Tennessee Smith Does Great Work without Long Delays

Forum member Jim (aka FalconPilot) recently provided a strong endorsement of a Tennessee gunsmith. We thought this was worth sharing. Jim notes:

“A lot of times on the internet all we hear are the bad things. I just wanted to pass a little valuable info along to all my fellow shooters. Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to or sponsored by Howard — I pay just like everyone else.

Howard Pitts of Taft, TN is the owner of Pitts Precision Rifles. I met Howard at the Regional F-Class Championship in the spring and he is a hell of a nice guy. At the time, the barrel gave out on my Dowling-built 6.5-284, and someone there referred me to Howard. After watching his daughter Halie shooting all weekend (she kicked a number of well-known butts!!) with a gun that her dad had built, I decided to have Howard rebarrel my gun. This gun was a hummer before, and even more of a hummer when I got it back. Not only does it shoot “lights out”, but the quality of work was top-notch, and turn-around time was impressive.

Move forward a few months…I had a 6BR built and chambered by another very well-known gunsmith. Great guy, fast turn-around, but the gun give me problems from the get-go. The Lapau brass was just too big for the chamber. I tried bumping shoulders, using small body dies, everything I knew of, and finally after about 800 rounds, gave up. (Moral to this story is ALWAYS use your own reamer, one that you know is right.) The gun shot in the high .30s to low .40s… but I expected more.

I’d decided that I wanted a Dasher anyways, so a call to Dave Kiff had the reamer on its way. Another call to Tim North and I had another barrel on the way — Tim is a great guy, went way out of his way to help, and makes a damn good barrel.

I next called Howard Pitts, explained my situation, and he told me to get him the equipment. He set my old barrel back, and chambered both barrels for me. Three weeks later, the gun returned with the same top quality work that I had received the first time around. Again, at a price that was more than reasonable (Pitts charges $150.00 for a typical chambering job). I’ve shot the gun over the last two days. While fireforming the brass, the gun is shooting in the .20s. With formed brass, I turned in a 5-shot, 100-yard group of .089″, my best group ever. Here is a group at one thousand (1000) yards:

I just wanted to point out a gunsmith that is honest, very accommodating, and who produces incredible work at a very fair price. Anyone looking for a smith, should give Howard a call at 931-993-6122 or 931-425-6895 (secondary), email: htpitts [at] bellsouth.net .”

Editor’s NOTE: Jim makes a very good point about reamers — it’s wise, when possible, to acquire your own reamer for an important project. That eliminates a variety of potential problems and it also ensures that you can get a near-identical chamber when it’s time to re-barrel the gun.

Regarding Pitts Precision — we’re pleased to spotlight a smith who does excellent work, at a reasonable price, with good turn-around times. There are many otherwise outstanding smiths who, due to their heavy workload, may take months or even years to complete a rifle. With one of this site’s own project guns, we had to wait 10 months for a barrel job — not a complete rifle — just chambering, fitting, and crowning a barrel. We applaud those smiths who can organize their schedules to provide good work in a timely fashion.