Good gunsmith in the Bay Area

[Feanor]

I've gone to yelp and just as yelp is wont to do, overall reviews of gunsmiths and shops in the Bay Area are neutral with half of the people saying they're Gods and the other half saying they're incompetent and rude... The info is not very meaningful.

So... I ask the BARF shooting community. I have a rather moderately rare Browning Hi-Power pistol that I need trigger (sear) work done on as well as new sights installed, and I'd like some feedback from people who might have suggestions/recommendations for gunsmiths in the area who do good work. Price is not really an issue as long as the work is high quality. I had a revolver that I brought to a gunsmith in San Leandro and he put a huge tooling gouge in the cylinder, of course he swore it was not him and I brought it in that way, Right, like I wouldn't know that my own gun I'm intimately familiar with had a giant gouge in it...

Anyway, I'd like to avoid that kind of situation again, and want to go on testimonials...

Thanks in advance

 

[NorCalAthlete]

There's at least one BARFer who can do the sights, I don't know about trigger work but I'd say if nothing else he can make a solid recommendation.

 

[CoorsLight]

Can't recommend anyone, but I can heartily disrecommend Tabor's in San Bruno.

 

[fawndog]

Some of us do our own work, that way we know for sure where the tooling marks came from

When I wanted guidance on something, I asked my local range master. He had given me valuable advice before on something unrelated so I trusted him.

Call John at Chabot Gun Club

 

[billswim]

+1 the stuff you want to do requires simple patience and attention to detail. I too have a hi power. When it needed a trigger, sear work and couple of little things, I bought the specific DVD from the American gunsmithing institute, studied it a few times, both the parts and went for it with near perfect results! You may have to buy a few new tools but isn't that fun too?

http://www.americangunsmith.com/

 

[bikeama]

If you want someone to do it right, Ken Genecco at Genecco Gun Works in Stockton. Google him for reviews.

Ken is a friend and a motorcyclist. Has a large collection of bikes, one of the more interesting people you will ever meet. Also races in AHRMA.

 

[Tim-That CX Guy]

I'd recommend Gatley's Gunsmithing in Sonoma.

I was in the military with him quite a number of years ago, nice guy, and knows his shit.
http://www.gatleygunsmithing.com
If you decide to go with him, tell him that Sgt. Duffield from the 579th says "Hi" and referred you.

 

[Horse]

If you want someone good that is local, Harry Dwyer of Kerley's Hunting & Outfitting in Cupertino. I've used him for rifles, great gunsmith.

 

[900ss]

Don Lazzarini in Santa Clara

 

[Feanor]

Thank you guys for all the GREAT info! I have many more, I think, good choices now to consider than before, and that's a good thing.

Thank you Bill for that website! What a great resource! I'll definintely consider doing some of the smaller jobs myself, though I tend to get antsy around gunsmithing in general because it always seems to be a situation of if you screw it up, second chances to correct it are pretty rare

I've actually been thinking of doing pillar/glass bedding of my Remington 700 PSS and that DVD on barrel bedding looks great! I think I'll try that because I can experiment first by trying it on a Ruger 10/22 so if I screw up, it won't really matter

Thanks again guys! I'll be making inquiries...

 

[Horse]

I've actually been thinking of doing pillar/glass bedding of my Remington 700 PSS and that DVD on barrel bedding looks great! I think I'll try that because I can experiment first by trying it on a Ruger 10/22 so if I screw up, it won't really matter

Thanks again guys! I'll be making inquiries...

Great rifle! Used to own one before I went the lapua route.

FYI- Harry Dwyer is the best Remington 700 guy in the bay, if you want to get that thing dialed in. Its amazing how finicky these rifles are when it comes to setup and ammo used. But once dialed in, if you miss your target, its your fault, not the rifles or ammo.

 

[Feanor]

Great rifle! Used to own one before I went the lapua route.

