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

If it doesn't have a quarter rib it ain't a custom.

I love it!
Cat

What makes a gun Custom? 'That feeling!' Notable in 'pride of ​possession''. Not to be confused with the 'Chicken Little moment. Detailed, itemized invoice receipt... In wife's hand with 'that look', as... "What's this?" Response; weakly... "Err... Custom?"

Most memorably as 'Sky is Falling'! Newton's law in married life application. "For every action, an equal and opposite reaction!"


Anonymous

Exactly what a Melvin Forbes rifle is. His fingerprints are on every piece from action, action lengths, bolt, bolt handles, trigger, gunstock, bedding, blind magazines, barrel contours, twist rate and chambering. Melvin is an American Treasure. He’s also a stand up guy. Custom is when every part in a rifle is thought out from beginning to end built from the ground up for a specific means and purpose from one designer. That’s a NULA.

A custom gun, is a gun built to a customers specs.
Not a factory made gun.

Just choose your:
Action
Barrel
Stock
Trigger
Safety
Bottom metal



A custom gun, is not a bespoke gun though.
A bespoke gun is measured to your body and every part is hand polished spending silly amounts of hours.

Nice .... I like how the rib incorporates the front scope mount as well. What is it chambered?

If you going to buy them, you might as well use them.

Custom barrel, Proper chamber for the bullet I want to shoot, tuned trigger or custom trigger, pillar bedded laminate stock, or pillar bedded laminate stock.

If you assemble a bunch of parts into a rifle, it's not a custom rifle.

It's a kit gun.

If you pay someone to do the same, it's a kit rifle.

I'm not knocking the value of a kit rifle. I have some of my own and I'm very happy to hunt with them.

Why wouldn't I be????

P.S. The rifles that Echols produces are nowhere near this kit rifle category.

JR:

A Custom gun, is a Customer specced gun... right?

But by your standard, nearly all of the former great US Gunsmiths haven't made anything "custom".
They used commercial or military available actions, triggers, scope mounts, often factory barrels, made the stock, and maybe scribbled some engraving here and there.
Kit guns?


A Prechtl M98 or Hagn single shot action, are not Custom actions.
Its made to that shops/small factory specs...

A Custom or Bespoke action are two different things.


In the US, Custom is a watered down word, and can mean anything.
I can get a custom coffee mug made by my 9 year old niece in pottery class in school.
I might even persuade her to scribble some flowers into it as well... H&H style.


The Brits at least manage to call it a bespoke gun, when made completely from the ground up.

Nope
A custom rifle is not just a list of options.

I stand my by quote


If you drive by a new subdivision and notice many of the houses look the same but have different trim or deck style and maybe a 3 vs 2 car garage. They are not custom homes. I've built custom homes in a different life and they are a different animal altogether.

If you watch the custom car shows where they build some wild s#!t, much of it from scratch, they are building custom cars. A hot rod is more of a clean muscle car with some bling and of course some more muscle. Most hot rods aren't custom cars. It's not a bad thing. I'd rather have another hot rod personally.

My definition of "kit rifle" doesn't really do the rifle/smith combination justice. As there is a lot of really great smiths putting together fantastically precision tactically cool and reliable rifles. There's got to be a better name that warms the heart of the owner like owning and driving a hot rod does.

I build custom rifles. Stocks from a blank, many barrels from a blank, scope mounts, rings, sights & quarter ribs from scratch, most of the floormetals and many of the metal parts I buy in kit form from Speedy Metals. Little polishing here & there and PRESTO a custom rifle is born.

I hunt with a kit rifle (for want of a much better term) that I assembled and am thoroughly happy with it.

Can you explain this for those who don’t know what you’re speaking about??

An action.

BSA love the look of this rifle. How do you like the midnight blue and how well does it approximate bluing. I have a stainless classic 375 I have been thinking about going midnight blue with a brown Echols red pad or mcwoody red pad.

"If it doesn't have a quarter rib, it ain't custom."

Also has to have Model 70 style safety and black forearm tip. All the real custom rifles(which are necessarily bolt actions, so I'm told) have them

IMHO, if it doesn't have a handmade wood stock on it, then it's not a custom rifle.

Does anyone know what this means? I want to get a new deer rifle and want to get something good. I take a drive and talk to the guys at Hill Country or look this Echols guy up. Anyone?

After reading all this, I have concluded that i have two custom double rifles and one tuned pre 64 M70 .308. and one semi custom Ruger .338.

Then there are the Parker shotguns,,,

He is making the argument, that a true custom rifle is one that you have a gunsmith put their personal touches on and that a rifle that is chambered, threaded and put together by a gunsmith is a kit gun and is thusly not held as high in esteem.

"Custom", such grossly overworked term as relatively meaningless without further descriptive context. Yet more. Such context itself; several! For instances... A factory 'sub model', cataloged and appearing on dealer shelves unaltered by any one customer input; as "custom". A Franken-Bubba as appearing for sale on the Internet, heralded as "Custom!" Such as also existing within the same definition, a gunsmithing masterwork crafted to exact, particular customer specifications. Realistically, "custom" without more, definable as 'subtle crowbar' nudging price from $$$ to $$$$!
"Custom" inevitably and properly... "In the eye of the beholder". Another case for "buying the gun, not the story"; the term "custom" appended to that advice!
Just my take!
Best!
John