Train wreck would be a nice way of describing this transfer process, my first one no less and a rant is immanent! Now before I get started let me say that on the topic of the shop I used, The Shooters Shop in West Allis WI, everything I say is obviously just my opinion and should be taken as such.
The Shooters Shop is a junk store. They charge ungodly prices, the staff are a bunch of bravos and the range is broken. I avoid the place outright if I can. That being said, given the deplorable number of SOTs in my area and what they charge to transfer, going with these guys was no more worse than any other (or so I thought!), so I figured I'd give em a shot. What's that they say about insanity, what, doing the same s--t but expecting different results or some such? Well, drum me up a scarlet letter R for full bore retard for EVER thinking that this would work out without a hitch!
I paid for the can on May 7th of 2012 and I did so with the understanding that it would arrive in the ballpark of three weeks. They already had some on order and with the reading I did on F3 times that seemed to add up. It took over six months for the damn thing to arrive. This place is a direct distributor of Silencerco products, and since Silencerco does NOT maintain a warehouse of backstock on their items favoring instead to build a large supply at distributors, the wait was simply because they hadn't made the can yet. While the wait was not the Shooters Shop's fault, their inability to communicate the issue put me in a state of anger and terror never before seen in a full grown man (debatable, not the terror but the full grown part). Instead, YOU ALL set me straight as to what the problem was. That's simply despicable; the customer has to go outside of the business to get the full scoop on what's going on with the item they paid for. I wouldn't have been happy if they told me what was going on, but I wouldn't be upset or confused either, it is what it is.
The one tiny sliver of positivity gleaming from using this place was the fact they had a range for me to use my toy whilst in ATF jail. A buddy and I refused to go back after one particular incident where we were catching bullet fragmentation like a hail storm, but I figured that it might happen from time to time and not something specific to their range. First time back I shot with the 22/45 without issue and it was pretty neat as I was the only one in the range, no ear pro. I switched to the Ruger Takedown, shot a few in the chest of the silhouette then transitioned to the head. BAM! A huge chunk of my bullet went through the forehead of my target then proceeded to come back and hit ME in the forehead! Throw the gun down, I'm done for good.
Then, as if to rub salt into my large gaping wound half way through my transfer the owner is featured in the paper in a lovely article on how he "throws NRA guys out of his shop, he don't need um!" What's the problem, you afraid people in the know are going to call you on your s--t prices? (where's the barf smiley?)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/ ... 93181.html
Telling me they didn't have the FBI fingerprint cards, ordering them myself, then finding out they had them all along. Instructing me to get only ONE fingerprint card filled out even though you really need TWO. Complaining that I filled out my boxes on the F4 using a computer, then of course them forgetting to sign and date the forms resulting in even more of a delay. Getting clogged in the head with ricochets and all the confusion left me completely worn out by this experience. I know that this post is really REALLY whiny but man was that a struggle. I guess the point I'm trying to drill home to anyone who may read this who's interested in getting a suppressor is to put reliability and professionalism as a TOP priority in whoever you choose as your dealer. You are going to rely on these guys throughout your entire transfer, make sure it's someone you can put faith into. Otherwise you may very well be in for one of the most aggravating rides of your life, up at 2AM posting frantically on Silencer Talk and selling your soul to Bender for information!
Well, as you all said once you pop you can't stop. Octane 45HD here I come!!!
Definitely check out Silencer Shop as well, great to deal with.
I ran into this guy some time later when I was a manager at a drugstore, he was driving the armored car delivering our cash, go figure. 