Coyote Gulch Armory to the rescue!

faltothebone · February 04, 2003, 02:59

THE BAD NEWS:
On 1/25/03, I took my little STG58 carbine to a so-called "Master Gunsmith" in Western Washington (I don't want to mention any names at this time) to install a MB. All that was required was to thread and silver solder. Well, after I picked it up and had a few words with smith about legally installing MB on a FAL, I took it home and noticed that not only did he just put the ugliest illegal single tack weld, the MB was not indexed properly! I guess I was so mad when I picked it up, I did not notice it. Bottom line is he butchered a perfect BBL and MB, and did it illegally. He claims that he normally uses only red locktite on thousands of MB's, including FAL's so that it does not require touch up??? He tacked welded it because I was concerned about just using locktite.

The kicker is that he wanted to charge me $20 extra for calling him and talking to him for about 3 minutes after I dropped off the rifle. I called him only to make sure he did not use locktite, which to no surprise, he was still planning on using!!! He ultimately ended up not charging me that $20 for the phone call. He quoted me less than 2 hours @ $55/hr since it was a same day job, which I agreed to thinking that it would be less than 2 hours. Wishful thinking, he charged me 2 hours, so with tax, it cost me $120 which would have been okay if he did it correctly. He did offer to fix it after I told him it was not indexed and that it was installed illegally, but I refused since he obviously did not know squat about the law and properly installing a MB, plus I live like an hour away.

Now keep in mind that during this whole time, his attitude sucks, very rude, loud, think he knows everything, and he talks like he's god's gift to gunsmiths. He lost me and a bunch of my friends as customers forever for his lame attitude and butcher work. I called the ATF's tech branch and they confirmed that his method of attaching MB is VERY illegal. As I said, I don't want to provide a business name because I am not trying to screw any business. If he is a fellow member here (unlikely), he can expose himself if he wants to at his own risk. He probably knows alot about other guns and seem to run a decent shop, but he just showed me that he knows little or nothing about FALs and nothing about customer service.

THE GOOD NEWS:
That's when I emailed Mark from Coyote Gulch Armory. I basically explained what happened and asked if he would repair my baby.
He gladly offered his services so I Feddex'd receiver/bbl last Monday, 1/27/03. He brought it to the WAC's Puyallup show here in Washington on Saturday, 2/1/03 where I picked it up. Not only did he fix the butcher work, he touched it up, made it look newer and did some other complimentary work on gas block, he even checked timing and headspace!!!! I used to shoot a little right with a 3" MOA, now it's close to center and 1 to 1-1/2" MOA!!!! Unreal for a 16" FAL!! All of this for a fraction of what it cost me to have it butchered by a master gunsmith.

As bad an experience I just had with the first gunsmith, Mark @ CGA more than made a believer out of me that there are still good and honest people in this sometimes sick world. Mark is a class act and anyone who deals with him will have no regrets. His service and builds are first rate and is highly recommended.

FTTB

Bearwhositshere · February 04, 2003, 15:03

Yep, you found one of the few excellent FALsmiths in Western Washington. I consider myself a damn good FAL builder, but I would say Mark is hands down one of the best I have seen.
Even though I had a table at the WAC show I couldn't help but stop by Marks table and chat for a good long time. I even sent people over to him for rifle builds. You just have to see his work to believe it.

NewtoFals · February 04, 2003, 17:33

To hell with protecting the guy! Member or not....he's doing illegal work amd charging for phone calls what a freaking scam.

I would demand my money back ....it's against the law to manufacture an assault weapon and that's what he did. I would have spilled the beans to the atf about this joker. Who knows how many people out there have these 'permanently' attached devices on their rifles......give us a name so we don't risk our freedom and money by sending guns to this 'smith'.

On the other hand i'm glad that you managed to get it fixed.

faltothebone · February 05, 2003, 11:52

I did in fact call the local ATF branch and they were the ones that gave me the # to the tech branch. The local branch did not know the assault rifle laws completely, to no surprise, so asked that I call their tech's in DC to confirm and to get back to them so they can PAY A VISIT to our fiendly gunsmith.

I have not called them back, but will shortly. When the time is right, I will post business name. I took pics and video of his butcher work for my records before I sent it off to CGA for repairs.
I'll also provide them to ATF if they request it as evidence.
At this point, all I'll say is that shop is located in Tacoma/Fife, WA (and no, it's not Bullseye). Any local will know which shop it is and any local who had this shop install a MB to his/her FAL should be aware that it might be illegally installed. And once the ATF goes thru his records, they'll know who might have illegally configured assault rifles, so be careful.

