Factory rifle vs custom build

[Stammster]

What's wrong with a 300 WM? Ammo will be easier to find, since you said you don't reload. Plus there are a lot of capable factory guns - M70 Win and Kimber come to mind. Spend the extra money you save vs custom rifle on a S&W 500 and a cross chest holster.

 

[lewislance13]

I just went through the same process. I have custom rifles, semi custom rifles, and factory rifles. To me no doubt the biggest jump is from factory to semi custom. There are a lot of factors to consider. I had so many people say go this route or that route. Personally on this last rifle after gathering all of the information that was pertinent to me I chose the Fierce CT Edge in 300 wsm. The rifle felt the best and it had the features I wanted in this rifle (ie...weather resistant, weight, carbon barrel, titanium action) and to top it off the cloverleaf target they sent was with Barnes ttsx factory ammo. I do not regret my decision one bit. With me saying all of that I do also have a custom SAKO being built in 280 ai. I don't want to sway your decision. I just wanted to give you food for thought.

 

[mnoland30]

I don't live in brown bear country, but when I was on a work detail in Anchorage, a surveyor showed me a video of shooting a brown bear with a .338 Win Mag. I thought that was an elephant gun until I saw that bear still moving after 4 shots and still trying to get up after the 5th shot to the shoulder. If I were hunting big bear country, I'd want a bigger caliber with a very heavy flat nosed bullet as the second bullet in the chamber. The Forest Service requires surveyors to have a rifleman (or woman) with a .458 Win Mag on overlook.

Unless you shoot an awful lot, reloading isn't that big a deal. I use a Lee hand loader, and do my case prep in my recliner in front of the TV. High powered cartridges take more strength, but my light 7mm WSM shells are sized easily. I was shooting my boss's 7mm Rem Mag and shot some of my handloads. He said he didn't realize his rifle could shoot those kind of groups. And that load wasn't even tuned to his rifle.

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Hello, I am looking at purchasing a 300 prc. I live in AK so want a larger caliber in case I run into a bear. I am wanting to get advice. Should get a custom gun from a place like R bros or get a stock gun from Fierce or Christensen Arms. Full disclosure I do not reload. Someday I may but at this point in my life with working full time, kids and fishing I just don't have time. If I am shooting factory ammo does custom vs higher end factory rifle make a difference?

If I do go custom other than R bros any recommendations.
Thanks for your help
Ryan

I own 2 custom rifles (and a 3rd thats at the smith right now getting put together) but honestly there's several outstanding custom actions these days that take prefit barrels and several mfgs that will turn around shouldered prefit barrels from your maker of choice... it'd be hard not to go that route on my next gun.


Buy an action from one of the following:
Defiance Ruckus
Impact 737 and 787
Big Horn makes a couple ( but the defiance and Impact above have integral lugs and and scope rails so will be hard to beat unless your budget just wont allow it)

I'm sure Im also leaving off another brand that will get the short bus riled up, but go over to Altus Shooting Solutions (they have all of this in stock) grab one of those actions, a trigger, a prefit in your caliber of choice, stock or chassis of your choice, and you will have a rifle that will smoke anything off the shelf and run close enough to make no difference to a full custom.

Just my advice, worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

[cabelasken]

my percentage of accurate factory rifles vs custom is not very favorable. In fact, I've only had 2 factory guns consistently shoot under 1 MOA, whereas all three of my custom rifles shoot under 1/2 MOA with hunting loads. The round you've chosen is perfect for Alaska and as it gets more popular, more factory options will be available. If there is an action you like in the 300, try it first and if it doesn't perform like you want, then hand it over to a riflemaker and have the action blueprinted and trued and put a new match Stainless frozen barrel on it. At that point you can select a different contour barrel, length etc. Also a new stock could replace the factory one.

 

[RH300UM]

I am definitely going to look into this. Thanks

Travis, at RBros, offers a CRF action also if you want that.

 

[jerry moore]

if hunting is your obj out to 5/600yds rem or sav 300wm. prob would chg stock to carlson or hs precission & prob trigger

 

[baldhunter]

Found this article on the 300 PRC compared to the 300 Win Mag

300 PRC: Read This Before You Buy One

The 300 Precision Rifle Cartridge is getting lots of attention with the long range shooting crowd, but do you really need a 300 PRC?

thebiggamehuntingblog.com

 

[montana43]

Hello, I am looking at purchasing a 300 prc. I live in AK so want a larger caliber in case I run into a bear. I am wanting to get advice. Should get a custom gun from a place like R bros or get a stock gun from Fierce or Christensen Arms. Full disclosure I do not reload. Someday I may but at this point in my life with working full time, kids and fishing I just don't have time. If I am shooting factory ammo does custom vs higher end factory rifle make a difference?

