TJ’s Custom Gunworks

When you meet someone who is a master in their field, that’s a good thing. There’s an old saying that only 10% of the people in any profession are really good at what they do, and in my experience, I think that 10% figure is too high. It doesn’t seem to matter what the field is…motorcycles, medicine, and everything in between.  I commented on this one time to a really good medical doctor, and she asked if I knew what you call the medical student who graduates at the bottom of the class (the answer, of course, is “Doctor”).   It’s everywhere.  You don’t often find the truly greats in any profession, and when you do, you stick with them.

So, to the point of this blog, I know a gunsmith who is one of the greats. This is a story about my good buddy TJ.  TJ is gunsmith like no other.  He is more of a perfectionist than I am, and let me tell you, I am one picky guy.  I’ve been going to TJ for years and he’s worked his magic on several of my handguns.  He has never disappointed me.

I first met TJ more than 30 years ago when I hung out with the falling plate crowd at the Ontario indoor pistol range. Those were good times. A bunch of us would get together on Tuesday nights, I think, and try to knock down six steel plates as quickly as we could pull the trigger. I never won, but I didn’t care.  I had a lot of fun and I met some interesting people. The guns were usually highly customized race guns built specifically for the falling plate game. Custom 1911s and heavy-barreled S&W revolvers were the order of the day (I shot a revolver). The go to guy for these kinds of guns back then was TJ, and that’s were I first met him. TJ was just starting out back then, but word of his talent spread quickly, and it wasn’t long before TJ had a loyal following.   The big names, Special Forces guys, federal law enforcement officers, and others for whom handguns were critical to their profession and their survival started turning to TJ as word of his talent spread.  TJ’s guns were soon featured in several gun magazines. The guy is in the big leagues, and appropriately so. TJ’s work is both functional and gunsmithing art, and everything is focused on supreme reliability. It’s as good as it gets, in my opinion, and way better than you’d get from anyone else.

My first custom gun by TJ was my bright stainless .45 1911. TJ put in a Les Baer match barrel, polished and ported the receiver and the barrel to feed anything, and he installed custom fixed Millet sights.  That .45 became a 100% reliable, tack driving thing of great beauty. I don’t say that lightly; in the 10 years since TJ customized my Colt 1911, it has never failed to feed, fire, or eject, and it groups supremely well.  Usually, when you prioritize reliability in a handgun accuracy suffers, but that doesn’t happen with a handgun TJ has touched.

So when my Model 59 started acting up a month ago after 45 years of faithful service, I knew there’s only one guy I’d trust with it. I called TJ, and I asked him to fix the extraction issues.  While he had the gun, I also asked him to add the custom jeweling he does so well on the chamber and other bits and pieces. TJ went beyond that with a custom polish and porting job on the feed ramp and chamber, and my Model 59 is ready for the next 45 years.

TJ also spun up my Rock Island Compact 1911. The drill there was similar: Custom engine turning on the chamber, and polishing the feed ramp, the chamber mouth, the barrel exterior, and the guide rod. TJ told me the gun’s extractor was junk and he fitted a new one (and now, the occasional extraction and ejection failures I experienced with that 1911 are gone). I love shooting that Compact .45, and I send a couple hundred rounds downrange with it every week. It feeds everything now, from 185 grain cast wadcutters to 230 grain hardball, and it does so flawlessly.  Every time.

And hey, I thought why not spin up my Mini 14 a bit, too? So I asked TJ to polish and jewel the bolt.  He did, and that rifle has never looked better.  It’s a little dirty in the photo below, but that’s okay.  I sent a whole bunch of full metal jacket 62 grain bullets downrange with it yesterday.

The bottom line: You won’t find another gunsmith as good as TJ. The guy does work that is superior in every aspect.   He communicates well, too.  While my guns were with TJ, I had a steady stream of photographs and emails from him clarifying the work and reporting progress.  Where else can you get that?  I’ve already sent several of my friends to TJ, and now I’m telling you about him. You can get to his site here, and you might want to do that even if you don’t have any immediate gunsmithing needs. You can spend hours just looking at TJ’s custom guns, and that would be time well spent.

---

Check out our other Tales of the Gun stories!

---

Never miss an ExhaustNotes blog by signing up here!