FTTB

falhopper · February 05, 2003, 16:36

I can not say enough good things myself about Mark at Coyote Gulch Armory. He built my latest FAL. He did an amazing job, snet it back to me within three weeks of my sending it to him and also enclosed a check becuase he said I "over payed" him. I don't know any gunsmith more legit than that.

By the way, if the before mentioned "gunsmith" in western washington is located in Fife, he is a hack. I had him install a AK-74 brake on my SAR-2 and if you can believe this, he installed it UPSIDE DOWN!!! The vent holes for contolling muzzle climb were pointing down. I'm no rocket scientist but what the hell was he thinking. Telling this smiths location is enough to let people know who he is, there isn't another smith in Fife.

Thanks again Mark! I'll be sending all of my business your way.

RedmondBOFH · February 05, 2003, 23:46

I happened to be standing right next to falhopper when he picked up his barrel/receiver. It was a very nice job. Mark's currently doing some work for me, as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing the result.

Anyway, I just wanted to say I witnessed the barrel in question and was impressed. Very nice work with the park job, too.

I also think I know the shop in question in Fife. I'm glad I haven't bothered to have anything done there.

faltothebone · February 06, 2003, 00:13

Falhopper reconfirmed it. Mark @ CGA is a class act and real gunsmith. The other "smith" has no class at all and thinks he's a real gunsmith. No wonder he has a bad attitute, he's probably tired of hearing so much complaints from his unhappy customers every day.

All of my FAL smittin work will go to Mark @ CGA from now on. He has very fair prices and he'll do it right the first time.

FTTB

BlueNote · February 06, 2003, 12:27

Had a chance to talk to Mark from CGA at the WAC show on Saturday. Very nice guy, very knowledgeable, great work. He will be getting all of my gunsmith work in the future.

Mark, if you are reading this, how are you with .45 Gov't Models and CZ 52s?

February 04, 2003, 02:59	#1
faltothebone Registered FALaholic #: 7836 Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 193	Coyote Gulch Armory to the rescue! THE BAD NEWS: On 1/25/03, I took my little STG58 carbine to a so-called "Master Gunsmith" in Western Washington (I don't want to mention any names at this time) to install a MB. All that was required was to thread and silver solder. Well, after I picked it up and had a few words with smith about legally installing MB on a FAL, I took it home and noticed that not only did he just put the ugliest illegal single tack weld, the MB was not indexed properly! I guess I was so mad when I picked it up, I did not notice it. Bottom line is he butchered a perfect BBL and MB, and did it illegally. He claims that he normally uses only red locktite on thousands of MB's, including FAL's so that it does not require touch up??? He tacked welded it because I was concerned about just using locktite. The kicker is that he wanted to charge me $20 extra for calling him and talking to him for about 3 minutes after I dropped off the rifle. I called him only to make sure he did not use locktite, which to no surprise, he was still planning on using!!! He ultimately ended up not charging me that $20 for the phone call. He quoted me less than 2 hours @ $55/hr since it was a same day job, which I agreed to thinking that it would be less than 2 hours. Wishful thinking, he charged me 2 hours, so with tax, it cost me $120 which would have been okay if he did it correctly. He did offer to fix it after I told him it was not indexed and that it was installed illegally, but I refused since he obviously did not know squat about the law and properly installing a MB, plus I live like an hour away. Now keep in mind that during this whole time, his attitude sucks, very rude, loud, think he knows everything, and he talks like he's god's gift to gunsmiths. He lost me and a bunch of my friends as customers forever for his lame attitude and butcher work. I called the ATF's tech branch and they confirmed that his method of attaching MB is VERY illegal. As I said, I don't want to provide a business name because I am not trying to screw any business. If he is a fellow member here (unlikely), he can expose himself if he wants to at his own risk. He probably knows alot about other guns and seem to run a decent shop, but he just showed me that he knows little or nothing about FALs and nothing about customer service. THE GOOD NEWS: That's when I emailed Mark from Coyote Gulch Armory. I basically explained what happened and asked if he would repair my baby. He gladly offered his services so I Feddex'd receiver/bbl last Monday, 1/27/03. He brought it to the WAC's Puyallup show here in Washington on Saturday, 2/1/03 where I picked it up. Not only did he fix the butcher work, he touched it up, made it look newer and did some other complimentary work on gas block, he even checked timing and headspace!!!! I used to shoot a little right with a 3" MOA, now it's close to center and 1 to 1-1/2" MOA!!!! Unreal for a 16" FAL!! All of this for a fraction of what it cost me to have it butchered by a master gunsmith. As bad an experience I just had with the first gunsmith, Mark @ CGA more than made a believer out of me that there are still good and honest people in this sometimes sick world. Mark is a class act and anyone who deals with him will have no regrets. His service and builds are first rate and is highly recommended. FTTB

