Author Topic: Virgin Valley Down for the Count... A Sad Day!!! (Read 1651 times)

billybob hunter · « **on:** September 18, 2004, 06:59:30 AM »

Friends,

Well... It's a sad day for the TC world. Virgin Valley wasn't able to attract a new investor and is this is their latest official message.... :cry:

====================
We regret to inform you that we are closing the shop. We are no longer
taking new orders for Encore/Contender barrels, stock sets, or bolt gun
work. We will be winding down operations over the next month or so. During
that time we will be trying to finish up as many open orders as we possibly
can. Those customer orders that we cannot finish up will be issued refund
checks for any deposits paid. The orders we will be concentrating on are
Encore/Contender barrel orders and open bolt gun orders. If you have a stock
set or forend included with your barrel order or bolt gun work, or had just
a stock set or forend ordered, those items will be not completed so a refund
check will be issued for your paid deposit within the next few weeks. In
addition, any related parts, pieces or accessories furnished to us for any
job not completed will be returned to you.

As for our custom Encore and Contender accessories, ie; hammer spur
extensions, scope bases, trigger jobs, forend hanger bars & forend
conversions for the hanger bar, etc. All of these same identical items are
still available to purchase through a different source. Contact Steve
Stratton via e-mail at blksheep@infowest.com to place an order for now. In
the near future there will be a new business name, web site and telephone
number available to use for ordering these former V V C Gun accessory
products.

In the meantime, we will be hard to get a hold of on the phones. If you
would care to e-mail Steve or Jeff that would be the best way to contact us
at present. We will reply to all e-mails received. E-mail
jeff@virginvalleyguns.com for any questions regarding bolt gun related jobs.
E-mail steve@virginvalleyguns.com for Encore/Contender jobs.

We deeply apologize for any inconvenience our closing may cause. We ask for
your patience in winding down operations and cleaning up all of the loose
ends. We will take care of everything we can as quickly as we can.

_____________________________________________________

Regards,

Steve Stratton
Virgin Valley Custom Guns
(435) 635-8941

=================================

$bob$ :cry:

cnTndr85 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 18, 2004, 08:11:57 AM »

Yes Bob, Thats a darn shame, very sorry to hear it. I have a couple of thier barrels and they do some mighty fine work.
Mark

Ladobe · « **Reply #2 on:** September 22, 2004, 08:51:51 PM »

I too hate to see them finally have to pull the plug even though I no longer did business with them. I lived near there in St. George for over 8 years and knew the gang well when they still worked at Bullberry, hung out at Fred's shop and with Fred personally often. I visited the new VVCG shop when they first opened it up across town from Bullberry - Steve, sons and son-in-law are all great guys and they had nothing but good intentions when they started VV. But I have to say that I saw the writting on the wall soon after they opened their doors, knew all about all their internal problems all along and am surprised they did manage to hang on this long. When they got things lined up right, they produced some pretty nice items and were willing to bring out some new ideas and concepts on TC's that Fred was just too conservative to do. They did produce many, many very nice items with alot of craftsmanship built into them, but they also turned out way too many nightmares - some that I know have never been corrected even with many tries, and somehow I knew they never would be. I learned early not to trust their work from personal experience and so stopped giving them my business during their first year. It was a hard decision for me to make as I had called them friends for years and really did like all of them. Hurricane is not famous for having good businessmen I am afraid, and that doesn't apply to just the barrel smiths (Fred is the first to admit that he's not a great businessman BTW). Even so, I wish them all well in whatever they do down the road and hope they find the success they are searching for.

My comments will probably rub some of you wrong, and I am sorry for that. But I have dealt with almost all of the shops in well over 30 years of shooting TC's, and that's how I feel about this shop and simply needed to say so. Many of the TC custom shops leave a lot to be desired, just seems to be the way it is for various reasons, but lucky for us most do get it right enough of the time to hang on.

Yes this is just IMO and YMMV. Not a problem for me at all - we are all entitled to our own opinions. Goodbye VVCG, and good luck.

Ladobe :bye:

Graycg · « **Reply #3 on:** September 23, 2004, 05:08:04 AM »

You are right, what you say does rub many of us the wrong way. I've got 6 VVCG barrels, 6 Bullberry barrels, 2 Dave Van Horn barrels, 5 Bellm barrels and 3 SSK barrels, I dare anyone to ever tell the difference between them other than by the different finishes, crown styles and the letters on the barrel. I always found VVCG to be incredibly customer oriented and wonder if it was VVCGs affiliation with someone who is banned on this post that brings on this arguement. I'd never say anything against any of the advertisers on this post, they pay for it for us all, but just because someone doesn't advertise here is no reason to badmouth them, besides, I'll buy an SSK barrel everytime my pocket book will allow! They are great as is JDs customer service.

