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.

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

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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 by Admins]

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.