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?

Was the smiths name U R Stuck ?

The last one I used was charging $100.00/hr, but he knew what he was doing and got things done quickly. I took him 4 handguns to put night sights on and he did all 4 in an hour.

that must have been the "metric" rate. Pay and move along, IMO.

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.

Just had a 300 STW pillared and bedded and barrel bead blast and brake added and stock painted in polane T and was only $550 from a known smith. That's a slight bit high in my opinion.

BUT HE HAS DONE NUMEROUS FOR ME IN PAST. AND SEMI RETIRED.

My local gunsmith has a list of prices on his website. -Glass bed receiver using Devcon Steel putty. $125.00 Add $50.00 for 2 aluminum pillars-

It won’t hurt to mention his price and see what he says .

You just have to decide if rifle is worth another $375.

If not, then tell him you hope he enjoys the rifle, and walk away.


I've done it.

Took a chainsaw in for a minor repair and went to pick it up after they finally got it fixed after about 8 months. Bill was like $250.

A whole new chainsaw was about $275... I told them to enjoy having that saw for supper. And left. Never to return.

I completely understand the need to make a living but I have yet to see a glass bedding job cost north of $300. All have been between $150 and $250 whether fixed price or hourly. The $250 ones usually include pillar bedding prior to the glass.

The rifle is worth me keeping. I am in fact in possession of it now. He does have other small projects that we negotiated a fixed rate on before I left the shop yesterday.

Darcy Echols probabaly isn’t even that expensive....

Ive did the same.....

Man says, “There are no good gunsmiths around me. I hate that I have to send everything off to someone a thousand miles away for a little job.”

Man gets bill from local gunsmith and says, “This is just too damned much. I could have sent this to someone a thousand miles away and paid less.”

This is my thinking....

Hate to admit it but this is my reality.

This is why you check references before engaging any tradesman.

By the time I get done mounting a scope, I wouldn't even do it for someone else for $100.00...

Time to find another Smith.

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.

I don’t let anyone do anything for me with out knowing what it will cost first. I tell them, if you run across anything unforeseen, call me. No hard feelings that way.

I will say though, I just sent a bolt to someone as far away as I could possibly send it and still be in the US to get a new handle welded, and I got it back exactly one week after he received it. That means he had a two day turnaround and it was less than $100 including shipping and insurance.

That is kind of hard to beat and I will use him again.

I know this is an enthusiasts site, but at $100 an hour, which is a fair price for skilled labor in this economy, one has to start asking how much deader a dooded up rifle will kill something than an ADL, Vanguard, or Salvage in 30-06 or 270 gaychester from Wally World.

I have a couple of "nice" rifles but hunted last season with a $250 Vanguard from Wally World and it killed stuff I shot with it just as dead as the pretty ones.

Should be a flat rate charge for these kind of jobs. Hasbeen

Bad predicament , You can complain about the price which is way high or just pay the clown and use it as a learning experience. MasterClass probably charges less then that

It should take maybe an hour to prep and setup stuff especially if you know what you are doing

This isn't unique to the gunsmithing trade. Same goes for household appliances and TV's too.

Had a problem with the microwave. Repair shop wanted a couple of hundred dollars to fix. Don't see any small appliance repair shops any more. Cheaper to replace.

Easier to treat a microwave as a disposable item than a firearm.

That's what I prefer to deal with on standard kinds of work. A good gunsmith should know the effort involved, if they take longer that's on them.

Glass bed $xx
Rebarrel $xx
Drill and tap $x per hole
Unknown or one-off work $xx per hour

Have had several stocks reworked and got a firm quote each time. Not cheap by any means but I went into it with eyes open and knowing what to expect.

Trouble shooting or repairing something that’s broke is altogether different.
Getting a plumber to open a stopped up line is a unknown.
Glass bedding, drill and tapping and recoil pad installation should be a known job. If not you need to find another gunsmith.
Hasbeen

I learned that lesson years ago with a no name gun smith in the Milwaukee area. I got a new 1911 Para Ordnance P12 and then decided that I should get it reworked. Lower the ejection port, bevel the mag well, new trigger, skeletalized hammer, longer beaver tail, full length guide rod, match bushing, Tritium night sights, polished feed ramp and Armaloy plated. $,$$$. and more than the pistol cost new. I should have bought a Les Baer custom and I'd have been money ahead.

