Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Charley Santoni

Sent a Basner stock to Charlie yrs ago, remember it taking a few more phone calls than expected getting it back. 3 choices I can suggest....

1.Eddie at Fosnaugh customs.
2.Branden at Custom gun coatings.
3.Krylon at do it yourself.

Eddie does great work, and is a great guy.

Trey

Update: I sent a check last week for the completed work and received the rifle this weekend. The work was as promised with no issues.

While it is unfortunate that it took 9 months with terrible communication, at least the case is closed.

I will be using Eddie or Karl exclusively for cerakote from here on out.

Glad you got your rifle back and done right.. But, like you say, 9 months w/o communication is just total BS..

It's nice to hear you got your rifle back.

I hate to hear this stuff about Charley. He used to post here as CAS but haven't seen anything from him in years. I had a few back-and-forths with him and was not in the least bit concerned based on the conversations we had. I was planning on sending him work but when it came time to have the smithing done the coating got sent out to Eddie F. Since then I have sent three different Cerakote jobs to Eddie and spoken with him a couple of more times. He is top notch, does amazing work and isn't scared to take some time to talk on the phone if you call.

Everytime I see a thread titled Charley Santoni the common theme is "Has anyone heard from Charley" which tells me he's not taking the time to call his customers back to let them know what the slow down is......communication is key!!

I had 5 or 6 rifles coated by him in the 2008-2009 timeframe and each one was done perfectly within about 30 days. I had read the tales of delays and sub-standard communications but deferred to my own experience....

As they say; where there is smoke there is fire...

Only good experiences with Charley. He heads out on hunts like many of us.

I head out on hunts regularly also and I'm still able to communicate with whomever needs to get in touch.........

It saddens me to see these posts. Charley has done a couple of rifles for me as well. His comms are not the best at times, agreed. Sometimes I wonder if we, the www community don't expect too much, and get carried away.
Nah, that can't happen it's the internet...it must be true.

Now, I am probably opening up to a flame on session, but I do wonder about it.

Something that is easily fixed, if he so chooses!

I consider Charley a friend. He's finished (pillars, bedding, Cerakoting and stock painting) one rifle, a well known 9.3x62 which appears on this forum numerous times per year. It's a solid 1/4 moa rifle too. Many many compliments with several claiming dibs if I ever sell it. He also worked out a problem with my very custom wood stocked Pre 64 M70 in 257 Roberts which appears on the CF several times/year.

I've also found him to be an honorable man. I've had zero issues communicating with him, ever. I brought this thread to his attention. Several things came to light. 1) He's been a bit under the weather with back surgery. Things are coming along fine though he might not ever pass a metal detector. 2) When the customers work is done, all the customer has to do is "pay" their bill and they receive their rifle back. Simple!

Alan

If only he would communicate...

Yup. In today's world there is very little excuse for lack of communication. Heck, just charge to do so. Make clear that every email answered adds $5 to the bill; then answer emails promptly and thoroughly and bill for them. I understand that for skilled craftsmen time on the phone or computer is time away from the workbench: fine, bill me for it, but provide me with progress reports when I request them.