Cost of having damascus barrels refinished?

[Gary Weaver]

Can someone explain what it takes to get these beautiful barrels refinished..
I have a nice G grade that would look great redone. Just dont know what that entails and how much it may cost.
Im not talking about doing it myself, I would have Brad do them..
Oh yeah and the turnaround time.. Its tough to be without our Parkers for too long.

[Bruce Day]

Can someone explain what it takes to get these beautiful barrels refinished..
I have a nice G grade that would look great redone. Just dont know what that entails and how much it may cost.
Im not talking about doing it myself, I would have Brad do them..
Oh yeah and the turnaround time.. Its tough to be without our Parkers for too long.


Yes, someone can explain. Call Brad and ask.

[Gary Weaver]

whats it cost? $300, $500, $800, $1000? just trying to gauge the expense..
Enough people here have had that done.. is it a secret? :-)

[Bruce Day]

Cost is closer to $300, usually, but call Brad. He is the best determiner of his charges, time to completion, and procedures. Not me or anyone else here.

Call Brad, he doesn't bite.

[Jay Gardner]

I agree: call Brad. I think you will find his prices very reasonable. As for turn around just ask him. He is very straight forward about how long it takes.

[Gary Weaver]

Sounds good, I will do that.. was just looking for a ball park and $3-$500 is in the ball park.. $800-$1000 not so much.. :-) Thanks guys.

[Jay Gardner]

I think you will be relieved.

[Brian Dudley]

Instead of discussing the pricing of craftsman in the open forum, contact them directly and just ask.

[Milton Starr]

each gun is different but Brad said he could refinish mine and tighten the action for 800$ . Im tired of having to rub my raw barrels down in oil every day :rotf:

[Steve McCarty]

whats it cost? $300, $500, $800, $1000? just trying to gauge the expense..
Enough people here have had that done.. is it a secret? :-)

I just delivered my L.C. Smith damascus gun to a local gunsmith, Keith Kearcher who specializes in re-coloring damascus barrels. His fee is $420 to refinish the barrels. He is also going to re-choke the gun to IC/Mod, from Full and full and hone the rough spots from the bore. I told him I don't need to have the bore perfect, if the roughness is deep, but he said there is plenty "meat" left to allow most of the barrel to be honed pretty clean. I explained that I want to shoot the gun, so I don't want to tubes to be made paper thin.

He also said the forcing cone and chambers would probably need to be lengthened, but I said I'm planning to shoot 2.5" RST shells and the original chambering will probably be okay.

A few years ago someone here complained that Kearcher had bored his barrels too thin. I called Kearcher to confirm that the gun would be safe to shoot. I'm going to trust him. He has a good following, most of his work done by mail. I'm a rare "local guy" customer. I also asked him what color he'd make the barrels. He replied that most L.C. Smith's were brown. I did some research on the topic of the color of Smith gun damascus tubes and found both brown and black,and frankly I like the appearance of brown and silver tubes best.

My Smith was a clunker, with no color and plain, but undamaged wood and pretty rough bore. I'll polish the stock with beeswax when I get it back, but I am not going to refinish it. I am looking forward to my newly finished O grade Smith. I plan to shoot the dickens out of it - clays and skeet. It will not be brought back to like new. I stipulated that the original patina on the action be left as is...I can just make out some case colors. Very little rust.

Total cost will be about $700, which means I'll have about $1100 into the gun, which is pretty close to its value, I think.

I don't know if Kearcher's prices are competitive, but he is in business. You can google his website for details.

[Jay Gardner]

I undersand Keith was gravely ill last year. Does anyone know how he is doing health wise?

[Steve McCarty]

I undersand Keith was gravely ill last year. Does anyone know how he is doing health wise?

I don't know anything about Keith's health and had not heard that he was ill. He looks hail and hearty to me. His hair is still inky black. He stands tall. He has taken on an apprentice who I believe he said is a cousin. The kid is a nice fellow. Looks like an NFL quarterback and seems eager to learn.

Keith told me that he is planning to retire and slowly turn the biz over to his apprentice, which causes me to concur about his possible poor health, but he doesn't seem to be in a great hurry to hang it up. Cody is working hard and he usually answers their phone, but so does Keith. Cody is going to school on my gun, but Keith has always been a stickler for quality and I'll bet he is watching over my gun well. The several guns that he has worked on for me came back very nice.

[Rich Anderson]

I have had several sets of barrels done by Dale Edmonds and the cost was $300 and it took a couple of months. If you PM me I'll see if I can find his contact info. I asked Brad about doing some barrels and he quoted me from 400-600 depending on the condition. There is no fast way to do these it's an art form. Send your barrels during the off season and you should be fine.

