WARNING ~ TR ~ My experience

If you feel you have have had an unsatisfactory experience with TR, and actually laid out some cash to what is probably the most infamous rifle tacticalesque company (just couldn't find the right word) in US history, please sound off with your geographic location. I am trying to get an idea of how disperse the crowd is.

Edit: Or send me a PM...
 
24 Months 4K+ down in the Stan

Afghanistan

If you feel you have have had an unsatisfactory experience with TR, and actually laid out some cash to what is probably the most infamous rifle tacticalesque company (just couldn't find the right word) in US history, please sound off with your geographic location. I am trying to get an idea of how disperse the crowd is.

Edit: Or send me a PM...
 
Just dug up this thread. Wish I had seen it earlier. I took apart a friend's TR rifle over 3 years ago and was horrified. They spray painted the stock and metal with krylon. The scope base didn't fit and the screws were stripped. The bedding was strangling the receiver so tightly that it wouldn't come out of the stock without banging it with a rubber mallet. I shot it, and it was far from a one hole gun. I sent Rooney an email expressing my disdain for his work and showed him how I was able to remove all of the paint with a rag and a little acetone. His reply to me was that if my friend wanted to talk about his rifle with him, he would be happy to discuss it with him. What is there to discuss?
 
I had to file a lawsuit to get my rifle from these guys after 17 months.. After loosing a $1k+ In lawyer fees, I lost another $5k in a rifle that doesn't shoot for damn! Piss on TR. I hope they rot in hell and Rooney gets what he has coming to him!! Fuc*ing POS scumbag!!!
 
let me get the hacksaw and dremel. I learned how to thread with my hacksaw 2 mins ago and how to true receivers with my dremel 3 mins ago. I guarantee .1in groups out of a benchrest rifle at 10ft with handloads only and the rifle cannot be fired unless in a benchrest, and not being fired at all.
 
Sooooo.... Thought I would give y'all another update from the TR twilight zone. I am now at 28... count'm... TWENTY FLIP'N EIGHT months since I sold my soul to the devil (Mr. Rooney). I am still waiting on the mythical rifle that I have only had the pleasure of firing in my dreams. And more recently, my nightmares.

I have been lucky enough to get a couple of responses back from their new accounts person (third one of her kind so far). While she certainly is polite and seems to empathize with me, I feel that her promises/excuses are the same ones that I have heard before only with a different coat of paint.

I feel like I'm trecking across a desert and finally see a water hole on the horizon. In my mind I know it's probably just a mirage but in my heart I hope it is water... Man!... I really hope my new rifle is just over the horizon...

And... well... not a big steaming expensive pile of sh!@%&*t...

Fletch...
 
I own 2 TR builds, both are impressive. I just sent a small deposit and waited until end to pay the rest. 10 months approx. i have considered another rifle build. Based on these posts would you recommend TR or GA Precision? If there business does dry up some, i might could get one built even quicker? I have been using this site for 3 plus years and have always detected people here resent Tactical Rifles. But i offered one for sale here and i had tons of responses. Only would have sold it to finance class 3. My final response is this: Tactical Rifles must then be percieved on this website as either total crap or the holy grail(those that we dont speak positivley about). This is a pro GA Precision website isnt it? Just checking. Likewise, I have had a GA precison built Ar 10 that is lights out awesome, great product. If TR rifles sent out a dud and didnt make it right then they need a spanking but not a beheading.
 
Mssr Sparrow,

My post is not simply about a dud rifle. Nor are many of the posts about Herr Rooney. To say so is to miss the point entirely. You will find that many, many of the posts about Mr Gardner, Mr Soulie, Mr Gordon, and the crew at AO are not always about their rifles but about them. If you will think back to people with whom you worked a long time ago what is most likely to remain is a memory of what they were like to work with. Did they work hard, were they honest, did they do the right thing...? That is their legacy, their reputation, and how you will probably speak about them today. If asked for a job reference this is the color of the commentary to be offered. It is TR's consistent pattern of not doing right by their customers that has earned them the reputation they have. There is one fine smith who has turned out several beautiful hunting rifles for me over then last 25 years. He has made a few mistakes along the way. It is ME that feels bad when pointing a mistake out to him because I know he will feel terrible and inconvenience himself to do anything and everything to make it right.

