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tale of a sloppy gunsmith

eagle rider

By eagle rider,
in Rifle and Gun Hunting

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eagle rider Newbie

eagle rider

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Okay, so you all might have figured out that I am a bit particular with my guns.  Okay, I'm anal!  That said I am not afraid to hunt with them, but I try to take care and not beat on them when I'm afield either.  I got a couple of old BAR Mk I.  One was my grandfathers (1968 Grade I 30-06), and the other I got out of a local shop.  Its a 30-06 Grade II made in 1970. Great shape but both are shooters to me, as such I put pads on them.  Local guy who died put a vented Pachmayer pad with a white line spacer on my Grade I.  No issues always great work, except he went and died now.  

Now I'm looking for a local guy to do the same pad on the Grade II gun.  So a guy tells me about "this guy" who is a smith and works out of his house, but does excellent work..... You know about this guy, well I do now as well.... Seems everyone says he does excellent work except nobody has actually seen his work.  So I get a number and I reach out.  He seems nice enough, very confident, and says he's done "hundreds" of pads over the years.  I take a shot, seems okay after all its a pad, not like its metal work.  Right......? WRONG!!!!

I meet up with him, give him the rifle and the pad, tell him on my way down south for a week and I'll see when I get back.  We settle on a price that was pretty reasonable, plus I bought the pad.  Now key facts, First, I told it was going to be a Pachmayer Vented Field Pad with white line spacer, same as my Grade I.  Second, I told him to square off the stock when he takes the butt plate off of it cause it will make for an easier cut so the hard plastic spacer can be installed (since it has to be 90 degrees to the stock).  Alright so everyone was signing off the same sheet of music from the get go.

Two weeks later we meet up, I wanted to cry.  He cut the stock to match the LOP, okay but kept the original butt plates curved countour because he liked the look of it,.... WTF!!! So while the length of pull seemed okay the pad was sitting off the gun about 1/4" at the midpoint of the butt because the hard plastic spacer doesn't bend!!!!  And , he didn't grind the pad down to the end of wood. It was wider then the wood at the edge of the butt by about 1/2 overall.  The stock (which I assume he cut with a scroll ) wasn't smooth either. There were waves in the cut.  It was a freaken mess.  I told him I wasn't happy to take it back and fix it, I sent him pics of my other one by text and said I'm very particular it has to look like this one when you are done."  He said now that "I know what you want exactly, I will get this done for you, not to worry."  I even said, "I can't ruin this rifle so if you are not able to do exactly what I want, just tell me, it's okay. I will send the gun out and get it done."  Again he reassured me he can do it.

A week goes buy and I get a square but with an uneven cut and a pad that's 1/4" wider than the butt.  I loose my mind, he says "give me the gun again and I'll make it right."  NFW!  Not happening guy.  Well a few years back I had a 1980's 7400 pad done by LimbSaver out in Shelton WA.  They charge $100, it includes shipping, installation and the pad.  I didn't think I'd like the looks of the Sims Pad on the BAR, but I said screw it, there is literally nobody else I can trust.  I sent them the stock, wrote them a note about what I was hoping for and dropped it in priority mail with a $100 check.  Literally a week and a half later I get a box at the front door, open it it and its better than I hoped it would be.  Quality work and would you know it the pad looks great on the rifle. Lines are perfect.  It looks like a factory fit.

A couple of days later I'm shooting clays with some guys from my job and I tell them the story. One of them goes, yeah that first guy hacked up an old A5 of his his on a pad job years ago.  So there you have it folks,... hackers gonna hack.  I feel better sharing.  

 

 

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