More bad luck with my Remington Model 81

[catcracker]

I took one of my prized rifles to get a thorough cleaning at what I was told was a proper gunsmith. The Remington Model 81. I didn't have the experience or a service manual to take this rifle down. So I was willing to pay a good amount of money to have it done right. After not receiving word on the progress for several months, I finally went back to retrieve it. It now had the bolt locked in the open position. It would not budge. They had no idea what they were doing. No charge, but broken rifle returned.
Then I found another gunsmith. He said he had experience with Remington model 81s. By this time, I had noticed the trigger pivot pin was missing. The second gunsmith said no problem, he could make a new one. It was just a straight pin. Again, after over a month, and no word, I said I wanted it back. When I picked it up, he said he had fixed the pin, and there was no charge. But now I noticed there was damage on the side of the receiver where the pin was installed. I didn't trust my memory to say something at that moment. But when I got home, and compared before and after pictures, you can clearly see where he ground the replacement pin to size while in the receiver, removing the perfect bluing it had. I have since replaced the pin with the proper pin. But this whole experience has made me sick.
Never again will I trust anyone with any of my collection.

Boo hoo

Cat

Before


After

[Brake Weight]

Why in the hell would he do that? Why would any smith do that? I'd be back down there with the pictures if it were me making a scene. Not looking for any monetary replacement or a fix because the damage is done. Just a good ol' one sided donkey barbecue. Both establishments for that matter.

[bunkysdad]

While it looks like the blueing can likely be fixed I can't even imagine letting him do it. He probably didn't charge you because of the damage. I can't believe he returned it like that. It really is getting hard to find anyone who cares about good customer service these days regardless of what business it is.

[BubbaDX]

No charge my a$$. His handywork just cost you plenty. What a jackwagon. That is damage that he should be paying someone to fix. I would not be letting this drop even if it meant having my attorney send him a nice document. If he did not know how to fix work on your Remington he should not have taken the job.

[catcracker]

No charge my a$$. His handywork just cost you plenty. What a jackwagon. That is damage that he should be paying someone to fix. I would not be letting this drop even if it meant having my attorney send him a nice document. If he did not know how to fix work on your Remington he should not have taken the job.

I don't think it can be fixed. And re-bluing would probably hurt the value as much as the damage itself.

I don't see much point in going back and causing a big deal about it. The damage is done. I just have to take it as a life lesson. Maybe with age it will blend in.

Cat

[Junk Yard Dog]

I fix my own things or they stay broken, only clocks and watches do I turn over to somebody else, I just don't have the eyesight to deal with that. Guns, cars, power equipment, I fix myself, may take me some time to figure it all out, but I manage sooner or later.

[Fred_G]

Oh wow, ouch is all I can say. I think I would be considering small claims court. That guy is supposed to know what he is doing, but it seems he does not.

[Longcolt44]

Sorry to hear this cat. One thing I have learned being around this business is, never trust a "gunsmith" under 40 and does it as a regular job. No part time gunsmiths. You might find something here to help you, https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... n+model+81

[Genetically Swiss]

I would let us all know who these non-gunsmiths are. If for no other reason but to protect the folks here from doing business with these lousy excuses for gunsmiths.
You might try here for some help:

http://thegreatmodel8.net

Good luck.

GS

[WeldonHunter]

Damn Doug that does really suck. There's a lot of jackasses out there these days that claim to be repairmen. I saw it in the auto repair business a lot. I had people bring me cars that other "mechanics" had royally screwed up and had to fix them. My rule of thumb was if I didn't think I could do the job right I simply turned it down and sent them to whoever had the equipment to do it properly. I've found here recently my friends are bringing me firearms to fix more and more. I'm a mechanic but not a gunsmith and I don't even try if it doesn't feel right. I had my neighbors son-in-law bring his granddad's Remington 1187 by the other day because it won't fire shells. Pull the trigger, everything works like it's supposed to but the firing pin isn't hitting the primer hard enough to set the shells off. While he was here we pulled it apart, they're real simple guns, but I couldn't see anything wrong. I told him I don't have enough experience with the gun to properly diagnose it and would be guessing at what might be wrong. Plus this is hunting country and everyone and their grandfather has a 12ga like this and they'd probably know right away what it was. That's the second repair job I've turned down in the last week. The other one was a Stoeger 12ga with a delayed firing problem. While I was looking at that one the kid showed me that the barrel was twisted also and I found that these have some sort of insert in the barrel and the whole damn barrel was twisted about 1/8". I told him take this thing back to the shop you bought it from and have them send it to Stoeger.

[Rongo]

Well that sucks. Proof that it's damn hard to find a competent gunsmith these days. Almost better to try a hand at it yourself. Lucky for me I have my ol' buddy entropy to handle my gunsmithing needs.

[entropy]

Well that sucks. Proof that it's damn hard to find a competent gunsmith these days. Almost better to try a hand at it yourself. Lucky for me I have my ol' buddy entropy to handle my gunsmithing needs.

And lucky I know who to call to get gunsmithing I can't do done.

I don't claim to be very good, but I'd never mess up a reciever like that! These guys are gunsmiths like the guys who claim to be locksmiths, then just drill out the lock and try to force you to buy one from them.

Why would anyone finish off a pin in the hole like that? Where is the thought process? If this is what passes for gunsmithing,

[TheMaineEvent]

This sucks! I encourage you to do all other gunsmiths a favor and post the names of these "butchers" on the net so other firearms can be spared.

[Rongo]

This sucks! I encourage you to do all other gunsmiths a favor and post the names of these "butchers" on the net so other firearms can be spared.

Or better yet... Let's just give a shout out to the good ones.

[jones0430]

I had a National Ordanance 1903a3, and not trusting that receiver, I decided to replace it with a Reminton receiver. I took it to a gunsmith. What was supposedly a 3 day job turned into 4 months. I kept checking up on him and finally got the rifle back. He had to cut the receiver off. I figure what really took so long is that he does a lot of custom work on sporter rifles. Mine wasn't very interesting.

The work was executed very well. He checked headspace and test fired 3 rounds of 180 grain soft point through it. I was satisfied.

[entropy]

Some 'smiths will do that. Put off guns they aren't interested in, or have worked on the type in the past and didn't like them, (and we all have some) and procrastinate on them. I just posted about a .22 that's been sitting around here for 6 months, and it's not even a hard type; I've done many of them. But I know I'll never see a dime from it, (the kid's rommate) and I have to buy parts for it, so i'm in no hurry.

Or better yet... Let's just give a shout out to the good ones.

Shotgun work: Pat Laib for trap/field guns, Hans Vang for Tactical shotties.

AK's: Marc Krebs. He does good 1911s too, so I'm told.

AR's: Steve Lauer. Also any NFA work.

MIlsurps WII-now: Guy Snellen

Mossberg 472 .30-30 Lever action: anybody but Me or Todd Angel! He used to dump them on me, and they are a major PITA!

[Emdawg]

Wow, what happened to that Model 81?!?

Occurrences like that make me leery of smiths.