Robert called and said that my rifle was ready, and he offered to bring it to me to make sure that I was happy. I couldn't let him drive the 10 hours, and I wanted to see his shop etc., so I made the trip to his place.
The rifle is a 308, Surgeon 591 action, McMillan A5 stock, Jewell trigger ..... the good stuff.
We started shooting it, and had a few good one-hole groups, but in general they ranged from 1/2" to 5/8" at 100 yards. I bet we shot a hundred rounds with a dozen different load combinations. I thought is was pretty good considering I'm a rook at best and was probably the cause of at least part of the problem, but Robert was not happy.
He got on the phone with a fellow smith who had new raw barrel nearby, drove to get it, and started machining at around 10:00 pm. I fell asleep at around midnight and was up again before 7:00am. Robert was working when I went to sleep and when I got up - if he got any sleep it wasn't much.
By 10:00 am the next morning he had all the machining on the new barrel done we were back to shooting. My first 3 groups with factory ammo could all be covered with a dime. The 4th group with Robert's hand load was even better.
In my humble opinion, it is best to judge a man by how he handles bad situations. It is safe to say that I think rather highly of how Robert handled this one.
BTW, I am not a competition guy, or someone who writes articles, that he needed to impress. I'm just a guy that he had never met who ordered a rifle.
I should add that the problem was not his doing. The barrel just wasn't up to par. He said it's one of only 2 or 3 he has had to return to this barrel maker in 10 years.
The rifle is a 308, Surgeon 591 action, McMillan A5 stock, Jewell trigger ..... the good stuff.
We started shooting it, and had a few good one-hole groups, but in general they ranged from 1/2" to 5/8" at 100 yards. I bet we shot a hundred rounds with a dozen different load combinations. I thought is was pretty good considering I'm a rook at best and was probably the cause of at least part of the problem, but Robert was not happy.
He got on the phone with a fellow smith who had new raw barrel nearby, drove to get it, and started machining at around 10:00 pm. I fell asleep at around midnight and was up again before 7:00am. Robert was working when I went to sleep and when I got up - if he got any sleep it wasn't much.
By 10:00 am the next morning he had all the machining on the new barrel done we were back to shooting. My first 3 groups with factory ammo could all be covered with a dime. The 4th group with Robert's hand load was even better.
In my humble opinion, it is best to judge a man by how he handles bad situations. It is safe to say that I think rather highly of how Robert handled this one.
BTW, I am not a competition guy, or someone who writes articles, that he needed to impress. I'm just a guy that he had never met who ordered a rifle.
I should add that the problem was not his doing. The barrel just wasn't up to par. He said it's one of only 2 or 3 he has had to return to this barrel maker in 10 years.
