This is a disposable society, we throw away people, firearms are no different.
I have three tables at the shop, the 'Rush Order, increased price', the 'Paying Full Price' & the 'Discount', but when I get around to it'.
I have to tell people all the time it will take 30 to 60 days, by the time you get done screwing around with parts suppliers (about 1/3 of the time it's no joy) and then making what ever part they need it's a PITA...
Then my 'Competition', guys installing sights that don't have proper taps, using hand drill and don't even have a tapping table...
I'm supposed to fix what they screwed up, and do it IMMEDIATELY, and do it for free, because the customer is POed at the first guy!
Here is a hint, when the 'Gunsmith' drills all the way through the barrel and has a screw sticking into the chamber, there isn't much I can do for you!
It won't chamber a round, and you shouldn't ever try to chamber a round since the chamber is compromised...
That's not what they want to hear, and I get called every name in the book.
I refitted loose barrels on an old double shotgun, made a fore end spring from scratch, tightened up the barrel on the pivot pin, (great old double or I would have told the guy to scrap it),
And the customer blew a fuse when I asked $200 for two solid days of work on his family heirloom... I was seriously throwing him a break since he was saving a great old double.
He says the guy 'Down the street' only wanted $35 (that guy pushes boards through a saw for his day job).
Another one was the guy that wanted a 20 MOA mount on his bolt rifle action, but the holes in the receiver were too small for the screws that came with the mount...
So he takes it to the 'Gunsmith' which breaks a tap off in the hole, and captures the BOLT!
The idiot never took the bolt out and bottomed the tap against the bolt, then apparently tried to DRILL A TAP OUT carving up the receiver.
I get a rifle that's gouged up, the bolt is pinned in the receiver with a hardened tap end, and the guy wants it back, ready to run that afternoon!
I felt like telling him to shove it up the butt of the guy that screwed it up,
But what I did was park his butt on a stool, made him WATCH me set up for EDM and burn out the tap,
Then PROPERLY set the receiver up on vertical axis and re-drill the hole, drill/tap the rest of the holes, fit the screws so they didn't pin or gouge the bolt, etc.
I also explained what each piece of equipment cost, how much it takes to operate the shop on a daily basis...
He was mad as a hornet at first, but when it came time to pay up, no arguments.
He's been back a few times and he's always polite (brings friends/work from time to time)...
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I like it when the old timers sit around and BS, have coffee, etc.
I catch **** about them 'Loitering', but they have several lifetimes of experience and have great ideas & stories.
One of them had 40 years of experience in a fine furniture factory and can fix/repair/refinish ANY stock damage, an absloute master at his craft, and he can find wood to match ANY stock that comes through the door, knows every logger & saw mill in 500 miles...
I suck at stocks/wood, so he's a real treasure, and he knows M1 Garands like no one I've ever met.
Another guy was a factory 'Maintinance' man for about a half century, and can forge/heat treat ANY spring.
I've learned more about forging & heat treating on the fly from him that any class I ever took.
Makes the BEST hand forged knives you have ever seen...
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The problem I see is there isn't an apprentice program anymore, people do 'Schools', some over the internet or by mail, and that's just NOT the hands on experience they need...
With an apprentice the journeyman will show/tell the apprentice about 40 different issues about like the one they are working on, cover all the vairables, safety procedures, and you can't get the smell, feel the heat, know what the resistance is over the internet or from a book...
And let's not forget the 'YouTube' generation, learning from someone that's got no education and is screwing up in the first place! When the conversation starts with 'I saw this guy on YouTube do this...' I'm usually out right there... It's not like someone with a proper education & 30 years experience is going to kill his business by posting his secrets on YouTube (even if he knew how, they won't exactly be the social media generation!).
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I'm SURE I'm missing out on easy money, but my rule is NO PLASTIC GUNS.
When some neck beard, man bun, YouTube 'Operator' brings in the 'Latest-Greatest' fad gun and wants something he saw on YouTube or read about in some 'Tactical' magazine, I just smile and say 'No'.
Wearing 'Tacti-Cool' cloths and buying the 'Latest' plastic gun doesn't make you an 'Operator' (16 years in the Marines, I know a dangerous man when I see one),
And I already know when the latest gadget or modification doesn't make him a better shooter, he's going to throw a tantrum and blame me for his inability to hit anything...
The second reason is, if the factory couldn't design a firearm that cycles or hits anything, what makes you believe I can magically wave a torque wrench over it and it never fails or misses again?
So much of the plastic **** won't function, and with the super short barrels/sight radius and sloppy slides/barrel lockup it's never going to be accurate, nothing I can do about that...
You paid $400 for melted Legos, face facts!
OK, rant over...
Resume normal operations!