I know it has been asked before, but....

[busykngt]

I'd like to get the name/location/phone# of a couple of good gunsmiths in/around
north Dallas county/Collin Co. and/or maybe Denton county. I know a gentleman
over in (I think?) Carrollton has been mentioned before but if he's got a two
year waiting list, it's not gona do me much good. Anybody got a recommendation
for someone who does good quality work at a reasonable price (is there such a
thing any more)?

 

[steve-o-556]

As far as Collin county goes , theres a place called Gunmasters on the east side of Plano. From what there website says , theres gunsmith on duty at all times.

 

[hkusp1]

What type of work do you need done?

 

[BigBoss0311]

i would not really trust gunmasters' gunsmith to do any serious work. maybe install sights and thats about it. knowing what work you need will help with the recommendations.

 

[busykngt]

Okay, as long as you guys don't laugh at me for wanting to fix an old Taurus revolver. First of all in defense, it has some sentimental value to my son (not so much for me) - it belonged to my ex-FIL (when he passed away, my M-I-L gave it to me). From what I can tell, it's a cc1970s (late) Model 82 revolver .38 Spcl with fixed sights but with a heavy barrel (however, not likely +P rated...or at least I wouldn't try that). Below is from a posting I wrote up to put on the Taurus forum website.
--
I've shot this model 82 a couple of times without any difficulties - until now. I'm guessing it may never have been taken apart for a thorough cleaning or tuning or anything else for that matter - other than me, just doing the basic "after shooting" cleaning (Hoppes/CLP, et.al.). I absolutely don't know the history of this gun - it was a surprise to my MIL that he even had it. It does appear to show a little holster rash (i.e., worn bluing) at the muzzle area but that's pretty much been it, up until this third trip to the range with it.
--
(Don't think this matters but I was shooting Federal American Eagle 130gr FMJ RN target type rounds). And even though it's a DA revolver, I was shooting single action - pulling the hammer back each time to shoot. After shooting a couple of loadings; I was going through about the third loading of the six cylinders and I noticed on one cylinder, the hammer is exceedingly difficult to pull back into the cocked position (in fact, it could lock up on you).
When I got home, I played with it some more (unloaded, of course) and I would count the hammer 'draw backs' (& releases) and sure enough, it seemed to be pretty consistent: about every sixth pull back of the hammer and cylinder rotating into position, the hammer became really hard to cock. I could do it but it would take noticeably more strength to draw the hammer back. On all the other cylinders, pulling back the hammer is smooth and no problem. What's going on here?

 

[BigBoss0311]

Call Taurus CS, get an RMA for your revolver, send it to them with a letter stating exactly what you wrote so they know what to look for.

 

[busykngt]

I can, and probably will give that a shot but I suspect they'll charge me as much or more than a local smith would, to work on a 34+/- year old gun.

 

[wllmwallace]

Advanced Gun Works in Roanoke. They are the only ones I take anything I can't figure out myself, and I was actually a student at one of David Gregor's armory seminars when I was Active Duty. They know their stuff. Great bunch of guys.

 

[JADB]

As far as Collin county goes , theres a place called Gunmasters on the east side of Plano. From what there website says , theres gunsmith on duty at all times.

Can't vouch for their quality, but this is true. All I've had is a few sights changed out. Seems to always be there when needed.

I did use one in Denton a couple of months ago on my XD and his prices seemed decent as well as he did the work on the spot. Nice older gentlemen. Ran his business out of a pretty nice building (large shed) on his property. Right off of 380 and 35. Let me see if I can find his info.

Edit: Larry Pockrus. Was referred to him by the guys at Doc's Gun shop in Carrolton. Number is 214-801-1507

 

[busykngt]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions; I've definately made a note of them for future reference and I appreciate the contact information. But before the last couple of guys answered, I had alreay gotten the gun boxed up and will ship it off to Taurus. They said, to look it over and do a cleaning would be $35 so that didn't sound too bad to me - the big cost will apparently be the shipping. So we'll wait and see what they have to say.

 

[BigBoss0311]

See if they will cover return shipping. Shipping shouldn't cost that much.

 

[Vaquero]

All you need is a thorough cleaning. It sounds like fouling on the cylinder rod or forcing cone.
Any competent shop should suffice.
My Dan Wesson got to that point and I got "cheap" and dismantled it myself.
I couldn't believe the crap that had built up in areas I hadn't been able to access before.
Smooth as a baby's behind now.

 

[Vaquero]

View attachment 11937
Like this

 

[busykngt]

An up for this thread

Vaquero, that's pretty much what one of the guys over in the Taurus form said. And I seriously entertained the idea of taking the thing apart and starting in on a "deep cleaning" of it myself. But I've also read where the Taurus factory gunsmiths are getting a reputation for kind of going "above & beyond" replacing springs and even re-blueing one guy's revolver. Also upon a little closer inspection, the ejector rod ratchet was showing quite a bit of wear; so I decided to just send it in and see if I can't get the thing brought back to life! As I mentioned, the gun is 30+ years old and I know I've never opened it up (and I've had it for the last 15 years or so) - plus when I first inherited it, I never had the thing inspected or any kind of maintenance performed on it so all signs were pointing to having Taurus perform a little long over due TLC on it.
--
First hand shipping experience.
Thought I'd play this completely "above board" and do everything by the book. I shipped it myself using UPS - I didn't try and cut any corners by having a FFL send it via USPS for me or not declaring it as a gun for shipping purposes or anything like that. I found an appropriate sized box and did one heck of a solid packing job on it - my first mistake.
1) I used UPS (What can Brown do for you? hint: see #7). You have to take it to one of their "depot hubs" - not just any old UPS outlet. You can Google UPS Depot Hub to find a location or I think Wikipedia also has a list of locations. I used the one in Dallas, down in the Walnut Hill / Harry Hines area (there are others in Mesquite, DFW airport, Denton, etc.).
2) They will perform a visual inspection of the firearm to insure it is not loaded and there are no bullets included in the shipment - so much for my excellent packing job! So lesson learned there, is to just take it to them open/unpacked.
3) With Taurus, I didn't need an RMA number per their website instructions - just fill out and print their online 'work order' sheet which includes the owner's contact information and a description of the problem. It sounds obvious but some people send in their guns and are missing some of this vital information. There was one specific problem related to Taurus {only}. That was, their website says address it to Miami and the UPS shop's computer did not like that address; it didn't match with the Zip Code number. So I had to mess around and call Taurus and find out the shipping address that matched the Zip Code was really, Miami Lakes, FL (they should correct their website!).
4) So the lady weighed and measured the box and I asked about insurance. Per UPS company policy, it has to be shipped "Next Day Air" (read: extra $$$). She offered next day delivery by 10 am OR for a $6 savings, it could be delivered by 3 pm. I told her, 3 pm is fine.
5) However, I took that six dollars savings from step #4 and bought insurance with it. Insurance is $0.99 per $100 valuation. So I bought $600 worth of insurance.
6) So she printed out the shipping label and said she would be putting the box in a bag for their special 'high value shipping' (or some such words to that effect) system for firearms. At this point I had lost interest in the mechanics of their "internal operations" since she had hit me with "the damages."
7) My wallet was now $75 lighter.

But tomorrow, Taurus will have my "vintage" Model 82 revolver and I'll be waiting to see what the damages are from them!