Long wait for work at LGI Larry's Guns; Maine

[Mass Shooter]

Anyone have work done at LGI : Larry's Guns Maine? ...

Was it worth the wait? ... I dropped mine off last November and it's still not completed. ... Mine is in for a bit of trigger work to be done by Larry and having Rink grips installed. ..... Keep getting replys back saying they tremendously backed up. ... I'm getting a bit dissapointed for such a long wait at this point. ... Rant mode off.

M.S.

[Freepistol]

I've had good and poor results ordering from him. I ordered a rear sight in a width that wasn't in stock. He offered to file one for me, but filed it deeper as well as wide. I tried to send it back because the flat of the rear sight was reflecting through the notch, but he wouldn't accept it because it was modified. I had to pay for his error.
I have ordered other parts with no problems when his daughter was workinhg there.

[Guest]

I'd rather get poked in the eye with a sharp stick than do business with him. Arrogant and little if any desire to provide customer service. Sure wish Pardini would dump him so I can order a part without a huge screwup with always ends up with him refusing to live up to mistake adn make things right.

[Guest]

Done business with Larry Carter many times. Very fair businessman... sometimes a little "gruff" on the telephone... but always fair. (Oddly, he could probably say the same thing to you in person, and not come off as "gruff". I don't know if it's his Down East manner, or what.)

He's a huge supporter of conventional pistol in the US. His contributions and support at Camp Perry alone should earn him an award of some kind. Don't be put off by his telephone manner.

[dwdiez]

Service is good if you order something in stock from the website, pay 8 bucks for a small part for shipping (firing pin Hammerli) and follow up with several phone calls just to leave messages and not hear back for a few days.

Service is not good if you order something NOT in stock, from the web, pay shipping, and don't follow up with phone calls.

I guess since it's a 2 person operation and he is the only authorized dealer for several olympic grade guns, you have to just sit back and deal with it.

If you were just ordering a recoil spring for a generic 1911 you could go anywhere or any website and get it ASAP if needed.

I have found here in the good ole' US of A that there's not many of us that shoot pistols/rifles that are olympic grade. I have found that at least 90% of shooters (at several clubs I belong to), are there just to dump bullets down range with their self defense/home defense gun which is absolutely only 9" pie plate accurate to 50 feet.

So if you want olympic grade, you need to deal with it. Otherwise get some piece of junk gun off the shelf at your local sporting goods store.

[Freepistol]

Service is good if you order something in stock from the website, pay 8 bucks for a small part for shipping (firing pin Hammerli) . . . .

I forgot; I did that, too.

[Pardini]

So if you want olympic grade, you need to deal with it. Otherwise get some piece of junk gun off the shelf at your local sporting goods store.

Boy that is a pathetic statement. I would think if I ran my mail order business that way, I would be gone in 3 months! Not the thing I wanted to read tonight, I just ordered a Ultradot from Larry's today!!!! I would hope it would ship tomorrow??

Not to change the subject, but I recently sent my Styer off to Pilkguns for repair, I shuttered to think I was sending my beloved Styer off away from home to TN, (OH NO) It was repaired and back in my hands within 2 weeks at half the price I thought it would cost. So NO you shouldn;t have to put up with lousy service when there are other folks that make the effort at wonderful customer service.

[Freepistol]

I usually use a local dealer for items like an Ultradot. Non-stocking dealers pick them up from distributors and have delivery within a week if not a day or two.
Ben

[Ernie Rodriguez]

Certain dealers don't realize, that some customers out there, equate poor/rude or usually too busy to answer questions on phone, as an indication of the kind of customer support/service they will receive in the future. And most likely not purchase from this kind of dealer-regardless of price.

[6string]

I've been dealing with Larry Carter for years. He has always been professional and honest. In my opinion, he's a gunsmith first and a salesman second. When I call, I respect his time. After all, I might be disturbing him from working on your gun. Having said that, I have found him willing to take time to answer questions. He's helped me find parts for old Hammerli pistols and has helped steer me in the right direction in regard to important purchases.
When I last purchased a free pistol he advised me honestly, even though it meant talking me out of a pistol he had in stock and towards another model that he no longer had.