Yep...been down that road myself.

How do so many man have so many problems being a man.

1) You know before going it, what man don't know that.

2) If you don't like it, or the price, you discuss with the one charging the price/doing the work. Who the fugg complains about it on a forum.

That’s outrageous to pay that for a glass bed job.
I’ve had many done by a very highly rated gunsmith at less than half that.
I’d never go back to him again.

I am not interested your sympathies or guidance of your idea of manhood.

Was explaining an occurrence with a lesson learned and trying to gauge the current rates of hourly gunsmith labor.

And people wonder why Tikkas are popular......

Ask price before work is started.

Expensive for certain, but I can't imagine not checking a workman's hourly rate or flat-rate price before hiring him. It just leaves you wide open for this stuff. Live and learn.

Yep. And can't figure a "smith" to be any more talented at bedding than Bubba. It requires zero, nada, zilch in skills, education, or experience to label oneself a "smith".

$100 per hour is high for my part of western NY, but as you drift towards NYC, it becomes more reasonable, and likely.
Then, there is the customer that believes he has bought the right to stand there and jaw at his gunsmith for an hour and a half, describing his bad knee, in detail, last deer season, how the governor sucks, etc. I've witnessed this. Sometimes the bill goes up to reflect this lost time.
Don't be "that guy."
Not saying, of course, that any of the fine members of the Campfire would behave in such a way.

I've been self employed for over 25 years. I have 1 employee right now. If I charge $100.00 per hour for certain jobs, I don't put even close to $100.00 in my pocket or bank account. It amazes me that folks can critique my prices, that's why I almost always give an estimate whether a customer asks or not. And if they don't ask they dang sure should.

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.

If it's all so damned simple why don't you just do it yourself?

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

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.

$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.....

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

I’ve had experience with a smith who was super cheap I can tell you I’d rather pay too much once.

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......

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?

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.

Yep

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.

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.

That's cause it's a Savage

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.

Somewhere,..there's a Mexican that eatin' good today.

Didn't read all the responses, but that is a ream job without pillars and stupid high with pillars. Hope it shoots.

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

$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.

Who was this?

Agreed.

It should be noted that bedding a Mauser action and bedding a 700 are two different jobs. Further, there's more that one way to skin both these cats.

Says the guy who maintains no FFL, has no ATF audits, has no website to keep up, has no shop to keep up, no inventory to purchase or maintain, no employees to pay, no taxes to pay, no advertising fees, no materials to purchase, no interruptions, no phone calls to answer, purchases no machinery, and has no business to run.

I am not saying $375 is a fair price- it is too steep. But $25? BullSchnizzle...

Dang.

I used to regrind the mortar joints, run new gutter gauge alum step flashing, and drill/pin over that with counter flashing, rebuild the valley cricket and redo the steps and counters on the back of the chimney for about an extra $500-1000. And I thought I was making out good. Took me about a day to do one by myself.


As the concrete topper, used to do those for Century 21 and ERA realty and title companies when the house was being sold. 5 gal bucket, gloves, smoothing trowel, 40lbs of fast set with a cool whip bowl of portland mix in. About 2 hour job, $15 worth of materials. $150-200


Hell maybe I was a schmuck and couldve got more. Mexicans were cutting my throat on those kind of prices.

I thought making a $100 an hour...hmm I better go slow and drag this out so people dont think I'm ripping them off. Used to tell them I was going to get materials. I'd just go sit at burger king and sip coke or go bid some more jobs. lol

Wow, just wow. Anyway, resume thread.

35084Elk, Renegade 50 gave the cost to do it yourself NOT what the gunsmith should charge.

Two types of people work on guns, Gunsmiths and idiots...

Next time get the price up front

25 bucks for materials for me to do it for myself Zippy.
Did I say I was doing it for others anywhere in that post for a living.
Nope I sure didnt....


I dont pay "gunsmiths" schitt to do stuff I can do myself and do it better.

I do work for myself and friends as a hobby.
And I'm OCD as hell about the quality of what I do in my lane.
My rep amongst people I associate with is important to me
Never have asked for money other than material cost.
Never will accept it either for "work" .



