Hells canyon armory

[Eltigreblanco]

As of now besides some slow communication I don't have anything negative to say. Some of the other comments, and conversations have me a little worried though

 

[Ucsdryder]

Gunsmiths and taxidermist always seem to be late on delivery and horrible at communicating.

I had the timeline issue with HCA. I sent him all the parts and was told a certain date and he missed it by a couple months. Plus I wasn’t overly impressed with his work. There was bedding compound on top of my carbon barrel up near the muzzle break, on the cheek comb and then I found more on the fore end. The muzzle brake wasn’t even screwed on finger tight and the bottom metal I bought from him had a good ding in it right below the trigger. On top of that, I paid him $175 to cerakote the rifle, he didn’t due to me telling him just to send it back without it because of a bear hunt I had coming up and I didn’t want to wait another two weeks. He sent it back without the refunded $175 and when I asked him about it, he said he had to do some work to my stock so he was going to hang onto the extra cash. Kinda ridiculous and shady that I had to bring it up and that he never mentioned it. But hey, his magazines are pretty nice!

Wow, so he just kept your money for “stock work” that wasn’t agreed upon? That’s really shady, borderline stealing.

 

[Sadler]

Wow, so he just kept your money for “stock work” that wasn’t agreed upon? That’s really shady, borderline stealing.

He sure did. He told me that I was actually getting a good deal because he charges $75 or so an hour for stock work lol. I was so pissed I didn’t even respond to that. I’ll never do business with him again.

 

[Eltigreblanco]

Well I called and sent another email. We will see if I have any luck this time

 

[wind gypsy]

Mike was fine with communication with me when he built a rifle for me in 2019. Went over on build time a little and I wasn't happy with the end product.

Seems pretty damn common for gunsmiths to get some solid buzz going online and get behind to where they cant deliver what they communicated. I wish Mike the best in digging himself out but I wouldn't send him another project.

 

[khuber84]

Mike's done 4 rifles for me. Some have been quick, some have taken twice as long as quoted. I've also had this same experience with 3 other smiths who've built me rifles. I'm currently waiting on a pair of actions ordered early March. The manufacturer originally quoated me 30 days. His promised delivery dates have come and gone 3 times. Yes this is frustrating!

 

[Eltigreblanco]

I spoke with Mike last night. Seems like things are on the right path. Hopefully all of us that are waiting for rifles will have them shortly

 

[Cahunter805]

I was quoted 5ish month completion for build, end of this month will be 17 months from date I wrote the 75% down check.

That’s absolutely ridiculous!! I’d love to hear his explanation on this?
Everyone gets behind in work or delayed and sometimes it’s just waiting on parts but communication with customers can usually solve all these problems.

 

[huntnful]

I had Mike build me a 28 nosler last year. Took about 7 months. Work was top notch and the rifle drives tacks. I liked it so much, I’m having him build me an identical platform as the 28, but in a 300 Norma Improved. I assume it will take about a year. He can be hard to get a hold of and I understand your frustration. But he’s been good to work with for me and his build was immaculate. It’s worth the wait for me. But he really should just state 1 year build time on his website. Better to underpromise and over deliver IMO.

 

[MuleyFever]

I spoke with Mike last night. Seems like things are on the right path. Hopefully all of us that are waiting for rifles will have them shortly

Good to hear.

 

[HuntHarder]

Boy is this thread enlightening. I was going to have him build me a rifle here shortly. Nope, this thread made me change my mind. Overpromising is one thing, lack of communication and some shotty work is another. Too many good gunsmiths out there to continue supporting the bad ones.

 

[Lawnboi]

With this thread would have turned up before I sent him my money.

 

[khuber84]

Hahaha your on the fence prospective rifle owners. The biggest problem Mike has getting rifles done sooner than he does, is the wait time from Defiance and Benchmark for the most part. The man does quick work WHEN he has components. The two builds that he's done for me when I've shipped him everything, never took more than 9 weeks total. Call up any smith right now, and if you don't have most the components already in hand, hell likely tell you 12mo wait. Bartlein is quoting 12mo waits as is defiance. Manner stock? 8-9 months. You guys think this is all Mike's fault but it's not. Nor is it most other smiths fault, it's the supply and availability of components.

