Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing wild West Guns...and???

Does anyone here know anything about Wild West Guns...or have dealt with them? Are they good guys, do good gunsmith work?
They say they "like" Marlin actions...and use the guns as a starting point for their custom conversions...
....YET, they also say the NEW Remlins (Marlins) kinda suck and production on then has even halted completely ...they say that a new Marlin "needs work", a lot of "work", before they are any good...like their "tune up" package for $300., replacing the ejector with their "Bear Proof Ejector-Happy Trigger -aluminum Magazine follower...also "tuning" the action and smooth out all the rough spots...but $300., really...is my NEW Marlin 1895SBL as crappy as they make it out to be...just got it, can't wait to put some rounds thru it to see?

They have some excellent smiths working for them but the higher ups are VERY impressed with themselves. Their parts are good and generally drop in with very little fitting. They do good marlin work but for the money there are several very good smiths out there that can do as well.

I bet you can't find 2 of the Ak members what would say a good thing about Wild West.

And yes, they say everything that wasn't built in their shop is a POS.

Honestly it's been over 10 years since I set foot in their shop. I was debating having some work done and after looking at some of the guns they'd worked on I concluded they over charged for the quality of there work. But they have managed to establish a name for themselves, and charge accordingly. Supposedly the gunsmith that really developed the co-pilot parted ways with them sometime back, and I believe they have had quite a turnover of smiths/machinists over the years.

And as noted, they have a way of generally turning folks off. I don't mind being treated like an idiot when I've earned the honor, but when you've been made to feel like an idiot before you've been given the opportunity, well, there are other people that are competent to work on guns that don't treat you that way.

I do know at least two guys in down that have had work done by them and they were happy with the work. Me, I'd ship my guns out of state first.

Jim West is quite simply the second biggest asshat in Anchorage... First would be the idiot that runs the shop.

Their attempts at stockwork are laughable, at best. Trying to find a flat field is a major challenge... Big bellies leading into the butt on every stock I looked at were "special" when considering the ego behind the work.

Josh Sorensen
Campfire Regular

Registered: 10/29/00
Posts: 464
Loc: Anchorage, AK
They have some excellent smiths working for them but the higher ups are VERY impressed with themselves. Their parts are good and generally drop in with very little fitting. They do good marlin work but for the money there are several very good smiths out there that can do as well.

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#6372810 - Today at 08:54 PM Re: wild West Guns...and??? [Re: bullets4yogi]
358Norma_fan
Campfire Regular

Registered: 11/04/09
Posts: 398
Loc: Anchorage Ak
I bet you can't find 2 of the Ak members what would say a good thing about Wild West.

And yes, they say everything that wasn't built in their shop is a POS.


WoW...OK, any other AK. members out there wanna chime in, I would love to here more...from more of the AK. members, especially.
But three above, maybe other than this forum, don't know each other, I dunno...
pretty telling...
I went to the shop here in Vegas...impressive guns and equipment and the son of Jim West took me around and even let me go back into their gunsmith shop / work area ....huge warehouse, actually multiple warehouses...real friendly at 1st and then he quickly grew tired of me and my few question...did not even acknowledge me as he was leaving for somewhere and I thanked him as he did...did not say a word to me or look my way, real weird, just turned right off when he saw I wasn't buying today???

That is why I posted this...just left me with funny feeling about this place?
Almost like after years up in AK...came to Vegas to cash in on the desert dudes with pockets full of cash...(despite the economy, this town is filthy rich...).

Had that little turdsmoker West blow smoke in my face (literally) and tell me a shotgun model I had and have was never made... Will be interesting to see how long they last in LV... But I could not really care less...

I've heard that the guys have personality issues, but my experience has always been great. I can't comment on their stock work, but their metal work has been top notch on my guns (rifles & handguns) and the timeliness of their work has been unbeatable. Maybe it's because I live in the bush and call before I show up, but the guys there have always gone above and beyond for me.

