500Boswell
.400 member
Reged: 21/07/06
Posts: 1281
Loc: Queensland
|
|
Hello ,
Would like to know who are good Double Gunsmiths in Australia who presently working [not retired ]who can do all the work you might need done on a double ,servicing[actions] ,re-regulating,repairing actions etc
Thankyou
|
gryphon
.450 member
Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
|
|
Nitro was dropping some d guns off last week in Vic..he should be able to help you out.
--------------------
Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.
|
500Boswell
.400 member
Reged: 21/07/06
Posts: 1281
Loc: Queensland
|
|
Thankyou gryphon
Cheers
|
gryphon
.450 member
Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
|
|
From memory?? Kevin Sharp? here is the google answer after a search.
R.E. Sharp & Sons Gunsmiths
Sports Equipment, Goods & Repairs - Coldstream, VIC
15 Welten Drv, Coldstream VIC 3770
Ratings & Reviews
Phone
(03) 9739 1068
--------------------
Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.
|
ChrisPer
.300 member
Reged: 12/05/08
Posts: 235
Loc: Australia
|
|
Vic Pedersen
3 Bullo Court
Leanyer NT
(Darwin)
0417 814 730
08 8927 1471
Vic re-soldered and regulated my 500/450 No1 BPE , plus a lot of other work on it. He showed me quite a portfolio of regulation targets from various British doubles he has worked on.
He is not one to use a lot of words. Made me feel quite garrulous.
|
NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40482
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
|
|
Yes I use Kevin Sharp, currently and in the past for double rifle and double shotgun work.
Good bloke and does a good job.
Vic Pedersen is well known too. Never met or used him though.
--------------------
John aka NitroX
 ...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
|
NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40482
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
|
|
http://www.yelp.com.au/biz/safari-arms-rolf-bachnick-lilydale
Rolf Bachnick is another gunsmith who has made double rifles and is skilled in their repair. I have spoken to him, but never used him. Marrakai's and "264's" .577 Light Nitro Greener Shotgun conversion was made by Bachnick.
Safari Arms-Rolf Bachnick
32 Alexandra Rd
Lilydale Victoria 3140
Phone number (03) 9739 5744
--------------------
John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
Edited by NitroX (01/07/15 02:10 AM)
|
NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40482
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
|
|
Any skilled and experienced gunsmiths in this field in Australia should feel free to add their details to this thread. So we get a good list of the small number of skilled people in this area for members to use for their needs.
--------------------
John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
|
CHAPUISARMES
.416 member
Reged: 16/01/08
Posts: 2908
Loc: DUBBO, NSW, AUSTRALIA
|
|
Unfortunately and possibly the best gunsmith we had retired from gun smithing due to not enough customers that were willing to pay a 'Fair' hourly rate but wanted the best work money could buy. Anyone who knew or saw Alex Beer's work would agree. He built Double Rifles from scratch. This was Australia's loss.
|
GG375
.333 member
Reged: 27/02/04
Posts: 347
Loc: Brisbane
|
|
Bob de Vries at Kudu Services in Melbourne is worth a look too. He has done work for me and also made a double .22 at one point, using a 410 shotgun action.
Cheers.
GG
|
gryphon
.450 member
Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
|
|
Rolf B has done good work for me also
--------------------
Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.
|
Waidmannsheil
.400 member
Reged: 19/04/13
Posts: 2498
Loc: Melbourne Australia
|
|
Quote:
Unfortunately and possibly the best gunsmith we had retired from gun smithing due to not enough customers that were willing to pay a 'Fair' hourly rate but wanted the best work money could buy. Anyone who knew or saw Alex Beer's work would agree. He built Double Rifles from scratch. This was Australia's loss.
I met Alex many times at gun shows and he is a gentleman as well as being very skilled, his work was superb. Unfortunately here in Australia most people are not prepared to spend money for skilled labor particularly when engineering is involved. With guns it is even worse as they are relatively small so people think that if it is small it should only cost a small amount. Most people would not complain at spending $20000+ on a kitchen which takes a fraction of the time to manufacture yet would faint at spending $2000 on having some gunsmithing work done, but a kitchen is very big and everyone can see it. We do a lot of classic car restoration work and generally we don't have any problems with payment as again the items are big and flashy, although we still occasionally get customers come to us wanting to restore something like an MG TC and they tell us that they have a tight budget. I just laugh at them and tell them that with Racing or Restoration there is no such thing as a budget and if you have to stick to a budget then you really can't afford to be restoring a car. The amount of work that goes into something like that is staggering and that is the same with gunsmithing if you are doing it properly. It would be interesting if Mr. Dorleac was to tell us how many hours he spends on his creations, I bet it would be a huge amount and his actual hourly rate would not be that high.
Waidmannsheil.
--------------------
There is nothing wrong with vegetarian food, so long as there is meat with it.
|
Rockdoc
.400 member
Reged: 07/12/06
Posts: 1213
Loc: NSW, Australia
|
|
Well said.
Which is why we lose talent in Aus, either OS or to full time better paying work.
|
ChrisPer
.300 member
Reged: 12/05/08
Posts: 235
Loc: Australia
|
|
Quote:
Most people would not complain at spending $20000+ on a kitchen which takes a fraction of the time to manufacture yet would faint at spending $2000 on having some gunsmithing work done, but a kitchen is very big and everyone can see it.
For a lot us, this is prophetic but it misses a point: a kitchen comes pre-approved by the initiator, and she might have waited ten or twenty years for it. It adds value to the house so its not a sunk consumption cost. You will hear YEARS of positive remarks about a good kitchen and all the family enjoy it every single day. It will never be endangered by being hauled up mountains on your back. And it can be financed with the bank and the repayments are pre-approved by the wife!
