Who is the best?

F

Frankr

Member
boy, gee guy's, i hate to ask this, who is rated the very best gunsmith?
if you had a few barrels(2) you wanted to have chamberd who would
you use? I use to know these things at one time but have not looked at PS magazine or match result for years.so you can find tons of smiths on the internet and most that i know were good seem to still be good.But just would like to have a few opinions where to look now days..pefer you send PM.
Looking for top short range smith, SW PA.

Thanks Frank.
 
Frank,

There is no deep dark secret going on here. There are many, many people that can chamber a barrel properly and fit it to your action. Given the proper components and the proper assembly of those components, I think it boils down to how good the barrel will be, and the rest is up to you. You can't buy shooting skill.
 
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Frank

What Wayne said. I do my own gunsmithing and nobody would rank me with the best. But even I can occasionally make a winning barrel and, if I do my part, can take home a fake wood trophy now and then. IMHO, it's 1/2 a good barrel, 1/2 a good bullet, and 1/2 a good shooter.

Ray
 
Billy Stevens
Dwight Scott
Mike Bryant
Dave Tooley
Kelblys
Wayne Campbell
And many more as my old mind can't remember all of them
Butch
 
Thanks for the reply's and the Pm's.
Yep you need a good action,good barrel,good stock and bedding job,good scope,good bench set up(very important) and if its chambered straight
even a idiot like me can shoot some good groups,granted i have still condition.
 
That is such a wide open question that I don't think there is a definitive answer.
For example, judging by the way his guns shoot I would say that Jackie Schmidt is one of the best and he
isn't even a gunsmith.
 
Many great smiths listed for you in this thread. For a great smith in closer proximity to you, look up Dave Bruno.
 
Frank,
I use Gary Long, located in Millville PA. and Kelbly's OH. . Have been very happy. All listed are very good. Flip a coin and check pricing and turn around time, getting close to shooting season. All will give you very good service.

Andy B
 
Well ok then if you looked at match results in PS mag, who's name seems to allways be in the top 5 or at the top of every
match result posted, that's how i picked a smith one time,it seemed in every match result you saw, his name as gunsmith
was in the top 5 at least, so it looked like alot of his rifles were shoot n good, so went with him and was very happy,best shoot n rifle i ever owned.
Hey take it easy guys, just looking for some info from you fellows who know more than i do.
Thanks for all the relpys.
 
I think it might be helpful to look at what barrels and bullets are winning. Without those you won't win anything no matter who put the gun together.
Although that guy named "Self" seems to be popular in a lot of the results.
 
Well i belive there is some ju ju in the smith/chembering work, like some of you belive in hummer barrels
i think i top select match barrel should shoot well if chambered properly. I know nothing of it so i belive
in the smith work. I have seen a few poor shooting rifles rechambered/set back and recrowned and
they shot unbeliveable. some smith ju ju there? I dont know how to explane it, because i know nothing about it
but a local smith who does not do work anymore tryed to explane something to me one day(it went in one ear and out the other)
but i do know he built two rifles for me and they both shot in a hole and everyone i know who had a rifle from him shot in a hole
so how,what or why i dont know but its a fact some smith's/machinest or what have you kind of have a nact for it and some may
cut a chamber with little to no runout but maybe its just a ok shooter, no ju ju. or
maybe they just need a new dial indicator.lol
I like the 66 fowler bullet, ran out, jury is still out on the new lot i just got.
ya know i dont think i ever mentioned anything about winning,i would be happy with a rifle
that shot well enough to be capable of winning weather i ever won or not, but haveing a rifle capable of shooting well enough to win if the planets lined up and everything would be nice.
 
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Some (very few) top smiths stock barrels. When they get them in, they go through them and send back ones with obvious mistakes in them or they see something they don't like. I know my smith does this. I finally came to the realization that on average, barrels he provided shot better than the ones I provided. I also know of a smith that went around and around with one of the barrel makers because of the quality of a batch he received.

Hovis
 
Chambering barrels is nothing more than a machining operation that any first year apprentice boy, (that has a grasp of why things are done a certain way). could master.

If you do not believe this, just look at the number of Gunsmiths, who chamber barrels quite well, that have few other machine shop skills.

The key to this is the statement I made. One of the first things I learned years ago was to be a true Craftsman, it is not enough simply to know HOW to do things, the important thing is to have a thorough knowledge of WHY you do things.

In the end, though, it's all about barrels, bullets, and tuning.........jackie
 
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You might consider

PMing a few people instead of asking this quetion on here. It's kinda asking who is someone to stay away from when presented in this context. Beter to ask questions like this in privte, IMHO.
 
TedH said:
That is such a wide open question that I don't think there is a definitive answer.
For example, judging by the way his guns shoot I would say that Jackie Schmidt is one of the best and he
isn't even a gunsmith.
Click to expand...


Boy you got that RIGHT!!!
 
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