 

[Eltigreblanco]

Hahaha your on the fence prospective rifle owners. The biggest problem Mike has getting rifles done sooner than he does, is the wait time from Defiance and Benchmark for the most part. The man does quick work WHEN he has components. The two builds that he's done for me when I've shipped him everything, never took more than 9 weeks total. Call up any smith right now, and if you don't have most the components already in hand, hell likely tell you 12mo wait. Bartlein is quoting 12mo waits as is defiance. Manner stock? 8-9 months. You guys think this is all Mike's fault but it's not. Nor is it most other smiths fault, it's the supply and availability of components.

I sent him an action

 

[MuleyFever]

Hahaha your on the fence prospective rifle owners. The biggest problem Mike has getting rifles done sooner than he does, is the wait time from Defiance and Benchmark for the most part. The man does quick work WHEN he has components. The two builds that he's done for me when I've shipped him everything, never took more than 9 weeks total. Call up any smith right now, and if you don't have most the components already in hand, hell likely tell you 12mo wait. Bartlein is quoting 12mo waits as is defiance. Manner stock? 8-9 months. You guys think this is all Mike's fault but it's not. Nor is it most other smiths fault, it's the supply and availability of components.

I sent him the action and stock and bought one of his barrels.

 

[HuntHarder]

Hahaha your on the fence prospective rifle owners. The biggest problem Mike has getting rifles done sooner than he does, is the wait time from Defiance and Benchmark for the most part. The man does quick work WHEN he has components. The two builds that he's done for me when I've shipped him everything, never took more than 9 weeks total. Call up any smith right now, and if you don't have most the components already in hand, hell likely tell you 12mo wait. Bartlein is quoting 12mo waits as is defiance. Manner stock? 8-9 months. You guys think this is all Mike's fault but it's not. Nor is it most other smiths fault, it's the supply and availability of components.

So both guys sent him actions? Still think its not his fault? I mean, if he is at the mercy of his suppliers, he should communicate that, should he not? Not one guy has said that Mike told them it was a supply issue.

 

[khuber84]

I sent him the action and stock and bought one of his barrels.

My last barrel from him took 4 months to get the steel from benchmark, took bout 4 weeks to get wrapped and then another month and a half to get the chamber cut with my own reamer, my own action/stock. Total time was approx 6 months. You guys gotta keep in mind, a ton of projects been sent his way early summer in hopes of everyone getting their stimmy check chambered in time for hunting season. High quality work can be done quickly, but high quality is in high demand. It's not going to be fast.
2 months ago my best friend acquired all the parts for his new 28 nosler, every single component. I reached out to Alex Wheeler who we want to smith it. He told me he has my number and will call when he can get go the project, likely end of year, completion 3 months later. That's a 9 month lead time quote and we have EVERY single component in hand. Quality takes time.

 

[Reburn]

So both guys sent him actions? Still think its not his fault? I mean, if he is at the mercy of his suppliers, he should communicate that, should he not? Not one guy has said that Mike told them it was a supply issue.

I'm gonna stand up for Mike here.

Does it need to be said that there are supply chain issues everywhere? Has manners ever really had a lead time of less then 6 months? Every firearms related manufactor is behind and has been for quite some time.

I have a rifle built by mike. It was way over time line. But wait was that my fault changing the build 3 times while the gun was in his hands? The end product was worth the wait and every time I changed the build I basically reset the timeline for him. Not to mention I was asking him to do very custom stuff that he had never done before that needed custom CAD programs written for his mill. The end result was a badass rifle that I love that shoots less then 0.5 moa at 500 on 4 different barrels when the shooter is capable. And I dont think I am that great of a shooter.

 

[Eltigreblanco]

Mike did say that he is having issues with supplies. Im willing to wait for a great product. Hopefully all of this is sorted out.

 

[sndmn11]

You guys gotta keep in mind, a ton of projects been sent his way early summer in hopes of everyone getting their stimmy check chambered in time for hunting season.

Why does the customer have to keep in mind the organizational capabilities of the business? The customer isn't an employee by virtue of being a customer. What is the difficulty in the business being up front and honest? If the customer had the knowledge of gunsmithing they wouldn't be hiring one. It is the responsibility of the hired expert to do the right work and give accurate timelines.
If the business knows that X will take 12 months, or could, they need to say so. This idea that it's ethical to give perfect world singular focused timelines to gain business and then start pulling out excuses when builds exceed the timeline is silly.