I've been collecting parts for a build over the last year or so.
Lots of the smiths I know of, or see mentioned on here are usually on the western side of the US. I'm in Michigan and would like to drive/deliver parts instead of shipping if at all possible . Anyone have any favorites in or around Michigan ? I know Eddie F is southern Michigan,but don't really hear much about him. Karl moved to Idaho ...

What you say ?

Thanks

I’ve owned a few Fosnaugh rifles and they were all amazing. Traded them like a moron chasing the next best thing but my next build will probably go to Fosnaugh

Curious as to why you need to hand him parts.
Fosnaugh is good to go.

In the past I've shipped barrels and actions to and fro cross country, which is easily done in a small container. This one is going to be a complete build and I don't trust the shipping world currently. Fosnaugh is about 2.5 hours from me per google. It would be a nice road trip.

I'll have to reach out to him and discuss the project.

Thanks Mallard.... and Butch...

Mark Penrod is in northern IN and I highly recommend him.

Penrod Precision
312 E College Ave
North Manchester, IN 46962 - Wabash County
(260) 982-8385

Mark is top notch also.

Kevin Wigdon at Williams Gunsight does nice work.

If you're looking in Michigan, I would strongly suggest Eddie, a very talented smith.

Pierce Engineering LTD is one smith I have dealt with in the past; located in Lansing though

Eddie Fosnaugh is good to go. He’s done a bunch of work for me in the past and always happy with the results.

Fosnaugh put together my .243. Tack driver and his bedding and cerakote work is top notch.

I'll put that on my list

Thanks !

Don't know about smithing, but they have a very nice retail store now !
Pre covid it was stocked very well.

Thanks

Lansing is an hour south of me . Can't say I've heard of PE LTD. Funny the things you don't know about, when you are not in with the local shooting crowd.

What is their specialty ?

Thanks

Sounds like Eddie Fosnagh has some following here. I remember seeing various posts about him over the years. I only have one sampling of his cerakote work and it is done very well .

Thanks to all that offered info.

Tim

Light weight hunting rifles, ti actions, etc.


https://www.pierceengineeringltd.com/

I recommended Eddie to a fried a few years ago by the reputation he had here. It was easily the worst experience we’ve ever had with a gunsmith.

What happened Kaleb?

For what it’s worth the rifle had to be re crowned bedding redone even though it was pretty. A time frame was never asked on our end. He kept giving times and missed them. We were not in a hurry at all. He kept giving times and never met them. It took me emailing him telling him that I felt bad for recommending him before he responded to my friend. Understand all he was doing was assembling. He was shipped all the parts.

Hmmm... very interesting ! I'll get in contact with them for sure.

Thanks for the link !

Damn...

He never ever done anything he said he would. He was sent top shelf materials. He was asked to assemble them. After a long time he said he was busy. My fried was about to drive up there but he said he would get it together and shipped. That was BS too but he done it. I had to email him and pm him from here telling him to respond to my friend because I felt bad I recommend him. He did finish the gun but like I said he didn’t crown it and the bedding had to be rebedded. It looked pretty but rocked back and forth like a fat kid on a see saw. I hate to say this but I felt terrible dealing with a friend getting such a raw deal based on my recommendation

I'm not made of money,never will be. That said....
I grew up in the a time , a man's word and a handshake was all you needed to seal a deal. The older I get , the more I appreciate honesty and good customer service.

Get with Karl or Shaen

Karl is a straight up good person ! He did some bolt fluting and cerakote work for me. He called me after sending the barreled action back. Wanted to make sure I was 100% happy with the work done !

He was hours away,now he's multiple time zones away...
Dang you Karl !

Kevin Weaver does great work for me as well. I know the OP wants to hand the parts over, but if you call Kevin, he will email you an UPS shipping label to ship your parts to him. He also makes a build sheet and lists everything that is supposed to be worked. Makes it fair, since you can change or add things to the list.

And that's too bad. I know it happens, but on a recommendation is the worst.

I would use him in a second based on your recommendation.

Kinda confused about the fellers problem with Eddie. Myself and several friends have used him and were very pleased.
I've known John Pierce for many years. I have 2 customs built on John's receivers. One is a 6.5x47L with walnut from Australia and a 280AI on one of his Ti receivers.
John was in the high end engine building early on. He did experimental engine work for GM and others. He has a very nice CNC shop and has always been a great guy. John did the wire EDM work for me when I was doing CZ452 triggers.

