Here's my experience with Dave's Guns; mainly a heads up to anyone looking to buy firearms or ammo. First off, their prices are pretty damn high. I could recommend a dozen places in Spokane and the Valley where you would be better off. I bought my AR there 2 weeks after I moved here from CA. The had the rifle I wanted in stock and being able to buy "assault weapons" was a dream come true so I coughed up the cash knowing I was overpaying. They WERE really nice (before they had my money). Lifetime warranty through the dealer, nice guys, very helpful, so I bit. Perfect rifle, never jammed, never had an issue.

1500 rounds and 7 months later, the rifle starts short stroking really bad. We look it over out at the dry side day shoot and do some trouble shooting and our guess is it's the bolt carrier group because it has some abnormal wear. Try different ammo, 8 different magazines and so on...

I take it in and tell Dave I need it sent back through the lifetime warranty. He says he'll have his military gun guru look it over and go from there, maybe put a few rounds through it before sending it back to the factory. Doesn't tell me I'll be charged for this and doesn't put any of this on the work order, I specifically said "I need it sent back" not "I need you to fix it." He calls back today to tell me it was dirty and he was charging me $40 for the cleaning and giving it back to me. He also tells me it "might" have been the magazines (new D&H teflons with MAGPUL followers) I left with the rifle because it still FTF a little after the cleaning but when I asked if he tried any others to test that theory, he said no. I'm obviously irritated when I question his troubleshooting and he instantly goes from civil to RUDE. Rather than listen to him bitch at me on the phone, I hang up and jump in the car.

I get there with the money out and ready to pay and get out of there. Rather than take my money and let me go on my way, he precedes to tell me I should be GREATFUL that they went out of their way to diagnose the problem and do all of this work and my attitude was unbelievable. I'm there for 15 minutes telling him over a dozen times to take my money, get my magazines out of the back and let me be on my way while he continues to tell me how horrible I am for this whole situation. He tells me how much money they saved me by doing the work in house because it would have cost $50 to send it back to Armalite. He says, "That'll be $61.45." I asked why he told me $40 on the phone and he yells "That's not what I said!!!" and walks into the back, comes out with 5 empty boxes of ammo and throws them on the counter in front of me telling me I had to pay for this. I ask how he's saving me money when it would have cost $11 less to send it back to a REAL gunsmith? He keeps up the act and won't answer serious questions that I ask as calmly as possible.

He ends up insulting me, telling me not to come back, and FINALLY giving me my shit back.

So the rifle still jams but they say it's "fixed" because of their cleaning and it's not as bad. I'll probably have to mail it to Armalite directly and spend even more money.

Lee-


I HATE to tell you I told you so, but.........I did.

The reason I stopped using Dave is once he moved into that location (6-7 years ago) is that he pulled that shit with me- "Invented" charges not discussed over the phone, trying to charge me tax on a rifle I bought out of state (As opposed to taxing his portion of the services, the transfer only) and the fact that his ammo, mags and weapons all began a skywards creep in price.

The guy used to be "OK", now, I hear a story like this about twice a year coming form his shop.

I bought it before I met you though; I wish you had got to me sooner!!!

New fun fact:  I fieldstripped the rifle to find deeeeep gouges inside the upper receiver and even more wear on the bolt carrier.  I bet my magazines did that too... or was it the 120 round he put through it AFTER I told him there was a serious problem?  That's what I get for leaving without stripping it down.