Shop policies

  • Bluing
    • Classic American Gunsmith uses Brownells OXYNATE NO. 7 bluing salts (MIL-SPEC C13924BAM1, Class 1, Grade A) for hot salt bluing.
    • Nonsteel (aluminum, zinc, magnesium, plastic, etc.) gun parts will be Cerakoted graphite black unless otherwise instructed. There is an additional charge for Cerakoting parts.
    • Guns requiring more than 45 minutes of preparation will incur an additional charge.
    • Machine polishing to a grit higher than 400 grit is available for an additional charge.
    • Hand polishing is available for an additional charge.
    • Matte finish is available upon request.
    • Unless specified, prices are for labor and consumables only and do not include parts. Prices are guidelines and subject to change based on the specific requirements of a job.
    • When hot rust bluing, only the barrel(s) will be hot rust blued, all other appropriate parts will be hot salt blued.
    • Classic American Gunsmith uses Mark Lee Express Blue #1 for hot rust bluing.
  • General
    • The minimum charge for shop labor is $40 per gun, per project. Shop labor hours are rounded up to the nearest quarter of an hour.
    • If we have to clean your gun before working on it, we add an ultrasonic cleaner cycle & dry charge to the invoice. We do not contact the client before cleaning the gun.
    • Unless specified, prices are for labor only and do not include parts.
    • Prices are guidelines and are subject to change.
    • Classic American Gunsmith will not intentionally remove the manufacturer’s markings from a gun.
  • Gun Transfer
    • Some websites publish user supplied or average transfer fees. If Classic American Gunsmith did not supply the information to the site, we are not responsible for any misunderstanding regarding the amount of gun transfer fees.
    • Once the background check information is submitted to the Virginia State Police VCheck System, the transfer fee is charged regardless of how the transfer is disposed of (approved, denied, canceled, or no response). If the client refuses the gun prior to the information being submitted to the Virginia State Police VCheck System, the fee is waived.
    • No gun in the shop for transfer will be released until a State Police Approval Number is supplied by the Virginia State Police Firearms Transaction Center or the Virginia State Police VCheck System. If no final status is supplied within three days, we will wait until one is available or the gun can be returned to the seller. A paid shipping label or payment for return shipping is required before shipment.
    • Due to ATF restrictions, we no longer do out of state transfers of long guns in our shop. The issue is that 27 CFR § 478.96(c) states that “A … licensed manufacturer … may sell or deliver a rifle or shotgun … to a nonlicensed resident of a State other than the State in which the licensee’s place of business is located if — … The sale, delivery, and receipt of the rifle or shotgun fully comply with the legal conditions of sale in both such States.” meaning that the FFL making the transfer can be adjudicated if the laws in Virginia and the laws in the transferee’s home State are not followed. For us to provide this service properly, we would need to have a lawyer(s) that specialize(s) in firearms law and is licensed to practice law in all fifty states. We discussed it with our Virginia firearms lawyer and concluded that we cannot offer this service until the regulations change.