Justin at Texian built this for me a couple years ago and just do not use it so would like to sell it fund other projects.

$1500 obo

Located in CS but frequent Houston. Text for info 979.2zero3.087seven

Sorry late night post.

CTGilley said:

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Based on the butt stock and the fact that I will have to rebuild it for my own safety since it was built by Texian

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Can you explain this part in more detail? Guess I have missed some threads - I thought Eyeguy's builds were well respected here?

Hobbes01 said:

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CTGilley said:

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Based on the butt stock and the fact that I will have to rebuild it for my own safety since it was built by Texian

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Can you explain this part in more detail? Guess I have missed some threads - I thought Eyeguy's builds were well respected here?

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Can't speak to CTGilley's experience, but I was extremely disappointed to find out they do not (at least at time of my last/only purchase from him) test fire their builds before shipping, which resulted in me receiving a rifle that would not cycle at all, along with a hammer that had been polished (not requested) in a poor manner that left the trigger feeling horrible. He did fix the issues after I sent it back, but beyond the additional hassle and time wasted in shipping, fixing, and returning, I would have been a heck of a lot more hesitant and checking for issues had I known in advanced that it had never been test fired.

As for the butt stock, I see no issue with Luth-AR. So what if it's not Magpul. I've got that same butt stock on one of my rifles I built and it functions great.

Hate to hear the bad experiences. I personally have had plenty of issues with Texian but never a functionality thing with guns. Just his disorganization and slow timelines has been enough to where I stopped using him for anything. He was always good to me and made issues right but at the end of the day I don't want those hassles.

I am open to legit offers but $500 is not one. I had a thermal mounted on this previously and sold it and have never had any issues with this gun shooting.

I purchased an AR from Texian and had some fairly significant issues. Gun was never fired prior to me picking it up.Took Texian about 3 extra months to get things right. I am not a fan of throwing small biz owners under the bus but hopefully these posts help improve his service.

Bob,

I kind of just came to the realization that I shouldn't have asked that question on your advertisement so my sincere apologies. Glad to hear you confirm that you have no issues with this rifle, so hopefully it will not impact your sale at all.

Bob Sympkins said:

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No worries at all. It's clearly a prevalent issue and hate that multiple folks have had the same experiences.

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It's an unfortunate reality with which I have a love / hate relationship... I hate to hear it for Justin because I believe he genuinely means well but it has made me quite a few new customers... That said, the components I've seen in the ones I've repaired are decent or better. Every issue I have corrected has been craftsmanship.

Since you are in BCS, I'm happy to offer you a free once over on the rifle if needed to ease any would be buyers minds. I can't take on liability for future issues but can at least make sure everything is currently torqued to spec, staked, etc

If needed, shoot me an email - outdoors@kelsoarms.com

Bob, you should take skelso up on his offer. I'm another former customer of Texian. I had the same unfortunate experience reported by others on this thread and have never written about it until now.

Had a custom 6.8 SPC built 5-8 years ago. Picked out components and a custom cerakote. Drove from BCS to pick up the rifle, brought it home and eventually took it to the range and it wouldn't cycle. Turns out the rifle had not been test fired. I was disappointed to say the least. Justin made it right but I had to ship the rifle back, wait for the issues to be addressed, ultimately met skelso through the deal, so that was a major plus on the whole deal. I hold no grudges and wish him the best but won't do a build with him again.

You might try Texas gun trader or Gunbroker to do a private sale.

FYI my dad has a Texian AR with your exact upper. You should check the fastener in the housing that holds the forward assist. That upper is a weird one where the housing is not a part of the upper but it's an add on module that slides onto a groove on the upper and then it is held in place w the fastener. If it's not torqued to spec and loc tite'd it will loosen over time and then one day your FA and dust cover will come loose. Apparently the company that made those uppers no longer offers them, my guess is because of that problem.

ETA - you must have replied while I was writing my post. Skelso will take care of you. He's the Texian's Anonymous gunsmithing therapist.

I have a similar Grendel from Texian as well; works well so any buyer should get a good deal.

With that said:
- I bought it as part of one of the TexAgs special and when I drove 90 miles to get it they had sold it to someone else.
- I should have a suppressor too but he listed his name on the form instead of the business. The ATF actually called me to let me know I should try a different person as he had already rejected enough he remembered the name.
- that was enough for me. Seems like a really great guy but waiting 13 months to be rejected like that was enough for me to shop elsewhere.

Edit / like the previous poster I have never posted this before but seemed appropriate.

Oh boy... Welp, there are multiple reasons why I've been quiet here for a while, part of which is that I saw a lot of these type things developing, but not soon enough to head them off at the time. Rather than keep trying to pull more and more business in, I took a step back. As such, as I became aware of them, along with a massive two year fight with the ATF proper (which I won), I've been a bit AWOL.

There are a lot of names on this thread that I know and hate to see. I'm also not going to try to blow smoke or call anyone out. They were legitimate issues that we had.

