Any one heard from Apache Gun Works James Skinner?

[Greg8403]

Hi folks it has been a wile , I have been buy with a bunch here lately. I am wondering has anyone heard from James Skinner at Apache recently? I have emailed him after Christmas as well as today to see how my order from October 11th 2016 is coming along.

[snowgetter1]

Nope. No response to me either. Hoping to get the barrel ordered in April 2016 by April 2017. I hope.

[Greg8403]

This is quite disheartening after all the great reviews I have heard about this work. I do thank you for your reply. And please do not take this as me bashing any member or distributor here. I am a man of Business as well and I do understand issues happen. It would be great to know if their was an issue so i may work things out to come to an acceptable conclusion.

[Robinhood]

Greg, It is well known that there were some serious growing pains and some unforseen setbacks. I know Jim to be of good character and very much in demand right now. Ask around for the price of a quality chambering. 12 weeks is about the norm I think. Maybe longer.

[upSLIDEdown]

Yep. Jim will most definitely get you taken care of. His work is top notch, and as stated above, his character is second to none.

[RC20]

He also states on his web site he is very random in his order openings.

Regular reports he does not get back to people.

My take is that he is running the business to suit himself (and says so on his web site opening) but people who are counting on him to get back to them can pretty much forget it. You get it or you don't.

So no matter how wonderful his work is, a finely crafted barrel in the hand from a mfg with a good rep (see next) is worth 100 finely crafted ones in the bushes you can't shoot because you don't have it, can't get it and can't talk to him


In short, get ahold of Jim at NSS who is serious about his customers and orders and he will get you a CBI or Shilen barrel that is as finely crafted as anything Jim does (you can only do so much with a lathe and a chamber) and you will actually get progress reports if needed or the barrel when its supposed to get to you.

[RC20]

Yep. Jim will most definitely get you taken care of. His work is top notch, and as stated above, his character is second to none.

As noted above, that's well and fine. He is not getting back to people and that makes it pretty much worthless.

Why would you recommend someone that operates that way?

Shoot, I never have been arrested for or charged with anything either, you sure wouldn't want me to do a barrel for you on that basis.

[rjtfroggy]

RC20 seeing as how you have not done business with Jim @ Apache and you haven't shot one of his barrels maybe you ARE NOT the one to comment on him.
I have one of his barrels ( will have more ) I can say with out any question his barrels out shoot all my others be they Shilen, McGowen ,Douglas CBI or factory.
When I ordered I knew I had too wait my turn and expected it so I did not tie up his time with emails, I just told him to send when ready.

[Greg8403]

Folk's I am definitely not knocking his work! I have shot a 10/110 with one of his barrels on it, I have no complaints of his workmanship ( from what I have experienced). I understand the ways of business and the time spent on "quality" goods, I was just checking to see here if anyone had heard from him or knew of his communications with others on the board. Again , I never Knocked the man nor have I doubted him as a quality upfront individual I had just gotten concerned as my emails went unanswered. Thank you all for your input.

[foxx]

He sent me a barrel late last week, so I know he is alive and kicking. I hope that helps.

RC20, Apache never set out to get into a bind and not be able to fill orders as quickly as we'd like or answer emails this slowly. He was doing fine up until about a year ago and then he got into trouble and started spiralling. Dang it, RC, stop slamming him and promoting others every time this comes up. I am so flipping sick of hearing you preach about him and talk as though he doesn't care, etc. This IS NOT his intended business MO. He fell beyond and is digging himself out. It will take time.

In the mean time, we can all get frustrated, but STOP acting so danged righteous and condemning of him, RC. For crying out loud, do you really think someone loved as much as he is could really have such an arrogant attitude as you like to paint him with??? If you aren't a customer of his, SHUT THE HELL UP! It's NONE of YOUR FLIPPING BUSINESS!

[Greg8403]

Jim got a hold of me by email a few min ago. All is well just got the blank in and explained that he has been slow to reply to many emails. He will be working on it very soon and asked to email him if I did not hear from him in a few weeks.

[upSLIDEdown]

He sent me a barrel late last week, so I know he is alive and kicking. I hope that helps.

RC20, Apache never set out to get into a bind and not be able to fill orders as quickly as we'd like or answer emails this slowly. He was doing fine up until about a year ago and then he got into trouble and started spiralling. Dang it, RC, stop slamming him and promoting others every time this comes up. I am so flipping sick of hearing you preach about him and talk as though he doesn't care, etc. This IS NOT his intended business MO. He fell beyond and is digging himself out. It will take time.

In the mean time, we can all get frustrated, but STOP acting so danged righteous and condemning of him, RC. For crying out loud, do you really think someone loved as much as he is could really have such an arrogant attitude as you like to paint him with??? If you aren't a customer of his, SHUT THE HELL UP! It's NONE of YOUR FLIPPING BUSINESS!

Glad you said it so I didn't have to. Jeez.


Jim got a hold of me by email a few min ago. All is well just got the blank in and explained that he has been slow to reply to many emails. He will be working on it very soon and asked to email him if I did not hear from him in a few weeks.

Glad to hear it.

[Robinhood]

Now then. What where we saying about character?

[RC20]

RC20 seeing as how you have not done business with Jim @ Apache and you haven't shot one of his barrels maybe you ARE NOT the one to comment on him.
I have one of his barrels ( will have more ) I can say with out any question his barrels out shoot all my others be they Shilen, McGowen ,Douglas CBI or factory.
When I ordered I knew I had too wait my turn and expected it so I did not tie up his time with emails, I just told him to send when ready.

Actually I do have one of his barrels thank you though I do not feel that makes the least bit of difference.

