Hello All,
This is my second Thread here @ SnipersHide. My first was about a rifle I picked up back in Mid-Late October.
Mike Rock Barrel Questions
I picked that gun up off of Gunbroker, and this Thread is a sort of Follow-up.
First, let me preface what follows with some background info:
I have been using auction sites since 2001, and luckily I have NEVER been screwed. Over the past 10-11 years I've bought cars, motorcycles, guitars, and guns, all through various auction pages such as eBay & Gunbroker. Obviously, things don't always go smoothly - and there's been cases where I've needed to return an item or file a claim with FedEx - but I've always done my research and contacted the seller BEFORE buying to make sure things would go (mostly) well. I've also sold many, many items on eBay, so I know how it all works. I pride myself on having integrity, as well as accurately describing the item for sale - as I know many of the members of our community here do the same.
Well, unfortunately I was finally f****d over! Haha.
His name is Brad Richardson and his shop is called Long Range Precision in Andersonville, TN.
The rifle he sold me (that was listed on Gunbroker) was billed as a "Remington 700 .308 Custom/Tactical Build." His description was: "This auction is for a custom built Remington 700 in 308. The action has been blue printed and trued. It has a 1 in 11 twist 22" Rock Creek Barrel. The muzzle is threaded 5/8x24 and is suppressor ready. The action is glass bedded in an H S Precision stock. The trigger has been adjusted to a nice crisp 3-3.5 lbs. The bolt has had a tactical knob installed onto it."
The description was a bit lacking, and he only had 3 pictures, but his feedback was all positive and in the 200's, so I decided to contact him for more info. I emailed him about 10 times: asking about the life of the rifling, whether a thread protector was included, what taper was the barrel, what sling studs were in the stock, how many rounds has it seen, is it more accurate than a stock remy, etc etc. He answered all my questions and it sounded like a pretty decent starting point for a build I was planning, so I agreed to send him the USPS Money Order.
Well, when the rifle first arrived, and there was no indication of the caliber on the barrel, that was my first red flag. At that point I started that first thread to try and figure out what was going on. Luckily, with the help of y'all, I got some good info, and also was turned onto Jered at APA.
So I got the rifle in October, sent it to Jered by the end of October, talked to Jered for awhile about the direction I wanted to go in, and then waited for it to be my turn. This was my first "Custom" rifle build, and I was really excited to start my m40-style rifle project. Up until now I've only been shooting old 30-06s and stock remy 700s with Leupold glass.
Well, when it was my turn, and Jered called me about 2 weeks ago, I was in for a REAL shock. Jered told me that he couldn't move forward with my muzzle brake because the threading on the muzzle was completely crooked and out of spec. Not only that, but the crown on the barrel has a bad bur where someone put a 60 deg live center in the crown when they threaded the muzzle. Also, not only does the crown look like a train-wreck, but the thread cap doesn't even fit right. Also, The receiver threads are very loose and there's a lot of slop. Also, the recoil lug was put on backwards. Also, the action has not been touched. Also, there is no glass bedding anywhere to be seen. Also, none of the bolts were tightened down to spec. Also, the rifling does not look "just broken in w/ about 20 rounds" as Brad told me in an email, but rather it looks, according to Jered, "like a pile of dog shit."
Not only will this rifle NOT out-shoot a stock remy like Brad advertised, but it's just plain dangerous to shoot! Jered said it was one of the worst barrel jobs/setups he's ever seen! I'm lucky that I never took it to the range when I first got it, but rather sent it to Jered to get in line for my build, because that rifle basically looks like it was put together by a drunk.
So, I've emailed Brad many, many times with no response. He is still selling on gunbroker under the user name LRPRifle. I tried asking questions about items for sale there, and he responded... so I know he is just ignoring my emails. I didn't want to bring up a bunch of negative crap around Christmas and New Years, but now it's on! haha. I'm gonna start calling him tomorrow to see if I can get a hold of him and get reimbursed for the cost of the barrel. I know it's probably a lost caused, but I have to try - maybe whatever side of him got all that positive feedback will resurface again? The good news is that at least the stock, action, and trigger are all usable... just not the barrel so much.
Well, I know that was a long post, so I apologize, but I just HATE to hear about when stuff like this happens to other people, and now it's my turn, so I felt I needed to warn others about this man's business practices.
On a more positive note, now I can kinda rethink my initial build. haha! I was going to put this 22" barrel into a Manners T3 Stock, Coat the barrel and action, use the LB brake/Thread Cap combo, and use this rifle as a sort of All-Purpose plinking/hunting/competition stick with some Premier Light 3-15x glass on top. All I would have been left with was the HS Stock... which I would have sold. But now I may just ditch that plan and go with my 2nd build idea - 20" barrel in a Manners T2A stock with some Premier 6-20x Horus glass. Not quite as "All-Purpose" as the T3 & 22" combo, but what do you guys think who run the different style setups? I know I'll eventually build/own both, but which do you think I should tackle first? I guess the other option is to just keep the HS stock and turn the current rifle into an old M24 copy, but if I do that I'll just keep thinking about the 2 builds I wanna do every time I go shoot!
