Gunbutcher stories.

[SA Feral Shooter]

Ok, we have all had bad experiences with so called Gunsmiths...you know the type, when you take in a gun to get some work done on it and you get it back looking like its been dragged through a barbwire fence backwards...thats IF you get it back.
I have had my fair share of Gunbutchers, one Gentleman who makes barrels here in Hanhdorf SA for example...I gave him a Ruger 77/22wmr Varmint barrel to crown and there was not a scratch on it till I got it back with 3 1'' long scratches along the entire length.
The actual crown job was pretty agricultural as well...I heard that this guy doesnt even dial in the barrel , he just shoves it in and starts cutting ..what a wanker.
So fellas lets hear your stories, Im sure there are plenty out there.
cheers.

[Camel]

Just recently, but extend over a period of 5 years or so.

viewtopic.php?f=61&t=22633

[SA Feral Shooter]

...thats pretty fucked mate,and to find bits of your rifle in an old tin with shit on it, what a fucking tosser.
What amazes me is that these cunts manage to stay in business, if they were mechanics they wouldnt survive.

[Camel]

Yeah, it still pisses me off. Luckily one of the blokes on here has come up with a replacement barrel for me so when that arrives I will be getting it fitted and then do some work on the new stock, might even give the old Kahles 6x42 a rub back and re-blue.

[Tackleberry]

there was a bloke up this way but up in the high county that said he was a gun smith

I disagreed with him as I don't think that ark welding bases on to an action was a very

good idea , when I asked what did he think it had done to the heat treating of said action

this funny glazed look came over his face like the lights were on but no one was home .

his last name was also known as another name for a potato chip .

[johno1]

Tony The winner is Johno, come on down

How did I go?

Johno

[mn1863]

Had a Gunsmith ruin 2 ruger number 1s on me once. Less than impressed, but a lesson learned.

But he has moved on to the happy gunsmith home in the sky, so won't be ruining any more.

Interestingly his rebarrelling work on bolt guns was apparently pretty reasonable.

[Camel]

1988 I bought a brand new Ruger M77 in 257 Roberts chambering, I had longed for an AI version for some years, took it to a supposedly well regarded gunsmith in Fyshwick who had an AI reamer, picked it up at the end of the week feeling very excited. I had previously purchased some new 257 Rob brass, a good selection of projectiles and a set of RCBS dies. Loaded up some cheap 87gn Taipan projectiles to fireform, and headed off to a property I shot on west of Canberra in those days, set up my targets and being the cautious critter I am, loaded the first cartridge, pointed it at the side of a hill on the other side of the creek, looked away and pulled the trigger. Everything did its stuff at the right time, until I ejected the fired cartridge, or should I say the rear half. The case had failed miserably. Packed up and headed back to town, very disheartened.

On the way back home, I returned to the shop and promptly dropped the rifle and half case onto the counter and asked him to tell me what went wrong. My brass was old, nope batch made in 1987, I had loaded the wrong powder charge, nope, loaded a charge of 2209 to one load below max as recommended by all for fireforming AI cases, I even pulled 10 of the others I had loaded while in the shop and we weighed the charges, they were all spot on. I asked about headspace, and he laughed and said it couldn't be that, so I left the rifle and ammo there so he could fire a couple in his underground testing area.

Went back the next weekend and picked it up, he said he had checked everything, especially headspace and removed the other half the case, even showed me a couple of factory ammo that he had supposedly fired, the cases looked beautifully formed, my excitement again rose and I headed off to the paddock again.

Same set up, and surprisingly the same result, another fucken case separation. Luckily I hadn't unloaded anything except the rifle and ammo, so off I marched again, back to the shop, only this time I virtually threw the rifle onto the counter along with the half case and demanded he pull it apart and check everything again, and left feeling really really pissed off.

Next week I called in again, this time he had my old barrel on the counter with the chamber sectioned and showed me a groove that was in the shoulder/body junction that was deep enough for the case to go into it and then supposedly be pulled apart by the bolt when trying to extract the fired case. He had replaced the barrel at his expense, just in a heavier profile, and I again headed off to the paddock.

The first three cases fireformed, but the fourth again separated. Feeling very dejected, I took the whole lot home and made a few phone calls to various gunsmiths and found a bloke who had a standard 257Roberts reamer in Melbourne, sent the rifle down there and got it back a week later along with a new set of Roberts dies and a report from the gunsmith that the old chamber had excessive headspace and it was no wonder the cases were separating.

I used that rifle for a good 15 or so years, kilted many critters from goats to pigs, foxes, cats, roos, emus, rabbits. I don't know what brand the barrel was, but it shot 100, 87 and 75gn projectiles extremely well, so much so that the only difference was in the elevation, three shot groups with the three weight projectiles printed perfectly above each other, only separated by an inch or so, I just sighted in for the 87s and never again moved the scope settings, just aimed a bit higher or lower depending on which weight I used.

The bloke who did the original job moved to Cowra a few years later and is still operating and is supposedly one of the recommended gunsmiths for target work, and I know a few blokes on here and AHN that use him still, but I am fucked if I will, have heard a few stories of other rifles he has stuffed.

K.H. is off my Christmas card list forever.

[Tackleberry]

Tony The winner is Johno, come on down

How did I go?

Johno

hmmm I think that was his 1st name I just remember the last one as in crispy critter

[johno1]

Was said to have been an armouer in the military some years ago, nice enough fella but smith is stretching the point eh

You see the fishing reports in the SRM, buggered if I know who writes them but you would be in danger of getting eaten by flat head down at the Narrows, you can't be doing it right mate

Johno

[Tackleberry]

Was said to have been an armouer in the military some years ago, nice enough fella but smith is stretching the point eh

You see the fishing reports in the SRM, buggered if I know who writes them but you would be in danger of getting eaten by flat head down at the Narrows, you can't be doing it right mate

Johno

they ring my cousin in the shop and he just tells them where the pros get fish yep in the nets

[Rabbitz]

I'm not entirely convinced that 'military' is an adjective that improves the word 'armourer'.



A few months ago I was talking to a Navy Gun-Buster Sub-Lieutenant about the MK76 75mm gun on the Adelaide Class Frigates. I asked if the 75mm was to the lands or grooves.

His reply was "what do you mean by 'lands and grooves'?"

I tried to expain but just got blank looks, so moved on...

MK76 in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvzBvq96FgI

[Camel]

I'm not entirely convinced that 'military' is an adjective that improves the word 'armourer'.



A few months ago I was talking to a Navy Gun-Buster Sub-Lieutenant about the MK76 75mm gun on the Adelaide Class Frigates. I asked if the 75mm was to the lands or grooves.

His reply was "what do you mean by 'lands and grooves'?"

I tried to expain but just got blank looks, so moved on...

MK76 in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvzBvq96FgI

And you expected an officer to know what he was talking about. Shudda asked the Smn QMG he would have known more.

[Rabbitz]

And you expected an officer to know what he was talking about. Shudda asked the Smn QMG he would have known more.

I ended up asking the CPO Gun-Buster - she knew the answer (lands)

[kickinback]

I'm not entirely convinced that 'military' is an adjective that improves the word 'armourer'.



A few months ago I was talking to a Navy Gun-Buster Sub-Lieutenant about the MK76 75mm gun on the Adelaide Class Frigates. I asked if the 75mm was to the lands or grooves.

His reply was "what do you mean by 'lands and grooves'?"

I tried to expain but just got blank looks, so moved on...

MK76 in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvzBvq96FgI

There's only land and sea in the navy. No grooves whatsoever.


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