He's honest and a straight talker. I respect that.

[1950indianchief]

As a number of folks have already responded, I've had good and back luck dealing with Larry. The unfortunate fact is that I have a few target pistols where Larry is the only source of parts, at least as far as I know. Given a choice I would prefer dealing with someone else, number one on my list would be Neal Stepp. I've also had very good luck with Midway, and mostly good luck with Brownell's. Clark has also given me excellent service as well as another cranky old guy named Les. Again, if I had a choice I'd never do business with Larry Carter. Hope this helps.[/img]

[Mass Shooter]

Well I finally received my .22LR B/E pistol back and WOW I must say Larry went above the call of duty. He did a fantastic trigger job, replaced all worn springs with new, adjusted trigger sear and even fixed a spare non-working magazine that was not part of the repair order. .... Totally made my day with his service. We chatted a while about target shooting and his personal favorite comp. guns & ammo selection and of course Camp Perry. I'm glad I'm only a couple hrs. drive to the LGI shop. The unanticipated long wait was worth it and I now appreciate the backlog of a fine pistol-smith for top quality work.
I have another project I'll be dropping off to LGI in the near future.

M.S.

[Blkhawk73]

More lurker than poster but to Larry's defence, well, maybe not but as a comparison, there's some smiths that will have wait times of over a year. Heck, last I'd heard some of the GOOD Ruger 'smiths were up to almost 2 years.
Larry's just 10 minutes from me and it's not exactly a large place with a lot of employees. Having the product lines he does, I gotta believe he's quite busy. Patience is a virtue. ;)

[topgun10x]

he will screw you over if he gets the chance, long story short i sent him my air tank to have the seals changed and he told me that first that it had never been there, which is false because it was there 7 months earlier yes i have a receipt to prove it and then he tells me that the tank cant be the original one which it is because it has never been off the gun till now and to top it off he tell me the tank is no goo and not safe and drills a hole in it so it cant be used any more. and didn't even offer another or tell me he was going to destroy the tank. and yes the tank still held about 1000 psi or 70 bar when it stopped leaking.

[Ernie Rodriguez]

topgun 10X -Glad to see you register a complaint on the forum.At least a perspective customer can be aware of what might be a problem in the future and he can make up his own mind as to deal with this person or not. Couple of years ago I wanted to purchase a Free pistol from him and had a few questions about the pistol.Would you believe he wouldn't even come to the phone-and I tried 2 or 3 times.The value of the pistol was in excess of $1,500 at that time.I bought the free pistol else where.

[topclass52]

I sent my Hammerli 208 to Larry in August and was told 6-8 weeks for service. Over that period I left Larry alone. I got a call from Deanna just before 8 weeks that it was done and being shipped the next day. I received it two days later. From my perspective, the work was done when it was said it would be done, and my pistol came back in perfect working order. No complaints from here.

[savvy]

I've not had a bad experience with Larry Carter. I've talked to him at Perry and he tuned my Hammerlis and rebuilt my UltraDots. I ordered two Ultra Dots from him and both were delivered within days. I like to deal with a guy who shoots well, not shoots his mouth off.

[lockhart_13]

I had a bad experience with Larry's over an Ultra Dot purchase. I am not entirely happy with my Smith and Wesson 41 and am considering an upgrade. I hate the idea of purchasing a pistol that would force me to deal with Larry's. Never mind send him a couple of thousand bucks for a pistol.

[Rover]

Send your M41 to S&W and have it repaired free or reasonably (depending on its age). I'm quite sure they know how to fix it.

I had my FP repaired by Larry and not only was the repair expensive, I got socked for an $80.00 shipping charge. Had I known how costly it would be, I would have just bought another gun.

[38HBWC]

Hey, these folks are booked out to 8 weeks. I get a quick answer on the phone and his backorders come in fast. He has nursed my P-240 along and his upgrades on the Trailside are spot on. He did have a better deal on shopping for a while, as he was using flat rate, but now, I see he nicks you for ship chrg on bullets