So what you are saying is because I have never served in the military I have no right to comment on what and how they operate?
What wars our country gets into?

And we are discussion business practices, not work quality.

You don't cherry pick bits and pieces. A barrel in the hand is worth 6 in the bushes.

The point is why would anyone recommend someone that you can get ahold of, won't talk to you and is erratic on order intake?

I am not disparaging his character, I do list his business practices on how he has set himself up as very questionable service .

Yep, I have a great deal on a brand new car, its just it does not have any wheels or an engine or a transmission.

To recommend him to someone is disingenuous.

You could say, I love his quality but you better be ready to have no contact, no response and not know where your order is or when it gets back to you.

[RC20]

RC20, Apache never set out to get into a bind and not be able to fill orders as quickly as we'd like or answer emails this slowly. He was doing fine up until about a year ago and then he got into trouble and started spiralling. Dang it, RC, stop slamming him and promoting others every time this comes up. I am so flipping sick of hearing you preach about him and talk as though he doesn't care, etc. This IS NOT his intended business MO. He fell beyond and is digging himself out. It will take time.

In the mean time, we can all get frustrated, but STOP acting so danged righteous and condemning of him, RC. For crying out loud, do you really think someone loved as much as he is could really have such an arrogant attitude as you like to paint him with??? If you aren't a customer of his, SHUT THE HELL UP! It's NONE of YOUR FLIPPING BUSINESS!
[/QUOTE]

That is a most interesting attitude.

The Question by the OP was has anyone hear of Apache and what the status was of his operation.

Nothing I have said is an alternative fact, his record is clear via a number of emails as well as his statement on his web site.

This forum is intended to help people make a decision.

The fact that people have a hard time contacting him, at times no contact, can't find out status is fully relevant.

If you want to deal with him knowing that going in that's perfectly fine.

Its not perfectly fine to try to squelch someone's legitimate response with real information which is what you are doing.

If you think I have my facts wrong, then say so. What is wrong with them and what the facts really are.

Once someone knows the facts and they want to deal with him, that is terrific.

I am not going to recommend him for the reasons I have listed.

I am not going to let you stop me from presenting what I have.

If you are emotionally attached to Apaches that is certainly your right.

[foxx]

^^^ I said what I said, and I stick to it. There is no need to offer your opinions to the world about his current operations every time some one here asks if we have heard from him, etc. The OP's question was not, "Should I do business with him?" The question was, "Has anyone heard from him?"

If you continue to flame the man every time his name comes up and feel compelled to offer alternatives, even when your opinion is not asked, I will continue to try to shoot you down, if for no other reason than because you are, effectively, HIJACKING the thread when you do that.

[LoneWolf]

If anyone has questions about Jim please feel free to PM me. I speak with him regularly a few times a month. Some members around here have had a bad experience, but don't fully understand the situation. Things are coming around and should be getting back to normal within the next month or 2. Running/growing a business is extremely difficult right now. You can't find reliable help and if you find reliable help they don't have the talent required to keep the name you built for yourself. Other times partnerships fail due to tragic life events with one of the parties. Jim is handling this the best way he knows currently and has made tremendous progress over the last couple of months.

What many don't understand is the number of shooters is increasing 10x the rate of good gun/barrel Smiths. Don't be surprised if some of the smaller guys become a little more selective of the Clientele they take on in the future!

[RC20]

If you continue to flame the man every time his name comes up and feel compelled to offer alternatives, even when your opinion is not asked, I will continue to try to shoot you down, if for no other reason than because you are, effectively, HIJACKING the thread when you do that.

Lonewolf has offered a good alternative to the situation that I can pass on.

While I hope Jim the best, it does not change my response.

As for you, foxx, Fair enough. I reported a track history of lack of response to the question which I believe is well in line to that question.

I have kept the response fact driven, yours is emotional.

If you think I hi-jacked a thread then report it to the moderators.

If I am chastised I will apologies here.

I grew up in an era where we were held accountable.

My employer expects me to show up for work every day and do my job.

It does not mater what I did the day before to save the day.

Today is an all new day with all new problems to be dealt with.

He does not care what my personal problems and issues are.

I work with a great many people and they all have problems, some of them life and death.

While I can sympathize with them, I have a job to do and there is a business that has to be run.
If they can't do the job then we move on.

Regardless of your emotional involvement with Apache, there are many equally good barrel makers out there that do perform to a timeline and response.

[Dennis]

If anyone has questions about Jim please feel free to PM me. I speak with him regularly a few times a month. Some members around here have had a bad experience, but don't fully understand the situation. Things are coming around and should be getting back to normal within the next month or 2. Running/growing a business is extremely difficult right now. You can't find reliable help and if you find reliable help they don't have the talent required to keep the name you built for yourself. Other times partnerships fail due to tragic life events with one of the parties. Jim is handling this the best way he knows currently and has made tremendous progress over the last couple of months.

What many don't understand is the number of shooters is increasing 10x the rate of good gun/barrel Smiths. Don't be surprised if some of the smaller guys become a little more selective of the Clientele they take on in the future!

I also stay in contact with Jim. We have been talking since the first of the year.

The biggest issue is getting blanks. Jim is very fortunate, his business grew at an overwhelming rate, almost to the point he can't keep up with it.

I know some weeks he spends more time on the phone and his computer vs. staying in his machine shop. This is the part Jim is overwhelmed with. If we were a few years younger, it would be a different situation. However, experience and quality comes with time!

Were hoping things will be different for Jim in the very near future. He is a good man, honest, a great machinist, and overwhelmed at this time.

Dennis

[snowgetter1]

Glad to hear he is getting things back on track.