Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats What extras makes a gun custom?

In your opinion, what makes a gun custom?

A complete from scratch build?

A re-barrel?

A cushy recoil pad?

Any change from factory, or a combo of changes?

Just throwing this out there.

I had a Custom Rifle built from Accuflite Arms in Pittsburgh, PA, a few yrs. ago.
That Rifle is a Tac Driver! 1/2 MOA!
Sako 85 Action, .300 Win. Mag. Stainless steel, Ceracote, Reverse Tapered Barrel, for Harmonic Balancing,
Detachable Mag. (Ceracote Stainless Steel Mags.)
Action 3 Lug Design, W/Action Recoil Lug (bottom of Action) Stainless Steel Floor plate.
Barrel; Lothar Walther Stainless Steel,(Accuflite Specs)
Composite Kevlar Stock, W/Palm Swell,(Custom Fit to my Palm)
Stainless Steel Pillar Bedded Stock! Stock Swivels for Sling/Tripod!
Pachmayr Decelerator Pad.
Sako Set Trigger
Topped with a Swarovski Scope! (Don't ever go Cheap on the Glass) !

This is Just What Myself and my Brother in law had done and are really Happy with!
There are several Choices out there, and the .300 Win Mag. for us is very versatile for Us!
These Rifles that we had built are second to none in OUR Opinion, and can and,
Have been used in all Sorts of Weather Conditions!

Different Strokes For Different Folks!

For me its following.

1. Gunsmith!!!
2. Custom action
3. Barrel
4. Stock
5. Trigger
6. Glass bedding, free float, fitting, ect.
7. Built to your specs

Interesting post.


I'd call my m700 a custom. Even the factory action itself got a face lift. Plus a new barrel, stock, trigger. With remage setups, you can cut out the gun smith for a lot of stuff now even on factory actions. I do a lot of my own work. That particular gun was a Browns Precision Pound'r I snagged cheap. I used aftermarket BDL bottom metal. Did my own inletting and bedding. Fill the barrel channel a bit to clean up the profile. Painted it.


Just swapping a part or 2 IMO doesn't make it a custom.

But to me, factory actions can be used to build customs.


Where the line is? I don't know. Lol. If it's not a full custom call it a semi custom. Or just call it what you want. Not something to get too wound up about. At the end of the day it is what it is.

New aftermarket barrel and stock.

see through mounts, a slip on recoil pad and a big ol’ muzzle brake.

In my eyes.

Semi custom- factory action, stock upgrade, barrel upgrade, smith work.

Full custom- custom action, stock upgrade, barrel upgrade, smith work.

HunterShooter58- I have a 22PPC built on a Sako A1 that was built by accuflite. It is the most accurate rifle I own. Groups average in the .4s and turns out .2s often enough that it's not a shock anymore.

I consider a custom gun as one put together for you from acquired parts and pieces.

I like your list and could add one or two lines to it as well but I wonder why a custom action is needed. I had a faux 275 Rigby built by a guild builder here in Canada a couple years ago from the ground up but used a commercial FN-98 action. The action was tuned up and had a 3 pos safety and hinged bottom added.

Does that action discount it from full custom status?

hey are called parts guns!!! You get the parts and let someone put it together and call it custom?

I'm pretty sure if you asked 100 guys on this site for their definition of a custom gun you would get 100 different answers...

Mine is pretty simple- A lot of rifles are made from Remington 700, Pre 64 Model 70, or Mauser actions of various birthing so a custom action isn't necessarily needed to become a "custom rifle" - it's what is done to it that makes it "custom"...

In my limited experience, a custom rifle is made to your wish list of specifications- whatever that may be. A cleaned up, trued action of whatever make you prefer, a new barrel with the profile you specify, custom wood or stock to suit your purposes, and metal work that fits the job- including sight options...
I think this list leaves a lot of room for customization to suit everyone's needs IMO. A custom benchrest rifle won't have the same work specified as a lightweight mountain rifle and adding a new stock to a rifle doesn't automatically make it a "custom rifle" IMO....

I've seen Jarret rifles that if you didn't know who he was you would assume the rifles were just some off the shelf rifle with a Cerakote treatment.... they often look pretty plain on the outside...

I agree with this^^^ I call my pre 64 model 70 with custom barrel and brown precision PoundR stock a "semi custom". It's glass bedded and has a matchgrade barrel that shoots lights out. The action was blueprinted, according to my smith. I've fine tuned things like the trigger and bedding to make it shoot well. The rifle is cerakoted midnight blue by a local guy I know that shoots for Lapua.. The bare rifle weighs 7 pounds.



That's about as "semi custom" as you can get...

Any gun that is redesigned from the factory spec to fit your wants and needs.

Define "redesigned"

Using your interpretation of custom...
Buying a manufactured home, painting it pink, installing a pulsating shower head and padded toilet seat would qualify as a custom home.

IMO there's a big difference between customizing and custom. When I worked at DakArms, we didn't believe that we were building custom rifles even though many rifles had several different boxes checked off on the order form varying greatly from the factory spec both in features and $$$.

There's so much more to a custom rifle than a list of options.

IMO Sponge painting a camo pattern on an aftermarket high quality stock for your Rem700 doesn't qualify as bragging rights with your buddies as owning a custom rifle. It does however, depending on the execution of the work, add to the value and functionality you place on the tool you trust to bring home the "bacon".

If a client would send me a barreled action to just have me hand carve a several thousand $$ stock for it, I wouldn't consider it a custom rifle regardless of the final bill. Calling it a custom stock, absolutely.

Does if matter what I consider a custom rifle? Not likely. Who needs bragging rights anyway. As long as you're happy with what you're hunting with, who cares what anyone else thinks.

Yeah, Jim Really does some nice work!
Were very Happy with him and his products!

My eyes see things a little different as I would consider this rifle I built a custom rifle. However it doesn't fit your criteria. Does it matter??? Not to me or my happy client.

Another rifle that doesn't make it into custom grade as it is a military action and not a custom action. Let's just call it sporterized.

Not sure I like the sound of "parts gun", but that is about how it did all go down.

The credit all goes to the gunmaker. If I had been left to my own devices without his guidance, it really would have been a parts gun.

1) It sure looks like that rifle you posted fits ALL of the criteria I listed above.
Stock, barrel, smith work, etc. Split hairs much?

2) I don't really care what you or your client care or don't care about. Or what your eyes see VS what my eyes see. Or why you care so much. Nice rifles but pick nits elsewhere.

CUSTOM- "something made to unique specifications, especially something one of a kind. …" thank you Meriam Webster dictionary.