Yes this is just my humble opinion. Yours is not a problem for me at all - we are all entitled to our own opinions. Fare thee well and not Goodbye VVCG, and good luck finding a new investor.

regards,
graycg

Moe · « **Reply #4 on:** September 23, 2004, 12:06:02 PM »

Gray, not change the subject, but I would be interested in the barrel choices you have from all those makers. Would you care to list the calibers of each. Inquiring minds would like to know!!

Graycg · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2004, 02:59:56 PM »

To all: Not a declaration of war, just a disagreement on something posted here, an open and free exchange of ideas!

To Moe: Calibers....22LR (x3), 22 Khornet, 221 Fireball (x2), 223, 256 Win Mag, 7mm TCU, 7mm INTL-R, 7x30 waters (X2), 300 Whisper, 30-30(X3), 30-30AI, 7.62x39, 30-40 Krag, 308 Bellm (X3), 309 JDJ, 32-20, 38 spcl, 357 mag, 357 Max (x3), 357/44 Bain Davis (x2), 358 Bellm, 358 JDJ, 44 mag, 444 Marlin, 45-70, 45 ACP....still missing a 30 carbine....

regards,
graycg

cnTndr85 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 25, 2004, 05:58:01 AM »

Quote from: Graycg

Calibers........still missing a 30 carbine....
regards,
graycg

graycg,
I just noticed that Midway has some special run 14" 30 carbine Contender barrels in stock.......they're a little high but they have 43 of em and will put em on sale if they move quick enough so keep wathcin em http://www.midwayusa.com/rewriteaproduct/717384
Mark

Graycg · « **Reply #7 on:** September 25, 2004, 12:15:44 PM »

Why thank you so much Contender85, good to hear from you again! Always pointing me to my next deal!

Thanks and regards,
graycg

Runs with Scissors · « **Reply #8 on:** September 27, 2004, 05:32:01 AM »

Virgin Valley did the trigger job on my Encore and their work was excellent. Turnaround time was 10 days.
I wanted a 1.75 lb pull and they were the only shop that would take it down that low.
Other shops would only go 2.5 lbs-plus for liability reasons.

That's the only work they did for me. I did speak to Steve on several occasions and thought he was a very nice, accommodating guy.

I'm sorry to see them close.

Bill

Big Gun · « **Reply #9 on:** September 28, 2004, 12:56:44 PM »

BTW VVCG does still have a few of their in-stock barrels available for sale. I bought one over the weekend. There were some pretty good deals on the list - if you are interested you should email Steve at the address above.

Lead Poison · « **Reply #10 on:** September 28, 2004, 12:59:27 PM »

I have two Encore rifles on order (prepaid) and I have not been able to reach, nor have I heard from anyone at Virgin Valley.

I've got $2000 paid to VV and I'm very concerned! I can live with not get delivery of the rifles, but I definitely not want to lose the money I've already paid to VV?

I'd appreciate any suggestion or assistance anyone here could offer.

billybob hunter · « **Reply #11 on:** September 28, 2004, 01:43:37 PM »

Leadpoison,

If I were you I'd send a Certified letter with return receipt requested and ask for them to tell you the status of your order. If they don't respond immediately then send another requesting a full refund.

I wouldn't let this go too far.

They are "out of business" and your money could be at risk.

I believe Steve Stratton to be a very honest and fair man and have trusted him with a huge group order for over 50 barrels and many personal orders in the last 3 years but things might get out of his control.

Just my subjective opinion.

$bob$

Locosgrande · « **Reply #12 on:** September 28, 2004, 02:10:40 PM »

Leadpoison,
I would not worry to much about not getting your money or the barrels. I know VVCG is getting a lot of calls and e-mail from customers wanting to know the status of their order.

I have a barrel and complete grip and forearm on order also. It was also pre-paid in full. I have had my e-mails answered by Steve in a reasonable amount of time. He was always honest and completely up front with my order status. He even let me in on the demise of VVCG before I read about it on all the T/C related message boards.

I believe all items that were started will be completed. My barrel and forearm are complete and the grip just needs the final shaping. It may take a while still to get them as his staff is reduced in numbers and hours. All items that were not started will get a complete refund.

Steve is also planning on starting a business making T/C accessories, so he is definitely going to make sure that all of the people he is doing business with are taken care of.

I found my best luck with E-mail is Sunday night, as he seems to answer them first thing Monday morning.

regards,

Dave