Is custom worth it?

[Jeff In TX]

Coues7,

Lots of great info here. If you doubt going custom, you're basically down with that idea. Usually one knows or has a specific reason for wanting a custom rig, will talk with their smith about shooting/hunting requirements and work from there. It doesn't sound like you're at those cross roads yet.

Here's my $0.02 worth.

If you like your gun the way it is, but you want it to shoot better this is the best advice I can give and what I did with my .300 WSM Model 70 featherweight. I loved the warmth, look and feel of the featherweight wood stock. I wanted to see if I could get it to shoot before going radical. Out of the box the first two shots were around 1 moa but the 3rd shot was 2 to 3" left. I wanted better and more consistency so here's what I did.

Have the action +1" of barrel epoxy bedded to your current stock, free float the rest of the barrel. Bedding job around $50.00 to $75.00.

2.5 pound crisp trigger job $50.00

Have the barrel hand lapped, around $50.00 or buy Tubb's final finish and give that a try.

Now see how it shoots. For about $150 to $175.00 you might have solved your problem.

This is what I did with my .300 WSM featherweight and it shoots .6 to .75 moa. Which for a big game hunting rifle is superb, I don't care what anyone says.

With your savings invest in good glass, and a good laser range finder. Now if that doesn't work for you, try a new stock first and work your way up from there.

Best of luck

 

[kailua custom]

Dear coues7,
I can find no mention of the calibre you are using. Therefore I must assume you are content with whatever you have. You might be rather surprised what you might attain with a minimum of expenditure from a person qualified to accurize your rifle. You [yourself] might be able to do this too! Good bedding and a dose of Wests [with micro-baloons] in the foreend to stiffen the front might do wonders! Cutting a 11 deg crown, lapping your lugs are all things that don`t cost too much and DO help. THis will also give you some "breathing room" [money wise] to ascertain if this is really waht you want to do. Then you can either go ahead with a full blown custom or sell it and get something else. IE: I acquired a 6.5 barrel of unknown parentage for cheap on an auction site some time ago. Being a light weight nut I cut the H--l out of it and put it on a Rem 600 action. Chambered it in 6.5/08. This shoots the 129 Hornady into 1/2" at 100 if I can do my part. I got lucky. You might too with what you have already. Try this route BEFORE going to all the extremes of $ output. Just my .02 cents worth. Good luck.

Aloha, Mark

 

[ATH]

My Sendero is factory except that I adjusted the trigger. I bought 2 boxes of ammo; one I shot at 100-200 yds to sight in. I burned the second box half at 600 yds and half at 800 yds. It's meant to be an elk gun, and even in high winds every 800yd shot would have dropped an elk.

Enter handloads, and it went from a .75 moa to a .5 moa gun. Why would I even want to mess with this, unless I had money to burn or shot competition?? Sure, when I fry the barrel (it is a 300WM) I'll put a nice tube on it. Maybe I'll even get a better trigger. But why do more to it? It would LOOK cool, but any improvement in performance would be very, very marginal.

 

[Derek M.]

Many of you guys have been very fortunate with your factory hunting rifles. I have been shooting/reloading for roughly 2 decades, nowhere near what some of you have been doing.

I must admit, I did certainly have very nice groups with a few of my factory rifles up to 200 and even 300 yards but beyond that, my groups started opening up, way up.

I've never had a factory rifle capable of doing what any of my precision barreled rifles can do with any degree of repeatability. I think that is awsome that you guys have been that fortunate.

I've owned Rem, browning, Ruger, and shot a few 70s and Savages, and a handful of Weatherbys.

Maybe today's rifles are better built than the ones 20+ years ago? I don't know. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[J E Custom]

Coues7

A lot of good advice from all, but if you are not
sure about a custom start with a good stock and dont buy
something that will have to be replaced later on.

I would recomend a varmint style stock in a laminate
so it could be opened up later if you wanted to rebarrel
with a heavy contour without weakening the stock. Bedding
and floating the stock with the factory barreled action
would be a good place to start.And you could install a by
pod at this time if you wanted to.

