Walter Birdsong passes away

[BiggLee71]

I just got off the telephone with a buddy who has informed me that Walter Birdsong had passed away last friday.My thought's and prayer's are with Walter's family.

[Surf]

Sorry to hear that. He did the finish on all of our Tango51's.

[drkg]

Walter Birdsong was an asset to our community.

The two gunsmith shops that I worked for, and now the manufacturer that employs me, all had a fair amount of work done by Birdsong. No matter how many customers he had, and contracts he held, he remembered me everytime I called- picked up our previous conversation right from where we left off.

Of the hundreds (literally) of weapons that I sent him and received back, there was only one where I was less than 500% satisfied with the finish he put on. In that one case, he immediately identified the problem, arranged to get it back and re-did the work to complete satisfaction. No finger-pointing, no back-peddling, just good, honest customer SERVICE.

We had a running joke about Walter, at my last shop, that everytime you talked to him, about 20 minutes into the conversation he would mention how busy he was and how he never seemed to be able to get as much done as he wanted to, but it would be no less than 20 minutes later than that that you'd be saying "good-bye".

So, for my part, I'll apologize to those of you who had to wait a little longer to get your weapons back- but I enjoyed every minute of his time.

[John Frazer]

R.I.P. to a very nice gentleman. I called him once to ask about getting a pistol done. I'd been warned not to call unless I had 20 minutes to spare. Whoever warned me about that was right. I had to wonder when he ran the business, or slept!

[BiggLee71]

Sorry to hear that. He did the finish on all of our Tango51's.

yeah,he did the finish on my Lima51. Top notch guy,top notch product.He will be missed.

[SeriousStudent]

Prayers sent for Mr. Birdsong, and his family. A true gentleman is missed long after his passing.

[K.L. Davis]

One of the finest... seems not a lot of folks new Walter, but those who did knew a good man.

[Mjolnir]

I had the experience of talking with him for about 1 hour 20 minutes about his coating/treatment and took a fair amount of notes with his permission. We eventually talked about where I was from and he informed me that he worked around the corner from where I lived for a while. What I recall the most is that the majority of the conversation was about myself and himself - a True Southerner. I cannot recall the particulars of the business but I think it was a Chemical Company down in Baton Rouge just minutes from my parent's home. He was a True Southern Gentleman from all I could gather. I never got around to sending the P7M8 I was considering sending - and I'm kinda glad only because I got out of them. I miss "having him around" as I was considering driving over to visit with him. I spoke with him in late 2005 and he told me he had heart problems and he didn't say directly but even then he was having health concerns. Another example of "follow your heart"; I wish I had dropped by to converse with him...

My heartfelt condolences to his family and extended friends.

:(