Care and Feeding of a New-To-You Gunsmith

Another issue unrelated to the parts problem?  How do you know if your gunsmith is any good when you take you gun into fitting?  Anyone can get the credentials. 

Old guys?  I could start today and seem old and crusty enough to trust, do you trust me, knowing how I have described myself?  I GOTS LIMITATIONS! 

How bout someone with a huge reputation?   I've seen the work of some of the big names.  Even my eyes could see functional problems on guns make by BIG NAME 1911 smiths that made me scratch my head. 

Picking a gunsmith is tricky.

And you are starting from scratch?

Tell me about it, I was there, too.  Still am, really, "NEW Jovian Thud-bolt" still applies.

You can give a guy a gun and have him work on it then check his work.  You'll have to learn a lot about what constitutes 'good' work when you see it.  And you might get a ruined gun.  This route is long, tedious, and expensive.

You can hang out with shooters.  Good shooters.  REAL shooters.  Truly skilled ones.  These are hard to find on their own.  Ask them about smith's reputations.  You want good reputations not celebrity reputations.  They can be the same thing, but it's hard to tell.  Plus you get to hang with shooters and might learn a thing or two about... you know... shooting.  This route is long, tedious, and may also be expensive.

"But T-Bolt, how do I figure it out without the long tedious expensive process?"

Ah, you want the M&M Contract Clause test to select a competent smith without just guessing.

"Contract Clause?  Whazzat den?"

For those unaware, a band called Van Halen went touring.  So the story goes.  They want a successful show at each venue, so all the details that go into a Rock-Roll show have to be perfect or the show is bad, or worse, disastrous.  How does a busy group of artists that needs to entertain amorous groupies and alter their minds with various substances check up on the venue runners of a diverse group of playhouses?  Even sober there are too many things to keep track of!  So.  They put a rider in their contract.  Throwaway details near the back of the long document that are easy to check up on.  Like "the dressing room will have a large bowl of M&Ms for the band to nibble on with all the brown M&Ms removed."  And others like that.  Band shows up, looks a the bowl of M&Ms and sees no brown, there is a better chance the rest of the show has all it's P's and Q's lined up.  The venue runner read the whole contract and took care of all the little bits.  Now a stage light might also be tightened correctly and not plummet from the ceiling and squish David Lee Roth.  The Rick-Roll show goes on.  Everyone is happy.  See a brown M&M?    Trash the hotel room, make a fool of yourself, and cancel the show.  Contract violation. 

So what is the cheap and easy M&M Rider detrail, but for a gunsmith you are looking at maybe giving work?

I dunno.  I will have to think on this.  Get back to you.