|
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 38,934 Likes: 11
Campfire 'Bwana
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 38,934 Likes: 11 |
So I went to pick up my 9.3x62 from the gunsmith yesterday.
FN98 action in a McMillan edge stock. Asked for smith to glass bed the action. Bedding job does not look very good although probably functionally adequate. He tells me it took him three hours and my total was $375 plus tax. This no-name smith is changing $125 per labor hour.
I did not ask prior to what the labor rate was. Shame on me but in all my time working with reputable smiths the rates has varied from $40-$75 per hour. Am I off base with this?
I am pissed that a simple glass bedding job cost that much but the work is done.
Do I have any option for recourse or am I obligated to pay the man and move on?
I haven't read anything past this intitial post, but I will be very surprised if this doesn't open you up for all sorts of crap by way of responses.
Not a real member - just an ordinary guy who appreciates being able to hang around and say something once in awhile.
Happily Trapped In the Past (Thanks, Joe)
Not only a less than minimally educated person, but stupid and out of touch as well.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 16,554
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 16,554 |
If it's all so damned simple why don't you just do it yourself?
The key elements in human thinking are not numbers but labels of fuzzy sets. -- L. Zadeh
Which explains a lot.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 14,341
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 14,341 |
Guy doing 10 different things at the same time, and charging all 10 projects for the same 3 hours... while he's standing around jawing for most of it.
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,168
Campfire Tracker
|
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,168 |
I don't really have trouble with the hourly rate and as the Op didn't ask for how many hours or a flat rate quote it is what it is. Buyer beware, I do find three hours for a bedding job a little excessive unless it required some sort of inletting or opening the barrel channel.
The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. Under this Republic the rewards of industry belong to those who earn them. Coolidge
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 20,824
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 20,824 |
$375.00 for a bedding job, that's robbery, hell I could do 4 a day that would gross $1500 a day, them's lawyer wages.....
Originally Posted by Judman
PS, if you think Trump is “good” you’re way stupider than I thought! Haha
Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 10,365
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 10,365 |
So I went to pick up my 9.3x62 from the gunsmith yesterday.
FN98 action in a McMillan edge stock. Asked for smith to glass bed the action. Bedding job does not look very good although probably functionally adequate. He tells me it took him three hours and my total was $375 plus tax. This no-name smith is changing $125 per labor hour.
I did not ask prior to what the labor rate was. Shame on me but in all my time working with reputable smiths the rates has varied from $40-$75 per hour. Am I off base with this?
I am pissed that a simple glass bedding job cost that much but the work is done.
Do I have any option for recourse or am I obligated to pay the man and move on?
glass bed in a McMillan stock? send the next one to me I charge $85.00 to glass bed, pillars $20.00 extra, of course there would be shipping in you back and forth but alot cheaper than $375.00
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 29,676 Likes: 5
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 29,676 Likes: 5 |
I’ve had experience with a smith who was super cheap I can tell you I’d rather pay too much once.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 45,037 Likes: 28
Campfire 'Bwana
|
|
Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 45,037 Likes: 28 |
I do my own bedding, Devcon 10110 steel putty. it's really not that difficult.
If you have the skills to make a peanut butter sandwich, you should be able to master bedding.
I have used local gunsmithing for lathe work, and I always ask for a price or estimate up front. No surprises thank you. Peanut butter sandwich   Gawd. Hahahaha!!! Wood stocked rifles I have done many times. Dremel with a ball end bit and a straight bit, release agent ( many options) fine hair brush for release agent, good masking tape to cover areas on stock from bedding squeezing out, couple popsicle sticks, some 400 sandpaper to sand and blend the edge over flow, bedding material of choice. 25 dollar project max......
Last edited by renegade50; 04/05/19.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 25,133 Likes: 1
Campfire Ranger
|
|
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 25,133 Likes: 1 |
I won't bitch his hourly rate, but can't imagine a bedding job into a McMillan that would take 3 hours.
Did he charge you for watching the epoxy set?
“Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die.”
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,495 Likes: 64
Campfire Kahuna
|
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,495 Likes: 64 |
I'm surprised the "gunsmith" didn't take 8 months to do it. Or go have to spend 6 months in the federal penitentiary for prescription forgery, or have his shop broken into, etc, etc.
