Guncrafters Firearms & More

If I am remembering correctly, the first time I went to GC was back in the 90's when they were up on River Rd. It reminded me of some welding shops I'd spent time in - dirty & greasy. So I left.
When he opened up a small shop on 13th by Hoyt, I wandered in. Bought my first pistol there. It was still dank.
My experience with Doug is that he can be hot and cold. Some days he's happy and chatty, other days cantankerous. People have written about what a jerk he is, and I agree, he can be, but I regularly deal with people who are 100x farther out on that scale.

I felt I got a good deal on my pistol. I went to sell it a year later, and had him do it on consignment. After not hearing from him for ~4 months, I stopped in to see if it had sold, and if not, to collect it. (I was hoping it was still there). Nope, it had sold within a month of me dropping it off, and he had "forgotten" to call me. Fail.

The place is a lot better (and bigger) since Ron joined with him. I knew Ron from his construction business, and have always considered him a stand-up guy. I still stop in now and then. Once in a while you'll find a great deal on a used rifle or pistol. Otherwise, most of what I see is at or above going rate. For as small as they are, they do have an interesting mix of stock. I don't talk much when I go in, and they leave me alone. I like that. I don't mind nosing in when I do have a question. My experience is the service has become a lot better too. What is evident every time I go in, I am in the company of people who love guns.

If you happen to go in when they are not busy, and don't mind wading into conversation at the counter, it can be an educational experience. IMO, that is an essential element in a gun shop. I caught Doug on a happy day once, he was preaching the gospel of John Moses Browning, and I confessed that I knew absolutely nothing about the 1911. So he pulled one out, and gave me a full tour, stripping it and talking about all the parts. Not long after that, I saw a Kimber full size in there for $675 and wanted it bad. I was divorcing at the time, money was tight, and so I asked if he would hold it for me for a week when I was paid. Nope. I went back the next Friday to buy it, but it was gone. Turned out for the best - a batch of P7 imports came in shortly after that, and I bought one.

Shop Wares : B+
Folk : YMMV D - A+
Price : $$$
Overall : since I cannot give them a 2.5/5, I round it up to 3/5

I have dealt with doug for about 5 years. Every year or so he is a dick and makes me swear to never go back, but I really think he is an okay guy. He is one HECK of GUNSMITH, and if you need work done on a gun I totally 100% say go there, and he does stuff pretty competitively priced. Everything he has done has been above and beyond. But be prepared to be ticked off occasionally. He eventually gets better. Not a good salesman, but definitely a gunsmith beyond compare. Its probably more important that he be a skilled smith than a good salesman. He should be relegated to the back room, where he and the customers would be happier.

I stood at the counter for 15 min one day while they tried to figure out how to give me the 20% off discount on some bullets. there must have been 4-5 large yellow signs around the reloading supplies advertising the discount. But when the clerk rang me up he didn't bother. So it took him and Doug a good 15 min to play with the cash register trying to get it to record the sale correctly. As to me I was ignored during this no sorry about the wait nothing. All the while I had exact change and could have cared less about a receipt. No one offers returns on Bullets anyway. But instead of taking my money (which I suggested a couple times) and letting me on my way. I got to stand there and watch them try to figure out the bookkeeping problem they had created.

I'll go in there again. A sale is a sale and I shop prices. But its been a long time since I expected anything from the crew there.

So I'll post my story of dealing with GunCrafters over the last 3 weeks. I have had both good and bad experiences. I went in to buy a handgun with my wife, on a Saturday, early afternoon. We stood at the counter for at least 15 minutes looking in the cases, looking at the stuff in the store. Despite not being busy at all nobody looked at us, or spoke to us. Finally I got someone's attention and explained what I wanted- an XDM 3.8 compact in .40 S&W, bi-tone. Doug told me they didn't have one but would be happy to order me one. So for this trip- it took forever to get someone's attention, and they didn't even offer to let me hold any or talk about any other options, which I found odd but not terribly off-putting. Once I got Doug's attention he was reasonably pleasant to work with.
The following Monday, after pre-paying for my pistol to be ordered, and looking at my receipt which had no model number or anything on it, I called in to make sure they were ordering the correct pistol- I was assured they were and proceeded to anxiously await the arrival of my pistol. The following Saturday I got a phone call that it was in. Being in Portland to sell a car at the time I told him it would be fairly close to 5 by the time I got there and he said it was no problem- they'd just stay open a little later to take care of me- which I appreciated. When my friend and I got there, we had another 15 minute ignor-a-thon, before anyone spoke to us, and the pistol they ordered was in fact wrong (3.8 bitone-not the compact) Doug assured me he could sell the one they ordered no problem, and he would just re-order, but the compact might be difficult to get. After contemplating a bit about whether or not I still wanted the .40 or if I wanted to get the 9mm in stock- I was told because of a gun show that was on- it was too late in the day to run the check and get me on my way if the 9mm was what I wanted. Of course if we hadn't been ignored for 15 minutes there would have been plenty of time. I also kinda got the vibe that if they reordered the pistol, no matter what showed up would be mine.
The following Monday, I was able to stop in, the shop was empty except Doug and 1 old timer shooting the breeze- after Doug finished his story, he asked what he could help me with, and I bought the 9mm he had in stock rather than reordering. Monday's visit was quite pleasant and I would have a very positive outlook if that had been my only contact.
I work in customer service at an auto repair shop. Providing excellent customer service really isn't very difficult- you mostly have to care. You have to treat every customer as if they are the only person in the world that is important, because at that point in time- they are. That's what being a salesperson/customer service rep is. As for the claims that they are overpriced- all of the pistols I looked at were exactly in line with all of the other shops I shopped with, and my pistol was actually priced $50 less than freaking Cabela's...All in all I'd say it was a average experience, pushed towards fair because I have routinely received excellent customer service from Ole's, and The Gun Broker in Woodburn. That's my $0.02 anyway

I come here on my way to the range sometimes. They have a pretty good selection of guns, new and used, especially for a small shop. They also have a pretty good selection of ammo, especially some of the harder to find Russian stuff. The ammo is priced about right, the guns are overpriced IMO.

It is pretty annoying they don't ever answer their phone. Although it doesn't really surprise me since I feel invisible half the time I go in there. Sometimes they will ignore your questions outright. I don't think the guy is malicious I just think he's rough around the edges. He should hire some salespeople who actually like selling and just stick to gunsmithing.

My .02

Im a youger guy, about 22, and have bought several guns from them. I always felt like the prices were fair. and maybe hes a jerk and ignores you. But I just make sure I have the time to go.. He did not even mind to stay open after closing hours when we called in. I think he just gets a lot of retards who come in and dont know anything, but pretend to be some gun master.