You fail to mention that it is often TR that is attempting to address it's customers with the guillotine. How is it that you might come to the defense of a firm that seeks to assail it's own customers? Perhaps TR needs one of your notes advising them about what their customers need, and maybe not so many words about how TR is treated by its customers? Please rethink your position.
 
your point is well taken sir. However, this website does appear somewhat biased. I mean i was directed by the moderator 3 yrs ago to not speak of this company here ( i made a few positive comments). However , now 3 yrs later it is ok to make negative comments and also have the moderator chime in as well. I will however take all of this info here on this website into account before doing business with TR Inc. To be asked to not speak of TR Inc on this website seems like censorship? Regards
 
@jamessparrow

blackblue is correct, the reason you perceive a bias towards TR is one of their own making. About 4 years ago, they send a shill to several websites, Sniper's Hide, M4Carbine, etc to draw up attention (rather than be a paid sponsor) and they hit all these sites with a simple question, "Hey how about Tactical Rifles" or something close to that. The responses were less than flattering. So with an 80% + negative response to this question, plus the fact the guy hit all these sites with the same exact question within minutes of each other, the community did not take kindly to this behavior.

So the response was for TR to sic their lawyer on the site threatening to sue us for the negative comments. They served me their BS letter on a Sunday Afternoon. The problem was, they used an old thread regarding Tac Ops as their basis for the letter from the lawyer. Nothing had anything to do with their post, or the responses and in fact the Tac Ops post was several years prior, and no longer an issue. It was just never removed. My response to them was posted here somewhere, but basically I called it a joke. And removed any discussion of their rifles in any form.

Fast forward several years, and more and more guys were having problems. So we allowed this one thread to warn people against spending the huge amount of money TR charges people, the time issues speak for themselves as does their Quality Control Issues. These are real customers, with real problems and this repeats itself too often.

This site is not just pro GA Precision, although George is a personal friend, they have been here the longest so it's only natural they seem the most popular. However you don't see me "defend" them, as their work and customer service speak for themselves. Over the years many gunsmiths have come and gone, ruined by their own poor service. Once popular gunsmiths took a turn and fell off the map. Others have stepped up and themselves have stellar reputations very much like GA Precision does. There is a list of Smiths on here that people use and praise every week, not just GA Precision. I have personal relationships and talk all the time to several of the smiths on here, and have rifles from a variety of them. I am an admitted Gun Slut and like to try new things...

Understand this, originally this site's first contact with Tactical Rifles was to assist them. A former employee went on a smear campaign and we recognized this and immediately removed the post and the member from engaging in such things. Clearly he was a disgruntled employee looking to smear and we did not want to party to this. We were contacted by TR and they thanked us for doing so. So they had our contact information, we had proven to be pro-business but instead they choose to slide under the radar with a shill, and then use their lawyers when they could have called or emailed and sorted it out. Luckily we don't bow to such pressures. We have the ability to remove all discussion which was our prior policy, or we can help people avoid potential pitfalls. We are not talking about small change, but thousands of dollars, and most of the time, more than a years wait. That is not something we want to ignore.
 
I am thankful for this thread, and the others like it. Not because people got hoodwinked, but because these threads (and similar) saved me some serious dough.

I'm not new to shooting accurately, shooting far, and shooting far accurately, but the rifles I used were benchrest rifles. When I wanted to build a "Tactical" type rifle I also came across the TacticalRifles.net magazine articles, web articles, etc. I decided to do more research and threads like these came up.

So, a big thank you for keeping the threads around to help give a different side of the picture than is represented in the rifle rags.
 
I own 2 TR builds, both are impressive. I just sent a small deposit and waited until end to pay the rest. 10 months approx. i have considered another rifle build. Based on these posts would you recommend TR or GA Precision? If there business does dry up some, i might could get one built even quicker? I have been using this site for 3 plus years and have always detected people here resent Tactical Rifles. But i offered one for sale here and i had tons of responses. Only would have sold it to finance class 3. My final response is this: Tactical Rifles must then be percieved on this website as either total crap or the holy grail(those that we dont speak positivley about). This is a pro GA Precision website isnt it? Just checking. Likewise, I have had a GA precison built Ar 10 that is lights out awesome, great product. If TR rifles sent out a dud and didnt make it right then they need a spanking but not a beheading.


Biased? If you mean we (this community) is biased to straight forward top shelf rifle makers, then yes we are. What we don't tolerate is some half ass gunsmith preaching he is the greatest in the land and then taking 12-28 months to complete a rifle with every excuse in the book thrown at the customer. Then, you receive a POS covered in spray paint!!!! That is unacceptable in every regard. There are just far to many threads popping up with these same poor experiences to ignore this. To treat a customer the way Rooney has cannot be ignored. Maybe if his business intake took a dive he would recognize the problems he has on hand and deal with them in a professional manner. So far, with all the reading on this subject he has displayed nothing but an immature business practices. There is a long list of builders here that almost everyone frequents because of the work they put out AND customer service.

