Just for fun question........

pyscodog

Active member
...Who's the Best Gunsmith in the country? Opinions only. Maybe a few reasons why you think so. Personally, I have no idea at all.
 
Bachelder Master Gunsmithing

I H had them rebuild the right lock on my 1906 Hammer drilling, the right lock is both the shotgun and the rifle lock. It came back like new with the finish perfectly matching the aged left lock. These German drilling locks are made like fine watches.

http://www.mastergunmakers.com/
 
How could anyone have enough extensive experience with all the gunsmiths in the country, in all their varied specialties, to answer this question?
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodog...Who's the Best Gunsmith in the country? Opinions only. Maybe a few reasons why you think so. Personally, I have no idea at all.

There isn't just, one, best gunsmith in the country, but rather a whole bunch of extremely good ones.

I've had many custom and semi custom rifles built by, Defensive Edge Rifles, Montour County Rifles, Allen Precision Shooting, Bull Mtn Rifles, Kevin Weaver, and I may have missed one, ALL, of them turned out extremely accurate rifles and I can think of a whole list of others I'd have build me a rifle as well. I would consider NONE of them as "best" but all of them as good as any other.

I'm sure there are numerous guys on this forum who can/could/do build extremely accurate rifles as well.
 
Nobody could know. Even among selective niche’s, there are too many masters in the craft for any one of us to have touched enough samples from each to have any hope of an educated opinion. Best 1911 builder, best 2011 builder, Unlimited bench Gun builder, open Precision Rifle, 10/22 racer builder, M92/9 builder, levergun smith, scattergun smith, 3 Gun gas rifle tuner, etc etc. Entire classes among them, and folks simply don’t live long enough to have tried them all long enough and side by side to make the exceptionally close determinations between great and slightly greater.

And naturally, a master of all is a master of none, and a master of one isn’t a master of all. So when we see a master bench rifle builder, he’s probably not the best resource for a custom 2011, and the most broadly skilled repair and restoration master likely has no sense of any competition specifics which are critical in that field.
 
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Like I said, its just for fun and conversation. Opinions only. I know its a hard question but might give others an incite to smiths they didn't even know existed. I know you all have your favorites and they may be the "Best" in your opinion. Its just for fun guys. Kinda like whats the best caliber.

My smith is far from the "Best" but he's old and "Old School" If he can't buy the repair part, he makes it. He can also do a lot more than he lets on but at his age, he can pick and choose what he wants to do. He does the best trigger jobs for me and is fast and cheap.



OK, lets narrow down the field. No pistol, shotgun or BR rifles. Mainly hunting or/and PRS/Tactical rifles only.
 
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Dan the Man, why? Because I have to walk approximately 50 feet across my parking lot from my shop to his!
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Ive had a couple good ones. One was a machinest and like the guy Psychodog goes to, Jim would just make the part. He used to wait and do the work until I could be there also. He taught me a lot! Even when young I wanted my guns to be the way I wanted them. He respected that. I went to Jim from my teens until about 8 years ago. About 30 years. I never could figure how me made any money, he always charged me peanuts. He was a sucker for venison though. LOL. He has had to quit gunsmithing because of failed eyesight due to Diabetes. Sad. I had another gunsmith that just gave it up, due to all of the new laws. His name is Jim also, very talented man. Currently I have to do my own work or it is on hold until I find another suitable Smith.
 
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The smith a lot of the guys around here used passed away last year. He owned a machine shop for years and when he retired, he started gunsmithing in a shop on his property. He was great at chambering,fluting and general smithing. He built some of the best muzzle loader rifles using smokeless powder that I've ever shot. He modified the bolts and used Douglas barrels for them. Now that he's gone and Bob Jourdan is gone, we are all searching for replacements. There's a few new ones in the area but we don't know alot about them as of yet.
 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogHe was great at chambering,fluting and general smithing. He built some of the best muzzle loader rifles using smokeless powder that I've ever shot.

There's a smith in (I think) Tennessee who can do it all, and
is reportedly very good: https://www.hankinscustomrifles.com/
Some of his customers just had a 1000 yd contest with muzzle
loaders he built. He also makes some very beautiful CF's.

Unfortunately, Obummer's BATF regs destroyed a lot of our down
home smiths' businesses. Did Trump ever rescind those over
reach BATF regs??
 
IDK? The smith that recently passed away was talking about those regs and was considering not renewing his FFL because of them but he passed away before.
 
Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotassassin1 is the best gunsmith in the entire country.

I hope its ok to quote Rusty.......

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And assassin1 loads shotgun shells too. Don't forge that.
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Originally Posted By: SlickerThanSnotassassin1 is the best gunsmith in the entire country.


At least when it comes to shotguns. Oh, and Thompson Centers.
 
I realize asking who's best is kind of a hard question to answer, maybe impossible, as there are a bunch of great smiths out there. Maybe I should have asked, Who's the one you always go to when building a rifle? Or who's your first choice?
 
If you want the best of the best:

These people in North Texas are excellent, and Stick Starkes took over the business when Speedy Gonzales sold out and became head of the Gunsmith School at Trinidad State College in Colorado.

http://sandsprecisionrifles.com/

Speedy has since returned to Texas and now has his own shop once again, this time in San Antonio.

https://www.facebook.com/sgprecisionllc/

If money is no object, either one will build you a rifle that will shoot far better than you can ever hope to hold it.... They both build full custom bench and hunting style rifles that are excellent, but don't expect to get their best on a beer budget.

Pete Pieper in Hempstead, TX will do barrel work and machining that will match anyone around. And he's very capable of building a complete rifle if you want.

http://www.precisionbarrelwork.com/
 
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