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Posted: 9/23/2002 10:14:42 AM EDT
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Has anyone had an AR stripped and anodized (refinished) by Checkmate? If so, how was their work? What was their turnaround time? Do they hardcoat anodize? I e-mailed them, but they didn't give me very specific answers. So, I'm looking for some honest customer feedback. Thanks. Oh yeah - here's their website: http://www.checkmatecustom.com/ |
| If you are not sure about these guys call DPMS 800 578 3767 and send your lower to them. I know they do a good job. I think it is about $35 to do it. Or try Lauer Custom Weaponry they are re-finishing lowers as well 800 830 6677. There is another one out there to but I cannot think of it right now. |
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I had the receivers for a custom Bill Wylde flat top varmint rifle hard-chromed by Checkmate a couple of years ago and I was not at all happy with the work. The inside of my lower receiver wasn't even fully hard-chromed, the custom integral scope base ($185 option) came out looking like feces, and some small internal parts weren't plated at all!! To top it off, they replaced my extractor spring with a non-AR15 spring of some sort, that wasn't even close to correct. I guess they thought I'd never notice, or something... To be fair, this was after their head assembler and head plater had become disabled, and they may be doing better work now. However, I won't be using their services again and can not recommend their work in print based on my experience. (They knew this was a one-of-a-kind custom varmint rifle that would be the subject of articles for Precision Shooting magazine; if that's how they treated me, I can only imagine how they hosed other people.) John |
| If checkmate is out of Florida than I'll share my experience with them After reading so much hype in the gunrags about them I decided to send off my Sig 229 to be refinished. The 229 had just come out so thatgoes to show how long this incident has been. Anyway after speaking with someone on the phone, I was convinced to go with a brushed chrome finish on the slide and another type of chrome on the frame, I can't remember what it was called but it was supposed to resemble a gray anodized finish. The slide was perfect in everyway! The frame had pit marks all over it, I thought WTF! How could this ship out. I called and was told that aluminum does not take well to chrome and it pits. They offered to try to fix it but they said it could still look as it does. After waiting more than 3x longer than I was told, I opted to sell the damn thing. I think if this is the same company I would go else where because there is alot of aluminum on an AR. |
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Yes, they're out of Brooksville, Florida, which is forty miles north of Tampa. Thanks for the feedback, guys. It's exactly what I was looking for. I didn't get a good feeling in communicating with them. All they really said was that they have "thousands of happy customers and no complaints." Well, after hearing from you guys, I've decided not to risk having my pre-ban AR refinished by them. Thanks again. |
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