Catalog No. 1
10 Worth Dr, Suite 1301
Custom gunsmithing — Boerne, TexasDone right. Not done fast.
GunTex is a custom gunsmithing and repair shop in Boerne, Texas. One bench, one job at a time, and a straight answer about how long it will take.
- Consultations in the shop or by phone
- Open Tuesday–Friday, 10–5
- [email protected]
Accuracy & barrel work
Crown, chamber, threads and the measuring that goes with them.
Starting at $35 · bench 2–3 wks
Triggers & actions
A clean break, a smooth bolt, a lever that doesn’t fight you.
Starting at $60 · bench 1–2 wks
Metal finishing
Bluing, coating and keeping rust off steel.
Starting at $60 · bench 3–4 wks
Stock & woodwork
Bedding, fit, oil finishes and checkering.
Starting at $45 · bench 2–3 wks
Optics & sighting
Scopes mounted level, torqued and zeroed.
Starting at $30 · bench 1–2 wks
Maintenance & repair
Cleaning, diagnosis and keeping working guns working.
Starting at $45 · bench 1–2 wks
Restoration & heirloom work
Old guns, brought back carefully, or left alone on purpose.
Starting at $75 · bench 4–8 wks
Good work takes the passes it takes.
01 — Gunsmithing
What the shop does.
Repair, accuracy work, triggers, finishing, stocks, scopes and the careful return of old guns to working order. Every job has a starting price and a time on the bench, printed side by side.
If you’re not sure what your rifle needs, that’s the usual case. Describe what it’s doing and we’ll start with the cheap things.
| Service | Starting at | Bench time |
|---|---|---|
Mount, level and bore-sight a scopeWhat this involves: Mount, level and bore-sight a scopeScrews are degreased and torqued with a wrench that clicks, the reticle is leveled to the rifle, and eye relief is set with you behind it. Then it is bore-sighted, so your first shots land on paper. | $65 | Same week |
Pre-season rifle checkWhat this involves: Pre-season rifle checkAction screws and scope mounts are checked with a torque wrench, the bore and crown inspected, and the scope bore-sighted. Catch the loose screw in September, not on opening morning. | $125 | 1 wk |
Glass bed the actionWhat this involves: Glass bed the actionWood is relieved, release agent goes on the metal, and the action is set into bedding compound and left to cure. The result is an exact cast of your action that holds it without stress. | $175 | 2–3 wks |
Tune the factory triggerWhat this involves: Tune the factory triggerWe remove creep and grit and set the weight where the design safely allows. Some factory triggers can only be improved so far, and we’ll say so before charging you to try. | $95 | 1–2 wks |
RecrownWhat this involves: RecrownThe crown is the last thing the bullet touches; a nick there lets gas escape unevenly and tips the bullet as it leaves. We face the muzzle in the lathe and cut a fresh, even crown. | $100 | 1–2 wks |
Conservation cleanWhat this involves: Conservation cleanNo refinishing, no polishing, nothing that can’t be undone. It is usually the right answer for a gun with history. | $150 | 2–4 wks |
Labor only. Parts and ammunition are extra. Confirmed once it’s on the bench.
02 — How a job runs
How a job runs.
Five steps. Each one says what the shop does and what it needs from you.
01
Send a request
Tell us what you have and what you want done, or what it’s doing wrong. The request asks the questions we’d otherwise ask over six emails, and Philip reads every one himself.
What we need from you
Ten minutes, and the markings off the barrel.
Reply in 3 business days
02
A consultation
If it’s work he can do well, Philip books a consultation with you, in the shop or by phone. You talk it through: what he’d do, what he’d leave alone, what it costs and when it could start.
What we need from you
The firearm, unloaded and cased, if you come to the shop.
Tuesday–Friday, 10–5
03
The order
If you both agree, he accepts the job and emails you an invoice. Nothing is owed before that, and nothing is paid on the website.
What we need from you
A yes, a no, or a question.
Invoice by email
04
On the bench
Your firearm gets the shop’s whole attention. The work is done one job at a time, each taken as far as it should go before the next comes up.
What we need from you
Patience, and an eye on your email in case we find something.
Times on the price list
05
Proved and handed back
Anything that affects how it works is function-checked and test fired before it goes home. At pickup we go over what was done, what was found, and how to look after it.
What we need from you
Half an hour, and your ID.
In person, at the shop
03 — Texas, briefly
Plate II
Up the road, June 1844.
On June 8, 1844, Captain Jack Hays and about fifteen Texas Rangers, riding home to San Antonio, met a mounted party several times their number. They fired their rifles, then closed with what Hays called their “five-shooting pistols,” in a running fight of about three miles. It was the first time a whole Ranger company fought with Colt revolvers. It happened in what is now Kendall County, near present-day Sisterdale, which is thirteen miles north of Boerne. The early accounts do not agree on the exact ground. One of the Rangers wounded that day was Samuel Walker. Two years later he told Samuel Colt what the pistol needed, and Colt listened.
Source: Capt. John C. Hays, report of June 16, 1844; Handbook of Texas, “Walker’s Creek, Battle of.”
More in the JournalPlate II — Kendall County.
- 1: Boerne
- 2: Cibolo Creek
- 3: Sisterdale area
Sketch map, not to scale.
04 — The gunsmith
The gunsmith.
GunTex is Philip Hughes’s shop. He does the work himself, at one bench, in Boerne.
Ask him about your rifle and you’ll get the long answer: what the part does, why it wore, what he’d do about it and what he’d leave alone. Ask him about Texas and you may be there a while. He knows the history the way some men know box scores, and he’s particular about getting it right.
He is not in a hurry, and he won’t pretend to be. If a job can’t be done properly by your date, he’ll tell you so before he takes it, and tell you what you can safely do in the meantime.
His own description of the shop is the best one going: “no gate keeping. I just want to help people.”
Nothing here is a trade secret.
05 — Ask a question
Ask a question, even if you never book.
If you want to know whether a thing is worth fixing, what a part is called, or how to do it yourself, write. You’ll get a straight answer. Email is the best way to reach the shop.
@GunTex26 (opens in a new tab) — the place for businesses and collaborators.