Greasy Gunsmith
 

I picked-up my 742 rem. today from the gunsmith. It had grease or oil, and fingerprints all over the receiver . To top it off he charged $25.00 to install a dust cover on the bolt and $12.00 for the cover!!!

He then told me it needed cleaning. I knew the action was needing a cleaning. He said it would cost AT LEAST $35.00 for the cleaning. I told him it still shot good. Looks like I will be finding a new smithy.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

Why did you take a dirty gun to your gunsmith in the first place? To me that's like going to the dentist without brushing your teeth first. I wouldn't have blamed the guy for either telling you that you'd have to clean it before he'd work on it, or clean it himself for a fee (because gunsmiths do not clean guns for free) before any other work commenced. I don't blame the guy for giving the gun back dirty when it came in dirty. He probably oiled it down to keep it from rusting in his shop. Better oily than rusty, right? As far as thebolt shroudgoes, he probably replaced it because he considered it a safety issue and wouldn't return the gun unless it was fully repaired and safe to shoot. In our excessively litigious society, I couldn't blame him for covering his butt in that regard, lest you take the unrepaired gun, blow your leg off, and sue him intoahomeless shelter.

The next time before you take a gun to a 'smith you might want tokeep two things in mind: 1)A gunsmith willNOT clean a gun forfree, and if you take a gun in dirty, expect to get it back dirty and, 2) don't take a broken gun into a 'smith and expect it to come back unrepaired.

Good luck finding a gunsmith that will clean your gun for free and won't charge you for repairs.

Mike

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

All those prices sound right to me. He could have wiped off the reciever from the grease.

Not sure what you expected. I clean my guns every time they are shot so I don't understand you are up set about.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

You didn't mention what you took it in for in the first place so I'll assume it was to have the dustcover installed. $25 for labor, plus the parts cost seems pretty reasonable to me.
Now, as noted, no 'smith I've ever run into is gonna' clean your gun for you without charge, and $35 is a decent price for it. If you don't like it - CLEAN IT YOURSELF!

Edit: Just checked prices for a local gunsmith and found the following posted on his website. Seems like yours was right in line.
Price guide for gunsmithing work
Labor - Per Hour.............................30.00
Min. charge Per gun........................25.00
Clean & Oil Gun
Includes complete disassembly, cleaning and
inspection of all parts.......................35.00

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

To install the dust cover on the bolt of a 742 the gun must be completely disassembled. This would include removing the forearm, all of the gas/ action parts inside the forearm, removing the barrel, and finally getting to the bolt. It isn't simply a matter of sticking one on the bolt.

$25.00 was more than fair for installing a dust cover on a 742.

We charge $35.00 to clean a gun and $60.00 per hour for general labor and $80.00 for labor plus machine time and $15 to test fire

Had I worked on it you would have been $15 poorer than you are now cause I would have test fired it before you got it back.

What did you expect him to do. Work for free??????? His time is just as valuable as yours. Looks like your smith did you just fine but you're mad that you actually had to pay for it. [:@][:'(][:@][:'(][:@]

I guess you would expect a mechanic to work on your car for free also?

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

Pretty much agree with everyone else. I'm sure you don't work for free, you cannot expect anyone else to, either.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

Gotta agree with everyone else here too. You can go and find a new gunsmith, but good luckfinding one that works for nothing. Go check out what the big boys (Bowen, reeder, limbaugh) charge for thier services.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

First, the gun was clean when I took it to him, except for inside the action. I am no gunsmith, and therefore cannot clean the moving parts inside. My problem was that he returned it with the grease and fingerprints all over the reciever. Would any of you gunsmiths returned it in worse condition than it was in? I hope not!

The prices seemed high to me, but this was the first time I took a gun to a smith in this new city. So, they probably were par for the course. Thank you for your replies.

[Deleted]
 

[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

No I wouldn't have returned it to you dirty. If he did then you should have brought it to his attention when you picked it up. Speak to him about it if you go back to him.

Was it actually grease or a healthy coating of gun oil? He shouldn't have used any real grease on the gun anywhere and very very little oil. A wipedown on the external metal surfaces to prevent rust is pretty normal though.
Finger prints aint nothing to get mad at him about. He's got to pick it up and handle it.


And no cma3366a, that is not all that is envolved with cleaning a 742 thoroughly. Droping the trigger assemmbly does not get you to any of the moving action parts and none of the gas parts. It also does not get you inside the bolt to clean the firing pin and spring or the bolt head.

Basically removing the trigger assembly does very little for actually cleaning any of the important parts that really nead the cleaning.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

If it was oil it was very thick, and it had fingerprints in it. I know that fingerprints are not a real concern if not left on for too long. But, the grease or oil had to come from handling a rag or something else as my gun had neither too much oil or any grease on it.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

It sounds as though it was dirty oil/ grease???? Like black smudges??????? If that is the case then it definetly should not have come back to you like that.

[Deleted]
 

[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

Exactly that. Removing the barrel.

The bolt is the last thing that comes out of the gun.

BTW, when I was talking about cleaning it I was refering to completely disassembling the gun to get to all of hte parts to remove carbon build up in the gas tube, gas block, etc and in all of the other nooks and crannies and dissassembling the bolt and cleaning it inside and out.

Every now and then you gotta get in there and remove all the carbon build up.

RE: Greasy Gunsmith
 

Just a short note,it doesn,t take anything to make or clean a gun on the outside for cosemtic effect. The gunsmith you took the gun too should have explained to you about the proceedure he would have to go throught to replace this part!!! That was his responsibililty to you as a customer,then explain if you wanted to have it cleaned while it was apart for him to do so or not.I personally would at least clean it up a little without charge,for if i didn,t then something else happened a customer would have come back if somthing went wrong and they would say well you just did this ect. and make me look bad. This way he would cover his butt,make the custjomer happy and all would be well,no problems in the future. But a lot of customers take for granted taht a smlith will clean there gun when its apart,wrong.We are not in the business to do work for free!!So it was a wrong set of communicataion on both of your parts. Like you don,t take your car in and say to the mechnic change my oil,and when you get your car home and check it in a week it is dirty? why is that you said change my oil,you didn,t say with new oil,he just put oil oil back in it,from some other car. or enen your own old oil. Plus some "gunsmiths" put oil on them if they have blueing tanks in ther shop to keep the guns there safer from rusting from the fumes from the blueing tanks in the air rust the guns. i doon,t know i wasn,t there,but just something to think about. vangunsmith