Gosh, I don't know if I could identify a single, notable incident, but over the years there have been plenty. They have involved either poor service or poor workmanship, or both. Some of these have involved nationally known gunsmiths whose work has been on the cover of magazines. The worst case I can recall didn't happen to me, it happened to a friend. The gunsmith was a guy who is reknowned in the world of custom .22s. My buddy had a Remington 700 rebarreled, and the crown was so rough that you could snag a fingernail. But the main event was when he had this guy rebarrel a brand new Anschutz M54 target rifle. I can't recall what was wrong with the custom barrel, but the smith had installed it and added some sort of adhesive so that it couldn't be removed without machining it out or heating it excessively. He found this out when he turned it over to another gunsmith to fix the improperly installed barrel. My most recent experience, again involving a rather famous gunsmith, involved rebarreling a M700 to .338-06. I stated clearly that the new barrel should not exceed the weight of the original. When I received the rifle it looked like a varmint barrel had been installed. Not really, but definitely a heavy barrel. When I called the smith, he was defensive and told me that "I wanted to have my cake and eat it too", whatever that was supposed to mean. I finally had the barrel turned down by another smith, at a cost of another $150. It's still no featherweight, weighing 8 3/4 pounds with scope. Years ago I had another well-regarded gunsmith rebarrel a M722 .222 magnum. There were swirl marks in the barrel finish, and the chamber was off center. I sensed that the guy was great at one time, but was over the hill when he did my job. I could go on and on. Most of it is small stuff, but poor work anyhow. I am just a hacker, but I have frequently ended up fixing things myself after a so-called pro has screwed them up.
Paul
