LBT Still In Business???

[fc60]

Greetings,

Ordered and paid for two moulds a few months ago.

Checking on the status, I telephoned and emailed to get no response.

Check has been cashed.

Has anyone received any LBT products lately? (moulds, grease, etc...)

Cheers,

Dave

[Bazoo]

I’ve heard this same story for about 5 years or more now. Entry time it’s no communication and then finally the mould arrives. Some folks just put their head in the sand and wait, some fret over it. Don’t make no difference to Mr Smith it seems.

[Rapier]

Today you just about need to call, to make sure people are still working. I get asked all of the time, my stock answer is call first.

[vhntr1]

I paid for a mould 8 months ago still nothing.

[Fitz]

I bought his 2nd edition of jacket performance with lead bullets 4or 5 years ago sent a check it was cashed no book finally got him to answer a e-mail to which he replied he is still writing the book but when it is finished he would mail it to me , at this point i decided it's only 28 bucks count it as a lost and be glad it's not a 120.00 dollar mould , Now the only LBT moulds I get come from e-bay. wish it were different love his moulds but his customer service is non existent .

[jaysouth]

He makes more money making molds than answering phones.

[stubshaft]

I called and spoke to his daughter about a month and a half ago and she told me he had broken his hip.

[redneck1]

Flame on ....

Way back when veral got himself 4 years in prison for tax evasion.
Had an attitude after he got out an got a month or two more here an there . ....
Around that time he brought out the crazy and started saying how the government was attacking him with microwave radiation and all sorts of other off the wall stuff .

I decided that even though the man seems to know about cast bullets and everyone said he made good molds I wouldn't be doing business with him , mostly because of the crazy paranoid comments and partly with the known felon aspect and firearms ....

Hope you folks get what you paid for or your money back .....

[tja6435]

Last mold I ordered from LBT was in 2017, actually 2x 4 cavity molds. They arrived before the check had been cashed. I called to make sure he had the check and offered to send another if he lost the first one.

I find his molds cast fantastically right out of the box. I hope Veral can recover from his hip break and get back to business.

[barnabus]

ive bought from him once and never again.he cashed my check for a mould and it was 6 months before i recieved it.Phone calls and emails didnt make any difference. IMO he is the worst when it comes to anyone in the mould business. He doesnt deserve anyones business. That experience ruined me for anything LBT.Now knowing he has been in prison makes sense,

[Bentstick]

Took about 7 months here to receive the mold I ordered with no replies to emails or calls then oneday checked the mail and there it was, good mold to specs.

[kevin c]

Veral sold me a hardness tester. He and I had a polite, respectful, prompt and informative exchange of a few emails on the niceties of fine tuning it.

I’ll grant, though, that it was something like five years ago and came out of stock on hand, not like a custom ordered mold.

[BIGOX]

I was looking into picking up an LBT mould and discovered that the shop machinery and tools have been consumed by fire and with no insurance this means he's out of the business. The fie happened over the Christmas holiday.

https://lbtmolds.com/Portals/143/Content/Files/Fire%20Destroys%20LBT%20Machine%20Shop.pdf

[Rickf1985]

Interesting, I looked up that business address on several satellite imagery maps and I see all 7 houses but no burned buildings. I bought one of his hardness testers back in January and it was nowhere near my Lee tester which has a very high test rating so I called him up. He said I can grind some off the face of the point of the tester and that will bring it in spec! I asked if he was kidding? Nope, just grind some off of it. If it turns out bad he will take care of me. Sure glad I did not take that advice. I just consider it lost money and a bad deal. Not the first and probably not the last.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Interesting, I looked up that business address on several satellite imagery maps and I see all 7 houses but no burned buildings. I bought one of his hardness testers back in January and it was nowhere near my Lee tester which has a very high test rating so I called him up. He said I can grind some off the face of the point of the tester and that will bring it in spec! I asked if he was kidding? Nope, just grind some off of it. If it turns out bad he will take care of me. Sure glad I did not take that advice. I just consider it lost money and a bad deal. Not the first and probably not the last.
Google earth images can be two or three years old.

[barnabus]

Greetings,

Ordered and paid for two moulds a few months ago.

Checking on the status, I telephoned and emailed to get no response.

Check has been cashed.

Has anyone received any LBT products lately? (moulds, grease, etc...)

Cheers,

Dave

lol the guy has a history of taking money and not delivering.he took me for a mould last year,cashed my check and went quite.i doubt the shop burned down,prolly just a way out.

[imashooter2]

LBT burned out. There was another thread on it. All tooling and inventory gone. A total loss.

ETA: the home page of his web site says to contact them ASAP for refund on your mold order.

[imashooter2]

Here is the other thread:
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?450816-Veral-Smith-at-LBT

[Rickf1985]

I looked at a lot more images than Google Earth. Last one was dated a few weeks ago.

[6622729]

Right on LBT's home page which took me almost 3 seconds to find, it says in large red lettering, " Wondering about your mold order please call us for a refund ASAP.". Doesnt get much simpler than that. Can the stone throwing stop now? Ive never met so many perfect people.