February 04, 2003, 15:03	#2
Bearwhositshere Registered FALaholic #: 6963 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: location, location Posts: 1,681	Yep, you found one of the few excellent FALsmiths in Western Washington. I consider myself a damn good FAL builder, but I would say Mark is hands down one of the best I have seen. Even though I had a table at the WAC show I couldn't help but stop by Marks table and chat for a good long time. I even sent people over to him for rifle builds. You just have to see his work to believe it. __________________ BlackWell Industries FFL 07/SOT Manufacturer Renton Wa.

February 05, 2003, 16:36	#5
falhopper Registered FALaholic #: 8587 Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Washington Posts: 6	I can not say enough good things myself about Mark at Coyote Gulch Armory. He built my latest FAL. He did an amazing job, snet it back to me within three weeks of my sending it to him and also enclosed a check becuase he said I "over payed" him. I don't know any gunsmith more legit than that. By the way, if the before mentioned "gunsmith" in western washington is located in Fife, he is a hack. I had him install a AK-74 brake on my SAR-2 and if you can believe this, he installed it UPSIDE DOWN!!! The vent holes for contolling muzzle climb were pointing down. I'm no rocket scientist but what the hell was he thinking. Telling this smiths location is enough to let people know who he is, there isn't another smith in Fife. Thanks again Mark! I'll be sending all of my business your way. __________________ I'm broke!

February 06, 2003, 12:27	#8
BlueNote Registered FALaholic #: 5899 Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Seattle Posts: 32	Had a chance to talk to Mark from CGA at the WAC show on Saturday. Very nice guy, very knowledgeable, great work. He will be getting all of my gunsmith work in the future. Mark, if you are reading this, how are you with .45 Gov't Models and CZ 52s? __________________ Peace is NOT the absence of war.

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February 04, 2003, 17:33	#3
NewtoFals Registered FALaholic #: 6083 Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: TEXAS Posts: 960	To hell with protecting the guy! Member or not....he's doing illegal work amd charging for phone calls what a freaking scam. I would demand my money back ....it's against the law to manufacture an assault weapon and that's what he did. I would have spilled the beans to the atf about this joker. Who knows how many people out there have these 'permanently' attached devices on their rifles......give us a name so we don't risk our freedom and money by sending guns to this 'smith'. On the other hand i'm glad that you managed to get it fixed.

February 05, 2003, 11:52	#4
faltothebone Registered FALaholic #: 7836 Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 193	I did in fact call the local ATF branch and they were the ones that gave me the # to the tech branch. The local branch did not know the assault rifle laws completely, to no surprise, so asked that I call their tech's in DC to confirm and to get back to them so they can PAY A VISIT to our fiendly gunsmith. I have not called them back, but will shortly. When the time is right, I will post business name. I took pics and video of his butcher work for my records before I sent it off to CGA for repairs. I'll also provide them to ATF if they request it as evidence. At this point, all I'll say is that shop is located in Tacoma/Fife, WA (and no, it's not Bullseye). Any local will know which shop it is and any local who had this shop install a MB to his/her FAL should be aware that it might be illegally installed. And once the ATF goes thru his records, they'll know who might have illegally configured assault rifles, so be careful. FTTB

February 05, 2003, 23:46	#6
RedmondBOFH Registered FALaholic #: 6486 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Texas, not Washington (I moved) Posts: 36	I happened to be standing right next to falhopper when he picked up his barrel/receiver. It was a very nice job. Mark's currently doing some work for me, as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing the result. Anyway, I just wanted to say I witnessed the barrel in question and was impressed. Very nice work with the park job, too. I also think I know the shop in question in Fife. I'm glad I haven't bothered to have anything done there.

February 06, 2003, 00:13	#7
faltothebone Registered FALaholic #: 7836 Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 193	Falhopper reconfirmed it. Mark @ CGA is a class act and real gunsmith. The other "smith" has no class at all and thinks he's a real gunsmith. No wonder he has a bad attitute, he's probably tired of hearing so much complaints from his unhappy customers every day. All of my FAL smittin work will go to Mark @ CGA from now on. He has very fair prices and he'll do it right the first time. FTTB