I'll give you an example of a gunsmith, albeit a now retired one who thankfully is a very good friend.
When he stayed at my place so we could attend an ELR .22 shoot two weekends ago we noticed the tubular magazine was bent on the Remington Model 25 .25-20 I was going to be using to hunt squirrels with staring this past Monday. Charlie offered to take it with him to address the issue as it was too complicated to fix on the tail gate of his pickup. Believe me when I can attest to some tailgate repairs as well.
I get a call Monday morning from Charlie saying the rifle is done. While it was apart he noted the following. The screw holding the tube to the incredibly complex Pedersen designed loading mechanism was missing. The screw has a reduced diameter nose on it and is 3/16 long. Not available anywhere, Charlie made one. He noticed that the repaired stock was not bedded evenly against the action and would perhaps be subject to a future pressure split. He scrape bedded it for full contact. He did not like the screws supplied with the Lyman 25R receiver sight as they were too short and not bearing evenly holding the sight to the action. New screws. He did not like how stiff and "draggy" the action was and upon disassembly and inspection discovered old dried glue from a previous stock repair had gotten into the action and mixed with decades of debris and dried oil. Solvents were doing a poor job of removal so he mechanically cleaned it with picks and brushes, relubed it and told me not to hit myself in the nose the first time I pumped it. No kidding, slicker'n two northern pike in a spawning marsh.
The bent tube you ask, straightened so straight I can't tell it was ever bent. Charlie apologized that it is not perfect and the only true solution involved a lathe and the loss of the patina. We speculate that the badly cracked stock and the bent magazine tube were probably the result of a bad fall in some previous owner's life in the woods and he may have landed on it. Another friend who also repairs violins did the initial repair on the badly split wrist and I cannot see the repair. Charlie declared the repair, "A good job." but opined that the contact area at the back of the receiver just needed a little help to be perfectly square.
The call from Charle was an offer to drive halfway across the State to meet in a Culver's parking lot so I could get my rifle back before another buddy got to my place for a week of squirrel hunting, fishing on the Mississippi and other frivolity. I left 10 minutes after getting the call! I asked Charlie how much time he spent on this project, and his sheepish reply was 16.5 hours! My bill was a firm hand shake. All I have ever done for the man is to try to be a friend as best as I can.
I am not 100% sure what it means to be a guild tested gunsmith but I know it involved building a 1911. This guy is incredible and I wish was immortal.
