Is it hard to find local gunsmiths that know anything about ARs?

[jpr8771]

ok let me start off by saying that my only knowledge of this platform is completely through you guys and the reading i have done on this forum...im the newbie but why do i feel like when i talk to most people at a gun range, (that have gun experience and should be knowledgable) they make me feel like i have more knowledge than them.

i mean i dont want to sound rude or like an ass or cocky...the people i have talked with today were very very nice people but i guess its like anything else, whatever they have is the best! i see it all the time in my profession...i play ball for a living and have to deal with people all the time that never played a lick and want to put their .02 in....everyone thinks they know what they dont know...so annoying....so maybe im being that guy but id like to think that i have been prepared at least with a great basic beginner knowledge of this platform by all the experts here.

so heres what happened....i am in florida for work for the time being and i had the day off...drove an hour to a pretty awesome range out around okeechobee....really cool place...shooting my new 16 in bcm middy for the first time because i just got my troy rear flip up sight in...a really nice guy sets in the lane beside me with his bushmaster carbine with carry handle and big ole eotech (i dont know which one it is...AA batteries one)

i make the mistake of not blue loctiting in the threads on the rear flip up so it falls off....dude beside me tells me how badly designed my rear sight is and how i need a carrying handle with rear sight bc thats how his was set up...so anyways i run up to the gun shop to try and buy some loctite...dude sends me to the gunsmith in the next door down...so i meet the dude...really nice guy...he persists on telling me how bad the set up of the troy sight is...so i just wear it...again because he is a nice guy...so now i have had two insults on my set up...the next insult comes when he asks me who makes my rifle....he had never heard of bcm...i wanted to be honest and i told him that i had no experience with the platform and had bought the gun from what i had read and researched on m4carbine.net...from YOU guys! ha...of course he had never heard of the website....not a fault by any means...he was an old dude...so he goes on to tell me not to believe everything i read.

so im headed towards insult number 3....he proceeds to show me the rifles he designs and sells...the heaviest ARs every....rock river arms and DPMS...so by now im chuckling inside...he shows me this rock river with stainless barrel...it had one of those foregrips on it that are solid metal and heavy? dont know what they are called? like the one on the shootrite katana...ha but i know thats a whole other can of worms...so anyways he had milled out the left side of the upper receiver and installed a charging handle to the bolt that made it possible not to have to drop the gun to charge or what not (is that ok? does that mess with the pressure in the chamber? recycling?) i dont know? but all i know is i havent seen it here on this site?

ok so im getting close to finishing my story....but next we began talking about muzzle brakes....i want one and i think it may be my next purchase....so i asked him about battlecomps...and what the process would be like for me to get one and get one installed on the gun...from his response i gathered that he had never heard of a bc...(this is a guy that has been in business for 20 somethin years!)...well he gives me this pitch on these muzzle brakes he makes, i think, and at least sells...he makes me follow him over to the other room and shows me this dmps (again, really freakin heavy) with this monstrous muzzle brake...like larger than a barrett .50 cals....im thinking seriously??? laughing inside....thank god he got side tracked with another customer so i proceeded to act like it the DPMS was interesting and told him thank for his time and took back off to the range...

oh and i never got any loctite...only had red...not even in the smith shop! got my troy screwed in tight and finished out the 300 or so rounds i had today!...

not knocking the place today...it was cool but i cant wait to meet someone like you people in person and gain a real knowledge of the platform...thanks for listening to my long story!

and this link here is the closest thing i could find on the net that resembles the muzzle break that he was telling me that i should get. it was ridiculously big...
http://www.parts4ar15.com/ar-15_acce...uct/BL-25.html

[ALCOAR]

If dude only had red loctite and not any blue, than he is a complete noob. Let's face it, even if he had a gallon of blue loctite he would have still been a huge noob

Next time save yourself the misery and bust a stroll on those smut merchants peddling their dpms's and bushies, that's like a hr. of your life you will never get back. Those guys are in every gunstore in every town in America....there is even a traveling show of them, its called gun shows.

[KhanRad]

...so he goes on to tell me not to believe everything i read.

Advice is always either gold, excrement, or some of both. Don't take into account what he said, so much as what he does. Your observations on his choice of weaponry and general knowledge is accurate in that he has been out of the loop for a long time, and is likely not a hard user of his equipment.

I've found gun smiths to be a mixed bag of results. Like all businesses, their work is centered around a profit and if you don't specify specific parts and installation requirements, they will cut corners on you. My advice is to take an armorers course for yourself and keep reading on this forum. Knowing your equipment inside and out, and being able to work on it yourself is definately worth it. Also, I don't talk to gun peddlers and range rats......my IQ goes down a few points with every conversation with them.

[DirectDrive]

There are uneducated douchebags everywhere, sorry that you ran into two of them back-to-back
Sounds like you have a nice rig and that Troy is a good sight...very well made.

[MistWolf]

Everyone make their own choices and live with them, or change them, according to what's best for themselves. Even the best advice from the most knowledgeable, wisest expert must be weighed and taken into consideration as to how you will apply it. Knowledge that you apply and make your own is the best knowledge of all. That I learned from my children.

This is a good place and there are good folks here with plenty to teach us. I've learned quite a bit about ARs in particular and firearms in general just hanging out.

If you ever get out this way and want to do a little shooting, PM me. Not sure I know enough to teach you anything though.

Strange how folks who have little to no practical experience with something are free with their advice. Like a school teacher I dated for awhile when I was a single dad telling me how to raise my sons. By the way, it looks like you're dropping your elbow when beginning your swing and point your toes in more. (I coached a winning team in T Ball one season)

[jpr8771]

dude you are right....i feel like these people in all aspects of professions one day get complacent and stop learning their trade and that is a recipe for failure...a business not growing is failing...i knew i wanted an AR...i did my research and ultimately ended up here...and really havent looked elsewhere since...its a simple click away to continue learning...i mean it makes no since to me that people (consumers) either over pay on some POS or pay the lower price and could spend 1-200 more and get something that is of high value and will hold as an investment much better than the POS that they get suckered into...but thats the world we live in...lots of DA's...who would we have to pick on if they werent around??

[jpr8771]

haha and thanks mistwolf...ill work on that tomorrow morning...get some early work in, in the cage!

[opmike]

Is it hard to find local gunsmiths that know anything about ARs?

Yes.

Is it hard to find local gunsmiths that know anything?

Yes.

Is it hard to find local gunsmiths?

Yes.

I don't have a great deal of respect for my local gun industry or community. I'm generalizing, but they are mostly a bunch of Fudds who think that because they hunt, and own a safe full of bottom barrel scrap that they are experts in the field.

Also, and I'm not trying to be a jackass here, but your post is very hard to read. The constant ellipses make it all sound like a giant, rambling, run-on sentence.

[Iraqgunz]

In my opinion if you select the average gun store and start to ask if they have AR experience and you look at what they are offering you will find that they are probably mediocre at best.

[P2000]

It is sad when you go into a shop and you realize that they don't know the product that they are selling, especially in terms of what else is available outside of their shop. What is even more sad is they do this full time and get paid for it...