Bob Tail and Hard Chrome

[HRT]

I'm thinking about a project gun. The goal would be to take a Combat Commander, rough externally but sound mechanically, set it up with a set of Heinie Slant 8 NS, bobtail and hard chrome. The Heinies are easy, send Richard the slide tell him to cut the dovetails asnd install the Slant 8s, no muss no fuss, slide is mailed insured for $10.00 or so. It gets harder with the bob tail and hard chrome. Shipping the frame now gets into some fairly serious dollars and to have to send it to two different outfits to bobtail and then chrome blows the job out of the water. Sooo can anyone recommend an outfit that can bobtail and chrome in one stop?? And 'bout how much should I expect to pay for those service? Thanks for your responses.

 

[HSMITH]

You can send your gun out and have it sent right back to you, so FFL fees aren't involved. I have found however that if you have a reasonable FFL he can ship it a LOT cheaper than you can. He can use the USPS and you can't, you can only use FedEx overnight to the tune of about $60 with insurance.

To get to your question, any gunsmith you send it to for the metal work can then forward it on to the plater and then send it back to you, all he has to do is drop it in the mail. I would VERY strongly recommend you have the gunsmith send it out to be plated at a shop he recommends, otherwise he will not have the chance to check it over after it is done and probably won't stand behind anything that was done to the gun since you sent it out and had it plated on your own. If HE sends it out for plating and gets it back before it goes to you he can check it over, and HE is the one that outsourced the plating, therefor he is on the hook for everything that was done.

I would recommend that you pick your smith, send it to him with a VERY specific list of what you want done that confirms everything you have been discussing including prices and lead times, and leave the rest up to him.

EDIT: Plating, especially hard chrome, is forever. It makes the gun VERY difficult to work in the future. Have ALL of the work you will ever want to do completed before plating, if you don't you'll have a hard time finding anyone that will even touch it and a harder time paying for it with the added costs.

 

[Dave Sample]

Platers aren't pistolsmiths. You are looking at some serious money here. I can't advise you on this project because I like Ed Brown a lot but handled several "Bob Tails" at the Shot Show and would never have one around here. www.PatriotCustoms.us might do the job as he has the jig. Shoot him an e mail and tell him I sent you.

 

[Bill Z]

HRT,

Dave called my attention to this thread, unfortunately he gave out the wrong webste, it;s www.patriotcustoms.com , not .us . I did have that domain in the past though.

Now, on to your question. It is a job for two different people. One a smith, the other a plater, but that doesn't mean you need to take care of both of them, just the smith does. I do Bobtails, and there is considerable work involved if you want it right. Even getting the holes off by a few thousanths could leave you with an ugly gun. There are several smiths that can take care of the project for you including myself, my best advice is to decide on one, let them know what you want, and leave the plating to them. It should be one stop shopping for you. This includes the sights. That way the smith will take care of re-installing the sights and be responsible for everything after the finish is applied and you are not chasing three differnt people down to make things right.

 

[MoNsTeR]

Virgil Tripp is a talented 'smith on top of being the best chrome plater in the business. Give him a call, I bet he can help you.

http://www.trippresearch.com

 

[Stinkyshoe]

Hey Dave...

I was just curious why you dislike the bobtail? I got to handle one of Ed Browns at the KC gun show and it was awesome. Ofcourse I have never shot one.....
I'd be interested in why you dislike them...Thanks!
Ss