Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Ever had poor service with gunsmiths?

I feel M. Coleman, Redneck and Malm are all to praised for their willingness to give good advise even when it brings them no direct profit. That is still a good thing found here on the fire, willingness to assist others. The singling out of their handles is only because they come to mind, there are many others here that are cut of the same cloth.

I guess I am just not sensitive enough...

Someone owning up to a piss-poor build, and being a nice guy, doesn't instill confidence in me, nor make me want to have them build my next rig.

Not sure I want to be frank about how I'd like to reply to this one..

everybody can and will make mistakes and i would feel a lot better dealing with someone who will admit to them than not

i can say i would not have a problem dealing with coleman rifles as his reputation far exceeds this one issue and those that would have their opinions but finding a perfect person in this world all i can say is good luck


gene

I wish you would had a guy here ask questions via pm about having you do a 264 build for him being that is your favorite caliber and very knowledgable on it.

Go ahead, flame suit ready...

That is like: "My mechanic took three tries to fix my clutch, but he is nice, so I will use him again" Do you see the logic in that statement? I would find a new mechanic.

Instead, on this site you get "hey dogcatcher, what is the name of the mechanic that jacked up your truck's repair job? I want to use him too"

Well, if he's more known for the good work he does and the glowing recommendations he's received on job after job than the report of one bad job that he's humble enough to own up to, I'd say go with the majority. You won't find a gunsmith or a doctor or a lineman or a writer or anyone else that hasn't made a mistake. I have seen people lose alot of credibility by not admitting they screwed up. Mickey Coleman hasn't lost any credibilty in this case.

I guess it depends on the degree of the mistake(s)...

If one is truly sorry, then stand your "tight-azz up, pull out your wallet and refund the labor cost that your customer gave you so he can hire someone else to properly do the job.

Ya, I got an apology, but nowhere in the "Im so sorry" did I receive my refund. I will be dishing out another Grand to finish correctly.

I would suggest to hire a gunsmith in your state so if a problem occurs, you can meet him after work in the parking lot. Lol

I agree. It turned out beautifully. The painter of the stock has abilities that I do not possess.

Read this three times and I still have no idea what you're talking about.. Sorry..

Which makes more sense.. IMHO..

It just seemed, in your first post, that any mistake can never be forgiven and the guy who did it must be eternally damned, run out of business and tossed in prison.. If you (meaning generically 'you', not specifically 'you) are perfect than I guess you can demand perfection.. There's no one who's perfect.. All I'm sayin'...

I agree with Redneck. If I feel one gives 100% effort, then I can deal with mistakes. Ive made many.

I think we can all agree that people make mistakes, provided that the error wasn't extreme and it is not the same one repeatedly, I think a better judge of person's integrity is how they fix it/react after the mistake.

I would trust Mr Coleman (and Redneck too)to do the right thing. It is apparent in the case given here that he has. Mickey is a fine southern gentleman, a good gunsmith and I would trust him with my next build. I would not give it a second thought...

RH

when you buy a custom, it should be finished exactly the way you want it in everyway, hence the word "CUSTOM." Communication is the key. If either party fails on that end, then it will not turn out right. Never assume anyhting on a build. i have made that mistake

I AGREE 100000%

last perfect person they nailed to a cross some years ago.....

Bottom line folks: If you do enough of any kind of work, you are going to have a screw up. It's unavoidable cause we're faulty humans. The measure of your character is whether or not you try to make it right for your customer. Hundreds of positive posts on Mickey and one bad one. That's not a bad thing. Even at 1% error rate, that's very low. Seems gunsmiths may be held to a higher level of scrutiny than any other profession. What about weather men? Ever wonder how they keep their jobs?

Redneck, I haven't forgotten about the .264 project.

David

You stated the below post in referance to Dogs post. I'll try to be a little more clearer as to what I ment in the above post. I was meaning I wish you would be frank and reply of how you feel about Dogs reply, that way people would read what you say and get a generalized idea of what type of person/gunsmith you are, from my understanding you are a gunsmith right?.

Folk get on here(24Hour) looking for advice on different things. Said that to say this. You had replyed something to the matter of liking the 264 WinMag and/or it was one of your favorites to build or to shoot. I had replyed that I was in the process of getting ready to build one(264WinMag), afterwards I received a pm from a individual asking who was I going to get to do my custom build, because he had read your post and mine. I told him, and he mention what did I know about you(Redneck) as per building 6.5 caliber rifles preferable the 264WinMag. I stated I read posts here guys stating you do good work, and that I have NO IDEA as to any knowledge of your builds.

As to my statement above, voice your opinion or be frank as to what one say, being in the business(Gunsmith) your in the folk that don't know you would atleast get an idea of what type of person/smith you are.

Can't say that I've ever had a bad experience with any of the smith's or outfits that have built guns or done work for me. Jim Borden, HCR, Dakota, NULA, Ron Bartlett, Nighthawk Custom, Jim Wilson, McMillan, Eddie Fosnaugh.
Eddie deserves special credit in my book. This man has done quite a bit of work for me lately and it's been nothing short of outstanding. He's been a real pleasure to do business with. Always accessable and answers all my stupid questions. When he finally gets his gun building equipment up and running he will build my next rifle.