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Gunsmithing My PTG after action report

squib-load

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Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 11, 2017
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I felt compelled today to write up a short (ok it got a bit longer that I thought) note on my recent experience with PTG and specifically Dave Kiff, the owner. I follow many of the boards, the usual suspects most of which are true sources of knowledge for precision/tactical/long range shooting and have learned a lot, snipers hide, long range hunting, accurate shooter …et al. Like everywhere else in life (military included), there are those that have been there, done that and gotten the shiny medal of stupidity for it and know what they are talking about and keyboard commandos that are posting from their parents basements whose only weapons quals are on call of duty and if the gun can do it in the game, they feel that they are now qualified experts. So separating fact from fiction is still a requirement.

Now for me, I know I am just fly turds in the machinery grease of life, nobody special, no more or less deserving or gifted than anyone else. 20+ in the service gives you this realization quickly and if it doesn’t you are just a megalomaniac or just too self-absorbed and like most 12 step programs, admitting this is the first step to your recovery. Generally most of the posters and shooters I meet around the country are a helpful bunch and most really just want to help, even if their advice is a bit off the mark, they mean well. Then there are others that are either just too self important, cant’ admit step number 1 from above or are paid trolls or just have an axe to grind and will wield it at those they mean to discredit either for their own gains or because that is what they are being paid to do. I am neither paid, nor have axes to grind, and am unemployed so have no monetary gain to be gotten from what I am going to write… just felt like I needed to add my perspective and my experience to what seems like a polarized discussion on PTG.. mostly positive posts… but I don’t believe that the negative posts about Mr Kiff or PTG can be anything other than a counter intel program. Now to be sure, PTG and Mr Kiff at least in my circles have always been talked about as subject mater experts.. but I have seen occasional posts, usually from the same people/companies that want to throw rocks.. or complain about a time where things didnt go their way.... I hope this gives some additional perspective….

I got out of the service a couple years ago, and as a bit of therapy since there was no work for me where we settled for my wife to teach she suggested I get back into shooting and get range time to get back around the guys. Going from 60+ hour work weeks while home and 24/7 for months on end while deployed, and I did many, to suddenly being thrown into Mr Mom role raising my at the time 1yo… let’s just say it was a huge life change. So this offer from my wife was a nice gesture under the premise that it doesn’t break the bank since we were now making less than when I was in the service if that is possible. So I picked up a second hand 700 SPS with a Mk II 6-18 and started shooting with a club that gets access to 600 and 1000y range a couple times a year shooting F. Learning to dope winds, reload, and the rest that goes into a discipline that could not be farther from military weapons qual was a lot of fun, and after buying a second hand B&C stock (getting the low rent picture here — the only thing new that I shoot are the bullets and sometimes I buy blems to save a couple bucks) from a guy in my club to get it out of the tubberware hogue and fire lapping the barrel, I was able to get this thing to shoot so I could at least shoot in the 170s with a couple x’s but let’s be clear.. I got laughed at, and was shooting with guys that bragged the paint job on their custom stocked 30” bull barrel micrometer rest F Open guns cost more than my whole FT/R rifle/stock/scope and chicom knockoff harris cost (oh let’s not forget my dirty sock filled with beans rear bag)… I was put in my place.. and that was fine.. just like being in the service again. If you balls weren’t being busted, they didn’t like you, although I suspect some were just being mean and elitist, but hey if you got it, flaunt it. But I knew that a longer, better pipe than this factory 20" barrel was needed as it fouled bad and was velocity challenged for 1 grand. So I started scrimping and saving.

Great man, what has all this got to do with Dave? I am getting there, I just wanted to illuminate that I am nobody special, I am no German Salazer or Brad Suave or anyone else important that this company needed to cater to. Keep going, it’s worth it, I promise.

I finally scrimped together the $400 I needed to get a barreling and truing done and got my hands on a pretty good piece of pipe (on the cheap of course but that is a different story). With the approval of the household accountant and a look over the eyebrows as to why my perfectly good rifle (in her eyes) needed work, I was ready to go. I was going to use a smith in the club, and of course having done my research, chamber reamer choices for 308 is harder to choose than a trip to 51 flavors. I can only really afford a single precision bolt gun, and I also wanted to start tactical PRS style shooting once I could get a magazine system since I was told not to bother trying to enter one with a BDL setup.... so this rifle needed a chamber that was a bit of a tradeoff and could not just be purposed built around a single feed, long non mag length round but I didn’t want a mile long Remington chamber either and it really was a mile long I could have bullets out of the case before into the lands.

So I felt I needed expert advice to confirm what I was reading and getting from my smith.. so I tried calling the source… PTG of course.. what did I have to loose? I have read lots of posts by Dave and it seems like he is always willing to help out, send prints, etc. But there was too much to digest on the forums, seemed like everyone had a different opinion so I decided to try and call PTG directly.

So I call PTG, talk to the nice gal that picked up the phone and she asked how she could help. I said I had some 308 reamer questions and she asked for my company name (ok here we go.. mouse turd time) and I said ‘ sorry, it’s just me asking.. is that ok’. Sure, one moment please. I spend the next 30- 40 minutes talking reamers with a very knowledgable guy who was more than happy to stay on the phone with me until I was satisfied I knew what I wanted. And I told them up front, I am not buying anything nor have I bought anything, this is just so I can communicate with my gunsmith, ‘no problem’ was the reply. WOW. Ok since I wanted mostly 175’s size pills from AICS (should I ever get bottom metal) mag length a straight 308 win match was the suggestion, so off I went.

I sent the rifle out, told the smith the same thing, needed an accurate ‘rifle of all trades’ and he also said that win match made sense. I sent him the rifle for barreling and truing and what I got back made my head scratch a bit. I always chamber check anything before I shoot it, goes all the way back to when I was a child and my grandfather thought me that, along with looking up the barrel before shooting for the day and doing a complete function check. In his day it was mostly an issue with capture rifles being re-chambered in anything and everything, so trust nothing he would say. I dropped in some 168 FGMM and it dumped out, I don’t extract it out, I want to see it fall out. Same with FGMM 175, but it didn’t drop out.. it needed a tap and it had some land marking on the bullet. I was under the impression that the chamber we chose was supposed to fit the 175? My locking lugs looked shiny so they were worked on as was the bolt face, but only the bottom lug shed grease, not the top lug, and the bolt was not hitting the primary extractor ramp. There was now about 26 thou gap between the handle and action. I called my smith and he said everything is good to go, he could extend the throat if I wanted but assured me lots of people were happy with this setup (reamer) and it should be fine.

My range trip was a bit disappointing, Factory ammo shot OK, FGMM/Hornady 168 being better than my FGMM 7.62 that I had, just under an inch. But the 175 groups were worse than my factory barrel. Every group had flyers, velocities seemed really high but my chrono is a cheap one and sometimes has a mind of its own. No pressure signs so moved onto some reloads that in the old barrel velocity/accuracy matched the FGMM 7.62 in both LC LR and FGMM brass full length resized in the same dies. The LC would extract but the FGMM cases needed a tap on the bolt handle. Primary extraction, or the lack of, not helping here I am sure. But no pressure signs on the brass. Shot about 40 rounds, called it a day.

Gave my smith a call, he said it just needs to be broken in, and assured me that if he had done something that would affect extraction nothing would be extracting, probably need small base dies. I should load short or get my throat lengthened if that was a concern, but it should be fine and assured he only took a couple thou when lapping the bolt and the chamber was polished so that could not be the issue. Loading 175s under 2.8 seemed a bit odd, and I was worried about shooting them jammed.

So, what is a nobody like me going to do for additional input? I just spent almost as much ‘customizing’ my rig as what it had cost me originally and I feel like I have taken steps in the wrong direction. I called PTG again since I wanted to see if I really was running the right chamber and see what they thought about having my smith throat it longer, I took a bunch of stony point comparator measurements…then I called. Talked to the nice gal and said I had some chamber/reamer questions. She asked me what caliber, said ‘308’ and was waiting for the… what company do you work for.. next thing I know, ‘Good Morning this is Dave, how can I help’. Dave Kiff I asked? Yep… how can I help? wow.. ok the owner of the company.. the man himself.. I must have gotten lucky.

