A Stunning Success of a FAILURE!

Careful what you wish for.  Patience is a virtue.  There are many quotes to describe this experience.  To start with, the good news.  I sold my first build!  I'm a successful custom builder (although this was from a kit).

As you know from previous posts, I've been trying to sell this gun for a while now and using various strategies.  I've tried reserve auctions, fixed prices, but this time I went a different route.  I put a penny auction out there with NO reserve.

My goal was to increase views and watchers with the intended result of selling the gun at a market price.  Well, several things did work in my favor...I have about 100 views in a week and as many as 18 watchers at any given time.  The problem was, most of them were not bidders!  Heck, most of them weren't bidders.  Stop spectating folks!  Get in the game!!!

But I digress.  In the end my gun sold for $275.  That was robbery!  I had about $390 in the gun for a loss of $115 plus commissions to Gunbroker.com.  I did sell a muzzle break for a $10 profit, so that helped some, but still a painful start to my hobby...one that also came with a stout lecture from the better half!  😞

But I learned my lesson to stick to my original plan of not selling a gun for less than cost.  Patience is the name of the game.  I also learned that not all attention is good intention.  And did I mention patience?!?!?!

As always, let me know your thoughts!

Range Day - 11.26.2019

Ah, range day!  Nothing like the smell of gun powder and the warmth of smoking barrels!  It also helps to have a few employees that are moving more into the "friends" category.  For example, we got an extra special deal on ammo today and bought cool 2,000 rounds to keep us busy for a bit!

The purpose of this post is 1) to stay active and relevant and 2) show off my awesomeness!  No, I'm totally kidding there.  However, my range day was pretty good so I want to show off the accuracy of my gun.  When I say my gun, in this case, this is the first gun I ever built and also the first gone I ever modified...which is what I'm trying to do here with this blog and hobby, am I right?!?!

The gun is an Anderson Manufacturing AR-15 16" 1:8 Twist Chrome Molybdenum Vanadium (CrMolV) also referred to as a "Chrome Moly" in certain circles.  It's chambered in .223 Wylde,  which is designed to effectively fit and shoot both 5.56 and NATO .223 ammo.  While a 5.56 will shoot .223 rounds, the Wylde barrel has better chamber engineering to maximize the firing of both rounds.  The only modification that this gun has is a VG6 Epsilon 556 Competition Muzzle Break / Compensator designed to reduce felt recoil and barrel movement when fired.

If the VG6 Epsilon sounds awesome, it is because it is!  Low barrel movement and felt recoil helped me re-acquire the target and aim with little effort and correction.

In the target above, you can clearly see the 2 groupings of 15 rounds.  You'll notice where I had to adjust the elevation and I still need to adjust the windage.  This target was peppered from 25 yards sitting on a bar-stool using the range decking as support for the magazine.

 

This target was shot from 15 yards in a standing position.  I was also moving all over the body from side to side, head to body, and aiming largely at the lungs, heart, and head.  I was also shooting fairly rapidly.  So you can see I was able to hit the intended targets with relative ease.

As a shooter, I want a comfortable, accurate, and fun time at the range.  I've tried to take what I want and put it into my designs.  I definitely hit the fun and accurate parts with my first kit build.  Looking forward to hearing your range stories and seeing pics...preferable with one of my builds!!!

Leave your comments and spark some discussion!

Favorite Manufacturer and Why - Pistol Edition

Ok folks, let's spark some friendly debate shall we?  Respectfully of course...

The subject is what is your favorite pistol manufacturer and why?  Feel free to list the model and caliber of any you own.

Me, I'm a Sig Sauer guy.  One of my favorite authors of intense military-style action adventure is Matthew Reily.  In his books his describes various guns and I remember reading something about a Sig Sauer in one of them.  I completely recommend his books for some killer (pun intended) reading. They are page turners!

