Rock Island 1911 warning from gunsmith.

[Winterborn]

Im only posting because my name is being mentioned. I appreciate those who know and trust my work. Thankyou.

Unfortunately Scotts is not taking on any work at the moment due to a huge amount of work we have. Once we are caught up we will be happy to help you however possible to make your vision for your 1911 a reality.

I have never seen anything that John Carduner has done that would warrant any reason to not use him. Hes a good Gunsmith from the work I have seen. Perhaps he just has his preferences on certain 1911's. Not all Smiths will work on everything. I turn away work ALL of the time.


Other options means you are rolling the dice because you could end up with some hack messing up things costing you more to make it right, or you could end up with a gun full of "Improved" Sarco G.I. reject mislabeled "National Match" parts. I doubt the other experts can cut you dovetails for different sights if your cuts dont accomidate the ones you are interested in. Beware!

Just to be clear: There are two "gunsmiths" that work out of Freestate. John is one, and Dr. Bob is the other (has his tools at Freestate on display).

I do not believe the smith mentioned by the OP is John Carduner, but I may be mistaken.

 

[clandestine]

Just to be clear: There are two "gunsmiths" that work out of Freestate. John is one, and Dr. Bob is the other (has his tools at Freestate on display).

I do not believe the smith mentioned by the OP is John Carduner, but I may be mistaken.

I have no knowledge that there was another Smith named Dr. Bob. I have examined Mr Carduners work and I wanted to show support for him. Hes a good Smith from my exposure to his work.

 

[mikec]

Just to be clear: There are two "gunsmiths" that work out of Freestate. John is one, and Dr. Bob is the other (has his tools at Freestate on display).

I do not believe the smith mentioned by the OP is John Carduner, but I may be mistaken.

That is why I asked who it was.

What is Dr Bob's training and background? As they say, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[SharpshooterRoz]

I know someone who had his for quite some time now, no issues so far. I shot his and I really like it. Keep it clean and take good care of it and you may just prove that gunsmith wrong.

 

[Winterborn]

That is why I asked who it was.

What is Dr Bob's training and background? As they say, inquiring minds want to know.

Dr. Bob is a member here, so for details of that sort I would PM him.

This is hearsay, but I have heard from multiple people that he is an Olympic-level pistol shooter.

My personal experience with Dr. Bob is limited, however I did ask him once to look at my Ruger P90 with the intent of working on the internals and perhaps the trigger (those who have owned know of the horrible amount of takeup on the stock trigger). He refused to work on it due to it being a Ruger. Just my personal experience, not trying to comment on his other work with which I have no personal knowledge.

 

[Jackalope]

OMG this has gotten blown WAY out of proportion! I have never knocked Freestate or any gunsmith at all. Blaster229 hit the nail on the head. Geeez!

 

[TaxMan]

Well, what a hot topic. I read a lot here and post little, but it’s time to jump in the mix.
I met Dr. Bob last year, with the same set of problems, on the same RIA gun. My rear sight
was shot off from vibration and I wanted it fixed. I knew little of guns and he seemed too.
He stopped what he was doing, asked a question or two, took the gun and refit the sight
into the slide quite proper. Never any problems after that. I asked about the overall
quality of the pistol, and got the truth! Long story short, I sold that thing, got a Wilson
1911 (used) and learned how to shoot. I didn’t waste time on retrofit sights, trigger work
trick magazines or grips. I took his advanced marksmanship class last year and learned
how to shoot. My feelings were not hurt from the truth, my eyes were opened to learning
a new skill and working towards a NRA Master classification in pistol. To turn the tables,
if someone tried to sell me $ 300 worth of parts for a $ 500 pistol, I would now run like hell.

The work was done for free, while I waited, and he did not even know me. How many
other gunsmiths work like that? Oh, and for the record he is a Olympic rifle shooter, not
a pistol shooter, though you wouldn’t know it by the 3/4” 10 yard groups he commonly
shoots. This guy is the real deal, some posters here need to continue their witch hunt
some other place. The Tax Man

 

[FreeState]

OMG this has gotten blown WAY out of proportion! I have never knocked Freestate or any gunsmith at all. Blaster229 hit the nail on the head. Geeez!

Come see me. We will make it right. Randy

BTW, Dr. Bob is a truly amazing shot (formerly an Olymic shooter). I will show you a few of his recent targets when you come in.

 

[BradMacc82]

OMG this has gotten blown WAY out of proportion! I have never knocked Freestate or any gunsmith at all. Blaster229 hit the nail on the head. Geeez!

OP, I think a lot of the posters here in no way meant to come off as though we're bashing anyone, I know I wasn't, and I'm sure the other's would agree.

Freestate - I sincerely hope you didn't take it as that either, thank you.

 

[Sthomas229]

As a mechanic, I've seen a lot of people put a lot of money into some really crappy POS cars. I will always give my opinion of cost of work vs value of car, but in the end it's their car and their money.
Who am I to refuse their work.

I had a guy with an 84 Porsche 944, Every time something broke I'd tell him to dump it. We're talking early 2000s. By the time he finally gave it up, I checked his records and had done about 12k worth of work to it.

 

[trikshot]

Im only posting because my name is being mentioned. I appreciate those who know and trust my work. Thankyou.

