Gunsmiths!
Timing is such a difficult thing to sort out. Sometimes I get a gun back a week after I put it in for rejounting or ejector regulating or new lock pins etc. Other times I wait for months and months and months.
I have had a Reiley hammer gun in the workshop which needs a new horn finial fitted to the forend - for two years! In the interim I have had a pair of Holland & Hollands re-stocked and overhauled, a Purdey sleeved and re-stocked, another H&H re-stocked, numerous re-joints, strips, cleans and re-chequer jobs etc..
I have a Boswell hammer gun that needs a pair of chamber sleeves sunk into it - I have been waiting for over two years!
I had a Lancaster boxlock for re-stocking the forend that I took home after two years of waiting and sold 'as was'.
What is the story?
Well, gunmakers take on whatever work comes in and they have only the one pair of hands. Like the rest of us, some work appals more than other work and it is all too easy to pick up something they like the look of rather than a job they have been avoiding. Also, some jobs may appear more urgent than others.
Unfortunately it just goes with the territory. It is the bane of my life and explaining to a customer that their gun is 90% ready but I am trying hard to get the gunsmith to re-chequer it; the final job, but he keeps not doing it, is always a chore.
Still, this is the way it is. Too few good gunsmiths and too much work for them to do.