Anyway, my first Sig Sauer (my second pistol ever) was a 5" .45 built on the 1911 frame.  A gun that just said, look fool, you made a huge mistake!  Ha!  I bought this before I was into building and customizing guns, which I still focus on ARs for the most part, so it's a simple gun with basic sights on it.  But dang does it ever shoot smooth and true!  I love everything about if from the look, the feel in my hands, to the recoil and accuracy!

In the time since then, I've bought my wife a Sig P365 and after a brief stint with a Kimber Micro .380 that kept jamming up on me, I bought a P365XL.  I'm a sucker for a longer barrel, what can I say!  I've gotten pretty comfortable with it and it is another gun where I like the feel of it in my hands and the accuracy I'm gaining with it.

So now your turn!  Leave me a comment with your favorite...and Glock fans, please don't drool all over yourselves!

Tough Biz

I learned again today how difficult this hobby can be.  A dear friend of mine asked me to look into making him a 1911 .45acp pistol fashioned after a Kimber model.  I did the research and thought I had come close to a good number, but the more I researched, the more I realized that I had more work to do.  So I researched some more!

I finally landed on what I though would be a solid build based on my research including customer reviews, other blogs, etc.  A ran the numbers and BAM!  There was my cost...$1,800!  My jaw dropped.  The most expensive version that Kimber sells was $1,524 (from their website from poking around different models).  Granted this had a threaded barrel and other features, but there was no way I could justify an additional $275!  On top of this, again as best as I can tell, Kimber doesn't sell 1911 frames and slides.  They keep those for their own sales.  I get that.  To a large degree it protects their brand.  Daniel Defense does something similar with their lower receivers (AR-15s) and I'm sure others do too.

Four pieces of the whole build made up 2/3 of the total cost!  It's hard to compete with that, especially when only a few vendors make the parts you need to substitute for the frame and slide I couldn't get from Kimber.  But I did the legwork and I learned a lot, so that is the plus from this situation.

I'm just a bit confused.  I seem to remember that assembling things yourself used to be a way to save money.  But the more I look, the more it seems like the odds are stacked against that.  Maybe it's the saturation in the market that makes it easier for manufacturers to price the parts the same as or more than the whole.  Let me know what your thoughts are.  Any other builders out there having the same struggles?

Marching onward,

Ted
Bruno Custom Arms

If at first you don't succeed...

We've all heard it...if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!  There is another saying...easier said than done.

My custom builds are more of a hobby than a business.  That is, I don't have a ton of money to sink into my guns.  Currently, my model is make one, sell one, repeat.  Maybe after a while I'll have earned enough money to have a couple of builds going at one time, but right now I'm super small scale.  So I really don't have the luxury of putting out an auction with a starting bid of $0.01 and letting fate take the wheel.

So to that end, I've been trying out several auction techniques with designs on protecting myself to at least get back my investment.  I'm trying lots of things.  I've got auctions where I've inflated the "Buy Now" price and provided an incentive for free shipping and no fees if the purchaser hits that button.  I've also provided the opportunity for a prospective buyer to make an offer.  To date, no offers.

So far, the most "effective" option has been the Reserve Auction with a $0.01 starting bid.  I finally got a bite, first with one watcher.  From my previous post, you know this was encouraging, especially with the rising count of viewers.  Finally a bid!  Oh, but it was a low, low bid, but there was plenty of time, so no worries, right?!  

WRONG!  I ended up with 7 bids by one bidder with a high bid of $335, nowhere close to the reserve price I had set.  Unfortunately, the second bidder never come to the party.  So, yes, a little disappointing, but maybe progress none-the-less.  That was on Gunbroker.com.

This time, I'm trying the same on Gunauction.com.  Oddly enough, when I had the starting bid at $499 (still below my reserve), I had over 40 views.  Two days into my $1 starting bid and I have no views.  I'm not sure I understand what's going on.

Is the market flooded?  Are people just looking for a cheap pick-up?  If there is another reading this that has some insights or thoughts they would be willing to share...I'd sure appreciate them!

Leave me some comments, let me know what you think about this topic, this post, or my blog in general.  See my other pages where I've listed some of my custom builds.  Leave me you comments there as well!

