I don't believe there were ever any barrels even missing.
Look at the timeline....this thread went from 'barrels missing' to 'barrels returned' in no time at all. Too pat.
‘Thank You’ , Greg SY, for pointing out the ‘timeline’ discrepancy…..as this thread really has next to nothing to do with barrels and everything to do with the polite but direct comments I’ve made in two earlier threads: “Lead Phase-out Proposed for Montana Uplands” (doublegunshopbbs. pg. 4 or so), and “Steel Shot and Double Guns” (bbs. Pg. 1).
This board can get ‘soap-opera-ish’ at times, and unfortunately this is going to be one of them. So, for those easily bored with such things, I’d highly recommend other threads here that are actually educational. But for those of you that have taken an interest in my besmirching, I’d like to offer some explanation as to ‘why’ this is all happening.
First off, I’d ask that you re-read ‘Grouse Guy’s’ last post in the ‘Steel Shot and Double Guns’ thread as it explains much about this titillating thread re: that nasty, irresponsible “gunsmith”.
Second, I’m not a “gunsmith”, but a retired wildlife biologist and restoration hobbyist of some thirty-five years & forty years respectively. I rust-blue only about a half dozen barrel sets a year for local friends and acquaintances in need of that service, and Ben Deeble was on this year’s list with his second set of Parker barrels that I’ve done for him.
Third, Ben and I live about 75 miles apart, and since I loathe shipping anything through a commercial carrier, I was trying to expedite his barrels’ return by having a trusted courier return them. The ‘courier’ was a good friend of my wife’s, a registered nurse some fifty years old out of Missoula, who happens to live just 2-1/2 blocks away from Ben Deeble. Being in her possession Sunday evening in a small town called Hamilton, MT, she was to have the barrel set available for Ben on the following day, Monday, in Missoula. But here is where my culpability lies, in that she failed to load them into her vehicle that Sunday, and they accidently remained at the home of a mutual friend where my wife and she had met for a Sunday visit.
At no time were the barrels misplaced, lost, etc. as reported by Ben. Instead of receiving his barrels Monday evening, as planned in our Sunday telephone conversation, he could have picked them up Tuesday morning anytime after 7 AM, as that is when they did arrive in Missoula. That would have been a whole 12 hr. delay, had Ben Deeble not elected to wait until he finished his work day Tuesday evening….which is when he actually received them.
No “several day delays”, or “fourth parties”, nor were they ever “lost” as he reported. As to his evaluation of the quality of the work, I submit the following e-mail from him sent following his inspection on Tuesday evening: (Note: I’ve been forewarned by Ben Deeble NOT to share any personal e-mails from him, and am not sure what that might mean beyond not getting a Christmas card from him this December!). I copied this e-mail below as a .jpg file so everyone can see that his message was not “altered” by me; I simply printed his message to me and then scanned it in directly as a .jpg.
I hope you followed the time-line in this last ‘e-mail’ from him @ 6:59 PM Tues. eve to when he started this thread on Thursday past. In short, he had his barrel set two days prior to beginning this thread.
Actually, this was the second time that I re-blued this particular set of barrels, as I wasn’t totally content with how they came out the first go-round, and it was I who pointed this out to Ben. (See remainder of attached e-mail). The first time resulted in some slight staining around the weep-hole, because I had a most difficult time purging out the rusty contaminants between the rib(s) compartments. The resulting stain was small, just several inches along the bottom rib, yet was totally covered by the forearm. I charged him $275.00 for the job with this ‘caveat’ that if he, too, was displeased with the slight staining, I’d be happy to re-do them at ‘no-charge’. Contrary to what Ben Deeble says (and those of you here with any rust-bluing knowledge can concur) the stain was not “pink”, but a dull plum brown. Two weeks or so later, Ben said he wouldn’t mind if I tried to correct the problem. I gladly agreed, even picking up the barrels at his Missoula residence, and solved the problem by first injecting trichloroethane into the rib compartment and letting it stand this time for 24 hrs, followed by the same injection and 24 hr. soak with alcohol for two more cycles. That apparently did the trick as my subsequent degreasing and rust-bluing resulted in a very pleasing job both to me and apparently Ben Deeble, as his attached e-mail here confirms. At no time did Ben Deeble pay another ‘sou’, and you’ll have to trust me that I wasn’t looking for any, as I guarantee my work.
All throughout his period of ‘stress’ (some 12 hours), I considered myself totally liable for those barrels, and was never once worried because I knew that they would be in his hot little ‘gleeps’ within 12 hours - if he could only rise early enough to walk the 2-1/2 blocks to get them. Which he elected not to do.
So, that’s how it went down folks, and enough of it, frankly, because this is really about nothing more than my initiating a thread that has exposed some unprincipled business conduct here in Montana. I.E. a thread that pertained to the Big Sky Upland Bird Association’s (BSUBA) proposal calling for what appears to be an agenda-driven study which may result in the phase-out of lead shot throughout all of Montana sometime in the nearer? future…. Much as Minnesota tried and failed with this past year.
It is not about shotgun barrels but about a proposal that BSUBA board members took upon themselves to discuss and decide in January, with no mention to we rank-and-file members until it was first published as a ‘done-deal’ in our summer 2008 Newsletter. No comment period for the members-at-large, just this one notification that the BSUBA proposal was accepted in April of 2008 by the Montana Wildlife Federation, who then petitioned Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to undertake the study. And this no doubt will be at taxpayers expense, as they certainly weren’t offering to pick up the tab in their ‘news’ release.
In all fairness, I should state that the current president of BSUBA, a Mr. Dennis Daneke, recently expressed to me that he opposed the timing and possible scope of the measure back in January, but was outvoted. And I should also mention that another director who claimed full ignorance of the measure to me last week, just recently recalled some discussion of it back in January…… though he still has personal concerns as to how the general membership was excluded from any discussion.
That is our primary ‘beef’ out here, and it need not be yours as we Montanans will eventually wrangle it out like we do everything else. And, it should be no cause for alarm unless you see a problem with how this resolution was crafted and then attested to by Ben Deeble as having no ‘bias’ or ‘agenda’. If you missed reading it, it appears in the “Lead-Phase-out Proposed for Montana Uplands” thread (bbs. Pg. 4 or so). I’d also ask you to look at the preponderance of civil, if direct, comments made to Mr. Deeble and questions solicited of him there, and contrast them to his terse replies.
As a result of all this, BSUBA members in favor of this resolution as written - and Ben Deeble in particular - as its probable author– will bear the onus for just ‘how fair’ all of this will be handled in days to come. Like I said in my very first post….Only time will tell…..
Robert Harris
Conner,MT
turnstone@bitterroot.net since the PM function doesn’t seem to function.
P.S. Oh, and I’m not interested in any outside barrel work, although you ‘treblig’ may get some consideration for your glowing comments re: my M21 Winchester work. Just kidding, but ‘Thanks’ for your kind words. For the very few of you still reading this, my appreciation to Dave for giving us the latitude to discuss such distasteful matters and my ‘Thanks’ for letting me express these uninteresting facts on what is otherwise an informative bbs.
P.P.S. hOmeless, I forgive you for your uncharitable assumptions here, for you know not what you say most of the time anyway ;>}
