Dingo Guns & Smithing - Napa!

[NapaPlinker]

Driving around town today I saw a bronco advertising this place! Anyone been here? Seems like a good crowd Ill have to check it out tomorrow.

http://www.dingoguns.com/

[NapaCountyShooter]

That's my buddy Sage. Known him my whole life. He's good to go. Starting out small, but has very competitive transfer rates. Deal with confidence. He's also private security/.mil.

[DasBoost]

Very cool to see another Napa FFL!!

[Wahooo03]

Very cool to see another Napa FFL!!

Absolutely. Glad to hear he's GTG.

[NapaCountyShooter]

Also very black rifle friendly...

[NapaPlinker]

Also very black rifle friendly...

Always a plus!

[Dingoguns]

Well, I suppose I'd be foolish not to jump on a little free publicity!

Hey folks, my name is Sage and I own Dingo Guns & Smithing here in Napa. I decided to get my own FFL after dealing with a couple of the gun store owners in the area and finding them less than what I considered to be satisfactory. I've always thought that customer service should be the #1 priority for a small business, and when I found precious little of it in town, I decided that I could do better. Not to bash anyone else, but if you live around here you probably already know who/where I'm talking about.

For those of you old enough to remember R & D Guns, when that shop closed they changed venues and became R & D Security. I work nights for them, and we share an office. So if you call me at noon and I don't pick up, now you know why! If you're coming to visit me, look for the signs for the security office; there's a karate studio full of kids right nearby, and the landlord let me know that it would be in my best interest not to post "gun oriented" signs outside.

So as you can imagine, with all these restrictions, my goal is to move to my own shop. However, that's just not in the cards right now (I've had my FFL for a year, been doing actual business for about 10 months), but assuming I can build a good customer base, I'm hopefull that it'll happen soon!

Having a full-time job already, at this time I'm available by appointment only. If you need anything, feel free to email me through my web site or call me at 707-227-4584 (evenings preferred!).

I charge $60 for transfers, which I believe beats the next-closest guy by about $30. I'm also more than willing to see if I can price match something that you find on the internet. I'm extremely OLL/BB friendly, and I'm happy to process SSE and SAO exempt pistols. If it's legal, I'll sell it!

I'm currently working on an idea to BB Centurian UC-9 carbines (please Google it, I don't wanna say the "U" word), as I can't stand that welded-magazine option so many folks offer.

FWIW, the Bronco that you saw belongs to my girlfriend/accountant. Gotta love her for promoting my business; that monster sticks out like a sore thumb (the Bronco, not my gf!).

Thank you all for your interest, and thanks Jonah for the vote of confidence! I look forward to serving Napa's EBR needs for a long time to come.

[SgtDinosaur]

Will have to come see you. I work in Napa.

[Petro6golf]

I served for 2 years in the Army with Sage. Definitely a reputable honest person. He is trying to get his FFL business off the ground. You cant go wrong with the guy.

[Dingotech]

Sage, my sister lives in Napa. I look forward, one "Dingo" to another, to doing business with you.

[gant]

yeah i contacted sage before found him thru gunbroker FFL list cool guy!

[bruss01]

I'm excited by this development even though I'm not right next door to Napa.

Dingo, can you tell us what you consider "smithing"?

Some folks think if you can install a scope or swap a barrel, that is "smithing". Other folks don't consider it smithing unless you can start with a block of steel and end up with a finished gun. Where in that spectrum do your talents lie? Do you do barrel re-lining? Can you perform in-shop hot bluing? Do you do single-shot-exemption conversions on off-roster pistols? Do you take on custom projects that might require substantial machining?

Glad to hear there's another nor-cal gun seller and "smith" doing business! Good luck to you and your shop in 2012... if the past couple of months are any indicator, you're going to do some brisk business.

[Dingoguns]

Sorry for the delay in my reply... I've been somewhat busy lately (no complaints about that, though).

Unfortunately I'm not set up for anything in the way of machining. Although I hope to get there some day, I simply don't have the investment capital to put out for a lathe, mill, bluing tanks etc. But that doesn't mean that I don't have hopes and plans to get there! I'm also going to school for welding and thinking about taking at least some machining classes, if not a degree.

I can certainly install a scope and swap a barrel! I can also do more involved stuff such as interior parts replacement and deep cleaning. I've conducted repairs on several guns for customers so far, from things as simple a AR lower builds and parts swaps to reshaping an extractor and contouring the ejector port on an old Tokarev someone brought in. I'm fortunate in that 2 of my good friends have around 40 years of gunsmithing experience between them. If I can't figure something out, they'll definately have some ideas to contribute.

Lately I've been practicing and researching trigger job work, as that's always seemed like a particularly useful skill to have. I'm in the process right now of acquiring the parts needed to perform SSE work on 1911 series pistols. If that works out well, I plan to do the same for Glocks (Gen 4) and XDM's in the future.

Saying that actually reminds me of a question I've been wanting some feedback on: what pistols would you folks like to see available for SSE?

[Dingoguns]

Oh, and for the record, I'm not actually the Dingo. But if you come down to the shop, you may get a chance to meet her!