Have seen plenty of work nation wide.
Skilled gunsmith craftsmen work.

And self titled " gunsmiths" some good, some down right excellent.

Seen way too many turn out hack job con artist work in my opinon also.
I cant even count the numbers of times I have unfugged "work"
done by some "gunsmith" ....
PT Barnum supposedly said a sucker is born every minute.

Word.........

Yup, real craftsmanship there.

Dan Armstrong At Accu-tig in Alaska.

There's a reason it doesn't look good...... If it took him 3 hours to do a skim bedding job on a McMillan stock he doesn't know what he's doing. He charged you hourly for something that took 3 times as long as it should.....and should have been a flat rate to start with.

I think Brownell's used to post common hourly gunsmith rates....can't remember where I saw it.

.....pay the man and move on.....if you do anything else with him it's all on you.

It's not Guam, but that's a hike!

Legends start at $15,000

If bedding is below $375, then he's charging a hell of a lot for the rest of the build process.

maybe $2500 to fit up a barrel...? $2000 bluing job..?...$5000 to work over the action?

so far we are still under $10 K,... ..add pre 64 action $600, barrel $350 , mcMilan stock $600 ,
bottom metal $600 , custom mounts $2500 ? ...decelerator pad and paint ...should make...$15K...

My gunsmith of many years just bedded and did a trigger job on a Ruger 35 Whelen for me. I picked it up this morning after he had it for a week and a half. He said he bedded it 3 times trying to get it perfect. He wasn't happy because even though it was fully functional it still doesn't look like he wants it to. Although he has gotten allot of my money over the years, he would only accept $100 for the bedding/trigger job. I know some smiths are super meticulous and churn out a flawless bedding job that costs what you paid or more. However, it doesn't sound like you received that quality of work. Sounds like you are just stuck with this bill. Just suck this one up and move on, especially if you didn't ask about pricing

You should have asked the cost before telling him to do the job.

Whatdoyaknow. Somebody finally said it.

If you can't figure out from the blood running down your leg and the difficulty sitting that you got ass raped, you ain't in a 'lesson learned' position.

There you go, you're welcome.

Ain't hard to know who and where!

Now just wait a dam minute.

He charged $125/hr and took three hours to bed your rifle, poorly.
You feel ripped off, justifiably so.

He now has multiple projects you are going to have him do?

I didn’t even know there was a gunsmith in No. VA. Who is this I should be avoiding?

I don't think $125 an hour is unreasonable for a professional gunsmith shop. Now 3 hours to bed a stock, that is unreasonable.

https://www.longriflesinc.com/colle...ucts/gunsmithing-services-pillar-bedding

Phucqk yeah.

I was going to say something about Chad's process and thereby price. Sometimes, it just is what it is and there is a price to it. The finish lines on the bedding job by LRI is incredible. No, I haven't paid that for bedding, but I have seen them first hand in his shop...There is not a cleaner fit, that I have seen anyways.

Yep, I am scratching my head as well.

Whats the old saying?....if ya gotta Ask the price , you can't afford it...



Ive never asked the hr/rate. It was always just how much the requested completed work will cost in the end.

i think the main problem was that you did not get an idea of his price or his work before you dropped it off. i agree that it was too high using my area for comparison though. but you can't blame the man for making a decent living. gunsmith training ain't cheap. you have to be a machinist, a woodworker and a mechanic all rolled into one to do it right and have the patience of a saint. a good buddy of mine went the whole route and couldn't make a living. he did it for 10 years or so and got a another job and he does it on the side for himself and good friends.

No offence but wouldn't you get an estimate before he began. I understand small business and the costs.
I know if I billed 40.00 hour for my work I would go broke. A bedding job takes time, imo

So......how does it shoot?

So it is clear this is a new gunshop that also offers gunsmith services not a single smith shop.

I also had a recoil pad install, a barreled action that I wanted pulled apart and a M77 MKII Ruger that needed a Timney. After the issue we had with the bedding job, the smith wanted to keep me as a customer so we negotiated on the other three. We settled on $75 for the pad install, $75 for the trigger install and he would pull the barrel free. I was hesitant but knew that I could not get the jobs done for less by mailing them off to another guy. So we agreed. As he was taking them to the back he took the work order for the Ruger trigger and tore it up. He said, "This one is on me."