I explain that I was not a customer but just had some smith work done and I told him that I know he must be busy but could he spare a few minutes? Sure, what can I help with.. wow the owner of the company let me run through the whole rigamarole you all have read up to now.. with more detail took like 10 minutes just to get him up to speed, and he was full of suggestions and had me take some further measurements. Now he starts getting agitated, not at me, but at the numbers he is getting back.. damn it.. he said.. 'ok look just send that action up to me and I will take a look at it’ fit it with a properly fitting and clocked PTG bolt you might have been better off starting with one of my 700 actions I have them on sale right now..…' I said whoa whoa.. I just got off the prayer rug with the wife to pay a smith for this work, I can’t chase this down a hole, what is all this going to cost… he said don’t you worry about it.. let me just take a look at it and swap that bolt out.. and double check the chamber work. I was without words…

RIGHT THERE ANYONE that has written that this man doesn’t take care of customers ( I wasn’t even HIS customer ) was full of it. Right there.. enough said on that. That is definitive, that is straight dope, and if anyone wants to refute it - you stand in front of me and say it to my face.. that is the way it was. And let’s remember, I am NOBODY. I am less than nothing to this guy right now, I don’t represent a large contract and am not a sponsored shooter that could bash him. He has gotten NOTHING from me and he OWED me exactly that, NOTHING. So that is why I felt compelled to make my first post here. I just could not believe that anyone could say that Dave didn't take care of people. These ‘marquis’ builders (some that I have never heard of) that have had negative things to say about PTG or Dave and customer service... would you have spent hours talking to a NON-CUSTOMER? Would you have offered to work on and or repair someone’s rifle that was worked on by SOMEONE ELSE..… I think not.. take a good hard look in a mirror…. would you help out another human being as he did. He felt my pain, saw that I was in a pickle, put himself in my shoes and shouldered in to help me out.

It gets better… MUCH BETTER.

So I am finishing up my coffee after the call, as the fact sinks in that Mr Kiff, the man himself, is going to take a look at MY POS, second hand frankenrfile. I felt compelled to write him a nice note so I call PTG and they gave me his PERSONAL email so I could drop him a line to thank him. I let him know that I really appreciated his assistance and generosity in this mater and as an out of work vet trying to just have some fun let alone keep up in an expensive sport, I was humbled at his generosity. I asked if there was at least some small service that he could perform while fitting the new bolt that I could pay for, fluting or threading the handle perhaps, that I would feel better paying for something. What can I say, it’s the way I was brought up, be a man - pay your own way in life - ask for nothing and owe no-one. I said safety was my number one concern and that it made me feel better that he was going to take a look at it too, and so on.

This is where this story really takes it up a notch…

He sends me back a very nice reply (paraphrasing a bit.. not appropriate to attach the note he actually wrote since it was very personal) that it was his pleasure to help out a fellow vet (I don’t think he knew that on our first conversation). That having served himself, and having lost his brother to war, and having served many customers that where true American heroes (I am not going to name drop here but it was a who's who list) that he has learned in life it’s about taking care of each other, spending more quality time with family, being good to others when it’s in your ability to do so (something that just about everyone in combat has ever learned.. it’s about the guy next to you). That he would not just look over my rifle but that I would not recognize it when I get it back. At this point as I am reading his note and shedding a tear or two ( I am not embarrassed to say I got a bit emotional ) my wife that was sitting at the table and asked me if everything was ok and did someone pass away? I said ‘it’s ok hun.. just somebody is just going to do something really nice for me, and I am just used to being treated like a mouse turd in the machinery grease so it just tugged on me a bit too hard.. it’s ok”. I have help out a guy or too at the range that could not get an AR running right or had some jacked up 'borsighted' scope that couldn't get on paper... but this is a level of generosity I am not accustomed to seeing. I think someone bought a lunch for me once after 9/11 when I was standing in line at a BBQ shack in uniform.. but this takes it up a notch!

So really, what is there left to say here? What have you done for someone, anyone lately? If your company was doing this well, and in this demand we are lucky that he hasn’t doubled his prices and/or just gone govt contract only and forget the little guy. This man is very passionate about shooting. He is very knowledgable and that is why the .mil, secret service, FBI, national level shooters etc go to this man to get things done. With the explosion in the industry and nobody keeping up ( I waited 11 months BO for powder just a couple years ago), and a backlog of high paying government and other contracts keeping him jumping.. little ole fly turd me was just treated like royalty. Do things happen, mistakes get made, I would be surprised if they didn’t, if you think you are perfect go back up and read step 1, I assure you… you are not. But to say this man doesn’t care about customers is beyond absurd. This is the kind of man/company that deserves our continued support and business. I challenge you reading this to do something for others, as Dave has set example. If the true measure of a man is how he treats others.. the man is a saint in my book. Dave and his family have bled of the Flag to keep it red, but has not gotten so big as to forget where it is he came from. I have no idea what he is planning to do, or what my rifle is going to come back looking like.. but its the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a very long time... and all I have is thanks.... and cant wait to get it back and on a range........


If you have had what I can only assume has been a similarly positive experience at PTG please feel free chime in.....

If you are here to bash I respectfully ask that you post it elsewhere ..start your own thread... as I won't believe you...and I am not interested in hearing it... nobody that offers to do what this man is doing for me.. without me asking for a thing, deserves anything but praise. This is my thread.... respect my wishes please.

proud to be an American... Duty, Honor, Country, God, Family....

Thanks Dave!
 
First of all want to thank you for your service to our country. And it's good to hear some one have positive things to say because everyone always points out the negative in everything. And I'm really a nobody to and I have had some mistakes happen but ptg has always done every thing they could to fix there was one time when a boutght a Reamer from ptg but when I got it the free bore was still to long for what I needed for a customer I called and talked to Dave he did his magic on the calculator and he said the reamer could be reground To send it back said it would be 2-3 weeks I'm like that's quicker than I thought it would be So I was good with that but what happened really surprised go to the mail 4 days later and guess what's there my Reamer could not hardly believe it so over the years Dave has always had time to talk to me so I have the Highest Respect for Dave and his employees and in life I have always believed that people will treat you the way you are treating them it does no good to get all pissed about a mistake which we all make but just need to work out the problem the best you can so thanks for your story it's good to hear you were treated this way sound like you deserve it hope every thing works out for you
 
When I started doing bbl work & ordering reamers, Dave often had time to talk with me about my needs. Though there were more screw-ups in orders than I'd like, they were all eventually taken care of. Over the past 12yrs, I've bought a bunch of stuff from PTG - including all but one chambering reamer that I have - and though two out of the dozens gave me problems, they were replaced, and in a very short time frame. Dave's spread out, and offers a very large selection of parts, pieces, & tools. Maybe he's gotten in over his head on some stuff - I recall waiting about six months on 'trued' M700 SA actions, and finally giving up & changing out my order for two B-17 custom Stiller-made actions instead - whatever, I'm still doing business with him, and have no intention of dumping on he & his staff. And if I'm able to make it to SHOT next year, I'll most certainly stop by his booth to say hi.
 
thanks for weighing in... with as much has Dave has helped people here in the forums.. I was not expecting anything different...
 
Excellent story about an excellent company. We now live in a social media driven world that demands instant gratification. I find that going "old school" and picking up the phone will go miles over ranting over the internet. I was a PTG customer before I read this, and now the cement has set a little more.
 
and quite evident also, only those that have an axe to grind take the time to write.. but with the hundreds of folks that have been helped personally by Dave here they cant take 2 minutes to say something nice evidently... that is why the internet is generaly filled with negativity and vitriol ... thanks to those that took the time to say something nice.. to me or him.. appreciate it!

 
I feel the same way I am not one of PTG's big customers and I don't make my living with their tools and maybe that would make a difference. With that said I do make at least 10 orders a year like I said not big customer, an order or two has gone astray, but always straighten out and money set right. I have also noticed that some people like to jump on that bandwagon pretty fast when I know for a fact that they have had similar problems them self on a much smaller scale. Maybe people should be a little more calm and collected
 
and quite evident also, only those that have an axe to grind take the time to write.. but with the hundreds of folks that have been helped personally by Dave here they cant take 2 minutes to say something nice evidently... that is why the internet is generaly filled with negativity and vitriol ... thanks to those that took the time to say something nice.. to me or him.. appreciate it!

Hmmm...I'm not seeing a whole lot of negative comments on this thread, so I can't say that I agree with your statement. I'd argue that many of us that have been burned by PTG (and there's quite a few), have said our piece and choose to let it stand in another thread. Kind of negates your comment about people with axes to grind...
 
Or that those who have had issues with PTG will be called liars by the OP. He already stated that in his first post. So at that point, why bother.

I've never had an issue with PTG, but I've never ordered anything directly from them either. I got my PTG bottom metal from Midway when it was on clearance, and cheaper than PTG direct. There are enough people who have bad experiences with them and their inventory, or super slow shipping, or expected shipping dates broken numerous times, that I bought their stuff through a distributor who actually had it in stock. I didn't want to take the risk of waiting months for a product that showed in stock.
 
I'll relate a story, only because it happened just yesterday, by sheer coincidence with the timing of your thread...
To preface, had never talked to Dave before yesterday, and though "professional", am still a relative gnat with no purchasing power...but as with many here, had noticed a decline in CS in recent years.

So to the point...
Yesterday morn I called because I wanted to speak with someone about their action blueprinting piloted taps and some of the other related tooling. Guy answers the phone, and as I always do (so I can write it down, for later follow-up, if needed), asked "to whom am I speaking?"- and he answered "Dave...Dave Kiff". Well, if you've got technical questions he would be the guy to talk to...

