In the not too distant past I have had two experiences like yours. The first one was with a rebuild of a Farquharson, which I had acquired in Africa decades ago with a shot out 450/400 barrel and had had rebarreled in .500 Alaskan, due to lack of reloading components for the original caliber. Since I rarely shot the rifle in that configuration, I decided that I would restore it to its original caliber. I shipped it off and waited, and waited and waited, with occasional queries as to progress. I finally got back a totally botched job and considered my options. I was furious, of course, but after thinking about it for some time, I decided that taking legal action against someone who was possibly judgement proof was a waste of time. Instead, I sent the rifle to Steve Bertram, who did a job on it which far exceeds "first class" and my expectations.

In the second instance, I purchased a rifle, represented to be a Kurz Mauser which had been custom restocked, from a member of this forum. It was in a caliber for which I already had two examples, and I really wanted to try out the third Kurz caliber, 6.5X54 Mauser, so I sent it to Lon Paul to have it rebarreled. To my dismay, Lon informed me that what I had was not an original Kurz, but a very clever reproduction, which, however, failed to match the original Kurz measurements significantly. The real problem was with the magazine, which was longer than the cavity in the bottom of the action, creating an overhanging lip, making feeding a problem. The magazine itself was shorter than the original specifications and there was not enough metal in the receiver to allow it to be opened up.

I brought all of this up with the seller and he offered to put me in touch with the person from whom he had bought the rifle. I pointed out that I had no dealings with that person, that whatever satisfaction I could expect had to come from him. He contested that the rifle was indeed counterfeit, and I pointed out the many discrepancies in dimensions. He said that he could not return my money because he had given it to a relative to pay for a much needed operation. I offered to return the rifle in exchange for a token payment and a promissory note for the balance, so that he could attempt to get his money back from the person from whom he bought it. I got no response.

Finally, I concluded that the whole transaction was upsetting me more than it was worth. I decided to put the rifle up for sale with an accurate description of it as a reproduction and to forget about trying to obtain redress from the seller. The fact that I can describe this transaction dispassionately now convinces me that I made the right decision. In the mean time, I have obtained another Kurz rifle, one which had been converted to .358 Winchester, of all things, which I will be sending to Lon as soon as his schedule permits. It cost a good deal less and I am completely happy with it. I will leave the seller to deal with his own conscience as best he can.