Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Are custom guns "worth" the price... Why do you prefer them over factor offerings

I have 2 custom rifles and love them. I have had people tell me that custom guns are a big waste of money when compared to some of the quality main brands out there. Mainly because the SAKOs, Kimbers, and even savages and Rems will shoot just about right there even with them. What say yall...? Is A 3000$ custom 5 times better than a 600$ remington? 3 times better than a $1000 Sako?

I'll bite.

Sure they are if you can afford them. You can go with bling, no bling, wood, synthetic, barrel length, throated like you want, "exotic" calibers, sights, etc.

I only have one that is a full blown custom from the ground up. All others have been tweaked or modified in someway by rebarreling, new stock, etc.

I bedded a rifle for a bud recently and he had Karl do all the work. Damn thing shoots seems to shoot anything, bet it would shoot lug nuts under an inch. Is it worth it to the owner? I dare say yes.

YMMV.

Cost becomes relative and subjective, when dealing with this sort of issue. It's like art ... it's worth what it's worth - to the buyer ...

There are a few 'off the shelf' rifles out there that I consider very good, and fitting a niche that I have - which keeps me from having to have one screwed together from scratch to obtain ... and it's usually cheaper (or about the same) as having a custom built.

But, when you have a want/need for a certain style/type of rifle, the ONLY way to get it might be to have it built from the ground up, and will cost you somewhere around $3000 ...

so, the question really is not whether the custom rig is "five times better" ... the real question is, are you willing to spend what it will cost, to have a certain rifle built specifically for you? ...

If the main reason was to shoot little groups, I would have a hard time justifing it for a hunting rifle.


Terry

Easy, you get exactly what you want.

good answer & I agree with all of u...i was just curious what the feeling was out there

$3K sounds real steep to me ... at least for a McMillan stocked 700 or 70.

If we're talking wood and blue, then $3K probably will not get you into the ballpark.

But I could build two screamers for $3K.

rb

RIck I agree, i put 3000 out there because it wasnt as much as a LEGEND or JARRETT OR SISK but more than a rem action with a mcm stock

Questions like this are always subjective. I mean why even hunt when buying meat is even cheaper?

It's all about choices.............

MtnHtr

I wanted a 257Wby, and I wanted it on a Winchester SS Classic action. My only choice was a rebarrel and I was WWWWAAAAYYYY under 3K.

I was using the $3000 price point because that's what the OP used ...

I've had a full synthetic/700 custom rig built, and it was about $2000 when it was all said and done, considering rings, bases, new bottom metal, stock, action/truing, bbl, installation, bedding, yadda yadda yadda ...

The best bargain in a hunting rifle, is to buy a used custom. Mule Deer wrote an article about this subject. Let someone else take the loss, and you get the bargain.

Like buying a foreclosed home for .50 cents on the dollar.

like driving a ferrari when a yugo will get you there in the same amount of time provided speed limits are followed...

I have to agree, the Sako 75 is my idea of the Yugo of hunting rifles

fwiw & imho,
That would depend largely on how picky the end user is...

I've seen many, many Remington 700s sent to Pac-Nor to be "trued" and barreled. Said barreled action was then bedded into a McMountain Rifle Stock, or in earlier days a $125 KS Stock, by the owner. The trigger is adjusted and we are presented with a "custom" rifle... Might be to some folks. SOME of those who do their own bedding work are worthy of the "Custom" tag for whatever that's worth and whatever that means to you... Some of these rifles are super neat and don't look like project guns. Many, many, many others do...imho

On the other end of the spectrum you can have the best in the business do the entire project AND stand behind the entire gun... I've never seen a project rifle that made me wonder if Dave Tooley put it together.

Along those same lines it really depends on what YOU are looking for... If perfection is what you seek look to those who ARE the elite of the business and bite the bullet. That does not mean I endorse Kenny Jarrett's pricing or think he is the end all. I'm referring to those who are just under the surface who do world class work and don't work for free. You'll have to make the decision as to just who that is...

One way I've learned to avoid SOME average builders pretending to be IT, definately not all, is to pass on those who hover on internet forums trying to generate work... If they are doing package deals in heavy volume you are probabely not getting the best work available. Sometimes you DO find semi production shops that do SUPERB work. I found such a group that I thought built as solid a 700 as any I'd ever shot. Soo much so that I had them build 9 rifles for me over a four year period. One smith there actually. EVERY rifle was nearly perfect and were absolute hammers...