If I do go custom other than R bros any recommendations.
Thanks for your help
Ryan

I bought the Berger's 300 PRC and am very impressed.

 

[montana43]

I bought the Berger's 300 PRC and am very impressed.

**** phone changed Bergera 300 PRC to Berger's PRC. Sorry. I'm very impressed with cost looks action and shooting. I'm looking forward to use it this year. Good luck

 

[Tom Wright]

Hello, I am looking at purchasing a 300 prc. I live in AK so want a larger caliber in case I run into a bear. I am wanting to get advice. Should get a custom gun from a place like R bros or get a stock gun from Fierce or Christensen Arms. Full disclosure I do not reload. Someday I may but at this point in my life with working full time, kids and fishing I just don't have time. If I am shooting factory ammo does custom vs higher end factory rifle make a difference?

If I do go custom other than R bros any recommendations.
Thanks for your help
Ryan

I can't speak to the PRC choice as it is not a caliber I have/use. In hunting calibers I have go from 220 Swift. 6.5 Creedmore, .280 REM, 7mm-08, 7mm REM, 300 WM and 375H&H. If you keep to 400 yards+/~ any one of these non custom jobs with factory ammo have gotten the job done on everything from steenbok to kudu, eland and 600+# black bear. Most folks when they get a new gun don't buy 6 boxes of ammo from different manufacturers to see which one/ones are the "sweet spot" for the barrel.

I reloaded for years, but don't any more as QUALITY factory ammo is now so good. Now if you're intent on shooting animals over 500 yards, then hand loading makes sense to me. My personal experience with Barnes and Swift has me using them to put down animals I hunt, whether in North America, Europe or Southern Africa.

Two weeks ago I was in Texas hunting nilgai and scimitar oryx with a 300 WM and 180gr Swift AFrame. Both animals were hit dead-on at around 250-275 yards. They each went less than 40 yards, with lung tissue destroyed in both lungs—quick humane kills. I've spent ten plus years hunting with this rifle on three continents—it's second nature to me now. And terminal performance is ONLY affected by my ability to put the scope on target while maintaining trigger control.

 

[Bullmark]

I would absolutely follow the advice of "Connatter" and check out Alamo Precision Rifles.
For the record the only dealings I've had with them is the direct purchase of one of their APR actions. I was looking for a Defiance or Borden, but it was gonna be several months before my builder could get what I needed. So I took a chance and bought the APR for $400-500 less than some of the more popular customs.
My builder paired it with a Bartlein barrel, AG stock and jewell trig. in .280ai. Now after 45-50 rounds down the tube it's proving to be a tack driver......2's and .3' every time. The action is smooth and flawless mechanically.
As for their complete builds, I am consistently surprised by the cost. I just had a 6.5 built by McWhorter, who has earned their stellar reputation. And it's everything I expected and then some. It was also rather expensive. They do go the extra mile and develop a load and send the rifle with a decent supply of hand loads.
Just as I was receiving the rifle I looked on Alamo's site at their "rifles ready to ship" section. They always have 4-5 complete builds ready to go, and they usually get scooped up quickly. Anyway, they had just posted a 6.5prc with the same action (defiance), same barrel (proof), same trigger (trig tech)....the only difference was the stock, but it was a McMillan just like mine. The other big difference was the cost.....they had theirs listed for $3995. Safe to assume that I paid quite a bit more......even after I got the repeat customer 10% discount. I did get the load dev and 40 hand loads, which is worth a good bit, but my point is Alamo was selling their product at a very very friendly price point.
I can't speak to their lead times on complete custom orders but they would be on my short list. It won't be long before their work has earned the reputation, like McWhorter, R bros, Lane, etc, to charge a premium.

 

[bdcoon]

It really depends on your budget. I own a number of custom rifles, and have had tremendous success in load development and getting them all to shoot well below 1 moa. But, some of them required me finding the right combo of bullets, powder, powder charge, seating depth, etc. They didn't all just show up "as great shooters".

If you decide not to go custom, then I'd seriously consider going with a Tikka t3. I have had unbelievable success in dialing several of those rifles in to well below 1 moa. They've seriously made me wonder why I ever buy or have custom rifles built.

However, I do reload, which makes finding a combo a rifle likes that pushes it to a sub moa shooter much easier IMHO.

 

[Susquatch]

Cooper makes what I would call a custom factory rifle. They are expensive, but impossible to beat for the money, are drop dead gorgeous, and hold their value over time. They guarantee 1/2 MOA and they come with a great warranty. I've never seen a bad one.