03 August 2005, 04:15
HP ShooterOpinion on two smiths
I found three smiths near me by looking in the ACGG website, John Maxson, Ken Eyster, and Mark Penrod.
I know Mr. Penrod is an up and coming riflesmith, but does anyone have any feedback on Mr. Maxson and Mr. Eyster?
03 August 2005, 04:30
zimbabweDo you live in the central Ohio area. There used to be a shotgun man there named Ken Eyster if it's the same one I knew him 30 years ago.
03 August 2005, 04:45
22WRFMr. Penrod is not up and coming. He is at the top. He has been doing custom rifle work for the past 20 or more years when he started with MATCO Barrel company, which I believe is long since out of business.
03 August 2005, 05:55
HP Shooterquote:
Originally posted by zimbabwe:
Do you live in the central Ohio area. There used to be a shotgun man there named Ken Eyster if it's the same one I knew him 30 years ago.
Yes, he's still around, about 1 hr NE of Columbus. Does he work on rifles, or only on shotguns?
03 August 2005, 05:56
HP Shooterquote:
Originally posted by 22WRF:
Mr. Penrod is not up and coming. He is at the top. He has been doing custom rifle work for the past 20 or more years when he started with MATCO Barrel company, which I believe is long since out of business.
My mistake. I did not know that was his reputation. Would you happen to know where in Indiana is his place of business? All I have is his phone number (thanks RIP).
03 August 2005, 06:17
22WRFPenrod Precision
312 College Ave.
North Manchester, IN 46962
phone 260-982-8385
03 August 2005, 06:42
Glen71I second 22WRF's statement about Mr. Penrod. He has been doing top-notch metalwork for a long time. Here's a thread with some pics of his work.
Thread03 August 2005, 10:07
HP ShooterThank you, all.
Has anyone ever heard of John Maxson? He is listed in the ACGG directory, and he's about 1 1/2 hrs away.
03 August 2005, 10:22
Frank Belleraaaaaaahhhhhhh ..........
03 August 2005, 10:42
CustomstoxJohn forte is stockmaking. He does excellent work.
03 August 2005, 17:42
zimbabweI don't really know now. He used to be known for shotguns and if I remember he had some Japnese engravers who worked for him. When I knew him he was a machinist for PPG in Mt.Vernon,Oh. Centerburg is only a few miles from there. My wife was from Centerburg. PPg closed their plant in Mt.Vernon and I was transferred out of the area and lost contact. Used to see his name in the shotgun mags and in reference to quality shotgun work. NEVER heard anything but good reports on his work.
03 August 2005, 18:21
<allen day>I can only comment on Penrod, since I know nothing of the other gentlmen.
But Mark's probably the 'best least-known' best-quality metal specialist and builder of complete synthetic-stocked rifles in the country. He's also a rifleman, and Mark competes in the 'Super Shoot' every year. "Precision" may as well be Mark's middle name, and that is no exageration.
He has never sought publicity, he's never had a booth at SCI or the ACGG show, he's never given away pretty work to gunwriters, nor have gunwriters ever sought him out for a story. He's never taken out a full-page ad in a magazine, either, only a small ad in "Rifle" and "Handloader", which he's run for years. Almost everything's been word-of-mouth, from one satisfied client to the next.
It may take some digging through old magazines to find photos of these rifles, but Penrod contributed the fine, exquisit metalwork that became part of Ruger's elaborate "North America Series" of cased and engraved, best-quality Ruger No. 1s that were stocked by Bill Dowtin. This was twenty years ago or more, and mark's 48 years old, I believe, so you can see that he's been doing his stuff for quite a while.
Check-out dsmith45's fine Penrod-built 300 Wby on this site as well..........
AD
03 August 2005, 21:19
HP Shooterquote:
Originally posted by Customstox:
John forte is stockmaking. He does excellent work.
Thanks for that clarification. There was no "specialty" code next to his name on the ACGG roster. But what I need is a metalsmith to fine tune the feeding of my CZ.
03 August 2005, 21:20
HP Shooterquote:
Originally posted by allen day:
I can only comment on Penrod, since I know nothing of the other gentlmen.
But Mark's probably the 'best least-known' best-quality metal specialist and builder of complete synthetic-stocked rifles in the country. He's also a rifleman, and Mark competes in the 'Super Shoot' every year. "Precision" may as well be Mark's middle name, and that is no exageration.
He has never sought publicity, he's never had a booth at SCI or the ACGG show, he's never given away pretty work to gunwriters, nor have gunwriters ever sought him out for a story. He's never taken out a full-page ad in a magazine, either, only a small ad in "Rifle" and "Handloader", which he's run for years. Almost everything's been word-of-mouth, from one satisfied client to the next.
It may take some digging through old magazines to find photos of these rifles, but Penrod contributed the fine, exquisit metalwork that because Ruger's elaborate "North America Series" of cased and engraved, best-quality Ruger No. 1s that were stocked by Bill Dowtin. This was twenty years ago or more, and mark's 48 years old, I believe, so you can see that he's been doing his stuff for quite a while.
Check-out dsmith45's fine Penrod-built 300 Wby on this site as well..........
AD
I did check out the 300 Wby. I think I will call Mr. Penrod and see when he could fit my rifle in.
Thanks to all.
03 August 2005, 22:11
Charles_Helmquote:
But what I need is a metalsmith to fine tune the feeding of my CZ.
I have not used Mr. Penrod, but I believe I have read where other AR members have had Model 70 feeding problems addressed satisfactorily by Mr. Penrod.
03 August 2005, 23:21
RalphieOn top of what everyone else said about about Penrod, he's also one heck of a nice guy.
04 August 2005, 01:37
J_ZolaWhen I was looking for a gunsmith I e-mail Mark. Much to my surprise a day or to later he called and answered all my questions. He is the first gunsmith to ever called me on the phone.
John