Nothing confusing at all. I recommended him to a close friend based on his reputation here. My friend sent him all the parts and causally asked a ball park time frame. He said something like 6 weeks. My friend knowing things happen didn’t try to contact him until about 3 months and then it was just to make sure everything was ok. Eddie told him he was very sorry and had been busy. No big deal. He told him he would get it in the next couple of weeks. After a couple more months my friend tried to contact him again and he wouldn’t reply to him. I sent him a message asking him to contact my friend and explained my situation where I recommended him to a friend and how poorly things were going. He apologized again and gave another time frame which wasn’t met. The rifle finally arrived and it didn’t shoot like a 6BR defiance action brux or bartlien barrel McMillan stock NF scope should. After the whole bad experience he put the gun up and just forgot about it for a bit. After getting it back out we noticed the barreled action didn’t set right in the stock. The bedding looked amazing but it rocked and we determined the recoil lug was bottomed out. So we dremeled out some of the pretty bedding and skim bedded that. During all the trouble shooting we noticed the barrel didn’t really seem to be crowned. Now I’m not saying it was just chopped off flat. I also know some crowns are slightly different than others. With that said the crown was not like anything either of us has had before or since then. So he had the barrel crowned. After the bedding tweak and crown the gun is a tack river. I have absolutely no axe to grind and nothing against Eddie. I just wanted to share my experience. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything about this but I would hate for someone else to have the same experience we did.

Thanks for the updates on info.
I did email Pierce with some questions.


Anyone can have a bad time or mistake with a project. To me it's all about it gets handled in the end .

I think you did the right thing. It’s good to know all sides before sending 1000’s of bucks worth of good stuff off.

I can also recommend Eddie... Top notch..

Redneck put a 280AI together for me that is top shelf. It was a pleasure dealing with him.

Bullshitting about the timeline/schedule is pretty much the norm for gunsmiths isn’t it? Honestly, I’ve only dealt with 4 or 5 but Shaen is the only one that kept his word and no BS. Melvin was delayed but told me that ahead of time. Had several blatantly lie about progress and excuses.

Dave at ITD was stand up as hell too.
Sucked when he quit.

Kevin has been darned good as well. The only delays with him is components. My brother waited a long time for a Legend for his last rifle, but that was out of Kevin's control and he told us about it.

Other wise he has been fairly quick, especially when he has all of the parts sitting there.

Full disclosure, I’m a building contractor and my industry is just as bad or worse for bullshitters….

We completely knew going in about times. We were not the petty new guys in any way. It was just that he missed his own given deadlines by triple the time. That wasn’t even as bad as not communicating. I don’t mean to imply that my fried called him and he didn’t answer. I mean my friend left messages and didn’t get a reply in a week. Normal communication with regular people would have changed everything.

I’ve never held anyone to a deadline at all. I understand things happen and I don’t want to use the person that’s setting around with nothing to do…haha.

I’ve used Mickey Coleman several times Lee/Redneck Dave at IT&D several times PacNor GAP and others that post here with great experiences.

Lots of good options to look into . Thanks guys for all the info, good ,bad or otherwise.

Now to just find a few more parts and talk with some people about the work !

Hope everyone has a great day.


Tim

I have used Eddie and he did a fine job but it was only cerakote work. Karl is absolutely top notch if he is building rifles. Also had Pacnor put a few together that I am happy with.

Bob Green was my go to for the last decade or so and he has built friends and I about 10 rifles total and is a true gentleman and an excellent gunsmith who had very good turnaround times and prices but it sounds like maybe he is done, been off the grid since Covid hit. I sent my last pile of parts to Shaen since I couldn’t get ahold of Bob and I am very impressed with the rifle he sent back, in exactly the amount of time he said it would take. Shaen will be getting my next project. Lots of good choices and a great time to be building rifles.

Eddie built three rifles for me, all first rate and fully in accord with my specs. Nothing lately (my gun safe is full) so things might have changed. But his past record is very good and you live in Michigan, so why not take a drive to Luna Pier and see Eddie in his shop?

Lee Gardner in Matoon, Il. I've known Lee for several years.
https://www.facebook.com/Lee-gardner-precision-LGP-187297694948219/

Got some neat stuff on his page !

