Sorry guys, I've been out for the last few days and am only here long enough today to get some stuff pushed through then I'm headed back home and to bed.
To anyone who is still sending emails to Gale--she is no longer with BHW as per recent office changeovers. As of this week,
please address all billing and accounting questions to Denise: 509-793-8007
denise@blackholeweaponry.comI haven't been here so I don't know where progress has/hasn't been made. I've brought this issue to both of their attention.
Some personal insight to offer up though, when I was in the office for the 3 months before my laser got here, I spent the majority of my day checking voice mails, gathering answers and responding to phone calls as they came in, or re-checking voice mail for calls I missed while on return calls to other folks. My call back list was literally DAYS long. I know a few of you guys who have been on the receiving end of my *Late night* call backs. 5pm here is someone elses' 8pm.
We have so many inquiries that we had to bring on 3 more people in September to fill in those positions--Andy, Stacy and Denise.
bhwoodsman: All orders placed through the BHW online store and over the phone are for a custom barrel made usually from scratch and tailored to order. The long wait time accounts for scheduling machine time for your barrel. Currently we have bulk runs scheduled up to a month out and it's adjusts as necessary.
Once a barrel is actually put into process it takes about 3 weeks from there to work it's way through. There are of course exceptions--if a barrel doesn't pass inspection for instance. Another exception is if we already have the steel for the barrel you want in stock or stock steel that's been chambered, reamed and rifled awaiting assignment and profiling.
We try to run all individual orders along side bulk orders in process and we have to dedicate a few days in the month to just custom customer orders (non dealer/wholesaler). 2-3 months is about average as to where we are at right now as far as wait time, sometimes it can be sooner. Anything longer is
not typical and does need to be addressed. Anything that doesn't pass inspection is rescheduled, and can end up pushing back machine times. But that's why we put that time frame on there so people won't wonder after a week, why their barrel hasn't arrived yet.
Above is a look at one of our stock shelves. We try to run extras in a batch when doing individual AND bulk orders, so that they can be put onto this shelf. That way when an individual order comes in we can pull right from this shelf and can completely bypass the first half of the process. It can go right to profiling, head-spacing, gas-port drilling, etc etc.... Our other shelf has some of the extra barrels that were ran with individual orders as backups in case one failed inspection, there'd be a backup. If the initial barrel passed, then we'd may have an extra in stock that could be sent out same day as an order is placed. (This is our ultimate goal)
I've heard a handful of barrel makers that are struggling with lead times and quoting customers up to 30 weeks!
If you're looking for a fairly common caliber and profile, I'd recommend checking into some BHW dealers to see if they may have what you're looking for already in stock. I know that doesn't benefit us in anyway as a store front, but if that's what it takes to put one of our barrels in your hands faster, I think it's only right.
It's because of customer feedback that we have really taken off and have had to expand our operations. We've hired and trained a lot of new people in the last year to take on the volume of product we need to run and would love to take on about 10 more if we could find the right people. We've added 4 new CNC machines and are looking to add two more to speed up the cambering process. There's been restructuring in the office and how we handle the whole order taking process, a new bar-code scanning system is in the process of being implemented so we can digitally track orders as they move through the shop.
I'd say its come along way from just a guy and his two friends building guns out of his garage. I'm not going to lie, Carl takes what everyone says to heart because he still sees this place as that little shop he started with. Even when I'm not in the shop, I still hear about what ya'll have to say.
Not to say that's a bad thing really. It means he's involved in what we do and holds us accountable for every single barrel that leaves our shop.
We tell new hires that if they make a mistake it could result in someone getting seriously hurt or even killed, which is why it is important that we embrace the sport, work to our capacity, take pride in what we do and don't cut corners.
If you've been waiting longer than 3 months to get your barrel--that's a serious problem. IF you're not getting through, it's likely just that people are on the phone with another customer. Leave a message with a summary of what you need and a number to reach you at, and they will get back to you. Again, I don't know what has and has not been handled prior to this message, so if you don't have a phone call by the end of today from someone, PM me your name and contact info. I'll personally see what I can find when I get back (most likely tomorrow).
Your patience has been far beyond the bounds of reasonable. Thank you.
As for me, I'm going to go home, have a bowl of soup, some medicine and a good long sleep. I will be addressing this again on my return.