[Steve McCarty]

I have just stepped in the door coming from Keith Kearcher's shop. His nephew, Cody Kearcher is working with him and he did my gun. He worked on my very plain O grade L.C. Smith.

I thought the overall cost was high. I have yet to take pictures, but I was ASAP.

Gun was re-browned, bore polished, it's still a bit rough, but I think it'll shoot okay, chokes opened to IC and Mod, checkering recut (cost $300!) action was taken apart and cleaned and the safety was repaired. I'm going to try the gun at skeet and clays. Keith declared that it'd be safe to shoot standard low PSI shells. The chambers measured okay for 3 & 3/4 inch shells. I have a case of RST 8's that I'll try first, just for grins.

The fee was $1,070. Am now "into" the gun $1400 which is more by about $500, at least, than the gun is worth. I am, however; generally pleased with the quality of the work..again, I'll take pics. It took about a month to complete.

Oh, I saw a high grade Parker in the shop. Looked finished and ready to send out. Is it one of you guy's guns? Gun looks wonderful...bout as close to new as I've seen. Has a raised rib, full case colors, fine stock, liquid steel barrels...blued...maybe blacked.

Having too much invested in a gun doesn't really bother me...I don't collect for resale. I am a shooter. But my wife, when I told her the price, was fit to be tied. I didn't think it would cost that much...oh well. I think the swelling will go down in a few days.

[Steve McCarty]

Oh, Keith said he is healthy as a horse. He had heard that he was at death's door too. Said people must have thought he was sick because he is heading to retirement. Anyway, Keith is fine and he is dedicated to training his nephew, Cody in the business. I think the kid will do fine. He is serious about the work.

When I peeked into his shop the two guys were working away like Santa's helpers.

Steve

[Dean Romig]

I believe it was Kirk Merrington who was gravely ill last year.

[Jay Gardner]

I believe it was Kirk Merrington who was gravely ill last year.

You are right, Dean. I stand corrected.

[Steve McCarty]

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/GermVMA211/012_zps83f976c0.jpg (http://s200.photobucket.com/user/GermVMA211/media/012_zps83f976c0.jpg.html)

Not my best picture of Cody Kearcher's work on my L.C. Smith. The damascus pattern is clear in life. From about five feet the color looks an even soft brown, but upon close inspection the brown/silver come up nice.

Cost to re-color the barrels was $420...they look much better in life.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/GermVMA211/005_zps4ebd5f70.jpg (http://s200.photobucket.com/user/GermVMA211/media/005_zps4ebd5f70.jpg.html)

There, that's better.

Here is a "before" picture

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/GermVMA211/004_zps8d1f2896.jpg (http://s200.photobucket.com/user/GermVMA211/media/004_zps8d1f2896.jpg.html)

[Steve McCarty]

They say one can't make a "silk purse out of a sow's ear" and my Elsie is still an O grade, but she is a very presentable shotgun now. Cody polished the bores and honed them just a bit, he didn't want to take off too much, they measure .030 at their thinnest.

Looking at them now, they look extremely solid. Keith Kearcher said he'd be comfortable shooting them with standard 2&3/4" target loads, the chambers are long enough. I think so too. RST shells are even lighter loads than the old BP. I usually shoot #8 Rio or Estate target loads. I think I'll be find shooting them in the Elsie which is now an IC/Mod gun vise F/F. I'll try it at skeet.

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa23/GermVMA211/010-Copy_zpsc1d438b5.jpg (http://s200.photobucket.com/user/GermVMA211/media/010-Copy_zpsc1d438b5.jpg.html)

[Paul Harm]

I've had Brad do the barrels and color case hardening on quite a few guns and have always been happy. Your wait, as I understand it, may vary because he likes to do different manufactures in lots. Good luck - Paul

[Steve McCarty]

Shot my Elsie at skeet and did okay. Lost 3, which is about par for me. Used RST shells and they really are soft kickers. I shot RIO shells for the second round and the recoil was noticeable stiffer.

I enjoy shooting antique guns. There is only one other guy in my club doing so. He is shooting a Win Mod 12 in 16 gauge, has choke tubes. My gun is a 1900 issue, so it is older by a ways. Most of my fellow shooters shoot guns that sparkle with gold inlays.

My gun is IC and Mod. I didn't see most of the clays I hit, get hit. The guys said that if I hit them they were dusted. I'd shoot at one and move immediately to the other. I missed the high house at station 8. I never miss that one.

I don't know what the Elsie O grade weighs, but it doesn't feel light. Works great tho. Has a 3 pos safety, which I prefer. Next week I'm going to shoot Winchester AA's in it.

[Paul Harm]

Steve, I had and shot a 3- pos safety Ithaca at one time and kept bumping the safety on by mistake. Be careful.