:11,250 --> 00:41:15,671 That is an actual product and I investigated it and I wrote about it. 513 00:41:15,671 --> 00:41:24,714 So, uh Roy, I think you probably need a crotch pot for your hiking adventures, but uh we don't. 514 00:41:24,714 --> 00:41:25,975 Well, I did. 515 00:41:25,975 --> 00:41:27,055 I did. 516 00:41:29,976 --> 00:41:31,036 Yeah. 517 00:41:31,202 --> 00:41:33,924 So anyway, check out Guns Podcast US. 518 00:41:33,924 --> 00:41:38,278 And of course, we always have to say, please go to gunsmagazine.com. 519 00:41:38,278 --> 00:41:40,419 uh Roy was the publisher there. 520 00:41:40,419 --> 00:41:41,500 I was the editor there. 521 00:41:41,500 --> 00:41:43,982 They're still in business online. 522 00:41:43,982 --> 00:41:46,044 You can get more of my writing goodness. 523 00:41:46,044 --> 00:41:48,506 And we've got a lot of your favorite gun writers there. 524 00:41:48,506 --> 00:41:50,347 And that's, it would really help us. 525 00:41:50,347 --> 00:42:01,009 You can catch Guns Podcast virtually any place that you watch or listen to podcasts, but it really helps us and it helps Guns Magazine if you go to gunsmagazine.com. 526 00:42:01,009 --> 00:42:04,717 Click on the podcast tab and you can watch it right from there. 527 00:42:04,819 --> 00:42:08,707 anything else you wanted to add to all of those announcements, Roy? 528 00:42:08,965 --> 00:42:13,711 Now if you have horror experiences from gunsmiths, leave me a comment, would you? 529 00:42:13,732 --> 00:42:20,280 And if you've had very positive experiences with a gunsmith, leave me a comment and who it was. 530 00:42:20,521 --> 00:42:23,834 And then we'll see if we can give them some positive press. 531 00:42:23,834 --> 00:42:24,395 There you go. 532 00:42:24,395 --> 00:42:25,749 I like that idea. 533 00:42:25,749 --> 00:42:32,044 Well, ah before we go, of course, we need to hear a a short word from our great sponsor Tango Down. 534 00:42:37,429 --> 00:42:38,133 Mm-hmm 535 00:42:38,133 --> 00:42:44,008 so it'll just be me coming out of the commercial and I'm gonna cut that to the front. 536 00:42:45,049 --> 00:42:54,918 Well, Roy, we've also got a special unveiling, so folks need to stay to the end of the podcast and something you'll wanna know about when we get there. 537 00:42:54,918 --> 00:42:57,100 But check that out at the end of the podcast. 538 00:42:59,534 --> 00:43:01,525 Now we're actually coming out of commercial. 539 00:43:06,532 --> 00:43:08,043 trying to think what I want to say. 540 00:43:10,788 --> 00:43:17,673 Well, thanks again for joining us on this episode of Guns Podcast US brought to you by Guns magazine and sponsored by Tango Down. 541 00:43:17,734 --> 00:43:22,578 Appreciate you joining us and uh we the audience is ever growing. 542 00:43:22,578 --> 00:43:28,643 And it is truly amazing to Roy and I that who is that actress that famously got an award and said they love me. 543 00:43:28,643 --> 00:43:30,234 They really love me. 544 00:43:30,234 --> 00:43:31,605 Yeah. 545 00:43:31,605 --> 00:43:32,545 Yeah. 546 00:43:32,586 --> 00:43:36,719 It feels that way every time we we check the statistics and analytics. 547 00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:37,980 So that's pretty cool. 548 00:43:37,980 --> 00:43:39,051 So big thanks to you. 549 00:43:39,051 --> 00:43:40,238 uh 550 00:43:40,238 --> 00:43:47,411 We really appreciate the feedback that folks are giving us and your eyeballs because that is the currency of the internet. 551 00:43:47,411 --> 00:43:51,153 read the other day that uh we're all fighting for attention at this point. 552 00:43:51,153 --> 00:43:55,285 So we are so happy that we've got a great audience. 553 00:43:55,285 --> 00:44:00,517 So anyway, I'll shut up and we'll get on with planning another great episode next week. 554 00:44:00,517 --> 00:44:07,192 But on behalf of Roy Huntington, my co-host, I'm of course, Guns Podcast US host, Brent Wheat. 555 00:44:07,192 --> 00:44:12,778 reminding you as we do every single week, now it's time to get out there and get shooting. 556 00:44:17,105 --> 00:44:17,927 Okay. 557 00:44:18,578 --> 00:44:19,383 Cool.