Also had once instance where my high school friend's dad dropped savage99 off to a smith for rebluing. The gun stayed there so long, the gunsmith actually said he LOST the rifle.
Hate it for the OP, yet I am really glad to know that gunsmiths in other geographic regions are also nothing more than sheisters and fùckups. Thought it was just around here.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 10,851
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 10,851 |
The expectation that a professional sole proprietor could make a living at $40-75/hr is just not reasonable in today's economy, after you think about taxes, insurance, expenses, and retirement. Every plumber and electrician I have hired in recent years has been in the $100-125/hr range, and I cannot see that a gunsmith should be worth less.
So $300 for a bedding job is not out of the question (which is why I do my own). Now whether it is a professional quality job is another matter. Yep
Maker of the Frankenstud Sling Keeper
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321 Likes: 2
Campfire Oracle
|
|
Campfire Oracle
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321 Likes: 2 |
Just let him keep the rifle and get one that doesn't need to be bedded to be accurate. It can't be that difficult. I've got an old .243 Savage 99 lever action that will hold MOA even with its schitty trigger.
There's undoubtedly several others out there that will do that same or better.
If you need better than MOA accuracy out of a hunting rifle, you need to hunt bigger game.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,414 Likes: 6
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,414 Likes: 6 |
I just paid $10k yesterday to get two chimneys recapped.
4 guys with 3 trucks were here for 1.5 days.
You do the math.
I had to wait over a year for them to get here, they are so booked up.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway
The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,495 Likes: 64
Campfire Kahuna
|
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,495 Likes: 64 |
That's cause it's a Savage 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,495 Likes: 64
Campfire Kahuna
|
|
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,495 Likes: 64 |
I just paid $10k yesterday to get two chimneys recapped.
4 guys with 3 trucks were here for 1.5 days.
You do the math. when you say "recapped" Are you talking fancy metal covering to keep rain oit of the flue Or are you talking about reflashing?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,414 Likes: 6
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,414 Likes: 6 |
I just paid $10k yesterday to get two chimneys recapped.
4 guys with 3 trucks were here for 1.5 days.
You do the math. when you say "recapped" Are you talking fancy metal covering to keep rain oit of the flue Or are you talking about reflashing? Flashing on the bottom at the roof, concrete on top of the chimney.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway
The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321 Likes: 2
Campfire Oracle
|
|
Campfire Oracle
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 79,321 Likes: 2 |
I just paid $10k yesterday to get two chimneys recapped.
Somewhere,..there's a Mexican that eatin' good today.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 12,478
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 12,478 |
Didn't read all the responses, but that is a ream job without pillars and stupid high with pillars. Hope it shoots.
Faith and love of others knows no mileage nor bounds. That's simply the way it is.
dogzapper
After the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box.
Italian Proverb
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,650 Likes: 4
Campfire Outfitter
|
|
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,650 Likes: 4 |
I do my own bedding, Devcon 10110 steel putty. it's really not that difficult.
If you have the skills to make a peanut butter sandwich, you should be able to master bedding.
I have used local gunsmithing for lathe work, and I always ask for a price or estimate up front. No surprises thank you. Sounds like me. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's as easy as making a sandwich, but if anybody has made a model plane, car, boat, etc. they should be able to bed a rifle. Of course depending on the age, I'm not sure how many have had that experience. Before the computer era, just about every boy built models. Bedding is fairly easy, but f'ing it up can have major consequences. Not a job for the careless or sloppy. Paul
Stupidity has its way, while its cousin, evil, runs rampant.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,150
Campfire Tracker
|
|
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,150 |
$375? You got took. Pay him and move on....you’ve got the gun in your possession and failed to discuss it both prior to and after the job (to address wether the job was acceptable or not). Sucks but it is what it is.
Yup.
|
|
|
|
|
75 members (375sunrise, 257robertsimp, 10Glocks, 338reddog, 35, 6mmbrfan, 12 invisible),
843
guests, and
895
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Forums81
Topics1,193,977
Posts18,519,903
Members74,020
| |
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023
|
|
|
|
