any opinions on the quality and timeliness of work from this gunsmith...???

I haven't dealt with them.

But last year a guy posted praise on this board about z-hat. On the other side of the scale, I have not ever heard anything negative.

Fred's work is very very good. As far as timeliness is concerned, good smiths are always busy so you just have to wait until he calls to say it is finished.

Bill,

Fred rebarreled a modern Winchester 1895 from 270 to the 375 Hawk cartridge for me a couple of years ago. The rifle turned out great and definitely will shoot better than I can hold iron sights. I also ordered a set of dies from him at the same time.

My project got started before Fred got all his publicity from the Handloader/Rifle magazine giveaway and plugs from Dave Scovill, so turnaround on my rifle was only a couple of months including UPS transit time.

I'm a native Okie--where in Oklahoma are you from?

I've had Fred do work on five rifles for me. The latest is a Win 1895/375 Hawk. It took a little over 6 months but I believe the extra time was due to the finish I requested.

As said above, Fred does good work however,I have had to return one rifle to him due to a sight that was not straight. It was no big deal and he corrected it right away.

I had one misunderstanding with Fred on my first rifle which was a old military Mauser action. He rebarred it to a 358 hawk but did not do the feed work. I single-shot the rifle for a year while working up loads. When I finally started magazine feeding it, I discovered that he had not adjusted the magazine length to fit the Hawk cartridge. He also did not charge me for doing it either. I lengthened the mag box and tuned the feeding myself so it came out ok anyway.

I think the key to doing business with Fred or any smith for that matter, it to be very explicit in what you want him to do.

Fred did a nice job on converting a M70 in .458 winmag to .458 lott. Besides the rechambering, he also did some nice metal work for me, 1/4 rib, NECG front, etc. The work was 1st rate & if I remember right, about (3) months. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him for a rifle project.