At what point does custom pay off?

[Bigeclipse]

I am sure this is posted other places but what is the cost on average for a good fluted sendero contour barrel after install? Let's say 28-30"

the barrel will cost at least 300 dollars for a quality brand, then to have it installed including blue printing is another 300+ dollars. I was thinking about having my Remington 700 re-barreled, the action trued and blue printed, and the rifle bedded and I was in the neighborhood of 800 dollars. I have decided against this. The rifle currently shoots about 1MOA which is fine for my needs out to 300 maybe 400 yards.

P.S. fluting typically adds an additional 100+ dollars to the barrel cost.

 

[mrb1982]

Interesting. A lot to think about. All this would be an easier decision if I didn't already have a descent long range rig thay does everything I need to do lol I guess that is a good problem to have.

 

[Deleted member 46119]

I am sure this is posted other places but what is the cost on average for a good fluted sendero contour barrel after install? Let's say 28-30"

Barrel: $350 to $700
Smithing: $50 to $250

So lowest for a quality barrel installed $400
High end: $900+

Price out a prefit, fluted, short chambered, 28" Sendero, SS, Super Match from Pac-Nor shoudl be $565 more or less. I prefer to have a local smith finish installation. $50 to $250 depending. I budget $700 to get and install a barrel.

 

[mrb1982]

I have the luxury of Chad Dixon at long rifles real close. After I let him install a brake once and now he will do anything I ever want to do. Highly impressed. I have been thinking about a Hart barrel.

Educate me on flutes. Are they worth the money? Are they really needed for hunting purposes since long strings generally aren't involved?

 

[MudRunner2005]

I am sure this is posted other places but what is the cost on average for a good fluted sendero contour barrel after install? Let's say 28-30"

For a fluted stainless bull barrel blank that will finish that length, you're looking at $450-600 just for the blank, not installed, threaded, or chambered.

So, the rest you can imagine.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I have the luxury of Chad Dixon at long rifles real close. After I let him install a brake once and now he will do anything I ever want to do. Highly impressed. I have been thinking about a Hart barrel.

Educate me on flutes. Are they worth the money? Are they really needed for hunting purposes since long strings generally aren't involved?

I am definitely NOT an expert but do they really make a difference for heat...I don't think much and I doubt its worth it for a hunting rifle. Do they save weight, yes...enough to make it worth it, again depends what you are going for. Personally, I think they look pretty cool and that would be my reason for getting it fluted.

 

[mrb1982]

Man spend deal for a hunting rifle. I think on the Hart website they say like 330 for a blank without flutes. Might not be too bad of a deal

 

[Rick Richard]

Respectful rebuttal to Bigeclipse:

I may not have owned or may be experienced as some of the experts on this site, however with many of the factory rifles I have owned they do not come close to shooting to the degree as my customs. Some have greatly improved with additional mods, but out of the box they are not close even after experimenting with handloads (many $ spent).

In addition, you may hear of accuracy guarantees by the factory, however not many can be realized with the ammo which you may be wanting to use for a specific game/purpose (as with a Tikka I once owned...another story). With a custom, you can specify to the smith what you want and be assured when it is delivered there will be a load developed with a recipe and the accuracy guarantee.

Therefore, if going through different guns to find a 'shooter' is enjoyable for some folks then that is great. To me it is not worth the frustration and I don't believe much $ savings is gained.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Respectful rebuttal to Bigeclipse:

I may not have owned or may be experienced as some of the experts on this site, however with many of the factory rifles I have owned they do not come close to shooting to the degree as my customs. Some have greatly improved with additional mods, but out of the box they are not close even after experimenting with handloads (many $ spent).



Therefore, if going through different guns to find a 'shooter' is enjoyable for some folks then that is great. To me it is not worth the frustration and I don't believe much $ savings is gained.

Rick I guess it would be what one considers accurate. Others have commented that it is not uncommon for a custom to reach 1/4MOA or better with hand loads. I did not know that was the case. In that regard, customs absolutely win out on accuracy. But obtaining .5MOA to 1MOA accuracy with factory remingtons, savages, tikkas for example I think is very doable with very little modifications depending on which model you choose of course. I have not owned a ton of different rifles, but between myself, my friends, and family I would say I have witnessed 30+ factory rifles shooting better than 1MOA out to 300 yards(this is the longest I can shoot at my gun range). I have witnessed about 12 of these rifles shooting again sub MOA out to 400 yards at my father-in-laws property. Out of the 12 we shot at 400 yards, id say half maybe a couple more are close to the .5MOA mark. Will they hold this out to the 1000 yard mark, I do not know but I do know that the chronographs show very promising speeds with low ES and SDs. So maybe I should have said, if you intend on shooting say under 600 yards, maybe a bit further, then I think custom is a waste of money for the accuracy part alone, but if one simply wants pride of ownership, custom fit to your person etc then by all means get it. Now, if someone was looking greater than this yardage...maybe even 1000 plus yards then I can definitely see the advantages of a custom but let me ask this. Couldn't someone buy a sendero for instance. test it out to 1000 yards. If it shoots good enough then GREAT, if not...800 dollars will get you a custom barrel, trued/blueprinted to your action and the stock epoxy bedded...I bet that rifle will now definitely be capable of sub .5 MOA groups out to those distances and you are still under the cost of a FULL custom rifle. Just my two cents.