If I'm gonna spend my hard earned money I prefer to be treated well.

no faults on the one rifle or the ammo I bought from them, but they ain't doing brain surgery, they're working with metal.

will agree that their drop in stuff is pretty skookum, but I can find a good machinist to do what I need that I enjoy spending my money with.

maybe they've changed, I wouldn't know, it's got to be close to 10 years since I set foot in their door. I did stop in the new store once, but when I bought from them it was in the old location.

Awhile back I bought a ss Winchester take off barrel from them.
They said it was in excellent shape in the ad.
When I received it, the threads were flattened. Looked like a hammer strike.
I called and the guy said "the barrel is perfectly usable"
I returned it and they refunded the money.

Will never do busuiness with them again

Well ...I am getting the idea...salty dogs who do decent work and overcharge for it...
...repeating theme on other forums, except "Marlin Owners.com", WHERE they are sponsors, along with Grizzly Custom Guns (of which I heard GOOD things...?)...just so happened that WWG is now in Vegas and always nice to walk in & walk out with the work done or rifle bought, without having to ship back and forth...
however...don't want to be treated like crap by someone who overcharges and does bad work, which the latter (bad work) not many complained of...to be fair?

To sum it up, you will likely be happy with their work. But, you can get the same work done elsewhere for less $ and without the attitude.

I wouldn't call them salty dogs, salt dogs tend to be interesting characters. WW are just pricks.

I've used many smiths and Brian over at WWG does me good(think his name is brian aka the kid@ ak shooting forums)my needs have always been prompt ie,,,working rails over/tigging/honing to feed a .458 in my J.C.Higgins 50 and my 1895 was rebuilt completely with a tough stockand part changes. Not the prettiest stock for my lever gun but hell for stout...I have not dealt with Ken much but he was the proverbial butt for sure over there.

Brian is a top rate smith and great all around guy. He really knows his stuff. Most of their smiths do. I even like jim west well enough too. Ken is an acquired taste, I'm sure somebody must like him, but I can't prove it.

I have not had any problems with WWG. Have had a couple beers with one of the smith's and he seemed okay. I put the ejector, trigger, peep sight and the rail mount that goes on the magazine on my Guide Gun and they all fit and function with no problems. After our bear hunt I noticed a screw missing in my action, walked into the shop with the gun, they put the new screw in free of charge. I have never met the owner.

I bought a rifle from Wild West Guns on auctionarms about 5 years ago and they offered to let me pay by credit card but I wanted to pay by money order. So far so good. They had a ten day deadline for payment to arrive. A couple days after the auction I sent it Priority Mail and emailed them that payment was on the way but it took longer than anticipated and arrived at WWG on a Monday. Their ten day deadline from the end of the auction was the day before on Sunday--when they are NOT open.

A week later, much to my surprise I received my money order back in the mail and an F feedback on auction arms for failure to pay. I called up the shop manager and he told me that it was past the deadline and that he was tired of people winning the gun auctions and then not paying. I explained to him that their 10 day deadline was on Sunday when they were closed and that payment had arrived on the next business day that they were open. He refused to take back the negative feedback. I'll not ever darken their door or buy anything from them ever after that ridiculous crap.

I owned one some years ago, about two or three an I really liked it. I regret selling it, it was a real fun gun to hunt with an shoot.

I think them guys do some real REAL nice work.

IIRC one of the guys from that shop used to post here. went by the handle wildalaska. Seem to remember him being a stinkin' troll.

I have had mixed results with simple gunsmithing over there. The first was a muzzle brake install and was spot-on. The second was a cut and recrown and it was poor. I don't do any business over there other than ordering a DTA, they gave me a better price than anyone else. I had to push them a little to price match. They also don't seem to know their class 3 laws very well either. They wanted to ship my friends suppressor immediately when they got it in without the form 4 being approved yet... he declined to give his shipping address not wanting to go to prison and such.

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