Here are a few:

GA Precision
Short Action Customs
Surgeon Rifles
Spartan Rifles
Accurate Ordnance
American Precision Arms
Long Rifles Inc
Crescent Customs
 
Sparrow, people are biased toward stuff that they bought and are happy with. If there is indeed a vendetta against TR, it comes as rooney's own sowing and reaping. If all I had to contribute to this thread was comments based on what I have read, I would just stay out of it. However, I have a serious bug up my ass about this shitbird's work, because I had a personal experience with him. Luckily for me, it was a friend's rifle, not mine. But watching a close personal friend get hoodwinked is not pleasant. I mean, I unmasked all the flaws of the rifle in about 30 minutes after disassembling it, including cleaning off all the paint with a rag and some acetone. All this, and it was far from an impressive shooter. As icing on the cake, I emailed Rooney about all my findings, including some serious structural flaws like stripped base screws, and he merely marginalized my claims. If my post prevents one poor soul from doing business with this guy, then I feel I have done some good in this world.
 
I read this thread when it first started, and used it as a reference for a friend of mine considering a TR build so he could make an informed decision. I ended up re-reading all 14 pages yesterday after Moses started the new Tactical Rifles thread based on his latest experience. To those claiming "bias" against a certain builder I will say this about the Hide:

This is my Go-To source of information because NO ONE is sacred here. If a builder puts out a POS or screws a customer, the truth will be told here. The builders that are favored here are favored because they have built a well-deserved reputation and are actually great at what they do. On many sites builders/manufacturers are favored because they're members, or pay advertising, or whatever. Here, it's pretty much the opposite, builders don't GET to come on this forum UNLESS they're known to be solid guys that stand behind their work. They're not great because they're here, they're here because they're great. THAT is what sets this forum apart for me. The fact that LL refuses to accept advertising dollars from entities that don't have a solid product speaks volumes towards this.

As has been beaten to death already: it's not that a builder has a screw-up, it's how that guy HANDLES the screw-up that carries the weight with most of us that spend ENORMOUS amounts of money on equipment.
 
As has been beaten to death already: it's not that a builder has a screw-up, it's how that guy HANDLES the screw-up that carries the weight with most of us that spend ENORMOUS amounts of money on equipment.

Exactly.

Oh, and try not to repeatedly make the same mistakes. There are enough different ways to fuck up that there is little excuse for doing it the same way twice ;)
 
Exactly.

Oh, and try not to repeatedly make the same mistakes. There are enough different ways to fuck up that there is little excuse for doing it the same way twice ;)

An EXCELLENT point, sir. To make a one-time mistake is totally understandable and even forgivable, who HASN'T wished they could take one back? To make the same mistake/s repeatedly and have a complete lack of remorse over it is shit-baggery at it's worst.
 
Just read through this entire thread after seeing it linked from another gun owners website that I frequent. Thanks everyone for the feedback and laughs about TR. Sorry to everyone that has purchased their product and had to deal with them. Good luck guys.
 
Just read through this entire thread after seeing it linked from another gun owners website that I frequent. Thanks everyone for the feedback and laughs about TR. Sorry to everyone that has purchased their product and had to deal with them. Good luck guys.

There's another one from a more recent victim of TacticalRifles.net that is STILL finding issues on his rifle.:

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-bolt-action-rifles/223193-tacticalrifles-net.html

Plus one from a shill claiming great stuff from TR but couldn't produce ONE item of proof when called on his B.S.
 
The last thing I would want to fuck up is a tool for someone that can likely end my existence from upwards of a mile away let alone one they are paying an arm and a leg for.
 
Recently a friend of mine purchased a Tactical Rifles boltgun. He brought it by for my evaluation.
Camo job was good. He said they hydro dipped it.
Paint on bolt was already coming off on bolt and it had not been shot
The receiver tang had a visible air space between tang and stock. I pulled it apart and saw the problem when they bedded it. They did not relieve the screw holes and the screws actually threaded into the bedding compound so no way it could pull rear of receiver tight.
The bedding job was uglier than I have ever seen from custom smith.
No pillars to keep stock from compressing over time which could be a problem since it has a detachable magazine assembly
The detachable magazine assembly had sharp edges instead of a nice smooth radius.
Stock appeared to be a Bell and Carlson copy of McMillan

I don't know how it will shoot but I advised to shoot and if it shot well have bedding fixed. Install pillars of pillar bed with Devcon ( it currently shows what looks like foam between layers of fiberglass.