It's also something that I've spent the last couple years trying to address through multiple means, the biggest upgrade coming down the pipe right now, along with my next hire being someone specifically to address certain things. At times, I thought we had certain issues figured out and we didn't.... others, I stood up and took the blame when employees dropped the ball (It's my store so it's my responsibility regardless). And others, I screwed the pooch on, as well. When things do go South, I have absolutely tried to fix the issue... which I think is evident by what was said. Rocky road that ended up decent in the end.

Flip side is that I have developed wonderful relationships with a lot of Ags and non-Ags alike from this website. This business has been a combination of my wildest dreams and my deepest nightmares... sometimes at the same time.

At the end of the day, I always try to take care of what needs to be done but the path to getting there hasn't always been as smooth as I'd like.

In regards to test firing the guns before going out, it's something that has always been a sticking point in trying to address in multiple ways. We don't have a range here and loading up to go test fire rifles takes a significant amount of time. It also isn't always available to go do so due to the schedule of ASC, the weather, or other factors. Historically, the overall number of guns that we had genuine problems with were very low so test fire wasn't seen as a necessity, but I've since changed that policy depending on what is being built. What I did start finding was that certain calibers (6.8spc being the worst culprit) tended to need more tuning than others.

Specific calibers always get test fired now... and certain level builds or types of builds do, as well. Standard off the shelf "grab bag" style guns do not but those have a lower profit margin in them so taking an extra hour to go test fire would make me have to raise the prices on them when they rarely have major issues and usually just need tweaks and adjustments.

I'm happy to see you're addressing some of the admin issues. Lord knows we all have them. Also understand plans and life rarely align... I haven't painted a firearm in about 6 years and am typing this while taking a break from running electrical wiring inside a new shop build I started about 5 years ago...

I've remained mostly silent on the board about issues I've encountered with Texian built weapons because 1) I don't think it's good business practice for one business to air another'a dirty laundry and 2) I like you and want to see you do well.

That said, as a sponsor here you have a captive audience and a potential for negative comments to be removed by mods. This combo can severely skew the data with which consumers make decisions.

I hope you'll take this as constructive criticism vs a personal attack. Also why I'm putting it on Bob's thread that's already taken multiple left turns vs your thread...

As firearm manufacturers, the items we manufacture have the potential to set off some very bad chains of events if we don't perform our tasks with the highest degree of precision.

Every single Texian built weapon I have repaired has come down to QC.

Wrong length barrel installed on custom build.

Adjustable gas blocks completely closed (seen multiple times).

Random roll pin dropped under bolt catch such that it prevented both from being released.

Missing trigger spring.

Mis-installed trigger / safety such that safety lever position could not be changed.

Loose barrel nut (seen multiple times)

A solid process, build checklist, and QC process would have prevented most, if not all, of those issues from making it out of your shop.

It's my professional opinion if a gunsmith doesn't have the means to function test post assembly, they should not be in the business of assembling weapons. There are readilly available means to do so without having a range onsite or loading up and going to a range.

I am not looking at this as a personal attack from you, you've always been a good ally in this world and that's why when there were problems on guns in CS, I sent people straight your way.

A lot came down to starting a business completely green with little to no back end support. In that regards, there is a certain amount of pride and ego one must have to start a business. The key is balancing that with enough humility to not let it get too far. That... is tough... to put it mildly. While I do like to think of myself as pretty grounded, there absolutely were times that I let my drive get away from me and pushed too much. I can also say there were times that I didn't trust the ego enough and backed down on things that came back to bite me in the ass. Welcome to small business.

After about a decade, I have figured out a lot of the problems that I have as a person and the shop itself has. Sundevil came by the shop today (not to call him out) and was rather surprised at what he saw as I have been pushing hard to get certain weaknesses of my own weeded out while trying to play to our strengths. The "forced remodel" after the car crash last month helped a bit, as well, but it is something that I've really been working on a lot to get the "house in order"

In business, there is a constant push to do more and bigger. It's the nature of the beast, really... the moment I become complacent with what I have built is the day I probably hang it up. In that regard, I've hit some grand slams but I've also struck out because I completely misread the pitch. Another gunsmith I know locally calls me "The Resilient Little *******" because he's surprised at how quickly I get back up after something knocks me down. The problem is finding the right balance and it's part of why, again, I've been a bit absent here as I have been trying to nail down our processes on multiple fronts.

If you look back to when we first started, I devoted a ridiculous amount of time to Texags. And I loved doing it, I never felt it was an obligation but rather a way for me to help. I'm not going to lie and say that I don't do what I do for the money (because without that, there is no business) but I will say that just helping the crew here and people in store in general is the biggest positive about having the shop. I backed off because I felt I wasn't delivering in the way that I felt that I should have. It's also why I'm running a super light staff right now so I can focus on me and one other person instead of five.

So, to Kelso specifically, I do appreciate what you are saying. And what you mentioned are things that we specifically have been trying to address.

