Gun builder vs gun builder

Your parts list is $3700 retail. That leaves little to no room for labor costs.

Now, some dealers get discounts, more than others. That gives a bit of wiggle room. But all top end parts like you listed will more than liky not come in at that $4k price tag. $5k, maybe.

Do you realize how much all the equipment costs to do the labor if you are doing more than one at a time? Shop costs, labor, overhead, taxes, licenses, etc.

Well known gun builders price for their reputation too.
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Last year I built a full blown custom.
Bought everything myself and put it together myself.
I have exactly $5,546.88 in my rifle.
Add my scope - $2,354.00 and we're up to $7,900.88
Add my suppressor $2,370.00 and now we're up to $9,254.88
That's ME putting it together.
 
Some rifles are super easy to get shooting bugholes and others not as easy. The guys charging a higher price usually have fired a limited # of rounds through the rifle and will provide a test target with it. If your a experienced reloader that probably won't matter. If your not I would suggest a "proven system". If you buy yourself a hotrod rifle and break in and develop your own load data you may burn up 1/4-1/2 of your barrel life (28 Nos W/ 195's).

My .02
 
Some rifles are super easy to get shooting bugholes and others not as easy. The guys charging a higher price usually have fired a limited # of rounds through the rifle and will provide a test target with it. If your a experienced reloader that probably won't matter. If your not I would suggest a "proven system". If you buy yourself a hotrod rifle and break in and develop your own load data you may burn up 1/4-1/2 of your barrel life (28 Nos W/ 195's).

My .02
And with that exact parts list giving it to those10 builders at the different pricing, which one will actually shoot the best for the money. It's the decision we all have to make and hope the builder isn't having a bad day :)
 
This ^^^. Guy gets a good rep. Gets all the business he can handle and starts raising price. Until people quit paying it's a win.
There's a little more to this. Once the good rep is established it takes some effort to maintain it. And word gets around. Once that happens they'll be buried in work. The easy way to cull your clients is to raise the price (I cannot foresee a future where I'm a GAP Client). It is also easy to think that "If we're getting so much business our prices might be too low." Which they probably are.
 
I build my own....... which means I assemble my own. Some smiths assemble rifles and some build rifles. A good smith brings things to the table that assemblers don't, like experience, indepth knowledge of proper smithing processes, and very accurate and expensive equipment to do it all correctly. I have seen ruger and savage rifles shoot just as well as some very nice customs so pick your poison and comparisons. I do agree it seems odd there is a much of difference in price but who knows what they pay for the sum of the parts and what they determined is their need for labor rate. I also wrench on my own cars until I am over my head then I have to pay someone who knows what they are actually doing.
 
I'm one of the small builders you speak of…generally self taught but have a great friend that has mentored me some. I don't do it full time (I have my "real job") and I don't let it run me. Turning down stuff as recently as yesterday and often. The prices are directly related to over head…I have no employees, no store front (have a shop at home) and no CNC equipment. Takes me a lot more time to build one than the big guys but there isn't major magic in building a hunting gun. Some of the benchrest and 22lr guys have some magic pixy dust but generally speaking we are all doing the same work. Many, as has been mentioned, price on reputation and as you get bigger and doing more…there is a lot of "wasted" necessary evil time talking to customers…especially the guy that calls every week wanting a status. I normally get to "busy" to do that guys work the next time ;)

As for parts, that discount comes in volume. The last 5 actions I've bought, I bought retail sales…they were better than dealer prices.
 
I, too, agree with @lancetkenyon. However, if you want to keep your costs down, don't ask him for a scope recommendation. 🤣 Sorry, Brother, I could not resist. :cool:
Sounds like he got you to. Went out to check out some stocks for my 280ai build and got to sit behind some of his guns and have a look and get a feel of the different stocks and next thing I knew I was into a manners lrh stock and a tt315m. Best gun and glass I own glad I spent the $$$ .
 
How many hours does it take to chamber a barrel and assemble a rifle? The parts cost what they cost. Are they charging by the hour or quoting a flat price? And not talking about a nice wood stock made from scratch, which would be hours in itself.
 
Sounds like he got you to. Went out to check out some stocks for my 280ai build and got to sit behind some of his guns and have a look and get a feel of the different stocks and next thing I knew I was into a manners lrh stock and a tt315m. Best gun and glass I own glad I spent the $$$ .
Thus far, no. I have been behaving myself.😂
 
One factor I haven't seen mentioned yet is when Gunwerks builds a rifle it has to shoot their 'factory' ammo to their standard. They settled on a load for each cartridge and each rifle they build gets tested with that ammo. If for some reason it doesn't shoot well they pull the barrel and start over. That is expensive. It's not just the cost of another barrel, it's that plus the labor to pull it, chamber and thread and install the new barrel, test fire and prove that it shoots. If you want a long range rifle system that you can buy ammo for now and in the future that shoots excellent it costs money. Doesn't make sense to most handloaders, but if you have more money than time it is an excellent system. Most of us aren't that guy, but there are a lot of them out there. I wish I was that guy LOL.
 
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