He was more than happy to discuss the "need this/ don't need that" and his recommendations- and he offered up that he had "new" people (or "system", or both, don't recall exactly) in place to resolve the issues with CS they'd been experiencing; I thanked him for offering that info and told him that it had definitely been an issue for me in recent times and was glad to hear he was making the effort to address it.

Ordering some tooling again, we'll see how it goes.
 
I'll relate a story, only because it happened just yesterday, by sheer coincidence with the timing of your thread...
To preface, had never talked to Dave before yesterday, and though "professional", am still a relative gnat with no purchasing power...but as with many here, had noticed a decline in CS in recent years.

So to the point...
Yesterday morn I called because I wanted to speak with someone about their action blueprinting piloted taps and some of the other related tooling. Guy answers the phone, and as I always do (so I can write it down, for later follow-up, if needed), asked "to whom am I speaking?"- and he answered "Dave...Dave Kiff". Well, if you've got technical questions he would be the guy to talk to...

He was more than happy to discuss the "need this/ don't need that" and his recommendations- and he offered up that he had "new" people (or "system", or both, don't recall exactly) in place to resolve the issues with CS they'd been experiencing; I thanked him for offering that info and told him that it had definitely been an issue for me in recent times and was glad to hear he was making the effort to address it.

Ordering some tooling again, we'll see how it goes.

That is encouraging to hear. I haven't dealt with them in over a year. I order their stuff through someone else.
 
JMGlasgow

for the reading impaired ... as its clearly in my post.. I said that yes.. I am sure things happen... but given my customer service experiance and those of the vast majority here.. I didnt want my post that I put up to praise Dave for his help and as a way to say thanks for his obvious generosity.. but thanks for your typical vitriol and negativity toward me.. So since YOU said you shouldnt have bothered posting.. I will second it... stay off my post...

 
MarinePMI

I was refering to other threads started or hijact.. to bash on PTG while hocking for other manufacturers or suppliers...
 
JMGlasgow

for the reading impaired ... as its clearly in my post.. I said that yes.. I am sure things happen... but given my customer service experiance and those of the vast majority here.. I didnt want my post that I put up to praise Dave for his help and as a way to say thanks for his obvious generosity.. but thanks for your typical vitriol and negativity toward me.. So since YOU said you shouldnt have bothered posting.. I will second it... stay off my post...

RIGHT THERE ANYONE that has written that this man doesn’t take care of customers ( I wasn’t even HIS customer ) was full of it. Right there.. enough said on that. That is definitive, that is straight dope, and if anyone wants to refute it - you stand in front of me and say it to my face..

Yup. I'm reading impaired, OK...sure. What I quoted above is from YOUR POST. Who has issues with reading comprehension now?

 
JMGlasgow

if you had bothered to read the entire post...

"Do things happen, mistakes get made, I would be surprised if they didn’t, if you think you are perfect go back up and read step 1, I assure you… you are not. But to say this man doesn’t care about customers is beyond absurd."

I am not saying nor have I ever said that PTG cant or has not made mistakes. I have personally never had an issue but that is not the point nor the point of the post... as you are incapable to getting the meaning or spirit of my post..

I am done with you and your negative BS... take it down the road... as I said in my OP... I dont want to hear about it... go cry about your issues to your shrink...

 
Glad you had a good experience. I chose to buy their products from a vendor to avoid potential issues. Maybe PTG is turning his CS around for the better. Good for them.

​​​
 
JMGlasgow

Thanks for your POSITIVE comment... that wasnt so bad right... ?

Personally I dont know how that man can get anything done. My Uncle ran a small injected molded plastics business and I doubt that if he spent all day on the phone and online answering peoples questions ... he would never have gotten anything done.

I am sure that if he cared less, didnt take calls and emails, and just hired a couple of minimum wage empoyees to answer the phones or outsource customer support to pakistan he could focus more of his energy elsewhere... personally, I am glad that he picked up the phone.. and estatic that he is going to 'pimp my boomstick'... a very unexpected and generous offer on his part.. especially since I was not even his customer....

thanks again...
 
ptg fucking sucked in every experience i had with them over the last 10yrs...i haven't purchased anything from them in 2yrs or so because they were fucked up like a soup sandwich. that said, i will take your and others posts here to believe maybe they are turning around. maybe i will give them another chance once again...this feels like a positive post to me!
 
Man this is a tough crowd.. I honestly thought more people would have been more interested, inspired, excited by Dave'd generosity in reworking my rifle, built by someone else, for free, to fix it up and upgrade it....

perhaps the other 600+ views just didnt have the time or motivation to stop in and say something nice.. shame that again the majority that had to put in their 2 cents here had to bring their negativity... even after I politely asked them not to, oh well.. life on the internet....

the rifle arrives at PTG today... cant wait to see what Dave has in store for it!!! Perhaps when it comes back.. I will post up some pics and a review on how it performs.... you guys like pictures....
 
Yes, all of us that have had trouble, are super excited you are getting free rifle work. And that you created an account to tell us about it. The funny thing is you haven't got anything yet. An after action report is just that, after the action. This is a pre action report. Would be ironic if you get to deal with the kind of service the rest of us got used to. Not that I wish bad for you, or PTG.

600 doesn't mean 600 people. 600 clicks 200 of them could be you.

I have never heard anyone say, "Dave is a bad guy." All the negativity I have seen has been directed at PTG's customer service, and they earned their reputation. Dave giving you free rifle work, doesn't change the facts of the matter. In fact if I was him, I wouldn't want someone telling everyone I hooked them up.
 
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I felt compelled today to write up a short (ok it got a bit longer that I thought) note on my recent experience with PTG and specifically Dave Kiff, the owner. I follow many of the boards, the usual suspects most of which are true sources of knowledge for precision/tactical/long range shooting and have learned a lot, snipers hide, long range hunting, accurate shooter …et al. Like everywhere else in life (military included), there are those that have been there, done that and gotten the shiny medal of stupidity for it and know what they are talking about and keyboard commandos that are posting from their parents basements whose only weapons quals are on call of duty and if the gun can do it in the game, they feel that they are now qualified experts. So separating fact from fiction is still a requirement.

Now for me, I know I am just fly turds in the machinery grease of life, nobody special, no more or less deserving or gifted than anyone else. 20+ in the service gives you this realization quickly and if it doesn’t you are just a megalomaniac or just too self-absorbed and like most 12 step programs, admitting this is the first step to your recovery. Generally most of the posters and shooters I meet around the country are a helpful bunch and most really just want to help, even if their advice is a bit off the mark, they mean well. Then there are others that are either just too self important, cant’ admit step number 1 from above or are paid trolls or just have an axe to grind and will wield it at those they mean to discredit either for their own gains or because that is what they are being paid to do. I am neither paid, nor have axes to grind, and am unemployed so have no monetary gain to be gotten from what I am going to write… just felt like I needed to add my perspective and my experience to what seems like a polarized discussion on PTG.. mostly positive posts… but I don’t believe that the negative posts about Mr Kiff or PTG can be anything other than a counter intel program. Now to be sure, PTG and Mr Kiff at least in my circles have always been talked about as subject mater experts.. but I have seen occasional posts, usually from the same people/companies that want to throw rocks.. or complain about a time where things didnt go their way.... I hope this gives some additional perspective….

I got out of the service a couple years ago, and as a bit of therapy since there was no work for me where we settled for my wife to teach she suggested I get back into shooting and get range time to get back around the guys. Going from 60+ hour work weeks while home and 24/7 for months on end while deployed, and I did many, to suddenly being thrown into Mr Mom role raising my at the time 1yo… let’s just say it was a huge life change. So this offer from my wife was a nice gesture under the premise that it doesn’t break the bank since we were now making less than when I was in the service if that is possible. So I picked up a second hand 700 SPS with a Mk II 6-18 and started shooting with a club that gets access to 600 and 1000y range a couple times a year shooting F. Learning to dope winds, reload, and the rest that goes into a discipline that could not be farther from military weapons qual was a lot of fun, and after buying a second hand B&C stock (getting the low rent picture here — the only thing new that I shoot are the bullets and sometimes I buy blems to save a couple bucks) from a guy in my club to get it out of the tubberware hogue and fire lapping the barrel, I was able to get this thing to shoot so I could at least shoot in the 170s with a couple x’s but let’s be clear.. I got laughed at, and was shooting with guys that bragged the paint job on their custom stocked 30” bull barrel micrometer rest F Open guns cost more than my whole FT/R rifle/stock/scope and chicom knockoff harris cost (oh let’s not forget my dirty sock filled with beans rear bag)… I was put in my place.. and that was fine.. just like being in the service again. If you balls weren’t being busted, they didn’t like you, although I suspect some were just being mean and elitist, but hey if you got it, flaunt it. But I knew that a longer, better pipe than this factory 20" barrel was needed as it fouled bad and was velocity challenged for 1 grand. So I started scrimping and saving.