Now the price he got with scope, bipod,case etc was not bad I just wished they had a better job with bedding and relieved the edges of the metal
 
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Maybe you should have checked the chamber with a no go gauge. I know someone who recently received his tr.net custom rifle after waiting 2.5 years and right out of the box he was getting 50% light primer hits. As it turned out it was a weak firing pin spring, I just wanted to see how close the 308 chamber was with a go and no go, the bolt closed on the no go with a very light resistance. If your not going to reload it will not be a problem, but when your shooting Lapua brass you will get fewer reloads before they hit the brass bucket. I sent tr.net a email with rifle serial # but never got a response.
 
<span style="font-weight: bold">Let's see:

ndnboy71 is registered to a Rob Looney on Twitter:</span>


Image removed by request





<span style="font-weight: bold">On the Tactical Rifles Facebook page what do we see? Why it's a Rob L working the booth:</span>


Image removed by request



<span style="font-weight: bold">Why that's quite a coincidence..</span>

I have just read through this entire thread, and wow! I have never even heard of such piss poor CS in this industry. It seems like this company has a person (a nearly illiterate person) create user accounts on the Hide to do their bidding. probably the same guy playing fanboy in every other TR thread. How is it that everyone that defends TR spells on the level of a retarded chimpanzee??? It is unbeleiveable that someone would hijack a service member's identity to defend a company so clearly in the wrong. Obviously the impostor could not be a corpsman. A person with such poor grammar and spelling would probably not score high enough on the ASVAB to even get into the Navy, let alone corpsman training. Do you think he can spell triage? I truly feel for Mr. Looney. He's had his name dragged through the mud by some TR ass clown. I hope he can get to the bottom of this, and hold those responsible accountable.
 
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I have been on SH for a little while and lurking for much longer. I am amazed that TR.net seems to pump out trash so consistently and continues to be in business. However perhaps the explanation of novice shooters and first time buyers is their target and keeps them afloat. Such a shame.
I am happy to have SH as a great and informative resource to help steer me clear of a group that appear to be charlatans selling FUBAR rigs at inflated prices with horrible waiting times and zero customer service.
 
Biased? If you mean we (this community) is biased to straight forward top shelf rifle makers, then yes we are. What we don't tolerate is some half ass gunsmith preaching he is the greatest in the land and then taking 12-28 months to complete a rifle with every excuse in the book thrown at the customer. Then, you receive a POS covered in spray paint!!!! That is unacceptable in every regard. There are just far to many threads popping up with these same poor experiences to ignore this. To treat a customer the way Rooney has cannot be ignored. Maybe if his business intake took a dive he would recognize the problems he has on hand and deal with them in a professional manner. So far, with all the reading on this subject he has displayed nothing but an immature business practices. There is a long list of builders here that almost everyone frequents because of the work they put out AND customer service.

Here are a few:

GA Precision
Short Action Customs
Surgeon Rifles
Spartan Rifles
Accurate Ordnance
American Precision Arms
Long Rifles Inc
Crescent Customs

Don't forget RW Snyder!!! I too am HIGHLY biased to builders who use my hard earned money to build me great rifles.
 
I am fortunate not to be a customer (victim) of TR.net although I did. briefly, look at some of their advertising.
I was in the market for a bolt gun after a year or so of frustration trying to make a certain piston driven 308 modern sporting rifle shoot to my satisfaction.
I was fortunate enough to have a bit of excess funding on hand and, after joining here, bought a gun, used, from the for sale section of this forum. An AO build that has been a superb performer for me. I'm learning this rifle game after years of handgun metallic silhouette shooting and a multi year hiatus from any form of shooting.
I am now hooked on the sport. So far only making holes in paper and playing at my local range out to 200 yards. I'll be going further soon as I develop my skills to the point where they merit trying for longer. We have 500 yards available to play in on certain days of the month and Manatee is not all that far away, about 200 or so miles away so a weekend trip is not out of the question should I feel froggy.

Frank and Marc, I have nothing but the highest respect for the way you are handling this cluster - f*%$k. I read all 14 pages last night, although I have poked my nose in a few times, I really have nothing much more to say. Moses, et al, I feel for you. I too, in a different sport where high dollar equipment is invested, have been given some hard lessons. It hurts!
I have no doubt you guys will prevail in the lawsuit. I also have fond hopes that novices and the uninformed will take heed to what has been posted here, even the snarky stuff, and spend their money where it will do them some good.
 
