I need some recommendations for a competent gunsmith to put sights and a barrel band on my latest project, a rebarreled Model 70 RUM.

The most important quality that I am looking for, other than competence, is someone who measures delivery times in weeks, rather than months. Aside from this rifle, I haven't had much luck with my last two gunsmiths, one took 14 months for a rebarrel and I'm still waiting on the other after 15 months.

The barreled action for my 404 is back and it's time to see to the sights. For the primary sighting system I've mounted a Vari-X III 1.5-5 in low Talley detachable rings with bases. I would like an NECG Universal Banded Ramp w/ insert & hood, a Classic Adjustable Rear Sight and a Classic Barrel Band Swivel Stud. The sights should be as low as possible but still usable over the Talley bases. I'll probably have it CeraKoted, but I can send it to Doug direct if it will add too much time to the sight installation process.

Can anyone recommend a good smith with reasonable turnaround times? And what would a reasonable turnaround time be? I understand that it depends how busy the individual is, but how long would you be willing to wait to have sights and a barrel band added? Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm anxious to join the 404J shooting fraternity.

Jim

So,
before you send another cent on this, have you made DANG sure it feed properly? This way you know if it is the first gunsmith, who may well "blaime" the second if it now doesn't feed.

sure, he's just putting sights on it, but there will be plenty of blaime if it don't work.

My advice, try it out NOW in a take off winchester stock

jeffe

Tip Burns of Canyon Lake Texas. He has built 404's, great metal work, good turn around times. Several AR members and I have used his services with uniformly excellent results. Bob

His # is 830-935-3338

Here is a second for Tip, and I am sure Rusty will chime in on the two 404's that Tip did for him!

Tip is building me a .404J on an Oberndorf mauser action. I have every confidence that it will work.

Yep, he does great work and he's a nice guy, too!

Old Dog:

I have seen and hunted with Rusty's .404J and it is a fine looking firearm that is a joy to hunt with.

If you are looking for someone a little closer to you (in Georgia) I would recommend Roger Ferrell. Roger is doing a .30-06 project for me on a pre-64 Model 70 action and he took my action, re-worked it and cleaned it up, installed a krieger barrel, a quarter rib, a NECG rear sight with one fixed and two folding sights, a barrel banded swivel, a NECG banded front ramp sight and Sunny Hill bottom metal.

Here's a link to my thread about it, with photos of Roger's work:

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3221043/m/706108626

I sent my raw action to him in August 2006. There was a 10 week wait for the Krieger barrel and a longer wait for our original plans for Blackburn bottom metal (which we changed because the wait was too long). Roger returned the barreled action to me in February after asking if he could take the item to the ACGG show in Nevada with him. I was in no hurry with the item, but had I been I would have gotten the item back a lot sooner.

So, I would highly recommend Roger. From day one he kept me in the loop the entire time, ALWAYS telling me timeline for when the components would arrive and any delays.

Thanks, guys!

I'll call both Tip and Roger on Monday morning. We'll see who's the busiest. And thanks for the advice, Jeffe. I'll be sure it feeds.

Jim

Gunsmiths are like mechanics. The one that is the busiest and buried in work is the one you want to do your work. This is a rule, not law, but is pretty much true due to the attention to details needed. I'm sure both are highly recommended.

saturday afternoon, i dropped an eddystone off with tip burns to start on my .416 taylor... he does great work, if you visit his shop, you can see several examples... like a 03a3 in 458 win mag.....