Great man, what has all this got to do with Dave? I am getting there, I just wanted to illuminate that I am nobody special, I am no German Salazer or Brad Suave or anyone else important that this company needed to cater to. Keep going, it’s worth it, I promise.

I finally scrimped together the $400 I needed to get a barreling and truing done and got my hands on a pretty good piece of pipe (on the cheap of course but that is a different story). With the approval of the household accountant and a look over the eyebrows as to why my perfectly good rifle (in her eyes) needed work, I was ready to go. I was going to use a smith in the club, and of course having done my research, chamber reamer choices for 308 is harder to choose than a trip to 51 flavors. I can only really afford a single precision bolt gun, and I also wanted to start tactical PRS style shooting once I could get a magazine system since I was told not to bother trying to enter one with a BDL setup.... so this rifle needed a chamber that was a bit of a tradeoff and could not just be purposed built around a single feed, long non mag length round but I didn’t want a mile long Remington chamber either and it really was a mile long I could have bullets out of the case before into the lands.

So I felt I needed expert advice to confirm what I was reading and getting from my smith.. so I tried calling the source… PTG of course.. what did I have to loose? I have read lots of posts by Dave and it seems like he is always willing to help out, send prints, etc. But there was too much to digest on the forums, seemed like everyone had a different opinion so I decided to try and call PTG directly.

So I call PTG, talk to the nice gal that picked up the phone and she asked how she could help. I said I had some 308 reamer questions and she asked for my company name (ok here we go.. mouse turd time) and I said ‘ sorry, it’s just me asking.. is that ok’. Sure, one moment please. I spend the next 30- 40 minutes talking reamers with a very knowledgable guy who was more than happy to stay on the phone with me until I was satisfied I knew what I wanted. And I told them up front, I am not buying anything nor have I bought anything, this is just so I can communicate with my gunsmith, ‘no problem’ was the reply. WOW. Ok since I wanted mostly 175’s size pills from AICS (should I ever get bottom metal) mag length a straight 308 win match was the suggestion, so off I went.

I sent the rifle out, told the smith the same thing, needed an accurate ‘rifle of all trades’ and he also said that win match made sense. I sent him the rifle for barreling and truing and what I got back made my head scratch a bit. I always chamber check anything before I shoot it, goes all the way back to when I was a child and my grandfather thought me that, along with looking up the barrel before shooting for the day and doing a complete function check. In his day it was mostly an issue with capture rifles being re-chambered in anything and everything, so trust nothing he would say. I dropped in some 168 FGMM and it dumped out, I don’t extract it out, I want to see it fall out. Same with FGMM 175, but it didn’t drop out.. it needed a tap and it had some land marking on the bullet. I was under the impression that the chamber we chose was supposed to fit the 175? My locking lugs looked shiny so they were worked on as was the bolt face, but only the bottom lug shed grease, not the top lug, and the bolt was not hitting the primary extractor ramp. There was now about 26 thou gap between the handle and action. I called my smith and he said everything is good to go, he could extend the throat if I wanted but assured me lots of people were happy with this setup (reamer) and it should be fine.

My range trip was a bit disappointing, Factory ammo shot OK, FGMM/Hornady 168 being better than my FGMM 7.62 that I had, just under an inch. But the 175 groups were worse than my factory barrel. Every group had flyers, velocities seemed really high but my chrono is a cheap one and sometimes has a mind of its own. No pressure signs so moved onto some reloads that in the old barrel velocity/accuracy matched the FGMM 7.62 in both LC LR and FGMM brass full length resized in the same dies. The LC would extract but the FGMM cases needed a tap on the bolt handle. Primary extraction, or the lack of, not helping here I am sure. But no pressure signs on the brass. Shot about 40 rounds, called it a day.

Gave my smith a call, he said it just needs to be broken in, and assured me that if he had done something that would affect extraction nothing would be extracting, probably need small base dies. I should load short or get my throat lengthened if that was a concern, but it should be fine and assured he only took a couple thou when lapping the bolt and the chamber was polished so that could not be the issue. Loading 175s under 2.8 seemed a bit odd, and I was worried about shooting them jammed.

So, what is a nobody like me going to do for additional input? I just spent almost as much ‘customizing’ my rig as what it had cost me originally and I feel like I have taken steps in the wrong direction. I called PTG again since I wanted to see if I really was running the right chamber and see what they thought about having my smith throat it longer, I took a bunch of stony point comparator measurements…then I called. Talked to the nice gal and said I had some chamber/reamer questions. She asked me what caliber, said ‘308’ and was waiting for the… what company do you work for.. next thing I know, ‘Good Morning this is Dave, how can I help’. Dave Kiff I asked? Yep… how can I help? wow.. ok the owner of the company.. the man himself.. I must have gotten lucky.

I explain that I was not a customer but just had some smith work done and I told him that I know he must be busy but could he spare a few minutes? Sure, what can I help with.. wow the owner of the company let me run through the whole rigamarole you all have read up to now.. with more detail took like 10 minutes just to get him up to speed, and he was full of suggestions and had me take some further measurements. Now he starts getting agitated, not at me, but at the numbers he is getting back.. damn it.. he said.. 'ok look just send that action up to me and I will take a look at it’ fit it with a properly fitting and clocked PTG bolt you might have been better off starting with one of my 700 actions I have them on sale right now..…' I said whoa whoa.. I just got off the prayer rug with the wife to pay a smith for this work, I can’t chase this down a hole, what is all this going to cost… he said don’t you worry about it.. let me just take a look at it and swap that bolt out.. and double check the chamber work. I was without words…

RIGHT THERE ANYONE that has written that this man doesn’t take care of customers ( I wasn’t even HIS customer ) was full of it. Right there.. enough said on that. That is definitive, that is straight dope, and if anyone wants to refute it - you stand in front of me and say it to my face.. that is the way it was. And let’s remember, I am NOBODY. I am less than nothing to this guy right now, I don’t represent a large contract and am not a sponsored shooter that could bash him. He has gotten NOTHING from me and he OWED me exactly that, NOTHING. So that is why I felt compelled to make my first post here. I just could not believe that anyone could say that Dave didn't take care of people. These ‘marquis’ builders (some that I have never heard of) that have had negative things to say about PTG or Dave and customer service... would you have spent hours talking to a NON-CUSTOMER? Would you have offered to work on and or repair someone’s rifle that was worked on by SOMEONE ELSE..… I think not.. take a good hard look in a mirror…. would you help out another human being as he did. He felt my pain, saw that I was in a pickle, put himself in my shoes and shouldered in to help me out.

It gets better… MUCH BETTER.

So I am finishing up my coffee after the call, as the fact sinks in that Mr Kiff, the man himself, is going to take a look at MY POS, second hand frankenrfile. I felt compelled to write him a nice note so I call PTG and they gave me his PERSONAL email so I could drop him a line to thank him. I let him know that I really appreciated his assistance and generosity in this mater and as an out of work vet trying to just have some fun let alone keep up in an expensive sport, I was humbled at his generosity. I asked if there was at least some small service that he could perform while fitting the new bolt that I could pay for, fluting or threading the handle perhaps, that I would feel better paying for something. What can I say, it’s the way I was brought up, be a man - pay your own way in life - ask for nothing and owe no-one. I said safety was my number one concern and that it made me feel better that he was going to take a look at it too, and so on.

This is where this story really takes it up a notch…

He sends me back a very nice reply (paraphrasing a bit.. not appropriate to attach the note he actually wrote since it was very personal) that it was his pleasure to help out a fellow vet (I don’t think he knew that on our first conversation). That having served himself, and having lost his brother to war, and having served many customers that where true American heroes (I am not going to name drop here but it was a who's who list) that he has learned in life it’s about taking care of each other, spending more quality time with family, being good to others when it’s in your ability to do so (something that just about everyone in combat has ever learned.. it’s about the guy next to you). That he would not just look over my rifle but that I would not recognize it when I get it back. At this point as I am reading his note and shedding a tear or two ( I am not embarrassed to say I got a bit emotional ) my wife that was sitting at the table and asked me if everything was ok and did someone pass away? I said ‘it’s ok hun.. just somebody is just going to do something really nice for me, and I am just used to being treated like a mouse turd in the machinery grease so it just tugged on me a bit too hard.. it’s ok”. I have help out a guy or too at the range that could not get an AR running right or had some jacked up 'borsighted' scope that couldn't get on paper... but this is a level of generosity I am not accustomed to seeing. I think someone bought a lunch for me once after 9/11 when I was standing in line at a BBQ shack in uniform.. but this takes it up a notch!

