Posted: 3/1/2007 5:49:08 PM EDT
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Just because someone advertises to be a gunsmith don't make it so. Ask to see some of thier work before investing money with them, quality Smiths are proud to show thier work. I recently had a friend ask me to do some work on a Custom 1911 built on a Caspian Forged Frame and slide. It needed a new thumb safety, the grip safety was gritty and it would fail to lock into battery. When I took it apart...........  ........ well a picture is worth a thousand words.    The Barrel in front has properly cut bottom lugs, the one in the rear  looks like it was cut with a wood file. Here you'll see that the improperly fitted Kart Barrel was not making proper lockup in the top luggs. Note the frosted area on the Kart Barrel vs the frosted area on the properly fitted Colt Barrel.   |
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That'll buff out. No offense to your friend, but this shouldn't happen to anybody but the deserving IMO. If you can be bothered getting custom work done to your 1911 you should be in the position to be able to detail strip the weapon and at least know what "severely botched" fitting looks like. Then it falls upon the fleeced consumer to demand satisfaction: either from the smith or the courthouse. This should have been discovered at the very least after he cleaned it from the test session at the range, if not before he took it out. Maybe I am missing a part of the story that explains things somewhat, but the fact that a field-stripped part had to be detected by you (after God knows how long the work was done) speaks volumes about the owner. Good advice nevertheless, SGB. (ETA: and great pics... well, terrible ones that were well-detailed) |
It's a long story (the SMITH was family) but in the end my buddy was lucky he got the gun at all. |