I would email Ken White at popehat.com. The guy is an first amendment/free speech lawyer. He has helped other internet entities when they have been sued for slander/libel etc. Most of the work, as I understand it, is done pro bono. Highly, highly, highly recommend doing that.
 
Wow, what hacks. This has got to be one of the worst gunsmith jobs I have ever seen! Thanks for the heads up. I will be sure to avoid them! The scary thing is their website looks legit.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Not only is their work terrible but their customer service is even worse.

rxs0
 
Due to the recent events that we're all aware of (aka, Frank and Marc getting sued), I searched for some tacticalrifles.net reviews and stumbled across this one that had me in stitches. I'll leave you with these two small tidbits, but urge you to read the whole review and see if you think there's any chance it's 100% truthful. Glad to see some guys, including former military snipers, calling BS on the 1,000 yard accuracy claims in the comments section below.

For your reading pleasure.

At 1000 yards, where a small gust of wind can throw your group off entirely, Ben had several groups in the 3” range with all three types of Hornady ammunition he used in the test.

and how they think about potential customers:

The biggest complaint that I hear from our friends at Tactical Rifles is that they have to deal with vacillating wannabes who wish they could order a custom rifle but don’t follow through with actually ordering one.

The whole "review"
Ultimate Sniper Rifle ? 3 Inches at 1000 Yards ? TacticalRifles.net
 
Did you go through those comments? I honestly wonder how much of that was completely fabricated.

"Lane Hartle May 9, 2011 at 2:42 pm

Just curious why the individual shooting the rifle at the Manatee Range in the picture above isn’t wearing shooting or safety glasses. In fact, he’s wearing them on his head. If he’s just posing for a photo and forgot to put them on, that’s one thing, but the photo does send the wrong message…

Reply

Administrator May 9, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Yeah Ben was never required to wear them when he was shooting haajis in iraq and afghanistan who were hoping some day to blow up a burger king. It’s hard to always remember that you are punching paper these days with range rules. There isn’t a lot of back splatter at 1000 yards, and $3500 rifles rarely blow up in your face with factory ammo.

Reply

Lane Hartle May 9, 2011 at 2:48 pm

Good point… Send a couple of haajis my way, be glad to help Ben take care of them…"

Are these people for real? I suppose the People of WalMart could all be commenting on this thread, or a comic reading teenager is running their advertising.
 
Just recently there was a show on The Military Channel and one of the rifles featured was from TR.
I couldn't help but chuckle a little since I have been following these threads.
I'm sorry you folks have to deal with problems like these.
You would that anyone who makes a living dealing with firearms would be under greater scrutiny by the authorities.
 
Due to the recent events that we're all aware of (aka, Frank and Marc getting sued), I searched for some tacticalrifles.net reviews and stumbled across this one that had me in stitches. I'll leave you with these two small tidbits, but urge you to read the whole review and see if you think there's any chance it's 100% truthful. Glad to see some guys, including former military snipers, calling BS on the 1,000 yard accuracy claims in the comments section below.

For your reading pleasure.

At 1000 yards, where a small gust of wind can throw your group off entirely, Ben had several groups in the 3” range with all three types of Hornady ammunition he used in the test.

and how they think about potential customers:

The biggest complaint that I hear from our friends at Tactical Rifles is that they have to deal with vacillating wannabes who wish they could order a custom rifle but don’t follow through with actually ordering one.

The whole "review"
Ultimate Sniper Rifle ? 3 Inches at 1000 Yards ? TacticalRifles.net

The funniest thing about all that crap they wrote is he claims all shots were taken with 168gr ammunition!
 
TR and Red Jacket should have a build off.
Nah, that would take too long... No need to give them anymore advertising than nessesary
I'd like to see them play Russian Roulette with a pair of Glocks...... NEVA BEEN DONE BEFO!

That would be a game changer! Win Win I say, but that would probably be one of the rare times a Glock malfunctioned due to these fine smiths toooling with them.
 
Glad you didn't order from them. I'm sure you ended up with something much better.

-Paulus

I then almost made the mistake of ordering a ranch rifle from Black Ops Precision, thank god i came to my sense and went back to what i have lusted for, for years, a TacOps Tango51. I would rather endure whatever wait i have to go through to have a 1st class platform.