He is a busy man and it takes him a bit to get to your project but when he is done the work is perfect

I have used this gunsmith for 3-4 years for a variety of upgrades, crown work, lever action work and AR services. He is honest and upfront on his opinion/diagnosis prices are reasonable and his knowledge of all types of guns is a plus! One look at his workshop compared to other "Gunsmiths" says it all. read more

These days gunsmiths are few and far between. I took my beloved SigSauer to them to fix a "easy grip conversion" I tried to install on it. Basically my weapon would no longer go "pew pew pew". Due to my inept attempt to save $$$$. I took it to John, and explained the ways of my error. He gave me a fair quote, if I found the original parts he wouldn't charge me for the parts. Fair enough. Well the parts are somewhere not to be found. I received a call a short time after after leaving it in his hands. It was ready to be picked up! WOW great turn around for a business as busy as he is. Good gunsmiths are hard to find and John Danforth is one I'm not hesitant to leave any of my weapons for work here. And BTW his bluing jobs...... wow! Beautiful!!! God bless the USA and Danforth gunsmith read more

I took in both a pistol and shotgun in for service. I noticed that my pistol rear sight looked slightly aligned to the right of the dovetail. It turned out that my pistols sights were adjusted perfectly within the slide. Danforth's charged me a minimal amount to measure and verify and it was done within 20 minutes. My shotgun needed a recoil pad that was more flexible than the hard as rock one that was on it. Danforth's modified my synthetic stock to be able to handle an aftermarket pad. The pad was fitted to the butt perfectly. I am now looking forward to shooting! The workmanship is very good. Thanks read more

Excellent customer service. They were able to made the adjustments to my firearm the same day. The gunsmith John is friendly and you can tell he has a lot of experienced. The prices are very reasonable. I'll recommend this place to all of the people that wants to get things done right the first time. read more

They did a great job with my AR and my scope very knowledgeable very professional I will definitely be back for help with scopes again. read more

Danforth Gunsmithing - Juggernaut JT-10 with Cabela AR rifle scope - Gunsmith Near Me - Riverside, California

I brought in my sig sauer p320 to danforth because of some issues I was having. John helped me and was beyond helpful and informative. He dissected the gun and rapidly informed me and resolved my issue. He is extremely knowledgeable and even took the time to teach me a thing or two. I am very satisfied with the service John provided. I highly recommend this business. read more

Fast and friendly service. I highly recommend. John brought my old friend back to life!

These people are life savers, every time I have a problem or when "I DO SOMETHING" stupid with one of my weapons they ALWAYS come to my rescue. read more

John Danforth recently completed a complete reconditioning of my Remington Model 11 which has been in my family since the early 1900's. The shotgun now appear to be in "just off the shelf" condition and makes me very proud to show it off to my buddies. John' work was excellent and his cost and completion date were right on the original estimate. I highly recommend Danforth Gunsmithing to anyone seeking quality work at a reasonable cost. read more

This was my first time doing business with John. I brought my glock 27 to him to do some upgrades. He was very honest with me on the the upgrades that were necessary and didn't try to sell me on extra things that I would've probably been easily sold on. Also I had a short timeline for it to be done, because I had a course scheduled at front sight. He ordered the parts and had them installed in four days, plenty of time before I left for front sight! He is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to glocks and he took his time explaining everything to me. I highly recommend him to anyone! Thanks John, we will be seeing each other again soon! Greg Dowd read more

Absolutely wonderful service. Had a weapon in storage for over a year and when I retrieved it it was missing an extractor mechanism. Parts and labor are decently priced with testing included. Over all great work. Pulled the weapon apart and saw that they even went the extra mile cleaning and lubricating it properly before giving it back. Thank you for being one of the last few available gunsmiths around and for doing great work. read more

The staff is very, very knowledgeable on firearms. They gave me advice and also some information to use for the future. They know a great deal about Ruger Blackhawk single action revolvers. read more

Sorry to be be so critical but this was ridiculous. My friend (lol) shot a 9mm in my 40 cal gun. The casing was basically stuck in the barrel making it impossible to replace the damaged barrel. He told me here it will cost 65 an hour and an minimum of 2 hours to get the barrel out. He also told me it's no guarantee that the fun will be operable after he doesn't snag he needs to do to get the barrel out. I said no thanks. I told my friend who is not a gun smith and he said i can get that barrel out no problem. He eventually did and he said it toon him 40 minutes. How can an experienced Gunsmith not clearly see the easy way to fix this. End of story my gun is back working properly not thanks to this read more

A very knowledgeable gentleman who is polite and respectful. I took my older Walther .380 in to have some work done and he was able to tear it down, find the problem, repair it, test fire it and get it back in a timely manner. I will be back with my other guns very soon and obviously recommend this business with 5 stars. read more

Had sights replaced on my Springfield xd 9mm. Price was reasonable and done in a couple of hours. Happy with the results. I will return if I need to. read more