Thanks

have used 5 different sniths over 30 years.jim borden,mike bryant,clay spencer,karl feldkamp and mark penrod,all built shooters,if building on a winchester controlled feed mark is my only choice.phenominal.eddie fosnaugh i have heard nothing but good about.if in doubt and dont mind the ride talk to mark penrod.he is the equal or better than many.

I love David Christman’s work.

Mark Gordon of Short Action Custom is in northern Ohio and does great work.

Penrod for sure.

David Christman is great. He built a couple rifles for me and has done other smithing work. As long as I've been around I seen and used several good ones. Karl Feldkamp, James Anderson, Mike Bryant, Jim Kobe, Pete Pieper, John Holiger, John Pierce, Jim Borden are just a few of the good ones. I know going in that the wait may be long, but I do most of my metal work and have gained a little patience.

I second penrod.

Another vote for Mark Penrod. Absolutely excellent work on a M70.

Mark Penrod is on top of my list also.

Well, I feel the need to respond to this partially true claim, even if it's about a build from 2015 (had to look it up because I couldn't remember that far back). The claim about timeframe is true, no denying, and in big part due to some personal family things that happened. I will leave it at that, since quite frankly it's nobody's business. Onto the claim of me not crowning a barrel, and putting out bad bedding is simply BS, not true. I have NEVER bedded a rifle without clearance under the recoil lug, ever. As far as the crown goes, the barrel was threaded and timed for a muzzle brake, therefore gets a new crown regardless, and my crowns/machining are done correctly, period.

I have no axe to grind here either, especially from 2015....however, it would have been nice to know about this back then. Finally, I am not going to get into a technical argument on how to check bedding, cutting crowns, chambering etc. with someone that doesn't know what they are doing.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention and putting me on blast. I am not perfect, but I do strive try to be a better person everyday.

I am truly sorry for your friends' experience 6.5 years ago. This will be my only response to this thread

Happy and healthy New Year!

Greg Young, owner of Southern Precision Rifles is top notch!

I've bought a few actions and barrels from SPR.
Don't hear much about his builds on 24hr

I currently have a rifle in the process of being built by Eddie. All I can say is aside from being a great guy to talk to, he has also been a pleasure to work with on this build. Great communication all along the way. I got to look over his shop, some personal rifles and shot the breeze awhile. I have ZERO doubt the rifle will exceed expectations with the attention to detail he has.

Eddie Fosnaugh is good and honest. I'm sorry that I didn't mention him earlier.

Eddie built a 6br for me some years back, and a few for my cousin

I was given a timeline that was accurate to within 2-3 weeks with Eddie. Which I felt was pretty dang good for a one man custom shop!
Communication was not a issue for me with Eddie

The rifle that was delivered was exactly what I was led to expect in quality, accuracy, fit, and finish.

I was very happy with my experience with Eddie and wouldn’t hesitate to send him another.

Dana English built me a 260 about 6 years ago

He was also very easy to work with. I caught him at a great time on that build and turnaround was much faster than he even told me to expect. Wouldn’t pause to recommend him either as he delivered a high quality rifle

GSPfan had a very nice Ruger No. 1 job by a 'smith in, I think, Mt. Pleasant.

My son had a M700 customized by Mr. Fosnaugh about three years ago. He cut and crowned the barrel, installed a TriggerTech, installed and bedded a McMillan Edge, and did some bottom metal work. It is easily the most accurate rifle I own. It groups three into a half inch and five into 3/4” routinely. That is varmint rifle accuracy! There is a Big Horn action in his shop as we speak being built into a 7mm-08 for me and I fully expect the same result. I’ve also had him bed several Montana’s for me in the past. I’ve never had the first inkling of a problem with his work!

If Mark Pensrod is busy, Ray Saltzman, in Tiption, IN, is an excellent rifle smith.

Jim Kobe in Minnesota.

The list got pretty big, hopefully it will help a few people.

I've made my choice .

Let you know in a couple months, if it worked out.


Stay tuned
..grin

well.can you let us know your choice.i will give no feedback.

well.can you let us know your choice.i will give no feedback.

My mailbox has never cared,where someone lives. Hint...............

Neither has mine. Time will tell..

Membership has it's privileges and if I'm waiting over a week,it's because the weather was poor. Hint......................(grin)

please dont mention dana english.QUIET.best kept secret in the buisness.