I went to pick up these projects and settle the bill yesterday. I met the other owner, He tried to size me up and we had a heated discussion about the rates and quality of smith work compared to the cost of local skilled labor. He ultimately told me that there would be no more freebees and suggested that I was demanding free work. They are working on a fixed price work list.. I don't think the smith told him that he had offered to do the other three projects for the price he did

He was quickly corrected, paid and I left the shop with four jobs complete for a total of $450.

So I paid $75 for a pad install, pulling a barrel and installing the trigger. Plus the $375 for the bedding. It was obvious the smith was trying to make it right and keep me as a patron. It was also obvious that the "other owner" that I met yesterday was the one pulling the strings.

I am happy with the quality of work for the other three projects.

I have not shot the 9.3 yet. I scoped it last night and will get it out soon...

Good update haverluk. Sounds like that gunsmith would be miles ahead to cut ties with the other guy ASAP. It also sounds like he needs to hone his bedding skills.

Gunsmith and gas price threads. The best there is.

You and Ren need to get that RV fired up and go on the road. You could do chimbleys and Ren could do gunwork, and the stories would merit a forum of their own, Start in Maine and end in San Diego. Sell the RV, TN for the off season, fly to Washington, buy a beater RV,patch it up and head for DeFlave in FL.

Damn reality TeeVee show in the making , right there.

Estimates up front, call if you hit some chit! so easy a caveman can do it!

When is the Trump administration going to roll back the onerous burden of ITAR on gunsmiths?

Pretty much killed ITD and I'm sure a host of others.

Sycamore

Sometimes, people (including me) have a hard time reading between the lines.

Any gun shop/Smith that charges $375 for a standard bedding job is really telling you;
“We don’t want your business”.

Advice: Pick up the rest of the work, pay the bill and never go back.
Re-course: none, pay the bill and walk away.
$125 an hour is reasonable for professional work, but assumes the skill and tools to do such a job in an hour, maybe 1 ½ tops.

It's hard to do firearms work and getting harder by the day thanks to our government. If you are dealing with a larger shop you will be paying a little more than a one man shop because he has less overhead. Gunsmith work is largely thankless. Lots of ways to get ranted on by the customer than praised. People drag up with all kinds of odd stuff like a 1908 single shot 12 ga. grandad bought for $12 way back when and has been abused over the years. He wants you to make it into a masterpiece for $25 or less. If you want to get rich don't go into gunsmithing. A good custom Mauser 98 done by an artist in the trade will set you back more than a covey of factory guns and he still won't make what a GM factory union worker makes and he must provide his own benefits.

Yeah they don't make money working on junkers. I charge $95 just to show up but a gunsmith has to do quite a bit for the same $95.

Sounds like Sandy Garrett of Northern Virginia Gunworks. His work is good, but rates are not reasonable (or,at least, they used to not be).

Glad you got some thing in return for the overpriced bedding job.

He's lucky he didn't bill him for drying time

I wasn’t Sandy or Northern Virginia Gunworks. Though one or two of the people working there might have been former employees of that shop.

Nearly exactly what I charge here.. My hourly rate is $55.. That's enough, IMHO... Another 4-5 years and I'll be done anyway..

That’s cheap! I charge a 100 dollar bill for showing up to do plumbing work. A plumbing company down here will charge 150.00 minimum now. It will cost you 1200.00 to have your water heater changed if it’s in the attic. I change them for 900.00. People are glad to get it changed for that. I have to turn some down, don’t have time.

Companies quote 1200-1500 here sight unseen for electric heater. I figure they do ok on some and the ones real easy to get to they do REAL GOOD.

.


Yes, They do real good, a heater is about 300, takes 3 hours including drive time, they make about 300.00 an hour. Water heater change outs are a racket, like condenser change outs on AC systems. They make about 500.00 an hour on those.

That sounds kind of high for a bedding job. Especially a sloppy one. I ask for estimates or even firm prices, where possible, just for this reason. Not just on gunsmithing work.

Apples and oranges though. A plumber has the overhead time and cost of traveling to the job.

So ~3 hours of work?

I’m familiar. My plumber let’s me buy supplies on his account and I’ve changed them for myself and family/friends several times. It’s pretty basic. I almost fell over when I heard that price though.