Gunsmith in or around the Kansas City area

Nick

Nick

Active member
I have an Ithaca SKB 600 12 gauge O/U. I bought it used when I was a junior in High School (35 years ago). It is my favorite gun in the world and has always been my go to upland gun. Recently, I have experienced the bottom barrel (improved cylinder) not firing consistently. So, I switched it so the top barrel (modified cylinder) would shoot first. Hadn't had any trouble with either barrel firing going that route until this past weekend. Saturday I had a rooster get up right in front of me. I pulled the trigger and "click", nothing. No problems the rest of the weekend, but I want to make sure I get the problem resolved before next season. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

-Nick
 
Have you cleaned your firing pins? If not, spray a bunch of Gun scrubber in there, then blow it out and put a touch of gun oil in. You may have a bunch of gunk in there.
 
I had the same thing with a Browning Cynergy. It did exactly what you describe. It was the main spring. Simmons in Olathe is good.
 
I have an SKB model 385 SxS that I've owned since 2012 or so and used it as my field gun since then - been great except one day I was shooting targets in the backyard and the barrel lug came off -- google showed it appeared maybe a few of these had the issue where the solder used to hold the lug to the barrels had a defect -- there were lots of pockets in the solder used to hold it on and it had rusted from the inside.

Anyways I called around a lot and was about to ship it off to Briley manufacturing (Briley Choketubes) as they do machine work, gunsmithing etc -

Ended up going with Simmons - overall I'd rate the experience a 6 out of 10 - they hadnt cleaned the gun as I paid for that additional before they gave it back to me when the work was done - but they did the repair and at least had customer service skills and were cordial when talking to them on the phone and in person. Rating them down as they had to be called out to do the cleaning when I picked it up and I've noticed the fit isn't the same - (the forearm rattles quite a bit) and I need to take it back to see if they can adjust it - it didnt rattle before so they probably didnt get the lug back in the exact same location it was before - my guess or something needs to be adjusted - I really dont shoot the gun a ton other than maybe a couple hundred times during the season at birds (only a guess as I'm not a great shot lol or shoot at coyotes when we bump them etc) and maybe 400-500 rounds in the off season the past couple years - there have been multiple years when I've been busy with life I did zero
shooting in the off season - only have shot targets off season wise the past couple. Plan to start using it a lot more this summer.
There was another guy I think in the KC area that had good reviews online but was a complete Ahole on the phone and only had certain hours you could meet him to drop it off etc -- probably one of the types that is great at his craft but has no clue how to run a business or deal with people - I've found that is often the case with great craftsman - they have no business dealing with the public and should just work for someone else or hire someone else to run their business.

Anyways if you want local that's about the only suggestion I can give other than shipping out of state somewhere.
 
Thanks for the replies. I haven't cleaned the firing pins lately, so I'll start there. If that doesn't help I'll try Simmons.
 
I've never had any issues with him being a jerk. Hours are sort of tough, but I think that is mostly so he can spend his time fixing guns. I'm not sure that he has any employees. I've had 3 different guns there and he has taken care of them and got them back in action when other shops couldn't, including Simmons. I have sent several others guys there as well, and no bad reports.
 
I've used Mike several times and would not hesitate to recommend him. In fact he re-soldered the barrel lug on my Ithaca 200e just a couple of years ago. The forearm fits tighter than before and the gun opens stiffer than it did before, but I don't consider either of those things to be problems. Living in Wichita the hours are a pain. He did offer to ship my Ithaca back to me, which helped a lot. Never experienced him to be an ahole, just a skilled craftsman who's far better at his craft than he is at customer service or small talk.

On the other hand, if you're willing to ship the gun I would strongly recommend Ahlmans in Minnesota. I had a Franchi diamond elite that was not firing. I figured out for myself that it was a broken spring, and ordered the spring from Numrich. With the help of a friend who is an amateur gunsmith, we attempted to take it apart and only succeeded in messing it up enough that it wouldn't go back together properly. He sent me to Ahlmans. They seem to want to communicate in writing, ie, send them the gun with a written statement of what you want done, a phone number and a return address. No forms, no advance payment, nothing. I called them before sending the gun because it didn't seem like it should be that simple. They basically said "we can do that. send it to us." I don't think the person I spoke to even took a single note. It was incredibly fast and incredibly cheap.
 
OK...it's not in KC but SKB Shotguns does any/all repairs and cleaning for SKB shotguns. This would include, for example, the old Ithaca 500/600s and Weatherby Orions and Athenas as long as they are marked "Made in Japan". They don't do Turkish Orions, etc.

So if you have any shotgun manufactured by SKB in Japan, these guys can handle it. They tightened the hinge on an Orion for me and cleaned it while it was there. This gun had thousands and thousands of rounds through it. Very satisfied with the work and price.