Unfortunately Scotts is not taking on any work at the moment due to a huge amount of work we have. Once we are caught up we will be happy to help you however possible to make your vision for your 1911 a reality.

I have never seen anything that John Carduner has done that would warrant any reason to not use him. Hes a good Gunsmith from the work I have seen. Perhaps he just has his preferences on certain 1911's. Not all Smiths will work on everything. I turn away work ALL of the time.


Other options means you are rolling the dice because you could end up with some hack messing up things costing you more to make it right, or you could end up with a gun full of "Improved" Sarco G.I. reject mislabeled "National Match" parts. I doubt the other experts can cut you dovetails for different sights if your cuts dont accomidate the ones you are interested in. Beware!

Hi Chad,
I was not the gunsmith who spoke with the RIA's owner. However, I have sent him a PM to give me a call to discuss his needs. A lot can be done for less than $300 and should only take a couple of weeks to complete. Thx for the plug!
John Carduner

 

[mopar92]

As a mechanic, I've seen a lot of people put a lot of money into some really crappy POS cars. I will always give my opinion of cost of work vs value of car, but in the end it's their car and their money.
Who am I to refuse their work.

I had a guy with an 84 Porsche 944, Every time something broke I'd tell him to dump it. We're talking early 2000s. By the time he finally gave it up, I checked his records and had done about 12k worth of work to it.

Got ya beat. 1982(?) I think Pontiac 6000. We have done 8k with of work after another shop did 4k worth. Plus the bodywork for 3k and he has an appointment for a 1.5k engine replacement next week.

 

[clandestine]

Hi Chad,
I was not the gunsmith who spoke with the RIA's owner. However, I have sent him a PM to give me a call to discuss his needs. A lot can be done for less than $300 and should only take a couple of weeks to complete. Thx for the plug!
John Carduner

My pleasure friend.

 

[Jackalope]

Come see me. We will make it right. Randy

BTW, Dr. Bob is a truly amazing shot (formerly an Olymic shooter). I will show you a few of his recent targets when you come in.

I'll be up there tomorrow around noon to pick it up from you will you be there so maybe I an straighten this out in person. I'm afraid my original post may not have been gotten my point across properly.

For the record I know the RIA 1911 is not a match grade Olympic class gun I just wanted to make what I have a little bit better to shoot, thats all.

 

[Sthomas229]

Got ya beat. 1982(?) I think Pontiac 6000. We have done 8k with of work after another shop did 4k worth. Plus the bodywork for 3k and he has an appointment for a 1.5k engine replacement next week.

Many times I find there's some sentimental attachment to a vehicle, belonged to a deceased relative, first car they ever bought new, ect.

 

[BradMacc82]

I'm not going to say a word about my $500 truck that had 6.5k put into it..., whoops, too late...

 

[Ruzo]

Im only posting because my name is being mentioned. I appreciate those who know and trust my work. Thankyou.

Unfortunately Scotts is not taking on any work at the moment due to a huge amount of work we have. Once we are caught up we will be happy to help you however possible to make your vision for your 1911 a reality.

I have never seen anything that John Carduner has done that would warrant any reason to not use him. Hes a good Gunsmith from the work I have seen. Perhaps he just has his preferences on certain 1911's. Not all Smiths will work on everything. I turn away work ALL of the time.


Other options means you are rolling the dice because you could end up with some hack messing up things costing you more to make it right, or you could end up with a gun full of "Improved" Sarco G.I. reject mislabeled "National Match" parts. I doubt the other experts can cut you dovetails for different sights if your cuts dont accomidate the ones you are interested in. Beware!

John is not the freestate gunsmith. Bob is. But, he is right about the site issue. I bought a brand new SA Range Officer. I had a hell of a time finding some one to do the sites. I finally had to say to hell with it and did it my self. Don't try that!!!! I was sweating bullets doing the work, cause like chad said, it's real easy to F&%k them up. A good smith would have probably taken a day or so to do what took me a week.

 

[zombiehunter]

I have an STI Spartan...I want to say they use the same frame/slide/barrel as your gun. If it works for you, which it sounds like it does then upgrade until your hearts content. I mean, most people who start upgrading end up replacing internals anyway, so why start with something that's $1000 if you're just going to gut it anyway?

Gun shop guys almost always have something to say...it's annoying. Now if the smith had pulled up your 1911 and been like "well what are you hoping for out of your 1911?" and then sat through that and then been like "ok, I see you're trying to get something that puts one ragged hole at 50 yards. This gun...is never going to do that, but this one will with some work." Are you trying to turn a Gremlin into a Ferrari or just make the Gremlin a little better at what it does? (PS~Not calling your gun a Gremlin)

 

[Biggfoot44]

Once upon a decade Spanish nd Philapine mfg guns DID have issues with crappy steel , bd dimentions, and misplced pins.such guns would indeed be best turned into fishweights or sold to comeone you didn't care about. But that hasn't been aledged anywhere on this thread. If Chad tells us that current mfg RIA frames are dimentionally consistnt , and decent steel, I'll accept that.

 

[Brychan]

You know once upon a time you could buy a new Colt 1911 for about $40.00 of course that very same pistol used is going to cost upwards of $1500 if it was cared for.