GUNSMITH ~ JIM HUDSON…

[6hold]

I have been trying to find out for a while now if the gunsmith Jim Hudson of Chelmsford is still with us. He had worked on my firearms as well as some friends and was just a great fellow to deal with. I know that he was having health problems back a number of years ago but I haven’t heard any news of the gent for quite a while.

It was just before hunting season one year when I asked Jim if he could find out why my newly purchased (used) Colt Gold Cup wouldn’t group as tightly as I thought if should. He stated that he has been turning his business to working on long guns exclusively and he had many customers’ firearms waiting for repair before hunting season, (showing me a wall full of long guns) but if I didn’t mind waiting a couple weeks or more he would try to check it out for me. I said that was fine, I'm the late comer, so please take your time and give me a call if and when you find something.

About a week later he called and stated that all seemed fine with the gun so he tried one of his barrels in the gun and it fired with a better group with his barrel. He told me to buy a barrel if you want and he would fit it for me. I did just that and he did the work on the Gold Cup and it really groups excellent now. He did the work in less time than expected and didn’t charge anything close to what I thought, and was told by others, that it would cost.

He had his shop in his home cellar and it was just as I had pictured that a gunsmith’s workshop would look like. When I picked up my Colt I asked if he would mind very much if I snapped a couple photos of him and his shop because I try to get shots of most of my shooting experience and he and his shop are tops in my mind. He said he didn’t mind me shooting his shop at all but didn’t want to be included in the photos.

One of the many nice experiences I’ve had with the shooting sports, meeting and knowing this gentleman. If anyone has information on Jim Hudson I would be most appreciative in hearing about him.

Many thanks.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Don't know the gent, but the 1998 law that made it ILLEGAL to run a gun business out of a residential property (even if local zoning laws allowed it), killed many gunsmiths as well as home-dealers. Regrettably, the law applies equally to both.

So this may have put him out of business when he went to renew his gunsmith FFL (required) and MA license to do gunsmithing (I'm sure that MA requires one). Usually they left folks alone until their licenses ran out and then they refused to re-issue the license, putting them out of business (the goal of the Acts of 1998)!

 

[howie]

Jim retired in the early 90's sold his house in westford on rt225 and when to fl. he was a very good friend of my father and a great gunsmith
howie

 

[6hold]

Don't know the gent, but the 1998 law that made it ILLEGAL to run a gun business out of a residential property (even if local zoning laws allowed it), killed many gunsmiths as well as home-dealers. Regrettably, the law applies equally to both.

So this may have put him out of business when he went to renew his gunsmith FFL (required) and MA license to do gunsmithing (I'm sure that MA requires one). Usually they left folks alone until their licenses ran out and then they refused to re-issue the license, putting them out of business (the goal of the Acts of 1998)!

I had better catch up on things, I never knew a law like that was passed and wouldn’t you know that it would make the small business man suffer and do little to the people with the criminal leanings. Perhaps that law would get some of the “gun-running” home dealers put out of business along with the decent folks. I believe that Jim would be retired long before that law went into force. I was just hoping that his health held out so he could enjoy some relaxing years with the bride. Thanks for informing me of the changes in the law for the home gun dealer/gunsmiths.

Jim retired in the early 90's sold his house in westford on rt225 and when to fl. he was a very good friend of my father and a great gunsmith
howie

Thanks for the info on Jim, it’s nice to know that he made it to retirement and got to relax down south in the warm weather. Westford, that’s right it was Westford not Chelmsford where Jim resided originally, I do get some of those towns mixed up now and again, I travel up there so very seldom. Yes your Dad is so correct, Jim was a hell of a smith and charged just a decent price for his labors and not all outdoors. I never heard a bad word said about him or his work by many a shooter at the club I frequented at that time.

 

[JimB]

greg derr

Greg derr is in here somewhere, look him up. He also advertises in the
Goal newspaper..

JimB

 

[stinx]

jim did great work, in the late 80's he did work on a comander for me.

