I've been asking a lot of questions because I have a friend who keeps hassling me to put together a custom hunting rifle with his help. It sounds like fun, and I like the idea of investing in a quality stock like a McMillan and getting a better trigger. Still, I keep thinking of the expression, "Don't shoot the donor" when putting together a custom rifle. The reason is that the donors often shoot very well.

So, should I plan on swapping out the barrel? If the factory twist rate is good to go for the heavier bullets I'd like to start using (as with the 6.5 Creedmoor barrels), would it be better to just shoot the thing first and see how it goes? Or is a barrel upgrade a necessity that I should budget for? I'm hoping to put together something that's fun to shoot and accurate enough for me to start extending my range.

You could just start with a custom action that uses a M700 footprint that way you don't have a donor to shoot.

https://defiancemachine.com/actions/tenacity/

dave

If the factory barrel is twisted properly for the bullets that you want to shoot, no reason not to shoot the donor. If it shoots to your expectations, spend the "barrel money" on ammo, or a glass upgrade. If it doesn't shoot to your expectations, you have your answer... Regardless, enjoy ! ! !

x2

I could never be a one rifle hunter/shooter. I have a buddy that is. He shoots an off-the-shelf Remington 700 from the early 70's. He has only ever hunted with that one rifle. It is accurate & wears a Brown Precision stock. Could not even begin to guess how many animals it has put on the ground over its years shooting commercial ammo. I finally convinced him to let me work him a load up with Nosler 165 AB's. We got them running 3000 fps and shooting under 1/2 moa.

I own two custom rifle builds with Borden actions, one built by Borden & the other built by Kampfeld Customs. They both shoot as you would expect them to. I have many other off-the-shelf rifles. They all shoot very well.

If you can live with one rifle & be happy I strongly encourage you to get a custom built to your liking. I would not start with a modified Remington action. I would go for a full custom Remington 700 clone or other custom action of your choice. If you go custom you will be very happy you did so.

If you stay with a commercial rifle that meets your expectations you will be glad you did so.

Definitely shoot the donor.

I suspect that your buddy wants to have the thrill of building a custom rifle but he wants you to pay for it. The biggest factor in building a custom rifle—and whether that rifle has a match-grade barrel—is what you want, not what he thinks you need. Will it ruin a friendship if the rifle turns out not to be what you want, or if this whole thing turns out to be an expensive boondoggle that gets you in trouble around the house?

I’ve had a few custom rifles built over the years, and the first factor is always budget. A good smith can assemble a rifle with a good stock, a good trigger, and a match-grade barrel for around $2k. But that money could go toward another hunt, a hunt for a new species, a hunt in a new place, better binoculars, etc. Do you want to hunt/shoot more with a factory rifle or less with a custom rifle? You can upgrade the stock, trigger, barrel, and optics over time—there’s no need to do all of it at once. And you can get surprisingly good results if you pull the barrel, set it back a thread, and recut the chamber and crown.

Most factory barrels shoot a couple of loads really well and are mediocre with the rest, but mediocre will kill game all day long. A match-grade barrel will usually shoot a lot of loads well and be easier to clean, but you have to buy it and get it installed, and that’s not cheap once you factor in the hidden costs like shipping, tax, etc. It can also be a very expensive way to learn that your smith doesn’t really knows his way around bolt guns yet.

Once your rifle arrives, it can take a while to get it sorted out, find a load that you like, and get everything dialed in. That can eat up enormous amounts of time on the range and at the reloading bench, and money in components and ammo. If it has to go back to the smith to be made right, that’s expensive, too, and it adds to the wait time.

Also, the industry has evolved so much that custom rifles make less and less sense every day. Barrett, Begara, Sako, Tikka, and others now offer acccuracy, features, and quality out of the box that were a custom-only proposition just 10 years ago, and they’re downright cheap when you really understand what you get.

Things I definitely would NOT do:

• Build a custom rifle expecting it to fire a specific bullet at a specific velocity, especially if that velocity or bullet weight is at the extreme end of the performance scale. Understand what the cartridge will do and accept that your rifle may fall a bit short of that. If you plan to run a 30-06 at the extreme top end, get a 300 WM. If you plan to run a 300 WM at the extreme top end, get a 300 Weatherby.
• Plan a hunt around a rifle that’s not in your hands and completely dialed in, with backup optics.
• Hire a smith who doesn’t have a track record of building bolt-action hunting rifles of exactly the type that you want. Let somebody else be the guinea pig.

You mention “extending your range.” Tell us more about that, and about what you’re using now.


Okie John

This. My two factory Remingtons (after bedding, floating the barrel, and tuning the triggers) shoot as well as the blueprinted Pac-nor barrelled 700. As has been said, "you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself".

My advice to your friend - Baby Steps.
Since he hasn't built a custom rifle before If he takes Baby Steps he may find out that the donor rifle will be just fine with nothing more than an upgraded trigger, or he can build the rifle in increments so that he can stop where he is satisfied rather than dumping a lot of money into something that may not turn out the way he wanted it to.
Many folks don't realize how deep the rabbit hole is before they start going down it. Also explain to him that should he want to sell it that he likely will only recoup about one-half of what he has in the rifle

1. - Purchase a Rem 700 in the chambering of choice
2. - Install a quality aftermarket trigger
3. - Shoot the rifle and see how it performs
4. - If it does not perform as well as he wants then temporarily free-float the barrel by putting a bread wrapper tie under the front recoil lug then shoot the rifle again, this will give a fairly good idea of how the factory barrel will perform.
5. - At this point sit down with your friend and talk money with him - after-market barrel = $500 - $600, after-market stock = $300 - $600, bedding $50. - $100.

drover

The reason why you hear don’t shoot the donor is due to the possibility that the factory barrel may shoot well and spoil the fun for some guys. Personally I find it hard to build when so many good options sit around the price range you’ll be spending on this project.....without the time sink.

If it shoots to your expectations save your money.

Is your friend,


A. A proven competent smith?

B. A person who F's with guns?

C. A guy who "knows" guns, and want to help you spec a custom?

If it's not A, you, "Really can't afford it right now."

Honestly, I would bet against A.

A's usually have enough paying work, that they aren't
begging a buddy to let them do discount builds.
Or, they have turned enough barrels, that they aren't
chomping at the bit to turn another for short pay.

‘Zackly!

I purchased a Rem 700 308 SPS that had been coated, new trigger, custom composite stock & the owner still wasn’t happy. By the time the work was done, the gun had over $1800 as a total scoped package. I bought the gun for $850 & sold the scope for $200. As a bare bones rifle it shoots one hole groups with 155 Scenar’s. Like AKduck stated, “hard to justify a build when the basics supply ur need at a good price.”

Some folks can’t shoot well enough to wring all of the accuracy out of a high-dollar custom rig.

I’m one of them.


Okie John

X3