Yes, I definitely understand what you mean Roper about depths. Suffice it to say everything was very clearly spec'd out and he apparently did what he felt was best instead. Although it was not in writing, I guess I've learned my lesson for next time. But given the exemplary reputation of this smith, I thought I was ok. On the reamer, he highly recommended I use his reamer for 6.5-.308 tight-necked instead of the 6.5-.284 I went in requesting. That's fine I guess. I understand it's a more efficient cartridge. So I ok'd him using his reamer and when questioned on the throating depth he said he'd use a throating reamer to throat out to the 2.9" length I wanted. So I bought all the tools for neck turning, preturned some of the cases during prep and then found out he enlarged the neck to standard .260 Rem dimensions after all.
If you are interested in the whole story, well, how far to go into this, hmmm... This is the second gun I've taken to this smith in 3 months. The first was a repair: told it would be $198, turned out it was $260 and no additional items noted. This second gun was a complete buildup. The price rose about $180 when it was complete from his out-the-door price I required before the buildup started after what happened the first time. That's in addition to the $120 for a set of RCBS dies that I could have gotten for $30. Now I got home and found out that a problem with there not being enough clearance between the bolt shroud and the receiver that was pointed out to him and he agreed to fix, also was not done. The problem was/is that it was actually contacting enough to lightly groove the metal of the shroud under recoil! So I have to bring it back and then return for another trip later to get it. Also, none of my original components were returned. Also, with the longer mag box there apparently wasn't enough room left in this stock to fit a forward trigger guard screw (it's an ADL now and was a BDL) so it was just left open - and the way the rear of the guard was installed it flexes out around a hunred thous. and will let debris in around/under it in the field. Lastly the doggone recoil pad wasn't even installed cleanly and has gaps between the stock and the base of the pad in several areas of probably .0060. Needless to say I'm pretty disappointed after supplying the reciever and over $1900. Then he wanted another $25 (until I called back and protested) to rethroat the gun to the 2.9" length we had agreed on and spoken of several times. He also ended my 3 follow up calls today (I was trying to get this squared away professionally and constructively while he was not) quite curtly, obviously irritated and ended the last call very abruptly.
I don't want to get into who this smith was he's not here to defend himself and hopefully this was an isolated incident with my gun only and he was having a really bad day, but I guess I'd emphatically recommend to others getting guns built to definitely not to rely solely on a gunsmiths reputation and get EVERYTHING in writing before the work begins. Learn from my mistake! It keeps everyone on the same page with expectations, and accountable too.
[ 07-20-2004: Message edited by: Beartrack ]
[ 08-09-2004: Message edited by: Beartrack ]