J.S.
This is my second Thread here @ SnipersHide. My first was about a rifle I picked up back in Mid-Late October.
Mike Rock Barrel Questions
I picked that gun up off of Gunbroker, and this Thread is a sort of Follow-up.
First, let me preface what follows with some background info:
I have been using auction sites since 2001, and luckily I have NEVER been screwed. Over the past 10-11 years I've bought cars, motorcycles, guitars, and guns, all through various auction pages such as eBay & Gunbroker. Obviously, things don't always go smoothly - and there's been cases where I've needed to return an item or file a claim with FedEx - but I've always done my research and contacted the seller BEFORE buying to make sure things would go (mostly) well. I've also sold many, many items on eBay, so I know how it all works. I pride myself on having integrity, as well as accurately describing the item for sale - as I know many of the members of our community here do the same.
Well, unfortunately I was finally f****d over! Haha.
His name is Brad Richardson and his shop is called Long Range Precision in Andersonville, TN.
The rifle he sold me (that was listed on Gunbroker) was billed as a "Remington 700 .308 Custom/Tactical Build." His description was: "This auction is for a custom built Remington 700 in 308. The action has been blue printed and trued. It has a 1 in 11 twist 22" Rock Creek Barrel. The muzzle is threaded 5/8x24 and is suppressor ready. The action is glass bedded in an H S Precision stock. The trigger has been adjusted to a nice crisp 3-3.5 lbs. The bolt has had a tactical knob installed onto it."
The description was a bit lacking, and he only had 3 pictures, but his feedback was all positive and in the 200's, so I decided to contact him for more info. I emailed him about 10 times: asking about the life of the rifling, whether a thread protector was included, what taper was the barrel, what sling studs were in the stock, how many rounds has it seen, is it more accurate than a stock remy, etc etc. He answered all my questions and it sounded like a pretty decent starting point for a build I was planning, so I agreed to send him the USPS Money Order.
Well, when the rifle first arrived, and there was no indication of the caliber on the barrel, that was my first red flag. At that point I started that first thread to try and figure out what was going on. Luckily, with the help of y'all, I got some good info, and also was turned onto Jered at APA.
So I got the rifle in October, sent it to Jered by the end of October, talked to Jered for awhile about the direction I wanted to go in, and then waited for it to be my turn. This was my first "Custom" rifle build, and I was really excited to start my m40-style rifle project. Up until now I've only been shooting old 30-06s and stock remy 700s with Leupold glass.
Well, when it was my turn, and Jered called me about 2 weeks ago, I was in for a REAL shock. Jered told me that he couldn't move forward with my muzzle brake because the threading on the muzzle was completely crooked and out of spec. Not only that, but the crown on the barrel has a bad bur where someone put a 60 deg live center in the crown when they threaded the muzzle. Also, not only does the crown look like a train-wreck, but the thread cap doesn't even fit right. Also, The receiver threads are very loose and there's a lot of slop. Also, the recoil lug was put on backwards. Also, the action has not been touched. Also, there is no glass bedding anywhere to be seen. Also, none of the bolts were tightened down to spec. Also, the rifling does not look "just broken in w/ about 20 rounds" as Brad told me in an email, but rather it looks, according to Jered, "like a pile of dog shit."
Not only will this rifle NOT out-shoot a stock remy like Brad advertised, but it's just plain dangerous to shoot! Jered said it was one of the worst barrel jobs/setups he's ever seen! I'm lucky that I never took it to the range when I first got it, but rather sent it to Jered to get in line for my build, because that rifle basically looks like it was put together by a drunk.
So, I've emailed Brad many, many times with no response. He is still selling on gunbroker under the user name LRPRifle. I tried asking questions about items for sale there, and he responded... so I know he is just ignoring my emails. I didn't want to bring up a bunch of negative crap around Christmas and New Years, but now it's on! haha. I'm gonna start calling him tomorrow to see if I can get a hold of him and get reimbursed for the cost of the barrel. I know it's probably a lost caused, but I have to try - maybe whatever side of him got all that positive feedback will resurface again? The good news is that at least the stock, action, and trigger are all usable... just not the barrel so much.
Well, I know that was a long post, so I apologize, but I just HATE to hear about when stuff like this happens to other people, and now it's my turn, so I felt I needed to warn others about this man's business practices.
On a more positive note, now I can kinda rethink my initial build. haha! I was going to put this 22" barrel into a Manners T3 Stock, Coat the barrel and action, use the LB brake/Thread Cap combo, and use this rifle as a sort of All-Purpose plinking/hunting/competition stick with some Premier Light 3-15x glass on top. All I would have been left with was the HS Stock... which I would have sold. But now I may just ditch that plan and go with my 2nd build idea - 20" barrel in a Manners T2A stock with some Premier 6-20x Horus glass. Not quite as "All-Purpose" as the T3 & 22" combo, but what do you guys think who run the different style setups? I know I'll eventually build/own both, but which do you think I should tackle first? I guess the other option is to just keep the HS stock and turn the current rifle into an old M24 copy, but if I do that I'll just keep thinking about the 2 builds I wanna do every time I go shoot!
J.S.