 

[Rick Richard]

No disagreement when it comes to KNOWN shooters such as the Sendero or 5R, but those are exceptions as there may be with a couple of others. Also, accuracy is a subjective term and for me it does not translate to 1 moa. I want the tightest groups possible so it will make up for my human errors when shot conditions may not not be so perfect.

Again I express the desire for an intended application and resulting accuracy. I can specify to the smith I want to shoot for example 215 grain VLDs out of a 300 WM mag and have that .5 or less accuracy. With a factory, it is less likely I can get that level of accuracy for the intended use.

my $.02

 

[mrb1982]

A lot of good points. Thay would be a good way to get good accuracy at a fair price. Just lose the"customize"side a little. If I do anything with this thing it will be for long long range. My 7RM will do everything I need to 1000. I really don't need this 300rum but my buddy more or less accidentally won it on a gun runner auction and really doesn't have a user for it as he is not a long range guy. This will probably be a project for me and then won't have to worry about every being under gunned. Then my kids can shoot my 7RM Sendero in a few years. It has a brake on it and has recoil somewhere between a 223 and 243. Darn fun gun to shoot.

Any of you guys got any opinion on fluting? I am thinking a 28 or 30" non fluted sendero contour would be a nice rig. I kinda doubt I would miss the flutes. It will never see any target shooting except load development and some verifications every now and then. I can't imagine it really saves that much weight.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Since you love your 7RM, I would say go with a 1:9 twist 28" sendero contour barrel, fluted, and chamber it in 7mm STW. Then you can launch the Berger 180 Hybrids at blistering speeds.

 

[mrb1982]

Since you love your 7RM, I would say go with a 1:9 twist 28" sendero contour barrel, fluted, and chamber it in 7mm STW. Then you can launch the Berger 180 Hybrids at blistering speeds.

I can't argue with that. I have always been intrigued worth the stw and/or 7mm/300 win mag. What is hardest for me is the cost to shoot some of these big boomers. Stw/rum brass can get get kinda spendy. I keep having to pep talk myself into it lol

 

[Bigeclipse]

No disagreement when it comes to KNOWN shooters such as the Sendero or 5R, but those are exceptions as there may be with a couple of others. Also, accuracy is a subjective term and for me it does not translate to 1 moa. I want the tightest groups possible so it will make up for my human errors when shot conditions may not not be so perfect.

Again I express the desire for an intended application and resulting accuracy. I can specify to the smith I want to shoot for example 215 grain VLDs out of a 300 WM mag and have that .5 or less accuracy. With a factory, it is less likely I can get that level of accuracy for the intended use.

my $.02

Rick I do not disagree with you either. It all depends on what your confidence is as a shooter along with how far you intend to shoot and what you are shooting at. I am definitely on your side in that I would much rather have a gun that can out shoot me so I know if I missed it was my fault and not the rifle. Right now I can only shoot to 500 yards on game and I have not attempted it yet as I do not have the confidence yet. I have two main rifles that I like to hunt with. One is a savage 7mm rem mag I just built myself with criterion barrel and B&C stock. it is consistently giving me .5MOA or better at 300 yards. I have only tested it to 400 a couple times but both times groups were under .5MOA. Maybe I lucked out with this rifle. Maybe it wont be as accurate past 500+ yards who knows. My other rifle is a Remington 700 mountain that is only capable of ~1 MOA with my current loading. I am switching to one last bullet before I give up and have it rebarreled. Until I improve it's accuracy I have set a limit for 300 yards with this rifle. As you stated...I don't want to shoot at a deer with a load that has a group size of 5 inches without any human error at 500 yards.

I know that if I wanted to stretch to 600+ yards I would probably start with a Remington sender or 5r and do what I posted above as I simply cannot afford 2700+ dollars on a custom rifle all in one shot but I could afford a sendero...shoot it...if it does not shoot well. Bed it, still not well, rebarrel it. This way I can save up and spend in stages ha ha.