Paris & Paris Gunsmithing (Frankfort, IN)

[nalees]

A LEO friend of mine just told me that they're doing a "going out of business" sale. Apparently they plan on closing up shop by January. Anyone else heard anything about this?

He says the prices on stuff are pretty nice, basically their inventory price. I've never been there, but they are pretty close to Lafayette, here is what a quick google search turned up:

Paris & Paris Gunsmithing

Licensee Name: Paris, Lee Patrick & Matthew Robert
2566 E 600 N
Frankfort, IN 46041
Phone: 765-258-3699

 

[jeremy]

No I had not heard. Tomorrow I will find out the Answer though. They are Nieghbors of mine...

 

[Claddagh]

Doesn't really surprise me much. While they seemed to have quite a substantial inventory for such a small shop, they're pretty far "off the beaten path" and were a real pi$$er to try and find. No sign or the like to indicate it's even there, other than the name "Paris" on the mailbox, either.

Only had one experience with their gunsmithing work, and it wasn't exactly positive. I took a .22 rifle there for some minor upgrades (d&t for receiver sight, replace exisiting open rear with a Marble's folding leaf, replace front blade with an FO bead). FWIW, his hourly rates for labor and fees for minor machine work are right up there with what a well-established and widely respected pro like Neil Keller charges.

It was over 6 mo. before I got the gun back. Not completely unexpected, as I was informed that farming was their first priority. I also have to admit that I was remiss in not field stripping my rifle and doing a closer inspection of the work before accepting it and paying the $128 + (with tax and cost of the Marble's leaf) he charged me to drill and tap two holes, install the Lyman receiver sight I supplied, remove the stock open rear and install the new folder. The front sight work was left undone due to a grossly oversized factory dovetail cut and the fact that his $75/hr labor rate made doing that a potentially extremely expensive item.

It was several weeks before I could get out to the club to test fire it and sight it in. I wasn't expecting any functional issues, as it had run just dandy before. I did anticipate that the exisiting front sight would be too low and would need to be dealt with later, but wanted to zero the rifle with the new leaf anyway so I could at least plink with it again.

It wouldn't feed more than 2 rds without malfing. I removed the trigger group to see if I could locate where this new problem was coming from. I discovered that the cartridge stop was missing! Obviously, no attempt to even test fire it for functioning had been included in the work, something which never even occured to me as IME it'd always been considered SOP with other 'smiths.

Given the time lapse and my own failure to fully inspect the work before accepting it (plus not wanting to go through a "did not/did so" argument and another long wait) I chose to chalk it up as an expensive mistake and ordered a replacement part from Numrich. That did fix the feeding issues, but I resolved to never take another gun there for any reason.

I still want to get that front sight replaced, though. If anyone could point me towards a real honest-to-goodness pro, I'd appreciate it.

 

[jeremy]

Yes they are closing the Shop. They have decided on focusing on the growth of the Family Farm is more important in the long term than running a Gun Shop/GunSmith Operation.

 

[SmileDocHill]

What kind of inventory can one expect to find at their place of business? Do they have regular hours? If they are running their business out of their home or farm I am hesitant to "stop by" if it isn't a storefront.

 

[jeremy]

Doc they have a fairly decent Inventory. THe bussiness is being ran of the farm and not a store front. Best thing is to call them and set up a meet time. I think they also used to have a website...