Fast forward to the ninth rifle that shot soo bad I did not have the confidence to shoot it for deer season last year. Spent over a week working up hand loads with every loading trick I could pull out of a hat. 2 MOA at 300 yards. THE DEER, my deer, presented a tough shot at precisely 403 yards from my stand. My 8 pound $2500 sporter(plus Talley Rings/Bases and Leupold LR, Murry Sling Aside) had to be left in the safe and I had to climb a 30 foot salt treated pole and hoist up 16 pound Tac Rifle to wait for my deer...

Evidently the owner of the company DOES NOT like to stand up to his dick ups and hence EVERYTHING involved with getting this rifle fixed has been a royal goat****. They've had the Rifle since before SHOT and they've still not gotten down to fixing the problem. A terse e-mail, after he'd been hard at work on the rifle for 2.5 months, yielded he was waiting for a reamer, 140 grain bullets, and had to borrow loading dies from a friend. He tried to explain why 175 and 180 .284" Match Bullets were ideal for 22" barreled 7mm-08 and Eastern Whitetail.

120 and 140 Ballistic Tips and and 120 TSXs, among others, shot 2 MOA consistently. Even after a scope swap to a KNOWN 16x Mark 4...

Turns out my rifle was chambered with a reamer setup for 175 and 180 grain Match Bullets. Explains the .100" ish of distance to the lands I was getting with the longest round that would fit in the magazine. In short this is our last dance... Like Dana White, I am out of the ** ********* business even if this sporter goes on to shoot in the teens.

In short do your research and make up your own mind. Don't get caught up in the cult like followings on some internet sights. I've found many of those "cult" like followers who have never owned a rifle by the builder, a scope by the manufacturer(one of whom is still working on a mock up while taking deposits), or whatever widget they are pimping...

The older I get the more of a curmudgeon I become. That said one gains perpective for that which is truly excellent...fwiw & imho.

Regards, Matt Garrett
757-581-6270

I slipped of the slope of building guns for three reasons. First, being left handed, if I wanted anything other than vanilla, I had to do it myself. Second, I like good wood, and that typically requires stock work. And finally, on some guns I like to try to push the accuracy envelope, and that argues for benchrest style rifles (I don't know of any factory guns that can shoot in the 2s as a standard.)
So I have a blend of high utility LH hunting guns, pretty wood guns, and BR guns.
But if I was RH, I would have things like Kimbers in my safe.

I think Im falling off the "custom gun" band wagon. I had 2 customs built by Dwight Scott and Karl in kind of a joint effort and they came out great, but it took forever. No fault of the smiths, but if you want one of the real good guys to do one for you its upwards of 2 years before you can shoot the thing. Plus my guns were hunting guns, not wildcat stuff, pretty plain jane.

I took Karl a 7-08 in a LVSF, he recut the crown, bedded it in a Ti take off stock, removed the wart, cleaned up the trigger and did all the sexy bolt stuff and the gun is one the most accurate and good looking guns I own.

One of the customs that Dwight and Karl worked on has been a real PIA on the other hand, totaly csutom gun on a 700 action, Kreiger, McMillan, Leupold, Tally, the whole thing and now it got a bad barrel and back getting rebarreled. Had this been a factory gun I could have shot it before hand and either sold the gun or planned to have it rebarreled. Either way I would not have waited 2+ years and then been let down because it wont shoot which is one of the pit falls of a custom.

So I guess my thinking is that if you going to hunt deer or what ever, in a standard caliber, I feel Im better served with a "cleaned up" factory offering and not going to the extent of a full blown custom. Not that Im not all about customs mind ya, just factor in the time and money and the factory stuff seems to shoot just as well with out all the hassel, plus you have spent less so you can have more of them!

This 7-08 is the first one I have cleaned up so to say and maybe I just got lucky, but for my use this is a much better way for me.

Im sure I will build custom rifles till they put me in the ground but I feel its a mistake to over look a worked over Remington 700 IMHO.

A good SS 700, bedded in a quality stock that fits right is hard to beat for the money. Average joe can do the bedding and stab in an aftermarket trigger. Suits me fine for a hunting rifle.

I shoot all year long and have 2 custom benchrest rifles that really shine. I have a lot of Mauser Custom hunting rifles . I don't fish ,golf, smoke, boat, go to ball games or drink beer . Heck I can afford some rifles. Its a choice and its not practical for someone who only hunts a few days a year, but it sure is nice to wrap your hand around something made just for you.Afterall it is the sport of the chase , the taste of old whiskey and the smell of a pretty lady that keeps us alive. Deer meat cost more than Caviar. Yesterday I was 25 and today I am 63 and have heart problems. So I say YES Buy you a Custom built rifle and don't look back,just enjoy it while you can.