Outstanding work by Bill @ BMCM Custom

[marcus99]

Calling Bill an expert gunsmith falls a bit short, he's really also a passionate artist when it comes to 3rd gen S&W's. I found myself in a difficult situation with a recent purchase - a beautiful 1989 early 4506 that was cosmetically perfect but-for a horribly miscut rear top-shelf from the factory. Bill took nearly an hour out of his evening one weekday to speak with me about the issue, his ability to fix it and the other services he had to offer. I was convinced and off the gun went.

He went through the gun with the precision one might expect of a surgeon examining every crevice of the gun, replacing worn items and most importantly machining and media blasting the rear portion of the topshelf with such expertise that it is indistinguishable that he ever even worked on the gun.

It looks and shoots better than I imagine it was when new from the factory in 1989. Below are a few of my amateur photos trying to capture Bill's incredible work, admittedly they do not do his gunsmithing justice. I recommend him in the highest regard.

Before

After

My .45 3rd gen family

 

[captain92]

Work looks more than excellent.

Who was the drunkard that let that get out of the factory back in '89? Sheesh.

 

[Redcoat3340]

Bill has done a couple of mine...no finer smith (and person) anywhere. I keep say'n I'm sending him two more and my wife keeps find'n stuff we need around the house. I mean which is really more important -- getting a 3953 and 6946 smoothed out or a fix'n the garage door? There's nothing wrong wrong with parking in the driveway, is there?

 

[Tanners Owner]

The before and after pics tell the story. Am also amazed it left the factory in that condition.

Did you shoot it before hand? Curious if it shot POA in that condition

 

[BMCM]

In point of fact, the sight alignment was just fine. Trouble was that skewed top rib was so terribly distracting it made one's brain itch. You couldn't look at the sight without hearing your inner voice screaming.

In fact the top rib was skewed for its entire length right up to the front sight ramp. The angular error was the worse aft of the backsight and lessened towards the front. Exactly as if the top rib were twisted.

I have no idea how S&W managed to cut that so crooked much less how it managed to get past QC.

Here I was getting the slide indicated in on the mill table. A little tricky due to the twisted top rib...

Cut the entire length of the top rib flat & true with a 1/2inch carbide cutter.

Cheers
Bill

 

[Doug M.]

None of the feedback about Bill's work is surprising.

 

[Trooper224]

I didn't know Taurus had ever made a 4506 clone.

 

[marcus99]

I never shot it prior to it going off to Bill, I sent it almost immediately. The angle was so distracting I could not imagine shooting it in such a way. And yes it does beg the question how it was cut in such a way much less passed quality control. I spent some time researching past sales and auctions of similar early 4506’s and I did notice several of near or identical serial prefixes from 1989 that had what appeared to be similarly misangled topshelf rears, but I can’t definitively say.

I had forgotten that Bill worked on more than just the rear section. He so expertly cut and media blasted the topshelf that it truly is indistinguishable.