Just what makes this rifle 10Xs the price of a Ruger?

"Were it not for imagination sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as a duchess." Samuel Johnson

You have to have imagination to believe that it is, I would suppose...I cannot summon up that much. Regards, 21

Now I like that! Imagination, a polite way of saying to each his own.

well, I had to look, since I had not previously heard of them.

The EDM'd tool steel receiver and internal components adds a bunch of cost. It looks like a faithful version of the Fahrquharsen, as opposed to the Ruger, which uses castings (albeit good ones) and is designed for ease of manufacture.

And when they say exhibition wood, unlike some makers, they mean exhibition wood

http://www.sorokarifle.com/rifle_gallery.html

If I was in the market for a rifle of that cost, I'd have a hard time deciding between it, and one of Ralf Martini's

http://www.martinigunmakers.com/singleshot.htm

Why not one of each?

Those Martini Gunmakers rifles are beyond belief.

Guess I'd better start buying lottery tickets again.

It's custom built, not mass produced. A exhibition grade blank will cost more than a Ruger #1. Considering the labor and raw material costs, $18k doesn't seem out of line.

Let's see, first off it is entirely custom made beginning with the best components available.
Before I go off to far, if the soroka had an English gun makers name on it then it would cost close to six figures, very likely. I've held them and I've inspected them, closely. ..It's good enough that any English gun maker would be proud to place their name on it.
I also own some vintage and modern English guns as well and so I can compare them to said makers with some first-hand knowledge.

The Ruger is made where the costs involved in building it are purposely made to be kept as low as possible. This is true even at the expense (pun intended) of the Rugers quality and accuracy.

The Soroka is built with the cost involved to build it largely being ignored because the best materials cost money, and the Soroka is built to be the finest single shot rifle they can build.

Many a metaphor can be used here but a simple one is automobiles. They can all get you to B from point A but the ones that are built with a purpose, say to get you there faster, well, they will get you there faster than one built from a perspective that doesn't care about speed. ...or more importantly, quality.

Tex n cal, the Soroka is only faithful to the Farquharsen in the profile. The internals of the Soroka are a huge improvement over the Farqy....the Farqy had problems internally. It was not a great design internally where as the Soroka is actually a simple and elegant mechanism...with a fantastic trigger.

I know several owners and every one of the Soroka rifles I've seen targets on were well under 1 inch groups.
I've been very interested in them. I've now got one on order.
All the owners I've spoken to absolutely love their Soroka rifle.
The last gentleman I spoke with has several loads the gun loves and all those loads shoot around 1/2".


The "Martini" is actually a Hagn, designed by Martin Hagn. Ralph Martini builds some rifles on the Hagn action. The Hagn action is a nice action but some people do not like the looks of it.

To date the most expensive single shot I've bought is a Shiloh, and it is a wonderful thing and a heck of a value. I've nearly pulled the trigger on a Dakota M10 a couple of times, but one of the really fine handmade singles is very attractive, too. Such a gun would probably be a bucket list deal for me. I enjoyed chatting with Ralf Martini at DSC, who was amused by my Shiloh t-shirt.

AFreeman, I've wanted a original Fahrquharsen to add to the collection, but good ones are up there a ways and the few I have seen I just could not swing at the time. I had not heard they have internal issues, so that's good to know. I did enjoy working with a Field's Patent falling block a few years ago, even though it was heavily worn, and I wish I'd been smart enough to keep it.

If I do jump on a Hagn, or Soroka, I'd probably skip the engraving, and just focus on really good wood. I'd shoot it, too...