Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats My latest project-mini mauser

Thanks for the scoop TC1 and KL you make a good point or two as well. I searched Jim's name and saw instances where he bumped the price after he had other peoples property. I don't know the details of the email contract, so I can't opine on that without knowing whether or not any reference to additional cost was mentioned. So....., after the agreement something happened. Sounds like a bump in price after the orignal agreement there Jim? You got the floor brother. If you didn't do anything wrong I'd like to hear it. Does Butch owe you some money? Is that it? If so,,, if I payed what Butch owe's you would you ship all his stuff out within 24-48 hours? Could you do that? Tell me what your gripe is and I'd like to fix it. Don't forget the FFL fees. Then everybody's happy. I want to pay the bill. How much? CB

At the risk of sounding unprofessional and revealing my german heritage I don't want to pay the bill I want an Address. We can hash this out like men.

Kerry, You did a lot of nice work on the 40X. Did I fail to pay you or treat you in an unprofessional manner?
As far as his comments in regards to Jim Kobe, I told him at one time about 1 1/2yrs ago that Jim's bluing guy had a serious health issue. I said it will delay me getting the metal work back. I still have all the PMs. If Jim and I had any problems, why has he built a rifle for me that got delivered this summer? He is doing some stock work for me now.
Jimbo must be liking all this publicity.

Thanks Butch, I think that cleared that up.

Jim

I'll echo Butch's comments about Jim Kobe. He just finished working on a rifle of mine, and the work was superb. Jim worked quickly, at a reasonable and agreed-upon price.

Jim engraved "Jim Kobe -- Gunmaker" on the top of the barrel, and I'll not have any reason to remove his name from the rifle.

True. There's nuthin' better what you suggest as a real man wouldn't welch on a deal after being beat in front of a crowd. In my youth, real men would face off and then shake hands with respect at the end and even become friends in sme instances. It's a respect thing. But these days, kick someones arse who deserves it and you have the potential to (in the eyes of the law) be branded for life as a violent person or so the law seems to suggest anyway. Never "been there, done that" since the 70's. But no fool is worth the satisfaction these days IMHO. I'm not an attorney. But, you know.....make sense? So, how about those mini-mausers? CB

Butch
You've been one of my best customers. Very patient, and understanding of my day job and my over all life when it comes to getting projects done.

Not to mention Communication which I feel is the heart of the matter here.
We've all gone round on how good smiths go bad with failure to follow up or keep you in the loop. I'm guilty of it too. But I also don't BS a customer either.

It's actually pretty simple to keep people happy. Tell the honest truth about how long a project is going to take. Let them know when you are running behind and why. That's it just keep people in the loop. it's really simple.

Now as for Jim Kobe I wouldn't trust that guy to do any work for me.
I couldn't afford the quality. I've only seen his work in picture and he leaves little to be desired. If I could afford it I would have more then a few rifles commissioned to JIm for me.

Thanks Kerry, Bribe money coming your way.

Name calling and ad hominem attacks are the last refuge of a liar and thief. Thieves keep other peoples' property, and you have stuff that doesn't belong to you.

If you were any kind of man you'd send the stuff back and all of this would end. You're heaping condemnation on yourself every time you respond with anything other than "I apologize for the delay; your property is on its way back to you. Here is the tracking number: _____. I hope we can put this all behind us." It certainly appears that Butch would be as happy as any of us to see that come true, and to never have to hear from or about you again.

BS!! Bribe my arse!!! thats the truth buddy. wish every customer was as understanding and prompt as you.

22WRF That bolt handle was nothing more then a chunk of 4140, profiled to the appropriate shape, Tig welded in place with a heat sink in the bolt body. Stoping along the way to keep every thing cool. Then a few hours worth of hand profiling and polishing with mold makers stones to knock down the weld and profile.

I'm still trying to follow this mess, but lets see if I can some this up a little:

At some point Butch contact Jim to make a stock for him. Jim agreed to the work so Butch mailed off the parts. However, Butch made an error in just mailing a rifle to someone without an FFL or that is a true gunsmith. Regardless, Jim accepted the rifle from the start.

Some point later Butch paid for the work, possibly to get things moving. Jim cashed the check, essentially binding him to finish the project.

Some time went by and Jim hasn't completed the job so Butch started pushing on him a little more. Jim then decides, at some point down the line, that Butch did something illegal by shipping him the rifle in first place. Even though Jim believes this to be illegal, he's made no attempt at contacting the authorities, rather he's just holding on to the rifle? Jim's even stated that he believes that sending the rifle was breach of contract which entitles him to damages. Even if it was a breach, it's up to the courts to decide and award damages in that situation. You can't just arbitrarily decide to award yourself damages.

So now we have Jim in possession of Butch's rifle, with no intent to return it, and he's also cashed check for payment of work that wasn't completed.

Butch's recourse was to contact BATF because Jim is now in possession of a stolen firearm and potentially operating a gunsmithing business without a license. Butch is hoping that the BATF will investigate this matter and recover the firearm.

I guess I don't understand why Butch didn't just get a lawyer and sue Jim from the beginning? Sure you might have to pay for a lawyer up front and some court costs, but the route that's currently going on is such a backwards long-shot and it might not even pan out like you want.

Too many loose ends to sum this up TD. I would guess that IF the BATFE seriously gets on this eventually Jim62 COULD get the dirty end of the stick. I doubt that they will give priority one to this. But if I were Butch, I'd call thm every few weeks to keep it in their minds. I just hope Butch gets his property back. Lawyers are money vaccuums most of the time. The BATFE is paid by our tax dollars. They ALREADY work for us. May as well get them to do their thing. CB

One little detail that Butch is not advertising. And I don't blame him no use in hanging out all the laundry. But Jim at some point before the work started Stated he was an FFL holder.

I have no reason to doubt Butch on this. So then there's Jim who breached the contract from the beginning By lying about his credentials.

I think this joker is just looking for a reason to go to jail. And I surly don't believe a Private lawyer would make him flinch. If the BATF can't get his attention I think the only thing that would is a couple of italians from south Chicago

Believing that if you pay their salaries through taxes that they somehow will be at your disposal when you need, will certainly lead to a tough realization on how the world works. I think there's plenty of inmates that would have some unpleasant things to say about public defenders...


In other news, I've learned some other things about this story and it seems it's just a matter of time now before Jim finds out how badly he screwed up. But even if that's the case, I don't know how long it will be before Butch sees his rifle if it's being held as evidence to a crime.

I appreciate your thoughts. I really do. But, I'm not so sure that comparing the BATFE to a public defender is apples to apples. I would go out on a limb and suggest more like apples to the peaches that lay on the ground for a week or two. From what I've heard public defenders are nothing more than 'Minimal counsel' to those who can't afford Any counsel. The BATFE is law enforcement and probably just needs to be called every few weeks to get them on the trail if they aren't already on it. I'd imagine eventually they will just take care of this to get it out of their face if constantly/respectfully reminded. I'm hoping the BATFE will give jim62 an ultimatum. Turn over the property or face legal issues if he did pose as an FFL dealer.

When the day arrives Jim will not be given a choice. That's not how it works. He'll be given a phone call. When the BATF gets involved thier main concern will not be to get Butch his rifle back, it'll be to arrest Jim for breaking federal laws.

Unfortunately that is correct.

Well what happened????

Mr. Linthicum was arrested in a storage shed and living there. Friends?"acquaintances" ratted him out thinking he would straighten out. They allowed Mr Linthicum plea to a lesser charge.He is on probation and is supposed to repay myself and the other gentleman that lost his expensive firearm.
When he least expects it, he will wish he hadn't done it.

Karmas a bitch!!!