I did NOT make any comment concerning the ethics of PGW, so, lets be very clear on that from the outset. I also only comment on what I have actually seen and the treatment I have received as I do not believe in basing my opinions on hearsay. There are those who choose to attempt to denigrate others in order to appear to be very knowledgable about a given issue, I am not one of them.
I have been in contact with PGW on three occasions and I found them to be rather abrupt and not overly courteous on the phone. This is not my concept of how a business should treat potential customers and I decided not to spend my money with them as a result of this behaviour.
Now, the actual gunsmithing concerned was done by them on a P-64 Mod. 70 that was one of three that Joe Dlask surface ground and trued for me about 15 years ago; Joe's work was meticulous and compared favourably with the top metalsmiths in the USA, whose work I have examined on rifles belonging to buddies afflicted with gunaholism as I am. I sold this to a chap I know, whose name I will not mention as he is not conversant with this thread and he sent it to Spagrud with very precise instructions as to the rifle he wanted built. He is a medical professional used to working with great precision and has many other custom rifles, so, he knows what should result.
The rifle came back, after several thousand dollars expenditure, with various accoutrements that he had specifically stated he did not want, the stock design was not what he requested and the dimensions were wrong. When he removed the metal from the wood, the inletting was terrible and he could not get the rifle to shoot. He sent it back and it still would not function as a top custom rifle should, so, he got another gunsmith to re-work it. This is not the only case like this that people I know and trust have had happen to them, so, my opinion of Spagrud is not very high.
I don't know you and have no idea of your actual experience with custom rifles, so, I can only suggest that you go to one of the big custom rifle shows in the USA and examine the work of some of the masters there, if you have not already done so. This will give you an idea of what can be and is being done and also what should be done for a customer's hard earned bucks. Third rate work and a snotty attitude is NOT acceptable to me and I will not accept this from anyone with whom I deal......and neither should anyone else, IMHO.
Again, the comments concerning ethics were made by Chuck, not me, so it is his prerogative to reply or not. I simply do not consider Ross Spagrud to be a "top" gunsmith, based on what I have seen and I would not have him do any work for me. I do not care which gunsmith anyone chooses, I simply offered my take on the current situation in Canada as I have experienced it; quite honestly, the single finest stockmaker I have EVER seen was the late Russel Fletcher of Nelson, B.C. whom I knew as a young man and he was better than Beisen or Fisher, even to my young, inexperienced eyes circa 1967.