To the rest of you guys, we're working on things here. I wouldn't be in business without the OB.

I tried to do business with Texian once, but they never responded to my email. Guess I dodged a bullet.

Kind of hard to reply to this message for a number of reasons.

In general, I have always been very upfront about email being one of the worst ways of contacting me due to the absolute deluge of spam I get. Having the store email posted in multiple places has led to spam on my account being absolutely unreal. And that happened nearly instantly and also why I shut down the owner@texianfirearms.com email and moved back to gmail as it's a lot easier to manage. That's why I had the store number, PM function here, and even posted my personal cell phone on numerous occasions. So I'm sorry that I didn't reply but it wasn't for lack of wanting to.

As to dodging a bullet, I've been taking a lot of flack here, and I'll admit where we went wrong.

So, don't take this as me targeting you when I stand up for myself here and me also say where we went right:

I can go through and show at least a couple thousand sales to people on Texags over the last decade. Overall, I have had great interactions with the overwhelming majority of people on this board. I care about my customers in general, but especially those that come from this site. While there are a couple areas that I fully admit we did not deliver to the level that I want to, the majority of people from this site have had great interactions with me.

In many, many cases, I did so without a sale occurring. There has been a lot of time and energy that I have spent helping the community here, a lot of it behind the scenes. Oddly, some of those have been among my favorite interactions with this group.

Much much more has gone right than wrong since we opened. If they hadn't, we wouldn't have made it out of year one.

skelso said:

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It's my professional opinion if a gunsmith doesn't have the means to function test post assembly, they should not be in the business of assembling weapons. There are readilly available means to do so without having a range onsite or loading up and going to a range.

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As mentioned here, you can make or purchase a bullet trap or clearing station that allows you to test fire every gun you build before it goes out the door. You don't have to load up and go to the range.

I still can't believe I paid what I did for that 6.8 spc custom build, spent time driving from BCS to pick it up, drove home and the rifle wouldn't cycle at all. Inexcusable. I can't hardly look at that rifle (not to mention the accuracy problems I've had with it) without getting ticked off about it. It just sits in my safe now.

You should not just test fire select builds that are high end or custom or "finicky cartridges". You should test fire every build before it leaves your facility.

The select quality based on price points is a business trap that many have fallen into. I once tried to convey to a client the rule of three. Speed, Price, Quality.... can only pick two. It did not go well. While it is true in many industries, people do not want to hear that they can't expect quality just because things are being done quickly and for less. I would suggest not taking that route. I got my ass handed to me in that convo. And it didn't matter that I was technically right.

This needs to be discussed directly.

I think EyeGuy has done a great job of responding to the historical issues and appreciate it!

When I lived in Houston, went to the shop for a few things. They did a great job replacing the trigger in an older Remington 700 I had. He gave me the Aggie discount and got the work done in a reasonable time!

I now have two small businesses that deal with the public daily and it's HARD! Nobody would care about my "tales from the shop" since not outdoor related (the non fishing business) but they would make your head spin!

If I was in Houston and needed gun stuff, EyeGuy would be my man again.

Can you please clarify who this post is directed to?

I haven't made any posts about my build issues w Texian until this thread was started. That build was 6-8 years ago. Just want to make sure you don't have me confused with someone else. I hold no ill will, haven disparaged you privately, my only jihad is against tailing redfish, and I usually release my targets.

I wish you the best of luck and will not be posting about my experience again.

" So, don't take this as me targeting you when I stand up for myself here and me also say where we went right:

I can go through and show at least a couple thousand sales to people on Texags over the last decade. Overall, I have had great interactions with the overwhelming majority of people on this board. I care about my customers in general, but especially those that come from this site. While there are a couple areas that I fully admit we did not deliver to the level that I want to, the majority of people from this site have had great interactions with me.

In many, many cases, I did so without a sale occurring. There has been a lot of time and energy that I have spent helping the community here, a lot of it behind the scenes. Oddly, some of those have been among my favorite interactions with this group.

Much much more has gone right than wrong since we opened. If they hadn't, we wouldn't have made it out of year one."

As a fellow small business owner (35 years of patient care in the healthcare industry) I carefully read what you wrote above.

On one hand, I totally understand that you want to stand up for yourself, and you have an absolute right to be proud of what you have achieved and accomplished. And helping fellow Ags when you don't make a sale is awesome!!

On the other hand, I feel like I need to remind you of something that perhaps you don't need reminding of……but I feel the need/desire to anyways. One unhappy customer can cause more damage to your business than 100 happy ones can do good for you.

On-line reviews……..word of mouth……….the unhappy customer is ten times more likely to leave a bad review than a happy one is likely to leave a good review. And you need about 20-30 good reviews to offset a bad one.

Nothing………absolutely nothing is harder to overcome than a tarnished reputation in the small business world. Anyways…….i wish you the best of luck as you move forward!!!!