Gunsmithing what should I do?

[veezer]

Two years ago I decided to have a 50BMG rifle built. I purchased all my parts and sent them to a 50 smith that is highly talked about in the 50 world. That was October of 2009. He told me at the time that it would be 8-12 weeks. After a month or two, he told how backed up he was and it would now be a few months more. Fast forward to October of 2010. He called me and said he needed payment to start the build and it should only be a month or two. Now its been 1 year and 4 months and I still dont have anything to show for it. The last time I called it was around the middle of January and he said a few more weeks. One of the members here that I have been in contact with had the same crap happen to him with this guy and he actually got his gun about a month ago (he sent his parts in about the same time I did).

What I am wondering now is whether or not I need to just hang in there a few more weeks (maybe months) or call him and get my parts and payment back and find someone else to finish this up for me.

 

[ORD]

Re: what should I do?

Hum...let me guess...Randy Dierks/AGW?!?! I know Randy is a great smith for .50 Cal builds, but this $H!T is @#$%^& ridiculous and its a story that I have heard MANY times now from people who expected rifles in 3-4mos that are now at 3-4x that length of time with no rifle in sight yet. To my knowledge, he has never failed to deliver a rifle he promised, but his "lines" about "8-12" weeks and "should be a few more weeks" are just pure nonsense! I honestly don't think he has a CLUE when rifles will be ready, but instead...they are ready when they are ready.

At this point in time, I would give it a little while longer and hope/pray that Randy gets your rifle done soon. I mean, your only alternative is to call about a refund of your payment and your parts. Assuming everything goes well and you get a full (or even a partial) refund and your parts back in a timely manner, you are looking at more wait time no matter what smith you select to finish your build because they'll have a wait list for builds and you'll have to get in the back of their line. I know it is irritating, but your options are pretty limited at this point.

One other thing...I am not saying that 1+ years is TOO LONG a time to wait for a custom rifle build (because it really isn't depending on the circumstances). BUT...smiths like Randy who insist on giving ridiculous time estimates for completion of rifles (i.e. - 8-12 weeks), and then giving excuses and more ridiculous time estimates after they fail utterly to deliver in that timeframe, are putting themselves in this position. If Randy is on a 1+ yr backlog (which it seems he has been on for quite some time), then he owes it to customers to be upfront with them about it. If he honestly does not know when he'll be able to complete work he is accepting...then he just needs to say so. That keeps people off his back and allow potential customers to chose whether they are willing to wait or if they want to look elsewhere for someone to complete the work.

 

[border_reiver]

Re: what should I do?

Personally if I had to wait that long, I'd have my gear sent back to me, tell the smith I'm not cancelling the order yet, but let me know when you're really ready to start building. In the meantime I have my stuff and can price other outfits out for a quicker return, or choose to wait for the window to open up on the original plan. But at least I have my stuff.

JR