What is fair wait time for chamber job?

[Mike D Texas]

This is why I'm glad my smith is a lesser known guy. My last chamber, thread, bed and assemble was done in 48 hours.

 

[Beluebow]

The topic question is misleading IMO...

A chamber job is one thing......stock work and ceraKote is another.

With my gunsmith typically complete builds on wood/laminate stocks are 8mo to a year......fiberglass stocks are a little quicker.

I keep my reamers and extra barrels at my gunsmiths....I call, tell him what I want chambered and for what action. I normally receive a new chambered up barrel inside of two weeks (normally faster) from half away across the country. YMMV.

 

[Ol' Red]

Why would you think this.....
Being a building contractor(albeit a self employed..self motivated..and not greedy).....I myself charged clients the exact same for materials as I pay for them.....although I do charge for the time in store looking for materials..
sometimes...........
My money comes from production...labor......I'm straight up front with this with clients.....actually..If items are to be purchased at Lowes/HD I persuade the client to purchase because after $1500 they can get a discount of sometimes 15%.....that helps them pay my wages.......

A friend of mine was in roofing and got a 28% discount on roofing materials over what I could buy them for. I just figured it was the same with construction and gunsmithing. That was before you could order a house from Amazon and have it built also. Apologies to the OP for sidetracking.

 

[59FLH]

Nearly every action and barrel that will be made the rest of the year is sold already and someone is waiting for it. That said, if I charge you 1375 for an action that is listed for 1100 and 530 for a barrel that is listed for 425 (25% markup) are you OK with that? Most people aren't OK with that, now I am trying to hose the customer on parts prices, he should have just bought them himself. Or do I bury the markup in the build? Now the labor prices are out of line or maybe not depending on who the smith is? The average smith isn't getting a big discount on these things, he can't buy enough and there isn't enough out there. Brand name an action, have say Defiance (I have no idea if they make actions other than with their name on them) make actions with your name on them, commit to X actions per year and you are taking them period with a down payment and milestone payments, now you can discuss a discount. A few smiths do this, and I assume it benefits them, but the guy building less rifles a year than the guy getting his brand named isn't going to be able to play in that field and probably doesn't want to scale to the level that he can?

Dealer on an action is about $200.00 +/-, more if you buy more, barrels, triggers, and stocks, about the same %.

Im not picking a fight with you, but if I'm going to pay retail for a X brand gun part off the inter web, I might as well buy it from my firearms mechanic and get on the good side. Time is money, and stress and anxiety cause health problems.

 

[Hoggetter]

Great news today, CCR contacted me this morning and that the job would be done next week. Very positive.

 

[59FLH]

Well **** (darn), that's going to mess up the whole thread.

 

[Deleted member 115360]

Great news today, CCR contacted me this morning and that the job would be done next week. Very positive.

Shoot, maybe I should make one of these posts. I'm the guy @338 dude was talking about waiting a year. It will be a year next week that I dropped one off to be chambered and have the barrel spun on. I've been told 10+ times that he'd get to it next week, going all the way back to last July. It sucks, but what choice do I have? There's nobody else anywhere close who will do the work.

 

[338 dude]

Shoot, maybe I should make one of these posts. I'm the guy @338 dude was talking about waiting a year. It will be a year next week that I dropped one off to be chambered and have the barrel spun on. I've been told 10+ times that he'd get to it next week, going all the way back to last July. It sucks, but what choice do I have? There's nobody else anywhere close who will do the work.

I hope you're wrong about that still waiting on mine though

 

[bigngreen]

Don't supply the parts, dont pay up front, a small % down for parts if necessary is all. When the smith has his own money tied up in "the Parts" he'll want paid sooner than later. The only thing he has to look forward to is the labor, he'll do that job when there are no more parts to sell.

That is the exact opposite of reality. I don't know a gunsmith who wouldn't put a job that all he has to do is assembly in front of one he has to do all the leg work for the part which most don't charge for.

 

[bigngreen]

They can all order. 20%-30% in parts profit can be a motivator .

I would love to know where those kinda discounts can be had, never saw those kinda numbers, you basically get enough discount to cover shipping, once you count your time figuring out and ordering the parts your eating valuable day to be machining so then your into the next day or your taking family time and burning it and Soo your life is swirling the toilet bowl!!

 

[2buffalo]

I myself charged clients the exact same for materials as I pay for them

That's interesting. I get mark up on all materials I buy. I have never heard of a contractor not getting OH&P on material.

 

[26Reload]

I prefer to get paid for my 30 years of skilled labor.....marking up..might as well be another middleman.....

 

[Rhett Crider]

I prefer to get paid for my 30 years of skilled labor.....marking up..might as well be another middleman.....

So basically you purchase barrels from a distributor at the same price as I would(i'm not a gunsmith) since they are ready to ship, where as purchasing direct from a barrel mfg, you would have to order 10? to get a discount to be able to mark it up, wait 6+ months, make sure your barrel order is the correct length, contour, twist rate, caliber, and mat'l, so you,re not stuck with inventory for a year or whatever. I would assume you get a deposit to cover these costs so you are just out your time for placing the order and you get the components you have had repeated quality with.

 

[Mark37082]

If you live in an area where there are numerous GS's or don't mind dealing with long distance GS relationships, you are in a favorable position. Otherwise, it is a situation where you have to get in line and hope for a reasonable turnaround. Quality of work is the most important aspect of choosing a GS in my opinion. Turnaround time is a great thing, but I would opt for waiting if I did not have the upmost confidence in the work being performed.