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Anyone out there who owns a Dan Beck custom rifle ?
 
Posts: 1587 | Location: Eleanor, West Virginia (USA) | Registered: 20 April 2002Reply With Quote
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I knew a Dan Beck who was a very skilled custom riflesmith, a number of years ago here in Colorado. He moved east, and I never knew what happened to him. He was a big bore/english type enthusiast. Biggest BS artist I ever met. I traded him a pile of guns, parts, etc. to build me a drop box 404, waited 2 or 3 years, never heard a thing despite numerous calls, etc. Made I don't know how many trips to his home in Longmont CO to see him and try to get it straightened out. Finally filed a case in small claims court, that at least got him to call me. We met at a local restaurant to resolve the matter, he gave me a rifle he said was built by Len Brownell as collateral until the 404 was done. He blamed the delays on his wife's illness, which was genuine- she had had a lung transplant. We drew up an agreement, which I still have, in which he agreed to finish the 404 by September of that year- I think it was 93 or 94, I'd have to dig this thing out of my files here at the office. Anyway, he never produced, split from Colorado and left his wife and two little girls and headed east. I never heard from him again. It's really too bad, because the guy was very skilled, and did superb work. I found out later that I was not alone, he had stiffed a guy in Washington state for quite a bit as well. I also met a guy who had a Holland 9.3x62 that he claimed he got from Dan, later found out that the gun was not a Holland at all, it was a fake that Dan had made and had engraved sold as the genuine article. Dan was a big, barrel chested guy with black hair, about 6'1 or so then. I'd sure like to find him, and ask him how my rifle is [Mad] [Mad] [Mad]
 
Posts: 94 | Location: Lakewood, Colorado USA | Registered: 21 May 2002Reply With Quote
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Is this it ........ all negative about Dan Beck ?
If others have had bad (or good) experiences with this guy, it would good to know before someone else gets stung. Thanks.
 
Posts: 1587 | Location: Eleanor, West Virginia (USA) | Registered: 20 April 2002Reply With Quote
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I know Dan Beck very well, he left the state of Idaho owing a lot of folks money and lots of folks are looking for him..John bollinger, gunmaker, called me the other day looking for Danny, and said a lot of other people want him also...

He has simply run off with a lot of folks money.
The bad thing about it is this guy is a genius with metal, one of the best...

I have a notion he suffers from Attention deficit disorder and doesn't know it. I don't believe him to be a crook, he just cannot handle business of any kind. After your around him for awhile you will figure it out, just take a look at the inside of his car or his shop!! He is just totally discombooberated until he gets on a lathe, then he transforms into a Picasso...

As sorry as I feel for him, I would not suggest anybody do business with him....I would buy something he had for sale, but I would not give him a deposit on a job.
 
Posts: 42321 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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It's so hard to build a good reputation, and so easy to wreck it.

Though it seems this guy made an effort at getting a bad rap.

[ 05-01-2003, 03:52: Message edited by: ForrestB ]
 
Posts: 5053 | Location: Muletown | Registered: 07 September 2001Reply With Quote
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I made a simi-mistake, and I must apologise, I got two gunsmiths confused, The post I wrote above was directed at another gunsmith, not Danny Beck, and I do feel bad for this guy because he just cannot help himself...His heart is in the right place, his mind isn't...but he is no Danny Beck.

Dan Beck is a gunsmith that I took to court in Colorado after he ripped me off for a considerable amount of money and property..He is a real loser of the first degree...After 4 years and a court session, the judge required him to settle with me on "my terms" whatever they were or go to jail and forfeit his vehicles and home to me, he settled up with guns, actions, money etc...He owes about everybody he ever delt with...He is the worst example of a gunsmith I know as to reliability and as far as I'm concerned he is a crook...however once again he is very talanted...

There seem to be a lot of very good gunsmiths out there that have a tendency to rip off the customers and I can name a bunch of them...

I have a notion what happens is they take a lot of deposits and have to live on that money and then don't have the funds to build the clients guns and it just overpowers them in time...many have no head for business and cannot demand the prices to survive, it is a tough call, as they live between a rock and a hard spot...but regardless of this, they do not have the right to defraud other folks of their hard earned money and this says a lot for those of the trade that deliver and survive, apparantly it can be done..

what bothers me is the losers allways get ticked at the customers and blame everything on them, Hmmmm, that about sez it all.

I have noticed over the years that the gunsmiths that make a living work steady for 16 hours per day, and those that spend all day in the coffee shop and around the local sporting goods stores seldom make it. It is a tough life and you gotta love it to do it...My hat is off to those who perform their work with honor..
 
Posts: 42321 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Ray-
I don't suppose that one of the guns he settled up with you with happened to be a quarter ribbed, drop box, square bridge 404 mauser? [Big Grin]

The rifle he gave me to "hold as collateral" was a pretty heavy barreled 7mm Magnum, with a tang safety that did in fact look like a Len Brownell's work, no way to confirm that of course. I sold the gun after 3 or 4 years of trying to find Dan, lost my butt on it.

I had my chance when I took him to court, should have pursued it then, but let him talk me out of it. It's hard not to stay mad about things like that.
 
Posts: 94 | Location: Lakewood, Colorado USA | Registered: 21 May 2002Reply With Quote
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QW1437,
As a matter of fact one of the guns I took WAS a very heavy barreled, drop box, 404 Jefferys with a dark stock..A really nice 404 that shot like a varmint rifle but was too heavy to pack..It was a very nice gun... I sold it about 12 years ago.
 
Posts: 42321 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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Also that was in 94, 93 right after his wife had the operation...I betcha dollars to donuts I got the gun he built for you!! Sorry about that but I'm sure he was borrowing form Peter to pay Paul his whole life....Lets face it the guy is a bum.
 
Posts: 42321 | Location: Twin Falls, Idaho | Registered: 04 June 2000Reply With Quote
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