[Rickf1985]

And it also took me three seconds to type in in "Fire at 78592 Hwy 2 Moyie Springs, ID 83845." And I came up with................... Nothing. No record of any fire at all. A couple of local wildfires, A couple references from Artfull bullets asking if anyone had contact with them but nothing beyond the owners saying it happened. I am not trying to play the devils advocate here, just looking for hard facts. You mean to tell me that with all the followers he has nobody has gone up to help? Nobody has any pictures? I heard about a disgruntled apprentice from a future apprentice but no police report? I will say no more other than what I said in the very beginning, I bought a LBT lead tester since they were supposed to be the most accurate thing out there and I find out it is junk. I call Veral up and he tells me to grind "a little"off" the end of the tip. Well, That will certainly be accurate won't it. I have to wonder about recent quality. At their advanced ages it will be impractical to try to rebuild. I can only hope and pray they had themselves set up financially to continue to live a decent lifestyle and move on with life.

[M-Tecs]

I looked at a lot more images than Google Earth. Last one was dated a few weeks ago.

In the most resent pic did it show the snow? If not it's not current.

I have purchased 7 or 8 molds from him without any issues other than he was hard to get ahold of a couple of times.

Sad to learn LBT is not an option anymore.

[Rickf1985]

It did not show snow but this fire happened at Christmastime and I am sure there has been many days with no snow. But like I said I did a search for any fires at that address and none. And no pictures after three months? Maybe it happened and maybe it didn't. I am sure they have their reasons for folding. I can only speak for the treatment I got on the lead tester.

[square butte]

Call the local Fire Dept or Sheriff - That'll settle the matter. Hope there is no fraud involved

[M-Tecs]

It did not show snow but this fire happened at Christmastime and I am sure there has been many days with no snow. But like I said I did a search for any fires at that address and none. And no pictures after three months? Maybe it happened and maybe it didn't. I am sure they have their reasons for folding. I can only speak for the treatment I got on the lead tester.

At that location there would be snow cover from late fall to springtime.

[shaune509]

Rick, A few points I feel need to be looked at beyond LBT's good/bad reputation that others have had.
1] Google earth is almost always 2-5 years behind in updates for 'rural areas', I've seen this on my place with equipment that has been long gone still in view.
2] The local Fire dept is a volunteer area, except for wild fires only the locals 'may' know of structure fires.
3] The nearest town is Bonners Feary[sp]ID to the west and the first area with more than a local paper/news is Spokane WA/ CDA ID about 2+ hrs south.
4] Unless there was signs of arson or a death, the only ones looking would be the insurance co.
5] Veral is up there in years, his web site seems to be trying to do right with refund offer, life goes on for all with many good and bad interactions. Live and let live.
JMHO
Shaune509

[Nobade]

He used to moderate a forum on Graybeard's Outdoors where he would answer questions. Is he still there? I haven't been over there in years.

[Rickf1985]

I am done with this, everyone keeps pointing to google Earth like it is the the only sat image site in the world just because it comes up on Duh, Google. There are many more sat image sites, some free, many pay that are up to date to the week and some to the hour. I will say I use a pay service, I use it mainly for another venture I have. As far as news, if it was a fire of that magnitude then it would be reported the same as the wildland fires. I spent 34 years as a volunteer firefighter in several different companies as I moved about the country. A couple so far out in the sticks the trees had names.
A house fire is a big deal in a small town because someone lost their house/business and everybody wants to know the who/what/when/where/why and how. Again, I am sorry I even got into this. If it happened it is very unfortunate and I hope they are taken care of for their remaining years. If it did not happen then they have their reasons for saying it did and since I am not owed anything I have no horse in this race, none of my business. If another disgruntled apprentice was involved then the police should be involved and have a report.

[M-Tecs]

I am done with this, everyone keeps pointing to google Earth like it is the the only sat image site in the world just because it comes up on Duh, Google. There are many more sat image sites, some free, many pay that are up to date to the week and some to the hour. I will say I use a pay service, I use it mainly for another venture I have.

Do you have any recommendations for a good sat image sites? I've tried using Google Earth to locate prairie dog towns with limits success. Resolution is close but not quite good enough and it can be very dated.

[Rickf1985]

Best I can suggest is to do a search on the net for "Real time satellite imaging" or "Up to date satellite imaging". Those search's will give you a ton of options to fit whatever you are looking for. I have used Skywatch for many things I do but I am not going to name what I am using now.

Here is a pretty good explanation of what to find and what to expect.

https://skywatch.com/free-sources-of-satellite-data/

[M-Tecs]

Thanks.......

[Land Owner]

He used to moderate a forum on Graybeard's Outdoors where he would answer questions. Is he still there? I haven't been over there in years.

No. He is no longer posting there, but GO2GBO and GBOReloaded are "still there".

Land Owner, Global Moderator, GO2GBO

[parkerhale1200]

My two cents, i bought some molds, his tester, book and some lube, all arrived in some months time to the Netherlands.
Always had very friendly conversations with him on email, and was honest to me for indeed his prison time for the tax collector.

As was written in the letter he is 81! broke his hip(in the snow?) lost his shop in a fire....I wish him best.

I live also in a rural area, in the last 5 years two big farms burned down, news was only in the local paper.
Both bad maintains chimneys.

At this point i wanted to buy a other custom made mold from him.
So i will write a other shop(mountain molds? there were three of them?)

Anyway with best regards Igor

[Springfield]

I believe Mountain Molds has closed also. Accurate Molds is still going strong.