If you are choosing between two smiths, which of the two would you choose:

Gunsmith A: has competent knowledge closely supervises his employees to work on your piece. he rarely works on a customer's gun himself.


Gunsmith B: trained by a US-certified gunsmith, has necessary tools, and works on job orders by himself only.



(Another way of looking at the scenario is this: If Bill Wilson was in his early days working by himself, would a customer's piece be better off than when he is less hands-on and more of supervisory now? Note: Mr. Wilson is just an example. I live outside the States, so there's no way the good man can work on my 1911...only in my wild dreams perhaps!)

i would go more by the overall reputation of the business. assuming bill wilson no longer does actual gunsmith work....would you rather have your gun worked on by him or someone who's been doing it everyday for the last X years?(not trying to diss wilson's gunsmithing abilities, btw). also, you're assuming all gunsmiths employed by another gunsmith are inferior to their boss....which may or may not be true. on the other hand, you could assume a one person shop may be more conscious of the quality of the services that goes out the door because his/her name is at risk...but then again that may not be true. i've seen some posts from big name shops where the big name blames the problem on the user.

i think overall it's a crapshoot, so better to just go with the overall reputation of the smith or a shop.

-kotonk

Either way you decide to go, there should be examples somewhere that you can look at. Training has a lot to do with the finished product, but that is not the final word. I have seen some "trained" individuals that I would not allow to even load my mags. I have also seen work from "untrained" individuals that was outstanding. Do your homework and make your decision wisely. It should not matter (on some things) how the job gets done, but how well the job gets done

I'd go with B. You can't beat a personal touch and you can't supervise experience. Maybe having just one student or assistant would not be so bad. You can't watch everything more than one person does enough to garauntee quality.

I would go with C. Oh sorry only A and B??

C is the gunsmith who is willing to let me see what he is doing to my pistol, while he is doing it. That is an extension of B, I guess. I do not know how easy it is to get such treatment where you live, but I love my gunsmith just because he is willing to do it for me. And yes, sometimes it is quite helpful, since you can catch up things that you do not want to do the way he things should be done.

I know I am picky, but if a gunsmith screws up my baby, it's not as simple as "sell it and get another one". So it'd better be done right the first time.

Rgds

__________________
John Caradimas SV1CEC
The M1911 Pistols Organization
http://www.m1911.org