Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JB: Shooting the Echols Legend

.300 WM in a left-handed model. Purposely boring... I knew Allen Day fairly well here and a number of his cronies who have Legends (many of them with multiple) and with universal agreement a solid 30 cal was where to start. After a few years of hunting around North America and always grabbing my Gradous 300 (even dall sheep hunting) it made more sense yet. Then D'Arcy shared the LX-1 and I was done. Now if Bartlein or Krieger will ship a barrel!

Sounds good as an all-around!

D'Arcy was "whining" about barrel availability when we met in Helena so I could hand the rifle back to him. He'd shipped it to me for the tests, but he and Rebecca had driven up to Kalispell and were on the way home. It was easier and a lot cheaper! to hand him the rifle, rather ship it back to him. Plus, we hadn't seen each other in a while!

I need to get down to Logan again and see the entire process....

Great thread!
JB - Is McMillan still building the stock for his new legends?

They must be using a very slow cure resin on them…..

My LH legend is a 300WM. You'll love it. It is indeed a good "first legend" caliber. I also ordered it after speaking numerous times with Allen Day. I ordered it approximately a year before my 2nd trip to Africa. Because it was the first left handed Legend D'Arcy made - there were teething problems getting it up to his standards. At the time, he was having problems with McMillan and their molds. The LH legend stock was not available in time for my trip to Zimbabwe - so D'Arcy put it in a right handed legend stock for the trip. It worked perfectly, although the cast was funky and backwards. Nevertheless, I shot 12 different animals with it. When I returned from Africa - he restocked it in the LH stock.




Right handed stock.


Proper handed stock.

D'Arcy is a great guy to do business with as well as a top gunmaker. He didnt have to go the extra mile, but he did.

John55 who rarely posts here, has a few of D'Arcy's masterpieces. I was fortunate enough to meet D'Arcy at SCI with Allen Day some years back and I got to handle the 375 H&H he built for Allen.

Yes, McMillan is still building the Legend stocks.

I am expecting delivery of a Legend using the LX-1 action within a few months. I know Mr Echols quite well.

Consider the following:
D’Arcy builds bespoke rifles. I hesitate to use the term custom because today the meaning of that term has devolved into meaning parts assembled into something that will shoot groups off a bench. Mr Echols goal is to build the finest most reliable hunting rifles available on the planet, full stop. He knows more about constructing them than anyone I have ever heard of. What he does is constantly evolving. I don’t know of any gun builder who goes to the efforts that he does. Nobody’s standards are more stringent than his.

Like a bespoke suit, that 375 H&H was built to fit the client who ordered it. It isn’t an “off the rack” suit that is made to fit the masses. I know the man who owns that rifle. He loves it. And he has shot either two or three Cape buffalo with it in the last year.

As to barrels, getting a fine barrel contoured to dimensions takes a long time. Krieger and Bartlien are taking up to a year to deliver barrels for sporter type rifles. They are very busy making money producing big heavy barrels which are very popular with the gong banging crowd. Take a look at what the secondary sellers stock if you doubt what I say.

Barrels can be contoured to reduce weight but very few gunbuilders can do it while maintaining that which came from the manufacturer. Krieger flat out will tell you that they believe you need to order the contour you want directly from them if you want to get the quality they can produce.

I would rather own a pair of his rifles than the multiple parts guns that crowd the safes of the majority of those who hang out here. You only use one at a time. If you hunt internationally then get a 375 H&H and pretty much anything between 6.5-06 & 300 Win and you are good to go. I can spend a small fortune hunting with such.

If you hunt only in NA then get just one.

I find The extent of criticism toward D'Arcy's turning the barrel quite illuminating . I know D'Arcy and his depth of knowledge and gun building skills are beyond reproach and what he did by recountouring was reshifting the balance of the rifle. Many of the English greats did the exact same thing. My 1906 Jeffery 404 had an almost bell shaped taper for the same reason.

I have not seen the gun in question but as others that know that Echols character have said if he did something odds are it was a smart thing with a bit thought.

DArcy does surf this site from time to time but is smart enough to skip posting.

Sorta sad that an SME (Subject Matter Expert) in rifle building finds the signal to noise ratio so bad it's just not worth the time.

It's not just 24hrCF as there is always some yahoo on the web that will try to attack.

D’Arcy isn’t the only top flight smith that will recontour a barrel if need be. I have several done to my preferences and they shoot just fine. I can tell anyone who is looking to buy one of his creations that it will shoot exceedingly well, or it won’t leave his shop. He’s relegated more than one barrel to garden duty over the years.

I know D’Arcy pretty well. I worked for him. I’ve seen D’Arcy hold up rifles multiple times for “insignificant” reasons. Things that a client would never know about. There are no shortcuts in his shop.

I’ve handled and shot the rifle in the article. Even posted about it here on 24.