On the other hand, gunsmithing comes out of most family men's pocket money, not the house repayment budget. It is sunk cost, benefits the buyer greatly if he is willing to see it that way, but is likely no benefit whatever to the rest of the family. And the first time you begin to discuss the cost with an aeroplane guy or a car restorer you realise just how far apart your concept of money for toys is! Most of us would spend less on gunsmithing in a lifetime than a boat, plane or race car builder spends on one engine rebuild.
To my Dad, a plane guy on a low budget, I salute you! To my friends restoring cars, I salute you! And to the sponsors of the amazing work done by gunsmiths like the ones we admire in these pages, well done and I hope you get a lot of joy from their work!
|
Waidmannsheil
.400 member
Reged: 19/04/13
Posts: 2498
Loc: Melbourne Australia
|
|
The original point being made was that people like Alex Beer can't afford to survive here in Australia as there are not enough people willing to spend the money on quality work. Quality work takes years of practice and dedication and often substantial outlays in machinery and overheads and when these guys are getting screwed on price for everything they do, they eventually can't afford to continue or they just get fed up and pack it in. As I said before, when the size of your work is small people expect to pay a small amount regardless of how long it takes to do. We make custom rings for Mannlicher Schoenauers amongst other things which we consider to be a small part but can take between 15 and 20 hours to produce as a one of hand made set. When you give them a bill for $1500 they die in the arse but the same customer will happily spend $5000 on getting two diffs rebuilt with lockers fitted and a compressor. Why, because they are big items. The most common reply when we do small time consuming jobs such as rings is "Woa that is expensive, they are only a pair of rings" The fact that the rings take longer to manufacture and you make less money on them is unimportant, it is the size that counts. In Europe and places like Germany in particular, there are many small shops like Alex Beer making superb hand made guns and they can survive because people there are prepared to pay for quality engineering work. Sure they have 80 million but people they also have hundreds of these small shops. We have twenty million people and can't support even a handful of top gunsmiths. The main problem is as our manufacturing and engineering sector has been so decimated by successive governments, people don't remember what engineering even is any more. Ask a teenager what a lathe is these days and they probably think it is some new App for their IPhone. You can not even learn Toolmaking at school any more, there are no more courses. Twenty years ago there were over 8000 tool rooms across the country, now there are only a hand full that actually produce tooling. There are no more Tech schools left so people don't understand what engineering is and if they don't understand then they don't want to pay. In Europe, the US, the middle east and now China people value high quality precision engineering and they are willing to pay for it. That is why there are so many old gun makers being reborn and so many high grade guns being built today. This is why the Swiss watch making industry is thriving.
The Kitchen was just an example and if you are a cabinet maker and feel offended, I apologise.
Waidmannsheil.
--------------------
There is nothing wrong with vegetarian food, so long as there is meat with it.
|
ChrisPer
.300 member
Reged: 12/05/08
Posts: 235
Loc: Australia
|
|
Quote:
The Kitchen was just an example and if you are a cabinet maker and feel offended, I apologise.
Waidmannsheil.
Home handyman, thus not qualified for your apology.
You are of course right!
|
NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40482
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
|
|
A problem Alex Beer may have had was being based in Tasmania, a very small market on the South side of Bass Strait. If he was located in or near the main markets of Melbourne and Sydney there may have been a lot more business at his door. An airfare or two might be a small amount compared to a $15,000 gunsmithing project fee but it might be the difference to getting approached or not.
I know I was very disappointed when Alex took his decision to give up custom gunsmithing and take on a job with a regular paycheck, but everyone needs to make their own decision as to what is best for them personally.
I had a dozen smaller jobs which I would have put his way, but personally thought he was more into full custom jobs than repairs and alterations. Only after he gave up the business, found out those sorts of jobs dropping off was what caused him to make the exit.
Best wishes to Alex anyway as he is a good guy.
--------------------
John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
|
NitroX
.700 member
Reged: 25/12/02
Posts: 40482
Loc: Barossa Valley, South Australi...
|
|
This thread was referenced elsewhere.
A damn shame we never see Alex Beer on NE anymore. Where ar eyou Alex? Still shooting? or just eating cheese? 
--------------------
John aka NitroX
...
Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
"A Sharp spear needs no polish"
|
sbs470
.333 member
Reged: 15/04/04
Posts: 378
Loc: Sheffield Tasmania
|
|
John. Alex doesn't work at the cheese factory anymore he has moved jobs, a little closer to home but still working for a weekly wage. Alex isn't the only top gunsmith working outside the trade to put food on the table.
The top gunsmith Mike Rowe based in the USA also has to leave the bench and take other work.
It's a shame these guys can't make a decent living doing the job they love.
|
500Boswell
.400 member
Reged: 21/07/06
Posts: 1281
Loc: Queensland
|
|
No doubt they could still do it part time [weekends etc ,and just take jobs as it suits them],its a pity to waste the talent they have ,since its a dying Trade ,and nobody to replace them ,or learn from their experience ,first hand
|
lapua
.333 member
Reged: 15/05/05
Posts: 445
Loc: Australia
|
|
Yes seen his work at 2010 NSW gunshow very nice workmanship imo
--------------------
Cheers
lapua
ADF VETERAN ARMY
Lest We Forget
|
mchughcb
.333 member
Reged: 21/02/14
Posts: 397
Loc: Victoria, Australia
|
|
Rolf was no different.and he was trained in Ferlach.
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