SKB SHOTGUNS 4441 S 134TH ST|OMAHA, NE 68137-1107
P800.752.2767|F402.330.8040

<EDIT> It does sound like all you need is a Spring cleaning. :) Oil can drain in through the firing pin holes and gum up the works, amongst other causes. </EDIT>
 
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Chestle said:
OK...it's not in KC but SKB Shotguns does any/all repairs and cleaning for SKB shotguns. This would include, for example, the old Ithaca 500/600s and Weatherby Orions and Athenas as long as they are marked "Made in Japan". They don't do Turkish Orions, etc.

So if you have any shotgun manufactured by SKB in Japan, these guys can handle it. They tightened the hinge on an Orion for me and cleaned it while it was there. This gun had thousands and thousands of rounds through it. Very satisfied with the work and price.

SKB SHOTGUNS 4441 S 134TH ST|OMAHA, NE 68137-1107
P800.752.2767|F402.330.8040

<EDIT> It does sound like all you need is a Spring cleaning. :) Oil can drain in through the firing pin holes and gum up the works, amongst other causes. </EDIT>
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Dang - Wish I would have known this when my lug broke last year on my Model 385 -- I may just bypass Simmons on adjusting mine and send it in or find an excuse to go to Omaha for a couple days as I've never been there.
 
KsHusker said:
Dang - Wish I would have known this when my lug broke last year on my Model 385 -- I may just bypass Simmons on adjusting mine and send it in or find an excuse to go to Omaha for a couple days as I've never been there.
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KsHusker, I thought you might be from Nebraska given your user name. Omaha is a pretty good town. Some good breweries and restaurants downtown.
 
Nick said:
KsHusker, I thought you might be from Nebraska given your user name. Omaha is a pretty good town. Some good breweries and restaurants downtown.
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Grandparents grew up there in SW Nebraska - N Of Hays - - never would have came to the Wichita area back in the 40s or 50s had some family drama not happened and Grandpa would have been allowed to buy the Nebraska farm - then again I probably wouldn't exist as parents wouldn't have met- etc. Such is the fate of the universe. Never traveled there as all their family left the area long before I ever came along and dispersed across the US for some reason.

Always a Husker fan since childhood - for now I'm stuck with the memories of greatness - now I just watch for nostalgia and pray for a better team...ha.
 
I'd also recommend Mike at gunsmithingonly. Does good work and in my experience seems way more personable than the folks at simmons.

Somebody mentioned it earlier, familiarize yourself with his hours so you don't make a drive just to find out hes not open for drop off.
 
matto said:
I've used Mike several times and would not hesitate to recommend him. In fact he re-soldered the barrel lug on my Ithaca 200e just a couple of years ago. The forearm fits tighter than before and the gun opens stiffer than it did before, but I don't consider either of those things to be problems. Living in Wichita the hours are a pain. He did offer to ship my Ithaca back to me, which helped a lot. Never experienced him to be an ahole, just a skilled craftsman who's far better at his craft than he is at customer service or small talk.

On the other hand, if you're willing to ship the gun I would strongly recommend Ahlmans in Minnesota. I had a Franchi diamond elite that was not firing. I figured out for myself that it was a broken spring, and ordered the spring from Numrich. With the help of a friend who is an amateur gunsmith, we attempted to take it apart and only succeeded in messing it up enough that it wouldn't go back together properly. He sent me to Ahlmans. They seem to want to communicate in writing, ie, send them the gun with a written statement of what you want done, a phone number and a return address. No forms, no advance payment, nothing. I called them before sending the gun because it didn't seem like it should be that simple. They basically said "we can do that. send it to us." I don't think the person I spoke to even took a single note. It was incredibly fast and incredibly cheap.
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Maybe I caught him when he was having a bad day or was dealing with something personal - but the time I talked to him he was SO RUDE -- I like to give people the benefit of a doubt but it was like I got a big F you I dont want your business through the phone - rubbed me the wrong way as I didnt understand why he was so curt - Maybe worth giving a 2nd shot with all the positive feedback since Simmons didnt fix to my satisfaction after having used my gun this season and I dont really want to ship mine off. Called to SKB and they said they dont have the capability in house anymore to complete fit/barrel lug repairs etc -- but can replace/fix all internals -- they ship the lug/fit issues off to a gunsmith in Connecticut.

(**PS -- without telling them where I got my SKB repaired and that I felt the fit was off on the forearm - and finally telling them at the end once he recommended I check out Simmons and a couple other shops in the KS/Nebraska area - the CT gunsmith kind of chuckled and said when I advised him I had issues with the repair he was guessing it was them that did it - knowing I was in KS -- not sure if that means something or not)
 
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I just had to drop off my gun at Simmons in Olathe and had an awesome experience there. I dropped it off Monday morning and had it back fixed Monday afternoon.
 
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