Anyone have experience with Dave Salyer.

I'm looking at a used 9mm built by Dave Salyer. I'm going to go look at it this week to inspect and will ask to at least sand bag the pistol before buying. But I'm curious what kind of experiences you guys have had with Salyer, I've heard his name but never seen his pistols in hand.

I have had Dave build a few pistols for me. I have never had a bad experience. He has always done great work for me.

Bill

I have two built by Dave and have had some refit and repairs done also.
No gripes from me.
Ron

I had Dave build a pistol for me and was completely dissatisfied with it.  But, others have had good luck...

Steve, what issues did you have (customer service, workmanship, accuracy, reliability)? Might help others understand your experience.

He built a .45 Wad gun for me, that's very reliable. He's great to work with.

Dave built a .45 for me. His work was extremely reasonably priced, his turnaround time was faster than promised, and the gun shot 1.2” at 50 yards (in my Random Rest test, not the gunsmith’s).

Another satisfied customer here.

He is great, very responsive, gave me a bunch of tips, you can see some of his concepts such as area aiming on the forums.

Steve B wrote:I had Dave build a pistol for me and was completely dissatisfied with it.  But, others have had good luck...

Steve B,
Would you care to share some details with us ?

I shot with Dave on some of the Virginia State teams in the 80's.  I remember him as a nice guy and knowledgeable.  Not sure he was building guns commercially then.  Have not personally had any work done since I do most of it myself.  Am not aware of any discontent on his work.

I've had some minor work done over the years to include him evaluating and refreshing a .45 wad gun.  He determined it needed a new bushing and new firing pin block.  Both were a bit tight when returned, but the very next match I fired my all time high score, helped by 100 - 98 - 100 for the Center Fire Slow Fire targets and similar for the .45 Slow Fires.  The .22 was the low gun that day.  As mentioned earlier, it was a fast turn-a-round with reasonable pricing.

The only negative thing I have ever heard, is that he puts his name on the slide when he builds a gun.  Sure doesn't bother me - I'm fine with my gun having his name there.  If it was a choice, I'd have asked for him to do so.

He's a good guy, very helpful, and I've posted some of his articles here on the forum.  He told me if my gun ever needs refreshing, he'll take care of that, but it's working just fine.  The person I bought it from also loved the gun, but wanted to build something fancier himself.  

If I knew "then" what I know "now", I'd never have bought my Les Baer Premiere II, and I'd most likely have one of his guns (had I known who he was) - but then I also think Jon is a genius when it comes to bullseye guns.  If I were buying a new bullseye gun tomorrow, it would be a choice of only those two.

mikemyers wrote:... he puts his name on the barrel ...

Barrel or slide?

oops, slide!!!!!   I will edit that.

The Salyer guns i've seen are the Kart Xact Fit with kart bushing. The guns i've seen built by him ransomed as well as guns much more expensive than his.

Chris Miceli wrote:The Salyer guns i've seen are the Kart Xact Fit with kart bushing. The guns i've seen built by him ransomed as well as guns much more expressive than his.

expensiver too.

john bickar wrote:

Chris Miceli wrote:The Salyer guns i've seen are the Kart Xact Fit with kart bushing. The guns i've seen built by him ransomed as well as guns much more expressive than his.

expensiver too.

Maybe it’s time to upgrade from an iPhone 5. I keep goomba stombin this keyboard

I am entirely pleased with his work.  The pistols shoot better than I can, but until I get my Ransom rest together and figure out how it works, that's all I can say.  

He is very quick, for a pistol smith.  He has a good idea what will shoot well in a pistol he works on.

zanemoseley wrote:Steve, what issues did you have (customer service, workmanship, accuracy, reliability)? Might help others understand your experience.

Workmanship and accuracy, I'd prefer to leave it at that.  Other's have had great experiences which I'm glad to hear.

Chris Miceli wrote:

john bickar wrote:

Chris Miceli wrote:The Salyer guns i've seen are the Kart Xact Fit with kart bushing. The guns i've seen built by him ransomed as well as guns much more expressive than his.

expensiver too.

Maybe it’s time to upgrade from an iPhone 5. I keep goomba stombin this keyboard

You know that you don't have to wear mittens all the time in the lower 48, right?

Steve B wrote:

zanemoseley wrote:Steve, what issues did you have (customer service, workmanship, accuracy, reliability)? Might help others understand your experience.

Workmanship and accuracy, I'd prefer to leave it at that.  Other's have had great experiences which I'm glad to hear.

Fair enough; thanks for your honesty and civility.

(Regarding the above comments on keyboards, Apple has a "helpful" program that changes what it thinks are typos into a more appropriate word that you might have meant to type.  I think this is based on computer memory of what you've written before, and the dictionary spelling - but it doesn't show that it did this, you the user thinks he posted something correctly.  One of these days Apple will highlight what it has done, so people can check it.  It does the same thing on the latest iPhone X and on my MacBook Pro.)

You can turn Apple’s autocorrect off.

I have disabled it on all of my devices, because I never make misteaks.

I have 2 Salyers, they are top notch. He's as honest and straightforward as they come. I recommend him without hesitation. (Note my profile picture>>>>>

john bickar wrote:You can turn Apple’s autocorrect off.

I have disabled it on all of my devices, because I never make misteaks.

tasty