Handgun Repair Shop, Gunsmith for modern and antique handguns, rifles, and shotguns.
I get a lot of questions, by email and phone from all over the US, asking if I can repair a customer's particular model gun. I do repair work on most sporting firearms. Handgun repair, rifle repair, shotgun repair, black powder repair.
In most cases the answer is that I would first need to disassemble and inspect the gun to determine if it can be repaired. Most malfunctioning guns have a minor spring or small part that is worn, damaged, or broken. These are usually easily repaired. Some malfunctioning guns simply need a complete disassembly, a thorough cleaning, and lubrication.
I will NOT work on, repair, or order parts for the cheap "Saturday Night Special" guns. These pistols are poorly made from cast zinc alloy, retailing for approximately $80 to $100. The cast zinc alloy is a relatively soft metal that wears out quickly. By the time they start to malfunction the wear damage is beyond repair and they become unsafe to fire. The best thing to do with these guns when they begin to malfunction is to cut them up and dispose of them to remove them from the firearms marketplace. I used to have the names of the manufacturers of these poorly made guns listed right here. Apparently the search engines picked my site for a source of information on these guns, and I started getting even more phone calls and emails about repairing these guns. I have had to remove the manufacturers names to slow the calls and emails about guns that I do not work on. For one of the reasons why I will NOT support these guns please see www.brandonsarms.org
Guns that have parts missing may be able to be repaired, depending on whether the gun parts can be found, or made on my digital precision machinery.
Most firearms can be repaired, but some may not be in good enough condition to justify spending the money to do the repairs. I have had $200.00 shotguns come in in such bad condition that it would take $700.00 to repair them. The owners wisely decided that the repair cost exceeded the value of the gun and canceled the repair order.
It would be impossible to have in stock the gun parts for all of the infinite number of manufacturers, different models and sub models of firearms that have been made over the last 300 plus years. I keep an inventory of generic steel stock materials used to make pins, springs, screws, etc. All other gun parts are ordered as needed.
Gun parts for many of the most popular models produced over the last 50 years are usually readily available, if the factory did not restrict their distribution. Antique and obsolete old gun parts are still available from many sources. When firearm manufacturers stop producing an old model they frequently sell off their remaining gun parts inventory. Manufacturers that have gone out of business have sold their gun parts inventories as part of the closing or bankruptcy proceedings.
There are also firearms parts suppliers that buy obsolete and antique firearms to take apart and sell the good used gun parts. There is enough interest in restoring antique firearms that after market manufacturers are producing new replacement gun parts for some of the most popular antique firearms. For more information on antique gun parts see the Antique Gun Parts page.
This question is best answered by referring you to my Shipping Firearms to Handgun Repair Shop page.
I get a lot of inquiries where the customer wants a firm price for repair work before shipping the gun to me. As much as I would like to be able to give a firm repair price, this is nearly impossible to do when I have not been able to disassemble and inspect the gun.
I offer to disassemble, clean, inspect and then write an estimate of repair cost. I will email, phone, or postal mail a detailed estimate for your approval prior to ordering any gun parts or beginning any repair work.
Please see my Price List page for estimated cost ranges for many of the repair services I offer.
This is known as turn around time. Turn around time is constantly changing according to how many repair order shipments have been logged in prior to your repair shipment arriving at my shop, and the amount of repair work that those repair orders require. My goal is to complete all repairs as "The first one in is the first one out".
I receive many inquiries, by email and phone, from all over the US about repair work. Some customers ship their firearm for repair immediately after I answer their inquiry. Other customers have waited weeks, months, or even as much as a year after their original inquiry to ship their firearm to my shop. Other customers just ship their firearm for repair without any inquiry at all.
I don't have a crystal ball to be able to tell you how many repair order shipments will arrive at my shop just before your repair order arrives, or how long it will take to complete those repairs before I can start to work on yours.
Some repair orders require a relatively simple small part replacement that takes a couple of hours to complete. Other repair orders require extensive rebuilding that can take weeks to complete. Some customers have had me do extensive, and expensive, restorations to inexpensive guns because it is a family heirloom disregarding the fact that the repair cost exceeds the value of the gun.
When I receive a repair order shipment the owner's name and address information, and the gun model and serial number information is entered into the BATF required Gunsmith Firearm Repair Log book. I write up a Repair Invoice according to the date the shipment arrived. Repair orders are then added to the stack to wait their turn, when the previous repair orders have been completed.
In order to have your repairs completed in a timely manner, and so you won't be without your gun any longer than necessary, I have an option for you to submit a "Repair Order Reservation" to get your repair logged on to the repair orders list. Send $50.00 deposit, applied to the final cost, by check or money order along with your email and or phone contact information, a description of the name, model, and serial number of your gun, and the repair or customization service wanted. I'll write up a repair order for the date your deposit arrived and get your repair order in line on the waiting list. I'll contact you 7 days before I'm ready to inspect and diagnose your repair to allow time for you to get your gun shipped to my shop. Once inspection and diagnosis is completed I'll contact you with a detailed cost estimate for your approval prior to ordering parts or starting the actual repair.
After shipping your firearm for repair, please be patient. Your repair will be worked on when it's turn comes up, after the previous repair orders have been completed, according to its repair order date position on the repair orders waiting list.
Turn around time has been as little as 2 weeks, or as much as 12 months, with an average of 4 months, over the past 7 years. Most recently turn around time has been running about 2 to 3 months.
I do not have any type of credit card processing accounts. Payments must be made by check or money order.
Return shipment of repair orders will be held until the check has cleared at my bank, about 2 weeks.
Repair orders that remain unpaid 30 days after the bill has been sent out will be considered abandoned. The abandoned firearm may be put up for sale to obtain payment for the unpaid repair order.
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