NEVER AGAIN. My experience with Brubaker Arms was a complete nightmare. I asked Bryan to do some work on a priceless family heirloom, a custom 1911 which included cutting front and rear sight dovetails for Novak style sights, Cerakoting the slide, frame, and beaver tail, and installing Heinie Straight Eight front and rear sights. The work was supposed to take around 3 weeks. Bryan called me after a little over 3 weeks and told me the gun was finished and ready for pickup. When I went to pick it up, the first thing I noticed was that the sights had been BEATEN into the slide with a brass punch. There were strike marks and brass all over both sides of the rear sight and the edge of the front sight dovetail had been rolled over from where the punch kept glancing off. There was also a strike mark on the side of the slide near the front sight where he had missed the punch and struck the slide. When I addressed the issues with the sights, he grabbed a bottle of liquid blue and a cotton swab and slathered it on the sights and asked if that was better. When I still wasn't satisfied with the condition of the sights (brand new sights that cost me $152) he took the gun, put it in a vise with a chunk of rubber, and started beating on the front sight with a brass punch and a hammer, trying to smooth out the edge he'd rolled over. After handing it back I noticed the gun was coated in grease, and as I wiped the grease off with my hands, I found that there was a huge blemish in the Cerakote on the right side of the slide. If you look closely at the pictures he posted on his Facebook page, you can see that the sights are all marred up and you can just see part of the blemish on the right side of the slide, even though it's in the shadows. When I asked Bryan about it, he said that sometimes it spatters and that's what happened and that he couldn't smooth it out. There was also some grittiness and drag to the slide when I racked it where it had been perfectly smooth before. After some discussion, Bryan agreed to fix the issues and, though hesitantly, I handed the pistol back to him. I asked him how long it would take to fix the issues and he told me to give him a few days. That "few days" turned into a few weeks and then into over a month. Just a day shy of 8 weeks after I had originally dropped off the gun with Bryan, he called me to tell me it was ready. I went to pick it up immediately and he had re-finished the slide, fixed and installed the damaged sights, and addressed the slide rails to smooth out the grittiness. I paid him and took the gun home, only to find out it was packed with grease, there were multiple blemishes in the Cerakote even after he refinished the slide, and he had stripped out two of the grip screws. After two days of carrying a few hours at a time, and only 8 rounds to check the functionality, there are already spots where the "Cerakote" is coming off and I keep finding blemishes. The "Cerakote" job looks and performs more like a rattle can job. Bryan is a very nice guy, but I would never, ever, trust him with another firearm. Growing up with a father who was a gunsmith for most of my life, I know good gunsmithing and quality craftsmanship, and I haven't seen either with Brubaker Arms. My advice, do what I should have done, take the extra steps and send your firearm to a reputable manufacturer or gunsmith such as the original maker or Nighthawk Customs. This was an extremely hard, frustrating lesson to have to learn on a priceless firearm, and I had to pay full price for it in more ways than one. Bryan is willing to fix the mistakes, but when you are a licensed "gunsmith" and do it for a living, any mistakes made should be fixed BEFORE you hand the finished product back to the customer. That's just good business.
Note: Brubaker Arms Manufacturing is not certified through Cerakote to apply their product. To prevent having an experience like mine, you can find certified Cerakote applicators in your area on the Cerakote website.
Update: After reporting Brubaker Arms Manufacturing to the Better Business Bureau, Bryan Brubaker claimed that all of my allegations were false and opened up a case with the Yakima Sheriffs Department claiming harassment, though when I was contacted by a deputy, he stated that Bryan could produce no evidence of harassment. Obviously Brubaker Arms Manufacturing is very unprofessional and unwilling to own up to their mistakes. I have also had multiple gunsmiths and certified Cerakote applicators look at the firearm that Brubaker worked on and they have all agreed that the workmanship is completely unsatisfactory. Some businesses have even reached out and offered to refinish the firearm free of charge due to the extremely poor quality of the work. Bryan also posted pictures on his Facebook page clearly showing the damage done to the sights during his first attempt as well as a blemish in the Cerakote that is just visible on the right side of the slide even though it is shadowed. read more