Thanks all!  Remember look me up at BruCA on Gunauction.com or tbruno916 on Gunbroker.com.

Encouragement!!!

One of my favorite movies is "Couples Retreat" with Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Faizon Love, and others.  It's a funny movie, but I feel like my wife and I relate to Dave and Ronnie.  One of the parts that I like is the yoga instructor scene.  He goes around and smacks everyone on the rear end while exclaiming, "Encouragement!"

Well today held some encouragement for me.  I had 7 total views on my first blog post (yeah, not a ton, but better than 1 or none).  Hopefully I can keep this fun, entertaining, and possibly worth reading.  I'm obsessing over numbers...well I am a CPA...my listings have over 30 views on Gunbroker and over 25 on Gunauction.  That's encouraging that people are stopping to look at the pictures and maybe read the description.

The less encouraging part is that no one had bid on any of it.  Bummer!  I get it on one of them.  I listed it as a "fixed price" auction and it has a healthy price tag on it, but it's a good build.  Lots of solid upgrades.  I also listed it as a Reserve auction,  I have the reserve set, but the starting bid is one cent.  Yep, $0.01.  I can't even get a bid of one flipping penny.  SADNESS!  😢

But this blog is entitled "Encouragement!!!"  Today I got 1 watcher on my fixed price listing!  Not a bid, not an offer, but 1 person thought my build worthy of keeping track of.  Perhaps there is hope yet!  I know it's early, but if I sell this one, I get to build another one!

So instead of dwelling on not selling anything, I shall bask in the ENCOURAGEMENT of the views and watcher!

Thanks for reading!  Leave me some comments, encouragement, words of wisdom, etc.

In the beginning...

Ever since I can remember, I've been interested in working with my hands.  As a CPA, my hands are generally limited to turning pages and typing on the keyboard!

But what I really enjoyed as a child was building models.  My favorites were military aircraft, helicopters, tanks, and ships!  My passion lay in the air, though.  I loved airplanes the most.  I wanted to be a fighter pilot more than anything that could think of at the time...except for maybe an astronaut!  But I have a problem with one of my eyes, so that dream would never come to life.

Still, I've always been fascinated by the military and our brave men and women soldiers.  One of my favorite aircraft was the mighty A-10 with its thunderous Gatling gun!  Through my love of airplanes came my appreciation of firepower and guns.  Add to that the fact that I'm fairly conservative to boot, I became an ardent supporter of the 2nd Amendment.  So as I grew of age, my attention turned away from toy models and airshows to firearms.  Don't get me wrong, you can still find me at an airshow!

At the ripe old age of 40 (and then some), I took an AR Build class at my local shooting range, which is conveniently located about 5 minutes from my house!  I'm usually there 2-3 times a weekend and most of the employees know me by name and all by sight!  It is there that I spend lots of time, money, and precious brass, and it was there that my new passion began!

So this past Summer, I took the AR Build Class.  It was about $600 and included a nice mid-level manufacturer's full AR-15 rifle kit (including flip-up "iron" sights), a carrying case, 100 rounds, and an hour of range time.  And it was close to my wedding anniversary too!  So the wife agreed to let me go.  It turned out to be only me in the class!  I got one-on-one instruction and had one of the best times of my adult life.

Just this month, I began my journey.  I bought a kit (minus lower) from Gunbroker.com.  I got the lower at my range and I was off to the races!  I made my first build for sale.  I eagerly took pictures and posted it on Gunbroker.com and now on Gunauction.com.  Views but no bites...what?  How can this be???  My dream and goal were so clear in my mind!

So, this is where my blog begins.  Here I hope to post my triumphs, my failures, my experiences, and even reviews of parts that I try out.  I hope that you will join me on this trip.  I hope that you will join me as:

- a fellow entrepreneur

- a mentor perhaps

- a customer

- a cheerleader

- a friend

How ever you come, let's work together to make one man's dream a reality.  And I'm not talking about a huge business opportunity here, just a fun and rewarding hobby perhaps!