Darrell Holland Videos

R

Randall Kepley

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Hey guys, was wondering what you guys thought of the Darrell Holland Videos? Ive rented several videos from "Smart Flix" and I saw those on there and was thinking about renting those, he has 2 or 3 on there. They get good scores on the site but I value you guys opinion more than a certain # of stars. Thanks R.K.
 
Machine Shop Videos

I rented some of the Machine Shop videos several years ago. I thought they were generally pretty good. Last time I checked they were backordered for "A very long time". Although they are targeted at novice machinists it had been a long time since I had used lathes, mills, etc. and they served as a good refresher course. Vic
 
I've bought a couple of them from MidwayUSA, I assume you are talking about the AGI videos. I enjoyed them although there wasn't a whole lot of new information.
 
maybe he elaborates on why he thinks foam bore cleaners are "spermacides"!

He certainly is very opinionated, I'll give him that!!
 
They are pretty basic which is fine.It sometimes seems he is an expert at anything(he may be the first to admit ) that needs a video for agi to sell. I used his tapes for getting started threading and chambering. Then I got the Steve Acker tapes . I found Steve tapes are much better.Steve's tapes are that of a trained machinist, Daryls seem to be more of an experienced hobbyist with no machinist background, but I do not know that for sure. Hollands tapes showed him on a lathe with a six jaw buck chuck. Few of us will use a six jaw chuck ,,so indicating the barrel and action in a four jaw needs to be covered.Daryl just threw the action in the six jaw and closed it. Not that simple in a four jaw. I was also struck by the lathe he was using,it made so much noise I couldn't beleive it,surely that vibration transmits into the work.I realize he builds good rifles,but so do alot of guys with no tapes for sale.
 
Ed Franklin's DVD "Metal Working for a Riflesmith" is pretty good. I bought it and have watched it several times. It covers chambering two action types and truing Remingon receivers. I get something more out of it every time I watch it.

I also have Gordy Gritter's video sold by Grizzly and like that one a lot as well.

Gritters and Franklin use radicaly different alignment techniques for chambering, and I'm not intending to start that discussion again, but they are both good video's. So far I use Gordy's alignment method and have had good results. I might have had just as good a results using Franklin's.

Franklin's video covers receiver truing and chambering. Gritter's is chambering only. Franklin talks quite a bit about tooling, Gritters talks more about "why" he does what he does.

My gunsmith friend has Daryl Holland's videos. I've borrowed and watched Holland's video's on bedding (good), reloading (poor), and coyote calling (good). I've not seen a Holland chambering video so can't comment on that. Holland comes across as more arrogant in the video's, and they were clearly done with some input from vendor's - he spends quite a bit of time talking about various products in them. There is also a bunch of AGI stuff to fast forward past.

Franklin's video is twenty five bux including shipping. It ie easy to watch, his explanations are clear, it covers a lot of material, and he talks more about tooling. In my opinion, it is by far the best buy for covering metalsmithing on barrels and actions.

I don't agree with everything in any of them, but in my opinion, Franklin's and Gritter's videos are well worth the money. Holland's, not so much.

Fitch
 
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If you want to get up with the times get the Greg tannel Videos from Pacific Tool. Franklin barely uses oul to cut a chamber and no oil while doing action work. His lathe doesn't even have an oil pump. Then he places a stainless steel rod in the barrel to indicate it. What's up with that.

Any barrel maker will tell you not to put something in a barrel that is abrasive but a stainless steel rod is OK.

Years ago I went to visit Bob White at the shooters corner. He used no oil to chamber you would have thought air was a dollar a spritz then proceded to use a paper towl to clean the metal fragments. Then screwed the action on. Another time I visited Jerry Simison and watched him chamber a barrel he should have told me to bring a wet suite since he had oil that was filtered pumped through the end of the barrel all while chambering. Then oil while cutting and threading.

There's a video on Mark Basners site that shows him cutting the threads of a 700 action by hand with the action just placed a vise. But people will line up and pony 5 grand for shoddy work since they read a clip in field and stream.
 
Tapes

I ditto the Greg Tannel tapes, you can also order them directly from Greg's Web site. Greg goes through and explains his method well and demonstrates the differences between his method and others. I have all of Greg's tapes and use his methods:D as do many others.
 
So what are your thoughts on Bob White's gunsmithing ability?



Veritas said:
If you want to get up with the times get the Greg tannel Videos from Pacific Tool. Franklin barely uses oul to cut a chamber and no oil while doing action work. His lathe doesn't even have an oil pump. Then he places a stainless steel rod in the barrel to indicate it. What's up with that.

Any barrel maker will tell you not to put something in a barrel that is abrasive but a stainless steel rod is OK.

Years ago I went to visit Bob White at the shooters corner. He used no oil to chamber you would have thought air was a dollar a spritz then proceded to use a paper towl to clean the metal fragments. Then screwed the action on. Another time I visited Jerry Simison and watched him chamber a barrel he should have told me to bring a wet suite since he had oil that was filtered pumped through the end of the barrel all while chambering. Then oil while cutting and threading.

There's a video on Mark Basners site that shows him cutting the threads of a 700 action by hand with the action just placed a vise. But people will line up and pony 5 grand for shoddy work since they read a clip in field and stream.
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videos

I have 10 to 12 of the AGI videos that I still enjoy watching. Some have Mr. Holland on the lathe as well as the reloading video.
I also have the one with Holland on long range shooting. I also have several of the armorer's courses with Mr. Bob Dunlop they are very helpful if you are breaking down a firearm as you can stop and run the dvd as you take down or reassemble. I am not a machinest so cannot comment on how good the machine work videos would be to a hobbyist machinest or pro. I would have to have a machinest with me and basic lathe traning before trying to operate a lathe. I may try some of the other dvd talked about here.
 
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