280--
Some months ago, I started a thread on PMS--planning, mulling, and scheming--as a phase in building a custom gun. It seems like you have a bad case. Some random thoughts---
Like several people who have already responded, I have learned lessons over the years on custom guns, sometimes expensive lessons. I started toying with gun modifications because I am left handed, and wanted things other than the plain jane calibers that are offered by the factories.
I have never been able to afford a turnkey $3000 (and up) custom. I do a lot of my own stocking, and sometimes the projects evolve in stages. You can get an action rebarreled, and slap it in a fiberglass stock for $1200-1600, depending on how you go.
The first step is to figure out what you want that you can't get in a factory gun. More accuracy? Lighter weight? Obscure caliber? Prettier wood? Odd stock dimensions? Factory guns are agruably better today than they have ever been, and the functional gap between them and customs for general hunting purposes is pretty small.
Everything about gun design is about tradeoffs. Lightweight guns are harder to shoot, and recoil more. Accuracy guns are finicky about loads and not as "field durable". Heavy guns are, well, heavy. And so forth. You have to decide how to balance the tradeoffs.
Figure out the performance envelope you want, and then figure out how to get there. I have a 10# 7mm Rem Mag that is a half-minute gun, but I also have a 6# 284 that is more like a 1.5 minute gun. Why have both?--distinctly different performance envelopes.
A key to your design will be the action. Action preference is not just the enduring Ford v. Chevy brand preference. Consider a BR action (or similar) for an accuracy gun, a Remington for a varmint/accuracy gun, a Mauser if you are a traditionalist, a Winchester for a hands-down hunting reliable gun.
I would go with a light deer caliber for your first custom, because they are much more fun to shoot, and you will get more use out of the gun. A really nice 257 or 260, for instance.
Go with the gunsmith's preference for barrel maker. Then he is in your corner if it doesn't shoot well (he doesn't want to be proven wrong). If you use a barrel he doesn't like, and the gun doesn't shoot well, then he says "see, told ya" and the barrel is your problem.
But I find good stainless barrels to be so much easier to work with than factory barrels (esp. in term of cleaning) that I can't imagine spending much time on factory barrels again.
Spend time on gunsamerica.com looking at the custom guns people are selling. You can occasionally get them for 50-60% of having the same thing built for you. So it you are willing to accept a second hand rose, then that might get you in the game cheaper (and we know that if a second hand rose works out well, then you are in Paradise.)
Have fun, but don't shortchange the PMS phase--it is part of the fun.