So really, what is there left to say here? What have you done for someone, anyone lately? If your company was doing this well, and in this demand we are lucky that he hasn’t doubled his prices and/or just gone govt contract only and forget the little guy. This man is very passionate about shooting. He is very knowledgable and that is why the .mil, secret service, FBI, national level shooters etc go to this man to get things done. With the explosion in the industry and nobody keeping up ( I waited 11 months BO for powder just a couple years ago), and a backlog of high paying government and other contracts keeping him jumping.. little ole fly turd me was just treated like royalty. Do things happen, mistakes get made, I would be surprised if they didn’t, if you think you are perfect go back up and read step 1, I assure you… you are not. But to say this man doesn’t care about customers is beyond absurd. This is the kind of man/company that deserves our continued support and business. I challenge you reading this to do something for others, as Dave has set example. If the true measure of a man is how he treats others.. the man is a saint in my book. Dave and his family have bled of the Flag to keep it red, but has not gotten so big as to forget where it is he came from. I have no idea what he is planning to do, or what my rifle is going to come back looking like.. but its the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a very long time... and all I have is thanks.... and cant wait to get it back and on a range........


If you have had what I can only assume has been a similarly positive experience at PTG please feel free chime in.....

If you are here to bash I respectfully ask that you post it elsewhere ..start your own thread... as I won't believe you...and I am not interested in hearing it... nobody that offers to do what this man is doing for me.. without me asking for a thing, deserves anything but praise. This is my thread.... respect my wishes please.

proud to be an American... Duty, Honor, Country, God, Family....

Thanks Dave!

Wow, what a great first post. What a huge load of BS. Just wondering how much you were paid for this. To bad, but a few posts like this on all the popular forums lately will not make up for all the piss poor customer service for the last few years. My favorite is the 20% restocking fee for the parts that don't even exist in the real world. Just sad at this point.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Paul

 
got paid nothing...

went down just like I said... dont really care if you believe me or not..

and yes... I have never posted here before becasue I had nothing to say... but I have learned a lot here...

Dave seems like he is doing me a solid and I thought I would say something since its rare that anyone does anything nice for anyone these days...

if you insist on thowing hate I should give you the contact info for the guy that F'ed up my rifle in the first place.. but like I said.. people have bad days.. people make mistakes... I see no reason to trash that guys livelyhood over one firearm... but when someone does something nice I figured it was worth my time and effort to post about it...
 
Yes, you are correct, people do have bad days. But not many companies are run like this and have literally years of bad customer service. Most companies run like this are out of business or will be shortly.

Paul
 
Squib, it's great you had a good experience with PT&G.
You cannot discount others.
When the smith gets caught in the middle and the customer wants the rifle yesterday it can put said smith in a bind.
Reputation is hard won in this line of work.
I hope Dave gets his crew lined out and we all enjoy better time lines and choices.


R
 
I think it's great that the owner of PTG is doing you a solid. Hopefully that means things are getting better there. They certainly manufacture some awesome stuff. That doesn't discount all the customer service disasters that people have had with them and you stating that anyone who says anything bad about them is a liar, well, that's pretty special. The thread about PTG fuckups on the Scout site musta been 20 pages long. I personally had a 3 month ordeal (for an in stock item) with them last summer that resulted in my having to get Visa to refund me the charges, something I'd never before had to do. Every time I talked to them on the phone or via email, they sure were nice, they just never ended up doing what they said they would. In any case, good for you but understand that people's anger towards PTG doesn't arise from nowhere and you claiming it's not deserved is pretty ridiculous. I hope your rifle comes back to you in great shape and that it turns out to be a great shooter!
 
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dgheriani

my intention was not.. is not to call people liars.. all I was trying to convey is that the man has bent over backwards for me and I am not even a customer. I called to ask a few questions and next thing I know is Dave wants the rifle to fix it up...

my estimation is this.. and I have never met the man, walked his shop, or worked as a gunsmith but here it goes..

in my time in the service PTG was a goto source for info and tooling.. and I believe a lot .. and I mean a lot of people use his companies tooling...

when the worlds greatest gun salesman took office and a new gunsmith, custom, precision shop opened on every corner and every swinging dick wanted to become call of duty encranate.. there are not a lot of people suppling that tooling.. the industry exploded and these small specialty machining shops got overwhelmed

like I said.. I said in my origninal post.. do things happen.. yep.. nobody is perfect.. but I dont know how anyone can say that the man doesnt care about customers.. and that is just my personal opinion.. and that is all that this post is.. just my personal experiance with Dave.. who if I ever have the pleasure to bump into would love to buy him a cold one..

thanks for wishing me well.. I am sure dave and his guys are going to do great.. he called me within a couple hours if it getting delivered by UPS to tell me amongst other things.. the smith cut the tenon too wide for the recoil lug by .012 and it was keeping the barrel from being torqued properly.. it was little more than hand tite when he took it off the action since the tenon was driving into the reciever threads.. guess my smith was having a real bad day.... and I am certain the chamber was not cut right also, or his reamer was way below min spec

as far as the rest of the company.. again.. only my 5-6 calls to them over the last month or so but everyone has been real nice...
 
squib-load

A lot of what you say rings true. From what I can gather, the customer service got bad because PTG got super busy/overwhelmed. I never interacted with Mr Kiff and I don't recall every hearing anything bad about him in a personal way. Unfortunately the people he had/has working in customer service, though very nice to speak with in every interaction I had with them, never followed through with what they said they would do. I'm sympathetic to the fact that it can be hard to hire quality people or that sometimes businesses can get overwhelmed. In all these cases though, the policy of under-promising and over-delivering can often keep customers satisfied. It's an unfortunate part of business that your customer service representatives are in essence the image of your business as they are who the customers deal with. When people continuously have negative customer service experiences, their view of the company will sour irrespective of how much of a nice guy the owner is. Again, I hope your experience with PTG is great and that they are back on track as there are things I'd like to purchase from them, going forward. I'm just leery to do so, as my last experience was anything but satisfactory.
 
Yes, you are correct, people do have bad days. But not many companies are run like this and have literally years of bad customer service. Most companies run like this are out of business or will be shortly.

Paul

Just an observation but your pretty quick to jump on the PT&G bashing bandwagon. Question do you always make your quoted time frame and make everything workout like you say it will? Be careful.
 
181,

You have no idea of the extent of the hell that I have personally been through with PTG as a business owner. Lost orders, incomplete orders, wrong parts, junk tooling. Feel free to google my customer service record as I take great pains to make sure my customers are taken care of. And just for the record, your the one that needs to "be careful" before you make an ass of yourself. Oops, to late.;)

Paul
 
Boltfluter

well lets take a look here shall we.... I like facts.....


Pro-precision Rifles...

wont even go to your site because google advises it may have been hacked and could redirect to spam or compromise with malware... off to a bad start


Showing results for pro-precision rifle
Search instead for pro-precison rifle
Search Results

Pro-Precision Rifles LLC

This site may be hacked.

is a Specialty Custom CNC Machine Shop based in Haines, OR. Pro Precision Rifles is owned and operated by Journeyman Machinist Paul Fakenbridge.


You'll see the message "This site may be hacked" when we believe a hacker might have changed some of the existing pages on the site or added new spam pages. If you visit the site, you could be redirected to spam or malware.



your boltfluting.com website has no warning...



according to the ATF .. your license is expired

(208) 871-7429
License Number: 9-93-001-07-6J-04614
Expiration Date: September 01, 2016
This is an expired license

The firearm license for Pro-Precision Rifles, LLC expired on September 01, 2016.
The ATF only releases new licenses about once a month, so Pro-Precision Rifles, LLC may have already re-newed his/her but it is not yet reflected in our database. Check back after the first of the month to see if it has been re-newed.
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Federal Firearms License Results
You Entered FFL Number: 9-93-XXX-XX-XX-04614

If you are certain you entered the correct license number, there is a strong possibility that the FFL you are attempting to verify is invalid and/or this may be an attempt at a fraudulent transaction.

You should not complete the transaction without first contacting ATF at 1-877-560-2435 for assistance.

If you only have general questions concerning this web site, or the information displayed above, please contact ATF using the Problem Report link provided at the end of this page.
Select Problem Report to Report errors to ATF.
so if you are still doing work that requires a FFL.. you might want to look into that....


not looking good...



and to top it off... according to online oregon business records... you have not been in busininess FOR YEARS.. only haning out your shingle since what.. late 2014... and now out of business based on non renewal of your FFL?

http://datagovus.com/oregon-business.php?id=105781793


Pro-precision Rifles LLC · 13525 South Rock Creek Lane, Haines, OR 97833
Registry Number105781793
Business NamePRO-PRECISION RIFLES LLC
Business Address13525 SOUTH ROCK CREEK LANE
HAINES
OR 97833
Entity TypeDOMESTIC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
Registry Date10/29/2014 12:31
Mailing Address13525 S ROCK CREEK LN
HAINES
OR 97833
Principal Place of Business13525 SOUTH ROCK CREEK LANE
HAINES
OR 97833
Registered AgentPaul Brian Fakenbridge
13525 S ROCK CREEK LN
HAINES
OR 97833



now .. for PTG

according to BBB... PTG has a 4 star/A+ rating and been in business since the 50's
https://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-...-accreditation (541) 826-9244

Pacific Tool & Gauge Inc

60 years in business

598 Avenue C
White City, OR 97503-1031
WEBSITE
See More Contact Options Find a Location


BBB File Opened: 09/02/2010
Business Started: 01/01/1957



So lets review....


