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Fredericksburg welcomes new gunsmith

TFred

TFred

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Most historic town in, Virginia, USA
Repairs, buys, trades, sells.

Just saw this, haven't been there yet.

ETA: Stopped by the place tonight on my way home from work. Hours 10 to 7 weekdays. Hope to make it during hours for a visit soon. Had a printed page taped to the door listing the calibers of ammo he had in stock, which was fairly long! I guess the prices will tell the rest of the story.

TFred
Gunsmith opens on Sophia Street

A business that specializes in repairing firearms has opened in downtown Fredericksburg.

Mike Butkus opened Gunsmithing With Honors last month at 502 Sophia St. He plans a grand opening this weekend.

The business buys, sells and trades guns, but it focuses on repairs. Butkus completed a gunsmithing program with honors from Ashworth College, hence the business’ name.
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TFred

TFred

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Stopped by earlier today. The owner was not there, but I did have a nice chat with the guy who was there. Definitely set up to be primarily a gunsmith, very small inventory, and they don't plan to change that. He said they could get "anything" though. :) They did have a very few guns on consignment. Not what I would call "a lot" of ammo, but more than Walmart currently has on the shelves. The one price I checked did seem competitive, $20 for a box of Federal Fusion in .308 Winchester.

For those familiar with Fredericksburg, they are in a small building right across the street from Brock's very close to the railroad tracks. Parking is not plentiful, you can't park in the Brock's parking lot, but there is parking on the street in front of Brock's. And even in the worst case, it's only about a block from the city's parking garage, which is free for the first two hours.

Here's a Google street view of the store. This is old, so it doesn't look like this now, but he's in the blue-painted building on the right, which is now all white. The intersection ahead is Sophia and Lafayette, and of course that's the railroad bridge in the background.

http://goo.gl/maps/Kbuw2

TFred
 
Tess

Tess

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HEY, TRICORN! Welcome back!

OP related: Anyone have any experience with their gunsmithing capabilities? "With honors" from an online school is suspicious to me, but the guy could have outstanding capabilities and got the paper just to have a credential to hang on the wall. Wouldn't be the first time something like that has seemed necessary.
 
TFred

TFred

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Messages
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Tess said:
HEY, TRICORN! Welcome back!

OP related: Anyone have any experience with their gunsmithing capabilities? "With honors" from an online school is suspicious to me, but the guy could have outstanding capabilities and got the paper just to have a credential to hang on the wall. Wouldn't be the first time something like that has seemed necessary.
Click to expand...
He's only been open about a month, so no word on any work. I do have a co-worker who may use him soon, if I hear any feedback, I'll pass it along.

TFred
 
N

nazbom

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Sep 20, 2013
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A gunsmith?

I'm not sure how much gunsmithing this guy does. My dad took a side by side shotgun there for some hammer work and they couldn't do it, he wanted them to time the cylinder on a webley pistol and had never seen one before and declined the work. I asked if they could install and headspace the barrel on my bolt action rifle and their reply was that they didn't have the necessary machinery. So I know that if I owned the barrel wrench and action vise I could install the barrel and with the reamer I could headspace it, I'm not sure how much 'machinery' is required to install a barrel. Actually yes I do and on a bolt gun about zero, tools, yes. I don't know what gunsmithing this guy does but my father and I inquired about some really basic gunsmithing tasks and this guy was lost in the sauce.

Installing sights and things is nice but it hardly makes you a gunsmith. I know Gander Mountains gunsmith sucked but I know for a fact they installed and headspaced barrels. Fredericksburg needs a competent gunsmith, Gunsmithing with Honors really needs to step up their game if they want to be known as "gunsmiths" and not sight installers.
 
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peter nap

peter nap

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TFred said:
Not much use in reviving this old thread, but just for the sake of completeness, I wanted to pass along word that Gunsmithing with Honors closed up a few months ago.

TFred
Click to expand...

Doesn't look like much loss TFred.
There was a new one in Petersburg that went to one oc dinner. I wonder what Happened to him.
 
skidmark

skidmark

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Valhalla
They are in Hopewell in the Ft. Lee area. A son & father operation.

They say our dinners are too far to go and get back before bedtime.

stay safe.
 
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