Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing I need to trust my instincts better when judging Gunsmiths

I have a glock 23 and the slide starting rusting. I visited a "gunsmith" a few weeks back and dropped it off, I asked him if he had a sample of his cerakote work and he said the shop was full of them. He told me it would be done in 3 days. Well I have been back 3x in the last 2 weeks, I keep getting a " it will be done by tuesday" promise, he tells me what day it will be done and has of yet followed thru on it . Today he was really curt and his excuse was he has a lot of work, he will call me when it is ready. He has until Friday and I will take a ziploc bag if it is not done. He is the main reason I don't trust gunsmiths and especially the vermin in our area.

That said, if he fu cks up the cerakote can I get it undone and redone by a competent gunsmith. If so can someone experienced in cerakoting of pistols refer a good cerakote guy?

Thanks

It can be blasted off and redone easily. Eddie F or Hired Gun from this forum I'm sure could help you out.

Thanks for the info.

Or maybe ask Glock to do it? Can you PM me the "gunsmith" that keeps putting you off?

He told me that Glock would direct that work to him if a slide was rusted. I thought he was FOS when he said that.

He is a local guy

Oldelkhunter,

As stated above, Eddie Fosnaugh(campfire member) is your man. He's done several rifles for me and they are always done right(the first time) and in a timely fashion.

Leftybolt

He's most definitely full of sh*t if he said that-- go get your parts back.

Fosnaugh isn't taking on any new work, or at least he wasn't a week or two ago.

Go to Cerakote's website and find a Certified Applicator near you; they will provide the results you seek.

ETA: I found two near you.

Yeah I should have looked at that before this very experience. He is not on the list

Justin at ImperiumArms.com (720) 935-7302, did my wife's. He said 3 weeks, but it was about 4. No big deal it made it in time for my wife's birthday.

That's how I found the guy that I've been using. He's about 45 min from me, does excellent quality work, and in a timely fashion. FWIW, he's not a gunsmith, so I do all the disassembly prior to coating, and assembly afterwards.

Going to pick the gun up this afternoon. I don't care what condition it is 1/2 coated or in a zip loc all in pieces, if it is damaged I am taking his ass to small claims court if he does not replace the GUN.

Wish you the best.

BTDT, sorry to hear about your experience. I had something similar happen where a local "gunsmith" butchered 3 barreled actions for me, then had the balls to quote stock installation!

Thing is, I cannot tell you how to vet the jerks except to get quotes and delivery dates in writing up front.

I got it intact, cerakote job was just ok but looks better then the rusted slide glock it had before. I learned from this.

Hope the job didn't cost you an arm or leg.

Cost 57 dollars and looks like 30 dollars

I already have it penciled in for a redo at a reputable gunsmith in the future

I am still taking on work, however, I am selecting what work I take on till I am caught up and the new shop is built.

The "Certified" coaters are the folks that have taken the NIC $1500 per person (could be more now, I don't know) course on how to degrease, prep, blast, paint, use stencils, etc. I think it's a great tool for those that have no experience in painting, coating and business in general. With that being said, certified is no guarantee that the work will be good after they leave the facility. There are bad and good certified and non-certified coaters out there. It is up to the customer unfortunately to do the homework and see who they want for coating. Myself (Fosnaugh Customs), Kampfeld Customs, Beanland Rifles, Hillbilly Rifles, GA Precision rifles, Short Action Customs and American Precision Arms are just a few of the coaters that do exceptional coating work that I have personally seen in my shop and none of us are on the certified NIC map.



I would never choose a coater certified or not for firearm coating, who is not a smith.

That makes a lot of sense considering the tolerances in some actions etc etc , I toured his shop on Friday and it was pretty bad. He is painting guns outside. Hopefully he has not built up tolerances in this pistol so the gun does not function correctly. It was my favorite handgun . I will know later this week how that went.

Well I put a box of 40S&W thru it this past week and it functioned perfectly. The slide is too smooth (he put a gloss finish on it) for my taste so it will be off to another gunsmith/cerakote guy to removed this POS finish and get a real Cerakote or other finish put on it in a professional manner.