You are a self described Journyman ... and from what I can tell by your 'Post your work from my company' thread.. all you do.. sorry did, was flute bolts and barrels...



I think I will trust the work and experiance of a master toolmaker over a journeyman that is out of business and has no BBB accreditation any day....
 
Last edited:
So, the discussion is about the customer service of PTG, and when challenged to compare their customer service to that of boltfluter, you instead attack his company and discuss his journeyman status with respect to gunsmithing. Which has absolutely nothing to do with his customer service record. It does however serve to show that you came on here and posted about PTG with a specific purpose in mind and an agenda. It's quite obvious to all of us here who have been members for years and seen them all come and go.

You are an obvious shill for PTG, whether by personal choice or for compensation. You have 11 posts here and every one is on this thread, that you started (with zero evidence of a completed order) only to sing the praises of PTG and defend their honor.

Let me just say that the BBB ratings mean shit with respect to actual customer service. All it takes to start out with and keep a good rating is to pay the BBB their annual fee and not get sued. Some of the worst rip-offs ever seen on this site were done by companies that had BBB A+ ratings. If you do not pay the BBB their annual stipend, you get no rating at all. Funny how that works, huh?

I suggest that you go sell your garbage on another site that doesn't care whether or not they are being sold a bill of goods.

Oh, and I do buy an occasional item from PTG and have no reason to dislike them in any way, but their customer service is indisputably sub-par. When I order from them, I do so only for items that I am in no hurry for. I am currently on week ten waiting for one of their $399 R700 action specials that was "in stock" when ordered and the small print said that it could take 4-6 weeks if orders got heavy. It will be interesting to see if I get free gunsmithing to go along with my terminal wait for goods. (If that sounds like sarcasm to you, but you can't tell, it was).
 
Boltfluter

well lets take a look here shall we.... I like facts.....


Pro-precision Rifles...

wont even go to your site because google advises it may have been hacked and could redirect to spam or compromise with malware... off to a bad start


Showing results for pro-precision rifle
Search instead for pro-precison rifle
Search Results

Pro-Precision Rifles LLC

This site may be hacked.

is a Specialty Custom CNC Machine Shop based in Haines, OR. Pro Precision Rifles is owned and operated by Journeyman Machinist Paul Fakenbridge.


You'll see the message "This site may be hacked" when we believe a hacker might have changed some of the existing pages on the site or added new spam pages. If you visit the site, you could be redirected to spam or malware.



your boltfluting.com website has no warning...



according to the ATF .. your license is expired

(208) 871-7429
License Number: 9-93-001-07-6J-04614
Expiration Date: September 01, 2016
This is an expired license

The firearm license for Pro-Precision Rifles, LLC expired on September 01, 2016.
The ATF only releases new licenses about once a month, so Pro-Precision Rifles, LLC may have already re-newed his/her but it is not yet reflected in our database. Check back after the first of the month to see if it has been re-newed.
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3.1.2
[IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"https:\/\/www.atfonline.gov\/fflezcheck\/images\/arrowrt.gif"}[/IMG2]
FFL Search [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"https:\/\/www.atfonline.gov\/fflezcheck\/images\/arrowrt.gif"}[/IMG2]
FFL Download
Federal Firearms License Results
You Entered FFL Number: 9-93-XXX-XX-XX-04614

If you are certain you entered the correct license number, there is a strong possibility that the FFL you are attempting to verify is invalid and/or this may be an attempt at a fraudulent transaction.

You should not complete the transaction without first contacting ATF at 1-877-560-2435 for assistance.

If you only have general questions concerning this web site, or the information displayed above, please contact ATF using the Problem Report link provided at the end of this page.
Select Problem Report to Report errors to ATF.
so if you are still doing work that requires a FFL.. you might want to look into that....


not looking good...



and to top it off... according to online oregon business records... you have not been in busininess FOR YEARS.. only haning out your shingle since what.. late 2014... and now out of business based on non renewal of your FFL?

http://datagovus.com/oregon-business.php?id=105781793


Pro-precision Rifles LLC · 13525 South Rock Creek Lane, Haines, OR 97833
Registry Number105781793
Business NamePRO-PRECISION RIFLES LLC
Business Address13525 SOUTH ROCK CREEK LANE
HAINES
OR 97833
Entity TypeDOMESTIC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
Registry Date10/29/2014 12:31
Mailing Address13525 S ROCK CREEK LN
HAINES
OR 97833
Principal Place of Business13525 SOUTH ROCK CREEK LANE
HAINES
OR 97833
Registered AgentPaul Brian Fakenbridge
13525 S ROCK CREEK LN
HAINES
OR 97833


now .. for PTG

according to BBB... PTG has a 4 star/A+ rating and been in business since the 50's
https://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-...-accreditation (541) 826-9244

Pacific Tool & Gauge Inc

60 years in business

598 Avenue C
White City, OR 97503-1031
WEBSITE
See More Contact Options Find a Location


BBB File Opened: 09/02/2010
Business Started: 01/01/1957



So lets review....


You are a self described Journyman ... and from what I can tell by your 'Post your work from my company' thread.. all you do.. sorry did, was flute bolts and barrels...



I think I will trust the work and experiance of a master toolmaker over a journeyman that is out of business and has no BBB accreditation any day....

Wrong on all accounts troll. Still happily in business with happy customers. You need a fact checker for your facts you idiot. Go troll somewhere else.:):p

Paul
 
lash Boltfluter

I came here to write a post to thank dave and asked specifically for foul mouthed individuals to keep off my post....

and everything I referenced about bolt fluter is publically available and I provided source links... so if its wrong take it up with the BATF and the other sources I cited...

as for proof of a completed order... I stated CLEARLY I ordered NOTHING from PTG. learn to read.. . I called for some advice about reamer choices and disus some issues I was having from work done by SOMEONE ELSE and Dave was nice enough to offer to take a look at it and fix the issues...


I AM NOT THE ONE ATTACKING PEOPLE HERE... I came here to thank someone for doing something nice..and post something nice about a guy that seems to take a lot of time helping people on this site .... . take a look at the posts that are attacking people and using foul language.... those are your trolls...

 
Really? Where did I use foul language? Unless you consider your garbage foul, in which case you may have a point. If by your comment you mean that you want to come on here and start a post to sing someone's praises and expect nobody to respond, refute or reply unless they are 100% on board with your drivel, then you still have the wrong forum. Try again.
 
Let's see...facts, eh?

Somewhere in the bowels of SH, is a thread about the Stealth DBM and how it didn't fit all models of Savage rifles. This was in spite of another thread where Dave Kiff himself said they were drop in. All this was brought about because consumers were being billed a restocking fee when the DBM didn't fit their Savage rifles (and had the links within that post to Dave's post, LITERALLY STATING THEY WOULD DROP IN WITH LITTLE OR NO MODS). I was one of those people, and when I called to speak with Dave directly, I was told 'No, he doesn't speak directly with customers'. While I have a mill and modified the stock to fit the DBM (note it is not a "little fitting" if it requires a mill), quite a few members PM'ed me about getting burned. PTG did shit all about it and left people hanging. Remember, Dave himself posted this incorrect information (which was cut and pasted into an e-mail to PTG customer service, as well as the link to his post). The CS rep ignored the post and simply stated "our policy is that all parts may require minor fitting, and we don't accept returns on DBMs)". It was complete bullshit.

I have been fair, and willing to let these PTG threads go their course and let a sleeping dog lie, but you are obviously intolerant of hearing conflicting stories and instead attack another member to deflect the argument into a personal matter.

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

There's plenty of people here who have been burned by PTG, and yet still hope that they will improve back to their previously stellar CS (myself included). Those same folks have not resorted to the shit you are doing, by making it personal. You doing that, speaks volumes about your character...
 
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I came here to say thanks... plain and simple...

the reason I have never posted is for this very reason.. most of the people on this and any other board are full of it, self absorbed, know-it-alls.. and when I see posts by respected shooters that have national and international accomplishements getting into agruments with some noob that has had a rifle for a week I just laugh...

sitting around the squad bay at least once or twice a week one of the brothers would come in all pissed about some chat room argument they were in and we woud all laugh and ask him why he is even bothering... you can lead a horse to water but if he wont drink leave him for dead... f'em


I am done here with you people and your BS....

yeah.. I will take issue with some jerk that comes to my thead where I was posting something nice about a person that is doing me a solid ... bashing on a guy that has far better credentials and decades more expertise than he will ever have. how many rifles has bolt fluter put together for national teams... how many govt and military agencies come to him for advice...

yes.. I will take issue when others come to MY thread and also say something nice.. to be hashly bashed and attacked.. and for what.. saying something nice.. yeah real polite, mature and adult... grow up.... perhaps when your mother (provided you grew up with one) said if you cant say something nice dont say anything at all.. perhaps you should have listened...

