Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Why Do People....

chased the lastest greatest and ended up with a pudgy 223. (McMillan A5, Bartlein MTU) the smith lost the donor 204 barrel that I was going to resell and it took me a year to break in the barrel one shot a time with my work schedule. took it prairie dog hunting (my first time) and missed a lot with it. going another route next time i can afford it as im kinda over this rifle

NOONE is gonna top that!

Congratulations?..................

For me, I don't want to take money out of my family's funds to pay for my hobby. I do little things on the side, and if I want something new (i.e. gun), it usually comes at the sacrifice of another. There are a few I won't sell for various reasons, but I buy and sell quite a bit.

I build as per whim and happily spend Big Momma's money to do it.....................(grin)

For me, the cost of building a custom rifle was never worth it. I've 'built' several rifles from standard OEM parts or aftermarket parts. Most of my rifles get a new stock, all get a trigger tune, most get bedded with various other bedding touches, all non-Rugers get a set of lightweight Talleys. If the factory tube works, it stays till it pukes. I can get custom-like accuracy and function that meets my needs for a fraction of the cost. I spend the 'cost savings' on tags, gas, and components. I also trip them on occasion to scratch other itches. Can't remember the last I didn't at least break even.

I've settled on a few bullet/cartridge/platform combos, tweaked to my liking and can live the rest of my life with them. Spend your money on bullets and like components and hunting tags. When you look in the safe, will you really recall that you spent $6593 on ole Betsy that never gets used? Or will the gun trigger (pun intended) memories of a pre-dawn hike up a mountain, sliding through the timber, and finding a 6 pt elk unaware of you? I have numerous such memories when I look at my measly $1000 M70 EW. Or my $600 Ruger 77 UL. For the same $6000, I can go to Colorado elk hunting 5-6 times, 2 Idaho spring bear hunts, several WY antelope hunts, etc. I'll remember the hunts an people more than anything else when I'm farting dust in the old peoples home.

I've never had the cost not be an exceptionally good deal,but I procure with a clue.

Have long been a fan of OEM setback/punch-outs...if only because one gets to Test Drive prior and weigh all atributes in kind. Have never had one not get BETTER,after the transition,but factory chambers/throats are in fact typically sloppy,so the odds are certainly in one's favor.

I shoot daily,so there's not much stuff collectin' dust................

Well, I don't smoke, drink, use drugs, chase women (been married to the same one for 38 years), or have kids to spend on, or a mortgage, so I build and experiment with rifles. Once I learned I could pretty much build Remington and Savage rifles with prefit barrels equipped with barrel nuts with little to no gunsmith involvement, I was off to Happy Rifle Land. Then came the AR platform, even more goodies that could be assembled from parts easier than putting together a batch of pancakes. Once in awhile I send something out to have a bit of truing or alterations done at a lower cost than building a complete rifle. UPS provides me the services of just about any really knowledgeable gunsmith, preferably one with all ten fingers that can center a four-jaw chuck. Stocks I do myself, which keeps my skills sharp.

Really, rifles aren't rocket science, bolt actions are about as complex as a frying pan, and much simpler than a '69 Camaro, while the AR has more springs and plungers to loose in the floor vent: PING, tink, rattle - now where the hell did that go. Buy extra parts kits.

One action - receiver to those who live east of Mendota, California the former Cantaloupe Center of the World, can be swapped back and forth between many different barrels making an entirely new rifle. Cost is not a factor, all those tobacco products, booze and beer bottles, drugs and wild women I save money on does the trick. That and the California Return Credit on diet soda cans and plastic water bottles. So get out there and build your own. And if you want to win the ultimate Gold and Platinum Man Card, assemble an AR-15 from a stripped lower and upper while on horseback. Just don't accidentally shoot the horse when test firing, or it's back to reading Field and Stream and dreaming of owning a .270 Winchester in your mom's basement. (Damn knucklehead, did you really shoot the horse? So when's the cast come off your leg?)

Money grows on trees...............

What velocity can you push the 162 in a SA 7-08?

I'm not keen on taking 850 yd shots at elk with a 7-08. Not that it wouldn't do the job. I'm just not the guy who is going to man that trigger. There's only so much speed you can get with a 162-180gr bullet in a SA 7-08. It gets really marginal for big animals at long range unless ultra-precision is achieved.

I can do as well with '06. I'm getting about the same speed out of the same BC bullet, but I have 30% more bullet weight, and 30% more energy at any range. If I was going short action, a SAUM might be a good deal.

2700fps is a breeze in a 22" at 2.8".

It isn't about LAUNCH speed,rather IMPACT speed...or speed RETENTION. That of course in conjunction with wind slipping advantages.

Says a "bunch" about the '06,if it will almost hang with a 22" 7-08......................(hint)

Well, you got me thinking now. Dammit.

I heartily recommend your taking notes and more importantly...applying same............(hint)

What do you think of a 284 or 280 AI in a std action? I've considered picking up a 111 and getting the tools to swap bbls. Certainly easy to do any bbl swapping with the 'for dummies' bbl nut, a vise, and a torque wrench. That way I could fart around with other carts and not have to inventory several guns. Have begun to go that way with Contender bbls.

B: Well said.

Out of lots of rifles, I have had some top end customs, mostly bought used so the other guy took the hit.I have commissioned a relative few.But those went hunting, too.

Most others were "parts" guns,ie factory stuff with after market stocks....and much custom work came because no factory ever made a 7 Rem Mag or 300 Win mag or 375 (etc)that I liked as it came;and got tired of fighting magazine boxes and throats that were out of sync....annoying stuff.

So some tweaking or a new barrel was required.This fixed things,and by adding a McMillan or other good synthetic,these parts guns accounted for most of the game.Not much big money spent and hunts continued.

So you guys are saying that for the blue-collar hunter, there are better ways to get the gun that does the work? I didn't realize just how valuable this thread was going to be to me.

Its not just guns. Its cars, and clothes, and houses, and boats, etc. It never ceases to amaze me when I drive by some car dealerships and see a row of 1 or 2 year old used pickups sitting there. And take a look in the closets of some people. Hell, I think my wife has over 100 pair of shoes to my 4 or 5.

What I really think it is, is time. We only get so much time on this earth. And if we have the means, we try and pack as much into that time as we possibly can. If that means enjoying more than 1 or 2 or 3 of something at the same time then that is what happens, whether it be guns, clothes, trucks, women (or men), or whatever. Get it all in before you die. Just keep shoveling it in, and getting rid of it, and going on to the next one. Because one day you aren't going to get to do it anymore.

I find that with builds you are guessing on a lot of stuff. Do you want this stock, that stock, how will it balance with this profile barrel, etc., etc.

I have sold a few because I was not 100% happy with them. And lost a metric ton of money doing so.

I buy parts here and there for builds. It still costs more than buying someone else's custom they get tired of but doesn't seem to hurt as bad spending $100 here and a $100 there vs dropping $2000 at one time. But I'm also wired alittle different than most

I'll admit I've done the same, won some and last a couple. I've got a pretty good idea now of what I like. Which basically ends up being a Classic Edge stocked 7MM-08:) Working on my 4th one now, should be the best so far - I hope anyway.

Is it worth sticking a 7mm-08 in a std length action and throating for heavier bullets? I'm not a fan of short bbls, as I like the front weight, so I'd likely want a 24 even in a 7-08. I've noticed a significant difference in balance between 22 and 24.