Posted: 11/16/2006 12:41:07 PM EDT
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Any problems with these folks? I submitted a Springfield .45 for Novak sight installation last August with anticipated delivery in late October. I phoned them last week and no work has been done and the timeline has slipped into the whenever stage. I realize it's a small job, but, golly? As in WTF?  Any similar experiences? Thanks, Ed |
Well you are lucky - get your gun and take it to the guys at Gilbert's. I wouldn't recommend having NVGW work on anyones guns.
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scuba-ed - I'm sorry to hear that you have had a very similar experience to mine. Several years ago I gave them my Rem. 1100 and Ruger 77 to work on. I did this in May thinking it would be plenty of time and the "off season" to get them worked on. They told me that they would be done in 4-6 weeks. Cool! No problem.....then November rolled around and nothing had been done (after many calls) and hunting season had arrived - no guns. I finally got to speak to the owner (can't remember his name) and told him I needed my guns done for the hunting season, which was NOW and that he had had plenty of time to do the work. He actually started yelling at me and told me, very sarcastically, that he would get to it when he got around to it. I then told him that I would be by to pick up my guns as I no longer wanted to do any business with him. I wasn't able to get them that very day. In fact two days went by before I was able to get there. Miracle of miracles! My guns had had the work done on them, so I had to pay the bastard. However, I told him (and have kept my promise) that I would tell everyone that I know or met NOT TO DO BUSINESS WITH HIM. THEY SUCK at providing customer service!!! BTW - the 1100 was sent in to have a phosphate finish put on and the gas rings replaced, while the Ruger was having a new butt pad put on. Amazing how in two days they did what they couldn't do in seven months. |
| I've gone to NVGW for three guns. This was over five years ago, so I'm not sure on the exact time it took for them but I remember one (1911) took several months and the other two (S&W revolvers) took longer than I'd have liked, but I wasn't on any schedule like an upcoming hunting season. I will say that the action jobs they did on my revolvers are very nice and that I've just gotten used to gunsmiths taking a long time. I did take one rifle to Gilberts for a minor repair and it was done promptly and correctly. |
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Good lord, I can't believe how long these simple jobs have taken. Several years ago, I took them a Remington Model 7 for some pretty extensive work. I had them install a scout scope mount on the barrel, install an extra swivel stud, bed the action and stiffen the stock. They got on it right away, but ended up drilling too deep into the barrel so they replaced it. They trued it to the receiver and lapped the action. All of this took something like 6 weeks. My experience was good, but obviously, I'm in the minority. |
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Reminds me of a story I heard from a local 'smith. He had a buddy who was hired temporarily part time to help out another local 'smith who had an impossible backlog of repair jobs. So his buddy gets done working on a rack of hunting rifles that needed minor work done to them and decides to call the owners to inform them that they can pick up their guns. On one of the calls he asked to speak to the owner and the person on the other end of the line asked what the call was in regards to. When he told her she broke down and cried and told him that her husband had died three years earlier... |
| NVGW Sandy Garrett worked on both of my AR's and I received them back within 1 week on both occassions. I'm very pleased with the quality of work he does. I have not had any bad experiences with them and will go there again if I need work done. But, if I were you IMO I would go get my guns and take them somewhere else. He obviously is backed up or something is going on causing a delay. I always ask him up front when do I expect to get my guns back. He didnt seem to like that but I wanted to know before I gave him my guns. If he were to say, it would be a long time, I would just go somewhere else and thank him for his time. |
Tim worked at WSI in Bellevue, WA when I lived in the Seattle area in the 1990s. He did some really nice work on a 1911 of mine. When I later traded it in on another 1911 at a different shop, the clerk commented..."hmm, did Tim Bacus do that grip safety?" The guy is a real artist; but he doesn't want to do gunsmithing anymore! Carpal tunnel or something. I will ask him if he does small jobs like that. |
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Larry Wright also works out of Gilberts. Any gunsmith can get over comitted - I expect that but the guys at NVGW have crappy customer service and charge way too much for the quality of the work they perform. They screwed up a trigger job on one of my 1911s and I ended up having Larry Wright fix it (after NVGW had two chances to do it right)They may be members of the APG but BFD - selling a 1911 they have customized will get you no premium when it comes to resale. I say avoid unless you are a masochist. |
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I took a Baby Desert Eagle that had started having stovepiping problems to them about two years back. It was my first firearm, and in retrospect, I think it may have needed a new recoil spring, but it's hard to say. Anyway, I dropped close to $100 for them to detail strip and clean it, and it still didn't work right. Ended up selling it, bought a Glock, no complaints since. (Although I remember one of the guys there going on a tirade about how worthless Glocks are while I was there. Maybe because they don't need to be sent to him for work.  )
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man, i've come to accept that gunsmiths are no better than any other contractor you dump money into. they're all primadonnas with zero work ethic and think they're all fucking michaelangelos who can't be bothered with the needs of the customer. i gave larry wright a model 10 trench gun to work on and six months later it was still on his bench with parts strewn all over the place. he lost parts and said he'd replace them. several months after that i said enough and got the gun back in pieces, with pieces still missing. anyone know where i can find real world war one shotgun parts???  a skilled gunsmith who delivered on time would clean up in this area! |