You both are more knowledgeable within this industry than I am. Maybe it's just a difference in verbiage we are using. But as I read your statements, respectfully, I can't say I agree 100%.
What about a gunsmith that is renowned for tuning 1911 (or pistols in general) race guns? He probably has little working knowledge of the long range rifle community's expectations because he has been focused elsewhere. Is he not a good gunsmith?
My wife's uncle fixes and restores high end (think $15K+ to over $100K+) double barrel shotguns. He had a client last year pay to fly him to New Zealand. He is certainly good at what he does. But whenever I chat with him, he honestly doesn't know that much about bolt action rifles. He knows more than Joe off the street, but not even close to someone who focuses in bolt action rifles like Pierce or many others.
I'm not arguing with your statements. Simply explaining what I meant by mine.
Anymore I'm more apt to mail a firearm off to a gunsmith who specializes in said firearm, or at least specializes in that style of firearm. Local "generalist" gunsmiths will all say "Yeah I can do that project for you." However, conservatively they come up short at least 50% of the time. I'm not blaming them really. There are certain things in my line of work that other people do much better than me... because they focus on those areas.