I am Glad that I came to the right place to fix my firearm. Dan did an excellent job on my Springfield 1911 Slide rear sights. He's expert in Gunsmithing. I would highly recommend this place In Riverside California. Thank you so much Dan....I got my Springfield 1911 back, and I am very Happy.... read more

I bought my wife a 12 gauge shotgun for duck hunting season and we needed the stock cut down to fit her. After a few gunsmith shops who told us it couldn't be done due to the resign stock John and Lee Ann had no problem... they measured her for her and cut the stock, installed a new recoil pad and the gun is perfect! Extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Service was fast and as promised. Open on Sundays which is helpful. Will be back! Bud and Eva read more

I had a trigger assembly kit by M-Carbo replaced, which did not reduce the tension on the trigger pull, so that did not resolve my issue. This isn't a knock on Danforth just info for anyone considering using M-Carbo that advertised 40% reduction in trigger pull. I had Hi-Viz sights installed and was satisfied with the work. This was my second time using Danforth for servicing my weapons. Good turn around on work and overall I would use services again if needed. read more

My wife and I love shoot guns. We also have some older guns that needed work done. The did a fantastic job on two of them. The also helped me with making my AR-15 featureless along with putting on new sight for my Sig 226 and Glock 19. As of now, John and Leanne have worked 6 of my guns in the last month. The only thing bad is that I can't spend more time asking them questions. What a wealth of information and knowledge. I now have gunsmith that I can rely on. Yes! read more

Again great service with John I always love coming in a seeing there there friendly dog .. I dropped off my AR to John and he was able to get it firing again without jamming and did it under budget!!!!! read more

Danforth Gunsmithing - AR-15 - Gunsmith Near Me - Riverside, California

I had an old Model 38 Turkish Mauser action, a new Wilson barrel and some other parts that I needed individually finished and assembled into a good big game hunting rifle so I went to Danforth Gun smithing after seeing one of their flyers at the Pasadena Turners Outdoors shops. John Danforth is super friendly and very knowledgeable in the craft of gun smithing. Inside the front lobby John has one of the best collections of gun related books I have ever seen, very extensive. I met with John and discussed my rifle project, he is very easy to understand and explains everything very well. After talking about all my options I had John begin my project and to my surprise it was finished sooner than we thought. Some rifle makers are very slow to complete full rifle jobs and it is common to have to wait a year or more and some custom rifle builders have been known to take more than two years to complete a rifle. John sold me on one of his made to order muzzle brakes as the cartridge I chose for my rifle has a reputation for having some stout recoil. I can tell you the muzzle brake works amazingly good. Felt recoil on my rifle is that of a 30-06 which is fine for me as the 30-06 is the most powerful round I have used for hunting and recreational shooting for 34 years.The brake tamed the 9.3X64 Brenneke far more than I could have imagined. My rifle turned out just like I wanted and works perfectly. I am very happy to have found this shop and to have met and worked with John and his staff. I rarely give 5 stars on Yelp to any business so for me 4 stars is really good. The front room could be cleaner but that has nothing to do with the over all quality of the work that I received and did not take away from my satisfaction in dealing with John Danforth. I recommend this shop and I plan to have another custom rifle built for me by John. read more

I feel blessed to have come across this business. Everyone I interacted with here was professional, courteous and friendly. The staff was very knowledgeable and eager to help. I never felt rushed. I left here feeling appreciated and more of a friend rather than a random customer. I am glad to have found a local business that I can trust. I will defintely be returning and referring this business to friends and relatives in the future. Thank you so much! read more

My boyfriend doesn't have a yelp account but was so impressed with the quality of service of Danforth gunsmithing that he asked me to post this... they know their business. I would recommend and give them 5 star... read more

After looking at different spots I ended up here with John and I couldn't be any happier with his work! Quick and cheap! He does a great job

Drove 1.5hrs but definitely got my gas' worth. They found a very simple and non-intrusive solution to a complicated modification that other gunsmiths were planning for 3 times as much labor, while others didn't even wanna try. Also an absolute pleasure to work with when getting advice and suggestions, they show a LOT of knowledge and experience when they explain everything involved with the gun work at hand. I've pretty much decided to make this my main stop for all gun work needs. read more

John was very informative and was able to help me fix my handgun. I recommend their services.

This is the second time I've done business with John. He repaired surface damage and re-blued a old Smith revolver. This time I had a problem assembling a small 380 pocket pistol. John reassembled the pistol properly and demonstrated to how to me how to properly assemble the pistol recognizing the manufacture's assembly quirks. He then took the time to shared his experience and knowledge regarding concealable firearms, measurements of various handguns, etc. I appreciate his insight and advice. read more

Great customer service. Very knowledgeable and patient with explaining in detail the work they do. John was great! I brought in my father's 1970 30/30 Marlin lever action rifle that hadn't been used for at least 40 years. I was afraid that there was no hope of restoring it. But i was wrong. John assured me that he could return it to its original glory. I had bluing done and they took it apart to do a thorough cleaning. To my amazement when i picked up the riffle today it looked brand new. Thank you John for giving me back a piece of my father and the ability to hand it down to my husband and someday my son. Although it took some time, it was worth the wait. I would recommend Danforth any day of the week. read more