I think that many of you have some serious issues with anger management and couseling may be in order..

... out


 
I AM NOT THE ONE ATTACKING PEOPLE HERE... I came here to thank someone for doing something nice..and post something nice about a guy that seems to take a lot of time helping people on this site .... . take a look at the posts that are attacking people and using foul language.... those are your trolls...

^^Now THIS is hilarious!^^ I shall start calling you "Short-Term Memory Loss Guy".

Maybe you should read your own posts. Your post #30 takes attacking a member to the most personal level.

Every one of the people that have made the mistake of joining this ridiculous thread, did so to let you know that you are defending something with no actual knowledge of what you speak. Yes, Dave may have offered you a solid, and that may have warranted a thank you. Perhaps not the glowing testimonial that you started with, but a thank you. Where you have gone awry is to decide that because of that one solid, you would become the defender of Dave in all things CS. So, whether you are a paid shill or simply a misguided naive shill, you are still a shill. Let's call a shill; a shill, shall we?
 
I came here to say thanks... plain and simple...

the reason I have never posted is for this very reason.. most of the people on this and any other board are full of it, self absorbed, know-it-alls.. and when I see posts by respected shooters that have national and international accomplishements getting into agruments with some noob that has had a rifle for a week I just laugh...

sitting around the squad bay at least once or twice a week one of the brothers would come in all pissed about some chat room argument they were in and we woud all laugh and ask him why he is even bothering... you can lead a horse to water but if he wont drink leave him for dead... f'em


I am done here with you people and your BS....

yeah.. I will take issue with some jerk that comes to my thead where I was posting something nice about a person that is doing me a solid ... bashing on a guy that has far better credentials and decades more expertise than he will ever have. how many rifles has bolt fluter put together for national teams... how many govt and military agencies come to him for advice...

yes.. I will take issue when others come to MY thread and also say something nice.. to be hashly bashed and attacked.. and for what.. saying something nice.. yeah real polite, mature and adult... grow up.... perhaps when your mother (provided you grew up with one) said if you cant say something nice dont say anything at all.. perhaps you should have listened...

I think that many of you have some serious issues with anger management and couseling may be in order..

... out

A little soap and a lot of water should get most of the sand out of any vagina.
 
1 Boltfluter - Yes.

2. squib-load - No.

3. By association with squib-load silly effort, PTG is now NO as well, as far as I'm concerned.

That's what you've done for Dave Kiff, great job... Learn basics.

Dave should fire all the useless ladies from his CS, and hire a couple of dudes who know the difference between the chamber reamer and the pencil.

 
There a reason reputations are earned and its not because of the exceptions. Pauls is sparkling because he does top notch work with top notch communication and Ive never heard of someone claim that he didnt meet his quoted timeline. I can personally vouch for that as well as I have sent him work and will likely do so again in the near future.

PTGs is bad because they charge restocking fees for items they show as in stock yet never ship out and then eventually admit to never have had. And 1 million other examples just as stupid. Go read this five page thread of nothing but everybody having horror stories. And realize there was a thread like this seemingly weekly. http://www.scout.com/military/snipers-hide/forums/5519-gunsmithing/13712399-ptg-customer-service

Everyone here is glad for YOU to have gotten a good experience with PTG. They are pretty much the largest in their field but their customer service leave so much to be desired that one feel good encounter is in no way going to change the tide of emotion people feel after having been jerked around for years.
 
I came here to say thanks... plain and simple...

You probably started off with that intent but seem to have taken a turn for the worst once you try to discount and make petty of the previous issues had by other members. Your experience was a great one but that does not changes what has already happened. Icing on the cake was attacking a valued member of this forum and his business (who has a pretty good reputation if you look) because he did not share or agree with your views, that sir is not saying thanks...plain and simple!
 
Just using the search function to research PTG and I end up reading an old post and the longest one I’ve ever bothered reading at that. The story got better and better. Thanks for sharing and thank you for your service.
 
I felt compelled today to write up a short (ok it got a bit longer that I thought) note on my recent experience with PTG and specifically Dave Kiff, the owner. I follow many of the boards, the usual suspects most of which are true sources of knowledge for precision/tactical/long range shooting and have learned a lot, snipers hide, long range hunting, accurate shooter …et al. Like everywhere else in life (military included), there are those that have been there, done that and gotten the shiny medal of stupidity for it and know what they are talking about and keyboard commandos that are posting from their parents basements whose only weapons quals are on call of duty and if the gun can do it in the game, they feel that they are now qualified experts. So separating fact from fiction is still a requirement.

Now for me, I know I am just fly turds in the machinery grease of life, nobody special, no more or less deserving or gifted than anyone else. 20+ in the service gives you this realization quickly and if it doesn’t you are just a megalomaniac or just too self-absorbed and like most 12 step programs, admitting this is the first step to your recovery. Generally most of the posters and shooters I meet around the country are a helpful bunch and most really just want to help, even if their advice is a bit off the mark, they mean well. Then there are others that are either just too self important, cant’ admit step number 1 from above or are paid trolls or just have an axe to grind and will wield it at those they mean to discredit either for their own gains or because that is what they are being paid to do. I am neither paid, nor have axes to grind, and am unemployed so have no monetary gain to be gotten from what I am going to write… just felt like I needed to add my perspective and my experience to what seems like a polarized discussion on PTG.. mostly positive posts… but I don’t believe that the negative posts about Mr Kiff or PTG can be anything other than a counter intel program. Now to be sure, PTG and Mr Kiff at least in my circles have always been talked about as subject mater experts.. but I have seen occasional posts, usually from the same people/companies that want to throw rocks.. or complain about a time where things didnt go their way.... I hope this gives some additional perspective….

I got out of the service a couple years ago, and as a bit of therapy since there was no work for me where we settled for my wife to teach she suggested I get back into shooting and get range time to get back around the guys. Going from 60+ hour work weeks while home and 24/7 for months on end while deployed, and I did many, to suddenly being thrown into Mr Mom role raising my at the time 1yo… let’s just say it was a huge life change. So this offer from my wife was a nice gesture under the premise that it doesn’t break the bank since we were now making less than when I was in the service if that is possible. So I picked up a second hand 700 SPS with a Mk II 6-18 and started shooting with a club that gets access to 600 and 1000y range a couple times a year shooting F. Learning to dope winds, reload, and the rest that goes into a discipline that could not be farther from military weapons qual was a lot of fun, and after buying a second hand B&C stock (getting the low rent picture here — the only thing new that I shoot are the bullets and sometimes I buy blems to save a couple bucks) from a guy in my club to get it out of the tubberware hogue and fire lapping the barrel, I was able to get this thing to shoot so I could at least shoot in the 170s with a couple x’s but let’s be clear.. I got laughed at, and was shooting with guys that bragged the paint job on their custom stocked 30” bull barrel micrometer rest F Open guns cost more than my whole FT/R rifle/stock/scope and chicom knockoff harris cost (oh let’s not forget my dirty sock filled with beans rear bag)… I was put in my place.. and that was fine.. just like being in the service again. If you balls weren’t being busted, they didn’t like you, although I suspect some were just being mean and elitist, but hey if you got it, flaunt it. But I knew that a longer, better pipe than this factory 20" barrel was needed as it fouled bad and was velocity challenged for 1 grand. So I started scrimping and saving.

Great man, what has all this got to do with Dave? I am getting there, I just wanted to illuminate that I am nobody special, I am no German Salazer or Brad Suave or anyone else important that this company needed to cater to. Keep going, it’s worth it, I promise.

I finally scrimped together the $400 I needed to get a barreling and truing done and got my hands on a pretty good piece of pipe (on the cheap of course but that is a different story). With the approval of the household accountant and a look over the eyebrows as to why my perfectly good rifle (in her eyes) needed work, I was ready to go. I was going to use a smith in the club, and of course having done my research, chamber reamer choices for 308 is harder to choose than a trip to 51 flavors. I can only really afford a single precision bolt gun, and I also wanted to start tactical PRS style shooting once I could get a magazine system since I was told not to bother trying to enter one with a BDL setup.... so this rifle needed a chamber that was a bit of a tradeoff and could not just be purposed built around a single feed, long non mag length round but I didn’t want a mile long Remington chamber either and it really was a mile long I could have bullets out of the case before into the lands.

So I felt I needed expert advice to confirm what I was reading and getting from my smith.. so I tried calling the source… PTG of course.. what did I have to loose? I have read lots of posts by Dave and it seems like he is always willing to help out, send prints, etc. But there was too much to digest on the forums, seemed like everyone had a different opinion so I decided to try and call PTG directly.

