[Edward Tinker]

A friend of mine visited Eugene, this is his write up;

*****Saw your project at Eugene's Friday night.

Please refer to November 9th photos by Eugene showing carbine kit.

Your wood looks just like this...needs final shaping, sanding, finishing,checkering, fitting, butt plate, etc. He has done the final inletting and fitting of attachment iron.

Gun: barrel and sights mounted and installed (don't know if he has done final head-spacing, extractor testing yet...presume he has not yet test fired it). All parts together loosely, including "new" bolt assembly items , as needed...and in preliminary state of prep prior to final polish before blueing and strawing. Only unfinished metal is installation of frame extension, which is the major PIA in building a carbine. (see pics of mine previously submitted to you)

In summary: still a lot of work to be done, but what has been accomplished to date is first class and I am sure you will be happy with the final result.

As you know, he is a very busy guy, working full time at a demanding IT job while tending to his gun-related business in his "spare time " during evenings and on weekends. In my experience, while he has the best of intentions, he seems to be overly committed at times, though I find that keeping in touch with him closely and paying him a visit (by appointment) does get his attention. Consequently, I suspect that a visit or two to his shop to review your project might accelerate things?

Also, if you have not been there, it is worth a trip if only to see all of his neat projects and equipment, the likes of which is probably not representative of your local neighborhood smith's operation...by light years. For example, his newest addition, acquired to supplement his Bridgeport, etc., is a sophisticated CNC mill currently used for cranking out all manner of neat things, such as the Navy rear toggle he just installed on one of my guns...(a really superb job in every way, incidentally). ***********