What happens if gunsmith passes away in middle of your build?

[nksmfamjp]

This is all theoretical, but what happens if a gunsmith passes away in the middle of your build? Surely this has happened before. You ship some parts off, maybe pay a down payment.....then you find out the one man shop gunsmith passes away.

How do you get your stuff?....assuming mail order
Is your money gone? I assume so.....
Who finishes these builds?

BTW, this hasn’t happened, but the wife is questioning my judgement again!

 

[E-Tool]

I usually consider age...

Too young may mean inexperienced, too old may mean death during build. I find the best builds somewhere in the early wrinkle but still tight skin phase, and gray but not white hair phase; and certainly pre-palsy shakes phase.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

You get a SEMI-custom rifle.

 

[candyx]

Who finishes the build.... God..... It should be one hell of a shooter.

 

[nksmfamjp]

Well, there are car accidents, just saying....not always age related...

 

[uffduh]

Ageist fucks!

 

[dirthead1]

Unfortunately this did happen. Last year Robert Gradous passed away. He was a one man shop. I don’t know how the return of parts happened, but I do remember at the time, it was more complicated than you would think. He was one of the best. I’m sure there are some here that have direct knowledge of the process that can comment.

 

[Carlos Danger]

His wife sells your shit for pennies on the dollar because she hated his business for decades.

 

[celltech]

Jeff from CDi passed away a couple of years ago and I think his wife was mailing everything back to the owners. I can only imagine what it would be like if nobody knew the business or how the smith organized stuff...

 

[Nik H]

Unfortunately this did happen. Last year Robert Gradous passed away. He was a one man shop. I don’t know how the return of parts happened, but I do remember at the time, it was more complicated than you would think. He was one of the best. I’m sure there are some here that have direct knowledge of the process that can comment.

He had a shop manager that returned parts. His manager was really on top of things. Not sure about how deposits were handled. When Robert did barrels for me, he didn't want a deposit for the blank as he felt he could always sell it to someone else.

 

[dirthead1]

He had a shop manager that returned parts. His manager was really on top of things. Not sure about how deposits were handled. When Robert did barrels for me, he didn't want a deposit for the blank as he felt he could always sell it to someone else.

His passing was so sad. Not only was he a great smith, but he was one of the best human beings ever. I wish I had a Gradous build. That would be one I would never part with.

 

[Heavyopp]

This happened to my wifes grandfather — precision .22 rimfire, pardini I think

Turns out the wife or family sold everything, including his gun, within 3 days of his passing — guys name was Lou or Larry and I beleive he was in maine

Grandfather has been calling, and writing — at 1st they answered but now they just ignore him

Last week he finally called the local Maine police, was told his gun was sold to red feather outfitters — called them, told them they had a stolen gun — seems they don’t care — said they’ll send it back if they can find it — we pay shipping

Larry died months ago, grandfather didn’t chase after it till family started to get on his case, the phone call to red feather outfitters was last week

This is a handgun, owned by a NJ resident — there is a paper trail — don’t know how red feather outfitter misplaces a $2500 handgun — most likely playing dumb

as far as I know the gun has not been formally reported stolen, trying to let the FFL do the right thing

 

[SRPowah]

as far as I know the gun has not been formally reported stolen, trying to let the FFL do the right thing

Report it sooner rather than later. The FFL will figure it out real quick.

 

[chevy_man]

This happened to my wifes grandfather — precision .22 rimfire, pardini I think

Turns out the wife or family sold everything, including his gun, within 3 days of his passing — guys name was Lou or Larry and I beleive he was in maine

Grandfather has been calling, and writing — at 1st they answered but now they just ignore him

Last week he finally called the local Maine police, was told his gun was sold to red feather outfitters — called them, told them they had a stolen gun — seems they don’t care — said they’ll send it back if they can find it — we pay shipping

Larry died months ago, grandfather didn’t chase after it till family started to get on his case, the phone call to red feather outfitters was last week

This is a handgun, owned by a NJ resident — there is a paper trail — don’t know how red feather outfitter misplaces a $2500 handgun — most likely playing dumb

as far as I know the gun has not been formally reported stolen, trying to let the FFL do the right thing

His next phone call had better be the ATF. They will get one hell of an audit and I'd guess a few more will turn up.

Then I'd file against the estate for the trouble because what the fuck?

 

[Heavyopp]

Report it sooner rather than later. The FFL will figure it out real quick.

His next phone call had better be the ATF. They will get one hell of an audit and I'd guess a few more will turn up.

Then I'd file against the estate for the trouble because what the fuck?

I agree — What the fuck

Thing is grandpa is 95, spent Christmas eve of the 18th year of his life in the Ardennes forrest frozen in a foxhole — this gun is not something that keeps him up at night — he’s one of the best people I know, this just doesn’t bother him

I’ll speak with him tomorrow, see if he’s heard anything about it — maybe the FFL who bought the stolen gun came thru — if not we’ll discuss what he wants to do next

 

[jcmullis2]

What happens is, the scumbag family comes and picks through and takes whatever they want. The atf doesn’t give a crap. They aren’t into the tracking down missing stuff business. And The gun owner is screwed

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Executor?

 

[Tex68w]

His passing was so sad. Not only was he a great smith, but he was one of the best human beings ever. I wish I had a Gradous build. That would be one I would never part with.

I still regret selling mine.

There was a shop that had a big fire a few years back and ruined some KAC guns, I recall it being a bit of a shit show to get sorted. Shit happens and it sucks to be on the losing end of those situations.

 

[locotrician]

My smith has a sheet you fill out that he puts in a book that he made his wife familiar with just in case this were to happen .

 

[LRI]

What happens is, the scumbag family comes and picks through and takes whatever they want. The atf doesn’t give a crap. They aren’t into the tracking down missing stuff business. And The gun owner is screwed

Yes and no. They aren't interested in settling civil disputes but few things will rile up an inspector more than an A/D record that resembles a 3rd grader's coloring book. When that happens you can feel the earth stop rotating.

A few years back Dakota Arms/Remington Custom Shop had a dipshit pretending to be an accountant who was also tasked with maintaining the facilities A/D books. He was nearly handcuffed by agents and hauled off to the proctology resort after they came in for a compliance audit. If it hadn't been for Remington's attorney's sugaring up the feds, they'd of likely been shut down 2, 3 years ago.

 

[supercorndogs]

All unfinished projects are buried with them. I know it doesn't seem fair, but the law can be very complex.

 

[RayDBonz]

Happened to me with a custom knife build.
The maker's wife sent me back my piece of damascus and my handle material. I had another maker make my knife.
Fortunately my materials were marked with my name and I knew the maker well.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

You have a significantly higher chance of gunsmith taking your money and blowing past the delivery times by not weeks, but months and months.....and sometimes years, lol than you do having the gunsmith pass away.

Sincerely,
Theis

 

[A&8's]

The serialized parts are returned to the person who brought them in, via another FFL. That is, IF he put them in his A&D book (which is supposed to happen, but some don't log everything in like they should.) The other parts, well, hopefully he was a good record keeper and was organized. This happened last year to the owner of S.I.P (Southern Indiana Precision) when he was killed in an ATV accident. A couple of other builders took over and finished the builds he had in process, if the customers wanted to go that route.