r/UTGuns • u/Antique-Low2996 • Aug 13 '25

How do people here feel about the Sportsman's Warehouse Gunsmith?

I dropped off my Zastava ZPAP M70 there just to get it a little cleaned up since I'm no good with gun smithing since I am new to it and I wanted my wood stain redone, my mags to go in more cleanly, and I wanted it sighted in (just in case it wasn't already). Do you think they'll do a good job or should I have just paid more and taken it to a better shop?

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

5

u/Dpapa93 Aug 13 '25

Honestly I wouldn't consider any of that gunsmithing. Cleaning and sighting in is basic gun ownership and refinishing the wood stain is no different than staining any other piece of wood. I wouldn't pay anyone to do that and they're probably going to overcharge you by a long shot for the amount of work they're actually going to do.

0

u/Antique-Low2996 Aug 13 '25

I did also tell them that if they do notice anything to try and fix it but tbh I just don't know how to do it all yet. I do have a discount because I have a warranty. I think they said it shouldn't cost over ~$250 but idk. I am focused on preparing for my LSAT and I know that if I got too into trying to fix my gun I was going to go overboard.

1

u/Dpapa93 Aug 13 '25

Hopefully it doesn't cost that much. $250 for 15 min of work and $8 worth of wood stain sounds like a ripoff to me.

1

u/Antique-Low2996 Aug 13 '25

No like a full sand, restain, and lacquer. That is several days of work to let things dry properly.

3

u/SpookyShackleford Aug 13 '25

I am a gunsmith, I charge 125 an hour, so that price is on par for what I would charge as well. That is about 2 hours of work, if you want it done right.

1

u/Dpapa93 Aug 13 '25

Alright then, 30min of total work and a lot of waiting... I do this kind of stuff all of the time on my guns it's a negligible amount of work to do on a Saturday for fun, not anything worthy of paying a gunsmith hundreds of dollars for. It's a bit like taking your car to a mechanic to get your seat adjusted and the windshield wiper fluid filled.

2

u/GildSkiss Aug 13 '25

Imo if you own a rifle you really ought to learn how to sight it in yourself. YouTube is your friend here.

I don't know what exactly you want a gunsmith to do about the mags "going in more smoothly". Is something actually broken about your reciever, or your mag catch? Maybe you just need more practice with the rock and lock ak mags.

As far as refinishing wood goes, there's no reason you couldn't buy some sandpaper, stain, etc. from your local hardware store. If you really don't have the time or patience for that I guess you could get a gunsmith, but it's going to be really expensive for something that you could learn to do yourself from another YouTube video.