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Folks in need of damn fine gunsmithing in CA and NV may have enjoyed the services of Jim Gaston. He owned and operated "Sierra Gunsmithing Services" for a number of years in Walnut Creek, CA.

A meticulous and professional businessman and talented gunsmith were his hallmarks. BATF really enjoyed screwing his eyes out!

The last few years in Walnut Creek ((Now irreparably yupped out) they "audited" him every 11 months closing his business down for 2-3 weeks every damn time.

A stubborn guy, but finally just gave it up and moved his business to Truckee CA on a much smaller footprint.

An educated opinion is that the politics in this yuppie haven just could not tolerate a GUN SHOP!

A couple years later,. the Walnut Creek PD/BATF raided and trashed a high end collectible firearms dealer...thereby "cleaning house" on legitimate gun dealers in town.

Never know how these events effected Jim's health, but heart attack, heart surgery and finally a stroke took him down in his middle 70's

And...it ain't gonna get any better!
 
Posts: 3609 | Location: Phone: (253) 535-0066 / (253) 230-5599, Address: PO Box 822 Spanaway WA 98387 | www.customgunandrifle.com | Registered: 16 April 2013Reply With Quote
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Sad that it's come to this sort of thing.

Coincidentally, I was driving up SH 16 in Kerrville behind a car with a sticker reading "Diablo Subaru. WALNUT CREEK" All I could muster was the thought of "oh, no...not another Californistanian."


Doug Wilhelmi
NRA Life Member

 
Posts: 7503 | Location: Texas Hill Country | Registered: 15 October 2013Reply With Quote
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Jim Gaston was a class act and served his country honorably for many many years as an Army Special Forces CW4.

I always enjoyed visiting with him in his shop in Walnut Creek.


Mike

Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.



What I have learned on AR, since 2001:
1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken.
2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps.
3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges.
4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down.
5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine.
6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle.
7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions.
8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA.
9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not.
10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact.
11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores.
12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence.
13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances.
 
Posts: 10134 | Location: Loving retirement in Boise, ID | Registered: 16 December 2003Reply With Quote
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Thanks for the update and sad news about the passing of Jim Gaston, Duane. I frequented his shop for years, and he worked on a lot of different projects for me. Always cordial and entertaining, I often wondered what became of him after he closed shop. I left CA about the same time he left Walnut Creek, but whenever I return I cruise by his old location, thinking about the good old days when Jim, Mike Chance and Pete Wooley had thriving gun businesses in town, never to be again.
 
Posts: 79 | Registered: 21 December 2004Reply With Quote
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Guess you knew Mike Chance died a few years ago. What happened to those two businesses should not happen in the United States, nor be allowed to happen.

All sorts of way to "control" guns. This is not the America I grew up in.
 
Posts: 3609 | Location: Phone: (253) 535-0066 / (253) 230-5599, Address: PO Box 822 Spanaway WA 98387 | www.customgunandrifle.com | Registered: 16 April 2013Reply With Quote
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I pray his family sues for harassment. Sorry for your loss is a friend and colleague.


577 BME 3"500 KILL ALL 358 GREMLIN 404-375

*we band of 45-70ers* (Founder)
Single Shot Shooters Society S.S.S.S. (Founder)
 
Posts: 27607 | Location: Where tech companies are trying to control you and brainwash you. | Registered: 29 April 2005Reply With Quote
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