So I call PTG, talk to the nice gal that picked up the phone and she asked how she could help. I said I had some 308 reamer questions and she asked for my company name (ok here we go.. mouse turd time) and I said ‘ sorry, it’s just me asking.. is that ok’. Sure, one moment please. I spend the next 30- 40 minutes talking reamers with a very knowledgable guy who was more than happy to stay on the phone with me until I was satisfied I knew what I wanted. And I told them up front, I am not buying anything nor have I bought anything, this is just so I can communicate with my gunsmith, ‘no problem’ was the reply. WOW. Ok since I wanted mostly 175’s size pills from AICS (should I ever get bottom metal) mag length a straight 308 win match was the suggestion, so off I went.

I sent the rifle out, told the smith the same thing, needed an accurate ‘rifle of all trades’ and he also said that win match made sense. I sent him the rifle for barreling and truing and what I got back made my head scratch a bit. I always chamber check anything before I shoot it, goes all the way back to when I was a child and my grandfather thought me that, along with looking up the barrel before shooting for the day and doing a complete function check. In his day it was mostly an issue with capture rifles being re-chambered in anything and everything, so trust nothing he would say. I dropped in some 168 FGMM and it dumped out, I don’t extract it out, I want to see it fall out. Same with FGMM 175, but it didn’t drop out.. it needed a tap and it had some land marking on the bullet. I was under the impression that the chamber we chose was supposed to fit the 175? My locking lugs looked shiny so they were worked on as was the bolt face, but only the bottom lug shed grease, not the top lug, and the bolt was not hitting the primary extractor ramp. There was now about 26 thou gap between the handle and action. I called my smith and he said everything is good to go, he could extend the throat if I wanted but assured me lots of people were happy with this setup (reamer) and it should be fine.

My range trip was a bit disappointing, Factory ammo shot OK, FGMM/Hornady 168 being better than my FGMM 7.62 that I had, just under an inch. But the 175 groups were worse than my factory barrel. Every group had flyers, velocities seemed really high but my chrono is a cheap one and sometimes has a mind of its own. No pressure signs so moved onto some reloads that in the old barrel velocity/accuracy matched the FGMM 7.62 in both LC LR and FGMM brass full length resized in the same dies. The LC would extract but the FGMM cases needed a tap on the bolt handle. Primary extraction, or the lack of, not helping here I am sure. But no pressure signs on the brass. Shot about 40 rounds, called it a day.

Gave my smith a call, he said it just needs to be broken in, and assured me that if he had done something that would affect extraction nothing would be extracting, probably need small base dies. I should load short or get my throat lengthened if that was a concern, but it should be fine and assured he only took a couple thou when lapping the bolt and the chamber was polished so that could not be the issue. Loading 175s under 2.8 seemed a bit odd, and I was worried about shooting them jammed.

So, what is a nobody like me going to do for additional input? I just spent almost as much ‘customizing’ my rig as what it had cost me originally and I feel like I have taken steps in the wrong direction. I called PTG again since I wanted to see if I really was running the right chamber and see what they thought about having my smith throat it longer, I took a bunch of stony point comparator measurements…then I called. Talked to the nice gal and said I had some chamber/reamer questions. She asked me what caliber, said ‘308’ and was waiting for the… what company do you work for.. next thing I know, ‘Good Morning this is Dave, how can I help’. Dave Kiff I asked? Yep… how can I help? wow.. ok the owner of the company.. the man himself.. I must have gotten lucky.

I explain that I was not a customer but just had some smith work done and I told him that I know he must be busy but could he spare a few minutes? Sure, what can I help with.. wow the owner of the company let me run through the whole rigamarole you all have read up to now.. with more detail took like 10 minutes just to get him up to speed, and he was full of suggestions and had me take some further measurements. Now he starts getting agitated, not at me, but at the numbers he is getting back.. damn it.. he said.. 'ok look just send that action up to me and I will take a look at it’ fit it with a properly fitting and clocked PTG bolt you might have been better off starting with one of my 700 actions I have them on sale right now..…' I said whoa whoa.. I just got off the prayer rug with the wife to pay a smith for this work, I can’t chase this down a hole, what is all this going to cost… he said don’t you worry about it.. let me just take a look at it and swap that bolt out.. and double check the chamber work. I was without words…

RIGHT THERE ANYONE that has written that this man doesn’t take care of customers ( I wasn’t even HIS customer ) was full of it. Right there.. enough said on that. That is definitive, that is straight dope, and if anyone wants to refute it - you stand in front of me and say it to my face.. that is the way it was. And let’s remember, I am NOBODY. I am less than nothing to this guy right now, I don’t represent a large contract and am not a sponsored shooter that could bash him. He has gotten NOTHING from me and he OWED me exactly that, NOTHING. So that is why I felt compelled to make my first post here. I just could not believe that anyone could say that Dave didn't take care of people. These ‘marquis’ builders (some that I have never heard of) that have had negative things to say about PTG or Dave and customer service... would you have spent hours talking to a NON-CUSTOMER? Would you have offered to work on and or repair someone’s rifle that was worked on by SOMEONE ELSE..… I think not.. take a good hard look in a mirror…. would you help out another human being as he did. He felt my pain, saw that I was in a pickle, put himself in my shoes and shouldered in to help me out.

It gets better… MUCH BETTER.

So I am finishing up my coffee after the call, as the fact sinks in that Mr Kiff, the man himself, is going to take a look at MY POS, second hand frankenrfile. I felt compelled to write him a nice note so I call PTG and they gave me his PERSONAL email so I could drop him a line to thank him. I let him know that I really appreciated his assistance and generosity in this mater and as an out of work vet trying to just have some fun let alone keep up in an expensive sport, I was humbled at his generosity. I asked if there was at least some small service that he could perform while fitting the new bolt that I could pay for, fluting or threading the handle perhaps, that I would feel better paying for something. What can I say, it’s the way I was brought up, be a man - pay your own way in life - ask for nothing and owe no-one. I said safety was my number one concern and that it made me feel better that he was going to take a look at it too, and so on.

This is where this story really takes it up a notch…

He sends me back a very nice reply (paraphrasing a bit.. not appropriate to attach the note he actually wrote since it was very personal) that it was his pleasure to help out a fellow vet (I don’t think he knew that on our first conversation). That having served himself, and having lost his brother to war, and having served many customers that where true American heroes (I am not going to name drop here but it was a who's who list) that he has learned in life it’s about taking care of each other, spending more quality time with family, being good to others when it’s in your ability to do so (something that just about everyone in combat has ever learned.. it’s about the guy next to you). That he would not just look over my rifle but that I would not recognize it when I get it back. At this point as I am reading his note and shedding a tear or two ( I am not embarrassed to say I got a bit emotional ) my wife that was sitting at the table and asked me if everything was ok and did someone pass away? I said ‘it’s ok hun.. just somebody is just going to do something really nice for me, and I am just used to being treated like a mouse turd in the machinery grease so it just tugged on me a bit too hard.. it’s ok”. I have help out a guy or too at the range that could not get an AR running right or had some jacked up 'borsighted' scope that couldn't get on paper... but this is a level of generosity I am not accustomed to seeing. I think someone bought a lunch for me once after 9/11 when I was standing in line at a BBQ shack in uniform.. but this takes it up a notch!

So really, what is there left to say here? What have you done for someone, anyone lately? If your company was doing this well, and in this demand we are lucky that he hasn’t doubled his prices and/or just gone govt contract only and forget the little guy. This man is very passionate about shooting. He is very knowledgable and that is why the .mil, secret service, FBI, national level shooters etc go to this man to get things done. With the explosion in the industry and nobody keeping up ( I waited 11 months BO for powder just a couple years ago), and a backlog of high paying government and other contracts keeping him jumping.. little ole fly turd me was just treated like royalty. Do things happen, mistakes get made, I would be surprised if they didn’t, if you think you are perfect go back up and read step 1, I assure you… you are not. But to say this man doesn’t care about customers is beyond absurd. This is the kind of man/company that deserves our continued support and business. I challenge you reading this to do something for others, as Dave has set example. If the true measure of a man is how he treats others.. the man is a saint in my book. Dave and his family have bled of the Flag to keep it red, but has not gotten so big as to forget where it is he came from. I have no idea what he is planning to do, or what my rifle is going to come back looking like.. but its the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a very long time... and all I have is thanks.... and cant wait to get it back and on a range........


If you have had what I can only assume has been a similarly positive experience at PTG please feel free chime in.....

If you are here to bash I respectfully ask that you post it elsewhere ..start your own thread... as I won't believe you...and I am not interested in hearing it... nobody that offers to do what this man is doing for me.. without me asking for a thing, deserves anything but praise. This is my thread.... respect my wishes please.

proud to be an American... Duty, Honor, Country, God, Family....

Thanks Dave!
That's awesome brother, I trust PTG and appreciate your service, and taking the time to write this up. I did 23 years, and was in the same boat, but a similar experience to yours humbled me. Hopefully your load dev. goes well. If I can help, just ask. I get the same looks at the range when Gucci shooters see moleskin on my stock...silence has taught me a lot about people