FYI- Harry Dwyer is the best Remington 700 guy in the bay, if you want to get that thing dialed in. Its amazing how finicky these rifles are when it comes to setup and ammo used. But once dialed in, if you miss your target, its your fault, not the rifles or ammo.

I'm just an average shooter so when I look at the guns that I have I always get this weird image that they're laughing at me

I LOVE the 700, and I know for certain that I have a long way to go to shoot it even close to its potential. I was at the San Leandro range with it once and was printing about 3-4 inch groups at 100 yds and feeling really crappy about that and this really nice old guy next to me who was shooting a swedish mauser asked me if he could try it.

I said sure! and he proceeded to pull a box of Lake City .308 match ammo out of his ammo can. He fired 5 shots that were far up and to the left of bull, but the group was a tad less than 1"! I was SO happy because at that point I was stupidly blaming the gun

He actually said that with the 700's the throat of the chamber is lengthened for "Lawyer reasons" he called it. Apparently to protect the shooting public from themselves Remington made the throat longer to try and prevent a situation where handloads could be made with zero headspace and raise the chamber pressures dangerously high. He said it was stupid because to have ultimate accuracy you had to get the headspace down to 10-20 thousandths of an inch and you couldn't do that with a 700 because that would make the OA case length so long that rounds wouldn't fit in the magazine well! Which is what Remington intended! Essentially you would have to then fire the rifle as a single shot if you wanted to get to the absolutel potential of the guns accuracy! I'm just getting back into shooting regularly and that was one of the last things that I remember from the last time shooting so I'm definitely going to look that information up as I'm now shopping for RCBS reloading equipment and looking forward to getting back to the range often I'm old school and love bolt actions and revolvers. I'd like at some point to get into bench rest shooting. I have an HK-91 and I consider it a Star Wars blaster rifle I put a PSG-1 trigger group on it and that made it far more reasonable in my opinion.

Thanks so much for the contact info also! I will look into that for sure!

 

[Horse]

I'm just an average shooter so when I look at the guns that I have I always get this weird image that they're laughing at me

I LOVE the 700, and I know for certain that I have a long way to go to shoot it even close to its potential. I was at the San Leandro range with it once and was printing about 3-4 inch groups at 100 yds and feeling really crappy about that and this really nice old guy next to me who was shooting a swedish mauser asked me if he could try it.

I said sure! and he proceeded to pull a box of Lake City .308 match ammo out of his ammo can. He fired 5 shots that were far up and to the left of bull, but the group was a tad less than 1"! I was SO happy because at that point I was stupidly blaming the gun

He actually said that with the 700's the throat of the chamber is lengthened for "Lawyer reasons" he called it. Apparently to protect the shooting public from themselves Remington made the throat longer to try and prevent a situation where handloads could be made with zero headspace and raise the chamber pressures dangerously high. He said it was stupid because to have ultimate accuracy you had to get the headspace down to 10-20 thousandths of an inch and you couldn't do that with a 700 because that would make the OA case length so long that rounds wouldn't fit in the magazine well! Which is what Remington intended! Essentially you would have to then fire the rifle as a single shot if you wanted to get to the absolutel potential of the guns accuracy! I'm just getting back into shooting regularly and that was one of the last things that I remember from the last time shooting so I'm definitely going to look that information up as I'm now shopping for RCBS reloading equipment and looking forward to getting back to the range often I'm old school and love bolt actions and revolvers. I'd like at some point to get into bench rest shooting. I have an HK-91 and I consider it a Star Wars blaster rifle I put a PSG-1 trigger group on it and that made it far more reasonable in my opinion.

Thanks so much for the contact info also! I will look into that for sure!

That rifle is capable of half inch groups once set up and using the right ammo for it. I've seen crap ammo account for as much as 3 inches at 100y, no fun in that. Why even bother taking crap ammo to the range? Makes no sense to me.

I was shooting with a buddy couple weeks ago. He just got a new AR and wanted to play with it. I brought out my 24" barreled AR which shoots sub moa all day long with ease. He was shooting 4 inch groups with his 16" barreled AR and hating life. My groups at 200y were better than his at 100y. What a difference a few inches and couple of pounds make.

