VO2MaxFF
Active Member
I've been thinking about the answer to this question for some time now...
My first "real" rifle was a custom 7mm RM where the barrel was cut down from a barrel blank, mounted with an iron sight and muzzle brake machined in. The action was a Mauser action blue printed to the barrel and finally, a stock was pillared and bedded and textured. Shoots like a dream! This was all created by a friend of mine who has his own shop at his home and we discussed the build at length many times over. I wish I knew then what I know now but that rifle is truly a work of art.
However, what I see lately, are "custom" rifle builders taking the cream of the crop (or not) parts and putting them together and calling it "custom." I recently visited a few LGS's and one said that it would cost me $1500 to install a new barrel... I asked what that $1500 would include and he said that blueprinting etc would be included but when I then advised that I can get a first responder discount on Proof barrels, a barrel company his business works with extensively, he then advised that Proof barrels do not require much actual work other than ensuring accurate torque applied and blue printing wasn't necessary... so, the question remains: what is included in the "custom" rifle build if something as important as ensuring appropriate fitment of the barrel to action is essentially not needed? It would seem, in my perhaps uneducated mind, that if I purchase all of the appropriate parts that I could potentially make a "custom" gun all by my lonesome. Am I missing something? I see all of these companies/businesses offering "custom" gun services but as mentioned above, the juice doesn't seem to be worth the squeeze.
Erik
My first "real" rifle was a custom 7mm RM where the barrel was cut down from a barrel blank, mounted with an iron sight and muzzle brake machined in. The action was a Mauser action blue printed to the barrel and finally, a stock was pillared and bedded and textured. Shoots like a dream! This was all created by a friend of mine who has his own shop at his home and we discussed the build at length many times over. I wish I knew then what I know now but that rifle is truly a work of art.
However, what I see lately, are "custom" rifle builders taking the cream of the crop (or not) parts and putting them together and calling it "custom." I recently visited a few LGS's and one said that it would cost me $1500 to install a new barrel... I asked what that $1500 would include and he said that blueprinting etc would be included but when I then advised that I can get a first responder discount on Proof barrels, a barrel company his business works with extensively, he then advised that Proof barrels do not require much actual work other than ensuring accurate torque applied and blue printing wasn't necessary... so, the question remains: what is included in the "custom" rifle build if something as important as ensuring appropriate fitment of the barrel to action is essentially not needed? It would seem, in my perhaps uneducated mind, that if I purchase all of the appropriate parts that I could potentially make a "custom" gun all by my lonesome. Am I missing something? I see all of these companies/businesses offering "custom" gun services but as mentioned above, the juice doesn't seem to be worth the squeeze.
Erik
