SmallCaliberCentral

slightly off topic but ill try anyway,

i am trying to get together a custom target rifle and am having a few inconviences, from reading the posts on here im guessing alot of guys have cusom built rifles so to make me feel a little better does anybody have any horror stories on getting them together. just to see if im not the only one.

ill start with my issues (obviosly in in new zealand which makes every thing a little harder)

on the 20th of november 2007 after talking to my gunsmith i decided to start ordering gear so i can be ready to shoot in september 2008.

i ordered 2 x shilen stainless select match barrels in 30" 8 contours. as of the 1st of may 2008 i dont have a delivery date. (ordered through a gunshop due to importing permit issues)

On the same day i ordered a McMillan f class stock (off a dealer) and maybe 3 months later just out of curiosity emailed McMillan to see if i could get a progress report and they said they had no order for that stock from the company that i ordered off. so next i asked my company if they had ordered it and they said they think so, after asking this for 2months getting half arsed answers like it should be on the next shipment and things like that, on the 25th of april i was told that it hadnt been ordered and it will still be six months. after 5 and a half months waiting.

next two problems arnt so bad but still frustrating

ordered a nightforce 12-42 scope of a american supplier and have been trying to talk to them via emails and each email takes 4-5 days to be replied to so first email asking if they will send to nz and how much for shipping, yes and $256 ups or $49 priority mail so i ask for priority 5 days later get told they cant send priority due to insurance so wold i like to send ups, i reply yes send ups have now been waiting 4 days for a reply, might get up at 3am next morning to call but its hard because americans have trouble understanding my accent.

ordered a barnard action of a dealer and was told it would be over night delivery (nz made action) ordered it on a thursday official order placed on friday afternoon ready for shipment first thing on monday morning, by the following thursday i thought it should be there so i called and they chased it up and found that the email on there website is no longer current so the email order was not recieved, so re-ordered on thursday night hoping to arive the following monday, rang on tuesday and it hard arrived , go to pick it up.............. wrong bolt face sent, send it back and try again that was today



every part i have ordered has had issues.

so yeah anybody else ever had problems like this??

You are not alone, though it hasn't happened to me, personally. I have heard horror stories like this for years, but I must admit you seem snakebit worse than most. Most places here do their best with customer service, we've actually got it pretty good.

I think part of the problem has to be the size of NZ. You don't have too many gunshops and they don't have much competition, so they can "afford" to dally around and act lackadaisical if they want to. Where you gonna go? They more or less have you by the short and curlies.
In any event, I hope your smith has his act together when the parts finally DO arrive, that's where most of the problems here show up.

That should be one fine firearm when you finally get it done.

P.S. You guys do talk funny. Can't you place orders and get information on the internet?

Dang, your luck is about as good as mine! I'm thinking about putting together a custom rifle this fall (modeling the Remington M24) and I'm hoping similar things don't happen. I'm even more affraid of spending all that cash on quality components and then having a gunsmith hose it up!

Good luck on your build and let us know how she shoots!

my gunsmith is arguably the best in the country and was self taught building model airplane engines, so at least i dont have to worry about that part of it, and he lives 10 min down the road. i live in the south island of nz and that im aware of there isnt one company in the whole south island that stocks match quality gear purerly because of the customer base, if you want hunting quality thats different.

if you want products they can always be ordered but its always nice to be able to walk into a shop and pickup what you like.

i can order online but when it turns to crap i dont like dealing in emails.

as an example there is only on shop in nz that stocks a nightforce scope. and the all he stocks is 1 5.5-22x50 with a np-r2 reticle. that is the only one ive ever seen.