Gunsmiths and Rails

[big5ifty]

I've had 5 rails fitted to rifles by 4 different gunsmiths, and 3 of the 4 did a kak job.

The first gunsmith fitted a rail to a Winchester rifle for me. When I checked it myself, there was a gap of 2mm between the action and the rail at the rear, with the two front screws just firmed in. The mating surface of the rail did not fit the action, front or back.

The second gunsmith was asked to fit a 20MOA rail on a Remington action. When I checked it, he had used n angle grinder under the front of a 0 MOA rail and screwed it down.

The third gunsmith fitted two rails, they look like a combination shroud / picattiny - to two RSA actions. On both rifles, I could see through the gap between the rail and the action when looking down the barrel. The third rail he fitted I haven't checked yet. It's held up ok under heavy recoil and the scope didn't move yet.

The only good rail fitting was done on a P14 action by Craig Clintworth, Treeman has that rifle now.

I've had one other rail fitted by gunsmith number 1, it wasn't a kak job, I just had to bed the rail to take up a small gap.

Moral of the story - check everything yourself, don't assume anything.

[oafpatroll]

It's a pity that Klintworth blotted his copy book with some iffy business practices as his work was always top notch in my experience.

I think the destruction of the apprenticeship system in favour of the SITA boondoggle likely has a lot to do with the shortage of competent tradespeople.

[Mohamed]

There were 2 gentlemen shooting next to me on Saturday at Rooikraal. Both had scopes that had to be refitted as the gunsmith at one of the big name shop's didn't fit them correctly. Also, he scratched the rifle and damaged\broke the mount on the one rifle, a 6mm Musgrave built on a 303 action if I remember correctly which the owner only noticed at the range.

[oafpatroll]

There were 2 gentlemen shooting next to me on Saturday at Rooikraal. Both had scopes that had to be refitted as the gunsmith at one of the big name shop's didn't fit them correctly. Also, he scratched the rifle and damaged\broke the mount on the one rifle, a 6mm Musgrave built on a 303 action if I remember correctly which the owner only noticed at the range.

I've seen some truly crap work come out of the 'smith' at the biggest name shop near me and I wouldn't even go as far as calling it gunsmithing. The standout was a brand new Glock that had expensive new tritium sights installed. The rear was visibly dented most likely from being beaten on with a steel hammer, the front was off vertical enough not to need a square to confirm it and the slide was scratched on both ends. After seeing that, the bill and a couple of other clangers I wouldn't advise anyone to take a gun to them for cleaning much less surgery. 

[oafpatroll]

Moral of the story - check everything yourself, don't assume anything.

Another one is that it's worth tooling and skilling up for simple jobs requiring care and precision if they are likely to need doing a few times. Drillig, tapping, fitting rails and sights and so forth aren't things I'm prepared to pay a 'professional' to do unless I'm very confident that they'll do a better job than me. Given that they're simple and that I no longer sell my time by the hour there's very little likelihood that they'll spend more time and care on the job than I will.