Nice gentleman that owns this business. Very knowledgeable and friendly. He explained everything to us that needed to be done on an old shotgun that hadn't been fired in 50+ years. Very helpful! When we went back to pick it up it looked all shiny and new! Now all we need is some ammo and a safe place to shoot! read more

I took in a Colt .45 Government Model bought new in 1966 that had been worked on by several "gunsmiths" over the years. It was inaccurate, unreliable and had a terrible trigger. John was recommended by several friends as a "1911 Guy" who knows his stuff. He does. After much work including machining, fitting new parts and rebluing, the pistol looks better than new and functions far better than it ever did. He is one of the few real gunsmiths around. read more

I've taken two handguns to John to have him clean them up and get them back into good working order. I couldn't be happier with the work he did as well as his knowledge of firearms. He is a walking encyclopedia of information on guns and everything related to the use of firearms. I will definitely be using John for all my future needs. Danforth Gunsmithing is the best!! read more

My first time there, was definitely a good experience. Very thorough and knowledgeable I was able to complete my service ahead of schedule. Yes,I would recommend to a friend. read more

I was looking for a place to have my older shotguns worked. They were very thorough and explained every thing that was needed service was great and I had my guns back in a week. I will use Danforth again in the future. Very reasonably priced. TH read more

Bad experience. Took in an AR 15 to get a new MI quad rail mounted since I don't have the vise, block, etc to replace the barrel nut myself. 130.00 for a 45 minute job which I agreed to. Got it back same day. Gas block was badly misaligned. Barrel nut that came with the rail had several teeth that were partially sheered off. I assume because they did not use the supplied wrench, which I gave them. And small but inconvenient detail, the retaining clip for the pin on the dust cover was gone. I would have taken it back and had them correct it, but I don't want them anywhere near any of my guns again. I can do my own incompetent, sloppy work at home myself. This was a simple install. Should have had no problems. read more

Never going back. Brought in a 22 rifle to get fixed. First reason I'm not going back was the price to fix a mechanical issue I had with my gun very expensive. Second reason I'm not going back is when I did get the gun back and loaded a bullet, the mechanism wasn't very smooth, it was working but very rough upon loading a bullet. Third reason I'm not going back was the gun was dirty. When I finally was able to look at the gun in bright light I noticed that the gun was dirty, so I decided to clean the gun with my gun cleaning kit. I cleaned the barrel and was shocked with how much gun powder residue came out, the gun looked like someone shot about a 1000 rounds out of it. If you are going to charge high prices do high quality work. For the amount I paid for the gun it should have been a lot smoother and a hell of a lot cleaner. The reason I'm giving 2 stars is because he did get the gun working. read more

Don't understand some of the negative reviews, I've had nothing but great experiences with Danforth Gunsmithing. John has worked on my black rifle, my trap shotgun and 3 pistols. I couldn't find a decent gunsmith in the Coachella Valley so I have to make the trip to Riverside and in my opinion it's well worth the drive. Reasonable prices, great work and I like that he always gives me a thorough debrief afterwards about exactly what he did, what was making the gun not work right etc. Highly recommended. read more

John and the rest of the staff at Danforth are awesome. I took a really old (early 1900's) WW Greener to them to be restored and they did such an amazing job that words can't describe how great it looks. The Damascus barrels went from something that looked like a rusty stainless steel sink to just like new. From start to finish, I got great advice and information about what was possible and what to expect. The quality of the work is great and I was sold immediately after walking in the door and having some other guns they were working on shown to me. If you want to have restoration work done, they are like a time machine for old guns and everyone there really knows their stuff. read more

First thing i saw when i walked in was the beautiful gun book collection that alone told me and made feel like I came to the correct place. I had a problem with my rifle and let me tell you the amount of knowledge this man knows is incredible... he explained the process to me step by step and all he was going to do. he listens to your questions and explains everything with detail. Very good prices also. You won't regret coming here I highly recommend it very welcoming and well knowledgeable. I love this place and would keep coming back thank you guys alot!!! read more

This was the second time I have been to Danforth. The first time was to work on my fathers 35 Winchester Center Fire. Basically my father didn't care for the weapon and I was concerned about firing it without having it looked at. Yes I got a long time quote and high estimate, but this place is a gunsmith not Turners! I got a call saying that a screw in the sear was not OEM and that he would order one. Unfortunately the screw seemed to be out of production or not common with newer Winchester guns, but they kept it on their list of repair parts. Eventually it became apparent that we would never get the screw from Winchester so Danforth made an new screw. When I got the gun back it worked/works flawlessly. This time I needed to have a scope mounted on an M1. I bought it at Turners, but they couldn't drive out the roll pin for the ammo stripper and rather than damage the gun they suggested to take it to a gunsmith. I brought my rifle here. Again the estimate was somewhat substantial, but I also needed some additional work done. My gun was finished within the 30 day estimate and the mounting is great! read more