I’ve been playing with the idea of making a Ruger 10/22 SBR for some time now, and have finally decided to just do it and stop thinking about it. So, I’ve got my paperwork in, waiting for the BATFE approval. In the meantime, I’m collecting all of the various parts for my project.
Of course, one of those parts is the all-important barrel.
So, after much investigation and searching, I finally order a barrel from Hi-Desertdog.com. It’s an 8” stainless-steel barrel, .920” bull profile, with a threaded muzzle and iron sights (really made for the Ruger Charger, but it will fit the 10/22 as well). I call ahead, and the guy on the phone was very helpful, seemed knowledgeable, and said that they were currently out of stock but they have a shipment arriving very soon. So I go ahead and place the order.
My credit card was charged immediately, which I thought was kind of odd, since they had no barrels in stock- but okay, so maybe they came in earlier than expected. A couple of weeks pass, and I fire them a friendly e-mail, just curious to see when they expect the barrels to arrive. No answer. Okay, so everyone is busy these days, and I send them another one. Still no answer. Mind you, their website clearly says that their preferred method of communication is via e-mail. I blow it off, and wait another two weeks- still no barrel, and no e-mail. So I give them a call.
I am assured that it has shipped out, and I will be receiving it no later than Friday (I called on Monday). Great! So I wait. Friday comes, and no barrel. So I wait another week- you know how it is when you’re expecting something to arrive- it’s always a few days late. Still, no barrel. I wait two more weeks- still no barrel.
So I call again, and I’m assured that it has been shipped, and I’ll receive it no later than Wednesday. So I wait. Wednesday comes, and still no barrel. By Friday, there is still no barrel. I call again, and again, I’m told that it has definitely been shipped, and I’ll be receiving it the following Wednesday, absolutely no later. Wednesday comes, no barrel. I wait ‘till Friday, STILL no barrel. I call my credit card company, and request a charge-back. I then get back on the computer, and order a 10” stainless-steel bull barrel from Kidd Innovative Design.
Kidd’s barrel arrives in a week. It’s a thing of beauty, too! I got the bead-blasted one, and I have to say, it’s just beautiful! The bore is polished like a mirror. I sent it out to Tornado Technologies to have them thread the muzzle, and they were kind enough to take the time to call Williams Gunsights to see if they have a set of sights available for the barrel, and they do! So, Tornado calls me back (and I mean, QUICK!) with the phone number to Williams Gunsights, and also gave me the correct part number for the sights. I give them a call, ordered the sights, and had them ship the sights to Tornado so they can mount them for me.
Now, it is a little more trouble to have gone the route I went, and a little more expensive, but you know what? Kidd shipped me the barrel in no time flat, it’s a thing of beauty, Tornado does very good work and are very good folks to deal with, and in the end I’ll probably end up with a much better product- and I won’t be paying for something that I will probably never receive anyway.
It has been two and a half months now since I ordered the barrel from Hi-Deserdog.com, and I have not seen anything arrive from them, nor received an e-mail, nor received a phone call- nothing.
Moral to this story- my experience with www.high-desertdog.com has been an absolute failure, and my own personal experience is that it seems they are engaging in questionable business practices. But I CAN highly recommend Kidd Innovative Design (I don’t yet know how it shoots, but I’m willing to bet it’s great), I can absolutely recommend Tornado Technologies, and Williams Gunsights was a breeze to work with. By the way, the correct part number is 70881 for the Firesights for mounting on the bull barrel.
So, I hope this information has been of some help to at least someone out there. As always, your mileage may vary, but this has been my experience.
-CL
