Lesson learned....

Uncle Alvah · 12-27-2013, 05:52 PM

Awhile back I wanted to have a dovetail slot milled into the slide of my Rock Island GI and have a HyVis fiber optic front sight installed. I decided to let a local "gunsmith" do the work, in hindsight, a foolish decision. The picture shows the end result......

In the end, I got the guy to pay for a new slide and also to have it fitted, the folks at Armscor did me right correcting his chop job. Their gunsmith Arnel fitted a new Tactical slide and installed the sight correctly, and the turnaround was an amazing SIX days from the time it left my hands until I had it back. Made a fan of Armscor customer service out of me, you can bet on that!

retDAC · 12-27-2013, 06:46 PM

Impressive!

Uncle Alvah · 12-27-2013, 06:58 PM

On various firearms forums I frequent, I often see posts to the effect of "Looking for a gunsmith near XXX city" or "Looking for a refinisher near XXX town."
My advice to those folks is always the same. If you are fortunate enough to have a good gunsmith or refinisher in your area, thats great, you are lucky. However, check references and do some homework beforehand. Convenient location is the worst criteria upon which to select someone to work on your firearm. If you need to ship it someplace for top-notch work, then by all means SHIP IT!!!!!

Scottly · 12-28-2013, 04:33 AM

Here's the caveat: Many of the top-quality gun smiths won't touch your RIA for anything other than simple sight installs, etc. The quality control during the manufacture of some of those guns is not very good, and things like trigger jobs and barrel installs can get work-intense to fix the factory screw-ups when doing those jobs. They have a reputation for that and some guys won't touch them.

Uncle Alvah · 12-28-2013, 04:52 AM

Quote:

Here's the caveat: Many of the top-quality gun smiths won't touch your RIA for anything other than simple sight installs, etc. The quality control during the manufacture of some of those guns is not very good, and things like trigger jobs and barrel installs can get work-intense to fix the factory screw-ups when doing those jobs. They have a reputation for that and some guys won't touch them.

I'm not sure what all that has to do with the point of the thread, which is to select a gunsmith on ability, and resist the urge to choose based on proximity, but thanks for your insights all the same.

12-27-2013, 05:52 PM	#1
Uncle Alvah Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Ernul NC Posts: 7	Lesson learned.... Awhile back I wanted to have a dovetail slot milled into the slide of my Rock Island GI and have a HyVis fiber optic front sight installed. I decided to let a local "gunsmith" do the work, in hindsight, a foolish decision. The picture shows the end result...... In the end, I got the guy to pay for a new slide and also to have it fitted, the folks at Armscor did me right correcting his chop job. Their gunsmith Arnel fitted a new Tactical slide and installed the sight correctly, and the turnaround was an amazing SIX days from the time it left my hands until I had it back. Made a fan of Armscor customer service out of me, you can bet on that!

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12-27-2013, 06:46 PM	#2
retDAC Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: near Huntsville, Ala. Posts: 707	Impressive!

12-27-2013, 06:58 PM	#3
Uncle Alvah Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Ernul NC Posts: 7	On various firearms forums I frequent, I often see posts to the effect of "Looking for a gunsmith near XXX city" or "Looking for a refinisher near XXX town." My advice to those folks is always the same. If you are fortunate enough to have a good gunsmith or refinisher in your area, thats great, you are lucky. However, check references and do some homework beforehand. Convenient location is the worst criteria upon which to select someone to work on your firearm. If you need to ship it someplace for top-notch work, then by all means SHIP IT!!!!!

12-28-2013, 04:33 AM	#4
Scottly Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: New Port Richey Posts: 169	Here's the caveat: Many of the top-quality gun smiths won't touch your RIA for anything other than simple sight installs, etc. The quality control during the manufacture of some of those guns is not very good, and things like trigger jobs and barrel installs can get work-intense to fix the factory screw-ups when doing those jobs. They have a reputation for that and some guys won't touch them.