Allison & Carey Gunworks

After reading the reviews I was expecting some old dark crusty shop with crabby workers that don't want to be bothered.
Totally opposite.
The store is kinda a mix of old and new, they have a good selection and are constantly buying gun collections it seems from widows that have stashed if unused weapons and gear. So you never know what will be there…
A buddy purchased 2 firearms, Brian was talkative and helpful, no pushy sales just good cash prices.
The Friday I went there were at least 6 other customers (drop-offs/pick-ups/parts) after us and nobody left in a stink.
It's worth a try!
I will mention if you go in like an bubblegum you may be treated like an bubblegum… if you go in a good mood, you probably will be treated in a good way!

(Pics are probably no help, was really figuring out a home gun rack! There machine work shop took half the space)

Have to thank Jake for an amazing job on the AR. Showed him what I wanted and the colors to use and his work was what I asked for. Can't ask for more than that!

This is an old school place that was highly recommend by many folks when I moved to the area in the late 90's.

I had an old mauser that needed to be reblued. Everyone else sends it out to get done, and I liked the fact that they blued it onsight. I had supported a chemical finishes company in my line of work, and appreciated that they had that expertise in-house.

When I tried to sight in the rifle after the work, the bullet would not chamber without some force which was not the way it was when I brought it in. I had to go back and they had to something to the chamber. At a minimum, I would expect them to check the tolerance of the chamber after doing a bluing. Not verifying your work is just poor.

I was sighting in my Howa 1500 .30-06 yesterday for deer season. After the barrel warmed up it started walking all over the target. I had it free-floated by Allison & Carey a couple years ago, but didn't go hunting last year, and I haven't had time to go to the range this year. What I discovered was that the first 6 inches or so of the stock (from the fore-end) is indeed free-floating, but doesn't have enough clearance. I can only slip one dollar bill between the stock and barrel for that first 6 inches. Two bills is no-go. After 6 inches even one bill hangs up. Obviously this is why the rifle shoots all over the paper as the barrel warms up. I'm really disappointed in Allison & Carey.

Follow-up: The "free float & bedding" job turned out to be as above with the addition of a blob of bedding material haphazardly pressed into the area of the recoil lug. Really disappointing and haphazard work. I solved the problem with a Hogue pillar bedded stock with a billet aluminum backbone.

Probably 5-6 years ago (and before I got my own tool) I needed a glock sight pushed a bit and was recommended here.
I show up and ask they guy if he can push it and he turned up his nose at me. Literally.
I waited and he said yeah but it'll be $50.
I said that was a bit steep and left after a glance around. Looks like a bunch of old school stuff so for those into it, excellent, but I got the feeling that if what I wanted to buy or have worked on was newer than 1980, they wouldn't be interested.

The employees within this establishment seem to take pride in their work.... on older and nostalgic types of firearms. However, they seem to have some knowledge of modern black rifles and are willing to accept them to work on.

I've only been there once so that they could check out a .308 AR build that I recently put together. They checked the head spacing among other things and fired several test rounds through it. Everything checked out fine and was charged $55. Money well spent in my opinion. I will go there again but I have definitely been to friendlier and better stocked stores before.

Its their right to work on what they want, it's also my right to tell folks to avoid this business. They must be doing something right since they are busy, but it's not the place for me and I would say buyer beware with this one. We need more service oriented gunsmiths in Portland.

I asked about changing the front sight on my Rock Island Officers 1911. They sure no problem dove tailed right he says, no staked on. Oh whats that mean he says so I explain it to him and he replies oh I think we can do that. that was two years ago and also my last time ever in that shop.

I went in to purchase a peep style sight for a special AK I was building. When the guy asked what I was mounting it on, I said it was for an AK I was building. He then grabbed the peep sight, hung it back on the rack, turned and walked away. When I asked what the problem was, he ignored me and went back to working on some fudd gun. In no way was I rude or disrespectful.

Reviewing the store area, not the gun smithing dept.

Pretty much an old fashioned LGS. Mostly used guns and older style parts, accessories, and reloading gear. Very cluttered!
I was pleased that one of the smiths broke off his work and asked in a very friendly manner if he could help me. Unfortunately, I was looking for an after market AR-15 pistol grip and they had none! I saw no military style rifles or parts in the store. Oh well!