Bedding an action is not that difficult and with a little
help from this site you could do it your self.

Being a gunsmith I can tell you that machine work cost money
and if you start setting the barrel back,truing the action,
touching the chamber, crowning and any other machining you
mite as well go with a full blown custom.

A good stock will normally help a factory setup but if the
barrel or chamber is bad thers not much hope for a real
shooter.so plan your steps and dont spend good money after
bad by doing a lot of machine work that may not help.

A lot of factory setup's can be made to shoot well with some
basic modification's and by working up a good reload. But
some will never shoot well because it was mass produced and
tolerance's are not very good.

So if your ok with one inch groups at 100yrds there is no
need to spend money on a custom rifle.

The reason for building a custom rifle is to get exactly
what you think is the perfect rifle for what you like to
hunt or shoot. It can be any weight,action,barrel length,
camo, shinny or style that you want and one of a kind.

So plan your work and work your plan.

I hope this helped
J E CUSTOM

 

[Ahab]

[ QUOTE ]
Many of you guys have been very fortunate with your factory hunting rifles. I have been shooting/reloading for roughly 2 decades, nowhere near what some of you have been doing.

I must admit, I did certainly have very nice groups with a few of my factory rifles up to 200 and even 300 yards but beyond that, my groups started opening up, way up.

I've never had a factory rifle capable of doing what any of my precision barreled rifles can do with any degree of repeatability. I think that is awsome that you guys have been that fortunate.

I've owned Rem, browning, Ruger, and shot a few 70s and Savages, and a handful of Weatherbys.

Maybe today's rifles are better built than the ones 20+ years ago? I don't know. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Based on the rifles I've purchased in the last three years, I would say with out a doubt. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Quick Karl]

<font color="blue">Here are some groups from my factory Remington SPS 243 Win...

I'm thinking 46g of H1000 is the answer and I think it will kill prairie dogs and coyotes just fine!</font>

 

[LDHunter]

I've been shooting and hunting long range since way before it was "cool" and have done it all with factory rifles that had quality stocks and triggers.

CatShooter has really told it like it is. He seems to have a very good grip on what it actually takes to make a rifle shoot.

Unless you intend to compete you'll get a hell of a lot more bang for your buck with a good medium to light weight factory rifle bedded to a quality McMillan or HS stock and spend the rest of your money on practice at long ranges and careful handloading.

Don't worry about neck turning either. Just buy quality bullets (Nosler Ballistic Tip for hunting), dies (I like Redding), and brass (Lapua is my favorite) and take a lot of care with seating depths.

Heavy barrels are only necessary if you want multiple shot consistency. If you're only going to be taking one or possibly two shots before cooling your barrel then you have absolutely no need for a fat barrel.

The most accurate rifle I owned was a Winchester "lightweight" 6.25 pound rifle in 22-250.

That rifle shot many a sub 3/8" (3 shots @ 100yds) group and the only work I ever did on it was to have the action and barrel bedded in it's factory wood stock and the trigger was tuned.

Careful handloading was the key and shooting form needed to be VERY GOOD because the rifle was so light.

I cooked the throat after about 700 rounds and sold it but up until then it was an incredible shooter.

I have several 700VSSF rifles and they are all quite accurate and easy to bench but no more accurate than my McMillan stocked hunting rifles that weight from 5.75 pounds up to 7.25 pounds for the first shot or two.

The key is with the light rifles is that your shooting form needs to be very consistent and you need a really fine trigger or your rifle will jump all over the place when you shoot. I've had excellent luck with the Rifle Basix offerings and they only cost about a hundred bux and even I can install them and I'm a Realtor not a gunsmith. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I've found incredibly excellent value in the Remington Model 7 Custom KS rifles. They come with a McMillan stock that was bedded by the custom shop and very good triggers. Every one I own will shoot right at a half inch right out of the box.
Remmy Link

They just took a huge price jump but there are still a fair amount of them floating around at old prices. I have paid as little as $800 for good used ones.