 

[Chris]

I never knew a law like that was passed

That is the very evil nature of gun laws. Just about anything you could possibly imagine already is regulated and such. Yet, the cry from every public source is always "we need more laws".

 

[M1911]

Perhaps that law would get some of the “gun-running” home dealers put out of business along with the decent folks.

Gosh. When I read statements like this from our own I just don't know where to start. Deep breaths. Count to ten. Unaware of Chapter 180 and takes gun-grabbers propaganda as truth.

A friend of mine was a kitchen-table dealer. He had built up a small group of clients, mostly buddies from the gun club. His overhead was low and so were his prices. He was put out of business by Chapter 180.

And here you are repeating the stereotype of home dealers as being "gun-running." My friend, like 99.9999% of firearms dealers followed the laws and regulations to the best of his ability.

In MA, firearm transfers are registered with the state via FA-10s. If any dealer is illegally "running guns", then it is trivially easy for the ATF to find out and prosecute the dealer. I know of only one dealer in MA who was prosecuted by the ATF (he kept selling guns after his FFL was revoked).

Most of the guns used in crimes in MA are stolen. Of the guns used in MA that can be tracked (through various owners) to MA dealers, which dealers do you think the majority of them come from? Do you think they originated at kitchen-table dealers or at large dealers?

It shouldn't be hard to guess. There are only a few large dealers in MA. They sell many more guns than the smaller dealers. As a result, many of the guns used in crimes in MA can eventually be tracked back to those large dealers.

Does that mean the large dealers are the problem? Nope. They can't control what a licensed individual does with a gun that they've purchased after they leave the store.

Putting kitchen-table dealers out of business had absolutely nothing to do with reducing crime. It was pure politics, plain and simple.

So stop propagating the myth that small dealers (or large dealers) were gun runners.

 

[Len-2A Training]

+1 M1911 has it exactly right.

It was an assault on LEGAL gun dealers in an attempt to cut down the number from >1000 to the ~300 we have today. If they can cut it down to 2 legal gun dealers in MA, they will do whatever it takes to make that happen!

It was a "gun control method" to control the number of places we could potentially buy from and hopefully (from the legislator's point of view) reduce our ability to buy to as close to ZERO as they dared at the time.

 

[6hold]

YUP! I DID IT ALRIGHT...

Putting kitchen-table dealers out of business had absolutely nothing to do with reducing crime. It was pure politics, plain and simple. So stop propagating the myth that small dealers (or large dealers) were gun runners.

+1 M1911 has it exactly right.
It was an assault on LEGAL gun dealers in an attempt to cut down the number from >1000 to the ~300 we have today. If they can cut it down to 2 legal gun dealers in MA, they will do whatever it takes to make that happen!

It was a "gun control method" to control the number of places we could potentially buy from and hopefully (from the legislator's point of view) reduce our ability to buy to as close to ZERO as they dared at the time. .

I was taken aback somewhat when reading what you folks had to say about what I had posted on the board earlier, so I went back to reread what I had written to see just what had provoked you.

My apologies gentlemen you're absolutely right, I misspoke, no doubt about it. It was not my intent but for sure that’s the way it reads. I usually reread before I post and catch things but what I had in mind there just didn’t come out the way it was intended.

If I can do it, hopefully without screwing it up even worse, I’ll try to “edit” out the grievous wrong I perpetrated upon the shooting public. But first, I’ll have to freshen up my cup of joe!

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"An old Italian Mafia Don is dying and he calls his grandson to his bed. "You lissin-a me. I wanna for you to taka my chrome plated 38 revolver so you will always remember me." "But grandpa, I really don't like guns. Howzabout you leava me your Rolex watch instead." "Shuddup an lissin. Somma day you gonna runna da business, you gonna have a beautifula wife, lotsa money, a biga home and maybe a couple a bambinos. Somma day you gonna coma home and maybe find you wife inna bed with another man. Whadda you gonna do then......pointa to you watch and a say, Times Up?"