MikeS
08-04-2011, 02:39 AM
Hi All.
Back in January I took my Cimmaron Thunderer 44 Special 3.5" barrel with a birdshead grip to my local gunsmith who regularly builds Colt SA clones and asked him to rebarrel it to 45, with a 45LC cylinder, and a 45ACP cylinder. Well, he finally finished the job about a week ago, or so. I finally got down to him to pick it up, and he's put a 4-3/4" barrel on it! Unfortunately he wasn't in when I was there, only one of his gunsmiths, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him yet, but the smith said that it was probably the only 45 barrel he had to put on it.
So, I'm curious, what do y'all think, should I be upset that he put a longer barrel on it than it had originally, or should I just take it as he made it, and not worry about it?
I really wanted to keep that gun a 3.5" barrel, as I already have a Ruger Old Army with a 7.5" barrel (with a 45LC conversion cylinder), and a 4.5" RBH in 45LC, and the birdshead grip kind of looks out of place with that long of a barrel, not to mention it makes the gun which was supposed to be smaller than the RBH and makes it about the same size, or even larger, which I think looks out of place. At this point, I'm considering asking him to just put my original barrel and cylinder back on the gun, and just pay him for his time, as the original intent was to keep all the SA's 45, so I wouldn't have yet another caliber to reload for, but since that time I've gotten into reloading 44 Special for another pistol I have, so it wouldn't be any hassle to reload for it as well. I don't really want to wait another 8 months for him to put a 3.5" 45 barrel on the gun. So, what do you think?
I'm pretty sure I want to keep the revolver's barrel at 3.5", so I guess the real question is should I wait for him to get another barrel, or should I have him reinstall the original barrel/cylinder? I guess he could cut down the barrel he installed on it, and just use the ejector from the original barrel, and be able to get the job done quicker. If he does that, should I pay for the labor to cut down the barrel, and reinstall the ejector/sight, or should he take the hit, as it was his screwup in the first place? As it sits right now, he's charging me $450.00 for the new barrel, both cylinders, and labor, a price which I don't know if it's the going rate, too high, too low, etc.
Back in January I took my Cimmaron Thunderer 44 Special 3.5" barrel with a birdshead grip to my local gunsmith who regularly builds Colt SA clones and asked him to rebarrel it to 45, with a 45LC cylinder, and a 45ACP cylinder. Well, he finally finished the job about a week ago, or so. I finally got down to him to pick it up, and he's put a 4-3/4" barrel on it! Unfortunately he wasn't in when I was there, only one of his gunsmiths, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him yet, but the smith said that it was probably the only 45 barrel he had to put on it.
So, I'm curious, what do y'all think, should I be upset that he put a longer barrel on it than it had originally, or should I just take it as he made it, and not worry about it?
I really wanted to keep that gun a 3.5" barrel, as I already have a Ruger Old Army with a 7.5" barrel (with a 45LC conversion cylinder), and a 4.5" RBH in 45LC, and the birdshead grip kind of looks out of place with that long of a barrel, not to mention it makes the gun which was supposed to be smaller than the RBH and makes it about the same size, or even larger, which I think looks out of place. At this point, I'm considering asking him to just put my original barrel and cylinder back on the gun, and just pay him for his time, as the original intent was to keep all the SA's 45, so I wouldn't have yet another caliber to reload for, but since that time I've gotten into reloading 44 Special for another pistol I have, so it wouldn't be any hassle to reload for it as well. I don't really want to wait another 8 months for him to put a 3.5" 45 barrel on the gun. So, what do you think?
I'm pretty sure I want to keep the revolver's barrel at 3.5", so I guess the real question is should I wait for him to get another barrel, or should I have him reinstall the original barrel/cylinder? I guess he could cut down the barrel he installed on it, and just use the ejector from the original barrel, and be able to get the job done quicker. If he does that, should I pay for the labor to cut down the barrel, and reinstall the ejector/sight, or should he take the hit, as it was his screwup in the first place? As it sits right now, he's charging me $450.00 for the new barrel, both cylinders, and labor, a price which I don't know if it's the going rate, too high, too low, etc.