We swapped guns and I let him use my black hills match ammo, it was an eye opener for him. Best I could get out of his AR with my ammo was a two and a half inch group at 100y. Most groups were over 3 inches. Yet he shot sub moa with my AR. Now he wants to get a new upper.

PS- If you really have a HK-91 in California, I wouldn't advertise that online publicly.






.

 

[Feanor]

That rifle is capable of half inch groups once set up and using the right ammo for it. I've seen crap ammo account for as much as 3 inches at 100y, no fun in that. Why even bother taking crap ammo to the range? Makes no sense to me.

I was shooting with a buddy couple weeks ago. He just got a new AR and wanted to play with it. I brought out my 24" barreled AR which shoots sub moa all day long with ease. He was shooting 4 inch groups with his 16" barreled AR and hating life. My groups at 200y were better than his at 100y. What a difference a few inches and couple of pounds make.

We swapped guns and I let him use my black hills match ammo, it was an eye opener for him. Best I could get out of his AR with my ammo was a two and a half inch group at 100y. Most groups were over 3 inches. Yet he shot sub moa with my AR. Now he wants to get a new upper.

PS- If you really have a HK-91 in California, I wouldn't advertise that online publicly.



.

Oh! I'm sorry... not HK-91 I meant PTR-91 with fixed magazine and bullet button... It's a pain to load it thru the ejection port too!

But *IF* I had an HK-91 that was purchased say in the early eighties and registered when they had the registration sweep of certain guns in the early 90's would that particular gun be legal to have in California if the person was the original owner?

 

[Horse]

Hmm.. Ok, well, let me rephrase that... IF I had an HK-91 that was purchased say in the early eighties and registered when they had the registration sweep of certain guns in the early 90's would that particular gun be legal to have in California if the person was the original owner?

That gun is extremely rare, very few made it into California, let alone the USA. It is VERY easy to convert to full auto. Even if you have proof you bought it pre-ban. Nothing is to say it wont be banned and later confiscated in this latest round of legislation that is passing as we speak.

Look at what is happening in NY. Stuff that was legal is now Illegal to own, illegal to sell. What is a law abiding person to do?

If you have something iffy, best not to advertize it.

 

[Feanor]

That gun is extremely rare, very few made it into California, let alone the USA. It is VERY easy to convert to full auto. Even if you have proof you bought it pre-ban. Nothing is to say it wont be banned and later confiscated in this latest round of legislation that is passing as we speak.

Look at what is happening in NY. Stuff that was legal is now Illegal to own, illegal to sell. What is a law abiding person to do?

If you have something iffy, best not to advertize it.

I was just looking at the definitions in the law about what is an assault rifle... One of the primary definitions is a weapon with a pistol grip and magazine in front of the trigger. What rifles don't have their magazines in front of their triggers?! and if you put a mcmillan A4 pistol grip stock on a Remington bolt action rifle it would then suddenly become an assault weapon?

 

[Horse]

I was just looking at the definitions in the law about what is an assault rifle... One of the primary definitions is a weapon with a pistol grip and magazine in front of the trigger. What rifles don't have their magazines in front of their triggers?! and if you put a mcmillan A4 pistol grip stock on a Remington bolt action rifle it would then suddenly become an assault weapon?

I see you are very new to California gun laws. You need to do a lot of reading, and talking to those in the know, how to best not get into trouble in this fine state.

Or just do what many people do. Hide your shit, take your chances and practice in the Nevada desert.

 

[Feanor]

I see you are very new to California gun laws. You need to do a lot of reading, and talking to those in the know, how to best not get into trouble in this fine state.

Or just do what many people do. Hide your shit, take your chances and practice in the Nevada desert.

Good advice! I guess its lucky that I love bolt action rifles more than anything else... and have no other guns, except a squirtgun and one airsoft gun.