I'll list one qualification. If you get beyond about 800 yards you might need to go with a heavier rifle and a SOLID rest. Your mileage might vary but somewhere around there most shooters just can't shoot consistently without a heavy benchrest or prone type setup. Things can really get jumpy and although the rifle may be up to it, it's just REALLY hard to hold them still enough without the extra weight and sandbags or similar rest.

$bob$

 

[Triggernosis]

Bob, catshooter, and others....
This is a VERY enlightening and helpful thread and I'm sure there's several of us that appreciate y'all's insight immensely (at least, I certainly do).
It's good to hear that most likely the least expensive mods. give you the most bang for the buck (i.e. good stock, bedding, and trigger adjustment).
It simply amazes me how much money folks will pour into their shooting hobby in their quest for the elusive bullseye. Bass fishing, motorcycles, hell, even flying kites can completely consume an individual's sense of reason and finances.
But, like my grandfather said before he died..."I spent a large portion of my money on fast cars, pretty women, and liquor...the rest I simply ****ed away" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[CatShooter]

[ QUOTE ]
...But, like my grandfather said before he died..."I spent a large portion of my money on fast cars, pretty women, and liquor...the rest I simply ****ed away" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I hear that! And I've had my share of fast cars, motorcycles, and women (and I hope I ain't done with them).

And I'll be the first to admit I have rifles that the parts cost over $4k, but I figure for a fellow that's startin out, he should not get sucked into spending most of his money on fluff and pixie dust - he needs a basic solid rifle, cuz there's a lotta learning to come.

It's not the rifle that makes a long range shooter, it's the experience.

Here's to fast motorcycles, good rum, and faster women /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

.

 

[roninflag]

I'd advise you go ahead and order a pre-turned blank barrel from the manufacturer of your choice, Keep in it your dehumidified safe until you are ready to use it.
he lives in marana. there is no humidity there.

 

[Triggernosis]

[ QUOTE ]

It's not the rifle that makes a long range shooter, it's the experience.

[/ QUOTE ]

Roger that! One of my co-worker's 16 year old sons is a High Master in the NRA Service Rifle class and can wipe all my buddie's a$$es at 600 yards...with him shooting open sights and them using scopes! Pie-plate sized groups for him all day long..bad groups about twice the diameter of a 5-gal. bucket. And that is with his club's rifle and CMP issued reloads.

 

[roninflag]

[ QUOTE ]
With factory ammo I was getting about 1".

Just as a side note I live in AZ.....its hot, the terrain is steep and rugged and you CANNOT ROAD HUNT. I'm not lugging a varmint rifle around....end of story.

Unfortunately I don't get out to shoot "this rifle" much as is. I shoot rim fires quite a bit just to keep my skills honed but work and life really don't allow me to get out much.

The rifle is currently topped with a Leupold Mark 4 M1 LR/T 4.5-14.5x50....which I would say is a "good scope". I use Swarovski 10x50 SLC binos and a Swarovski 80mm spotting scope for my hunting purposes.

I'm at the the point where I get a Swaro Range finder or have a custom rifle built..... big purchase for me related to outdoors/hunting each year..... .

[/ QUOTE ] CATSHOOTER- you advice is spot on. the coues deer live in very rough country. they are very hard to spot. everything eats them ; so they are very wary. if you notice coues7 has some very good optics. very important. coues are also very small, usually close to 70 pounds and difficult to approach so long shots ( 300 yards plus on about a 6" target)are normal . your sendero .264 would be great. optimally i would want a 6.5-20 scope. roninflag

 

[coues7]

I'm so glad I started this thread....it seems it's been a blessing to all who read. Just so everyone know I went ahead and ordered a McMillan HTG and will have it pillar and glass (steel/aluminum....whatever the hell). So I should have a good place to start.....then I'll start shootin' the **** out of her. Plus I'm ordering the rangefinder in a few weeks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif