What are your goals for this rifle? Do you want something that shoots .01" groups? Do you want something that is hunting accurate and functions and is a combination of the parts you like? Are you just wanting your first "custom" rifle? Or are you wanting to show pictures on the internet and look cool because of how much money you poured into your set up? Whatever you decide is fine, but This needs to be decided before you start spending money. Custom rifles is a rabbit hole with more and more options every year. When I first got hooked there were three options for the hunter Remington Savage and Stiller you don't ever hear about Stiller anymore there are so many companies making custom actions.
If you are on a budget Don't listen to all the people saying just buy a custom action. People on a budget are not trying to compete in benchrest, prs, or fclass. Those games are not for budget minded people.
There are lots of factory guns from savage, Remington and tikka that will honestly shoot half MOA with factory ammo. That's the same performance guarantee you will get from custom rifle builders. There is no reason to build a custom rifle if all you want is something affordable to shoot and hunt with.
I like building customs to get the mix of parts that I like in a gun. I want a stock that fits me and my style of hunting/ shooting, I want a barrel that is optimized for the bullet that I want to shoot. Sometimes I want a wildcat cartridge because it is something cool that most people haven't heard of. I'm not building custom guns to compete at a high level in any sport, if i was I would do things differently. There are compromises that must be made in everything, weight is one of those things. The most accurate rifles are the heaviest but I don't want to lug a 22lb rifle around so I need to compromise some accuracy potential to save weight. On the flip side the lightest rifles are not the most accurate so I compromise a little more weight for a little more accuracy.
There is a moment where you reach the point of diminishing returns on your dollars. That point Depends on your goals. Do you need a $1800 Bat action to shoot deer and steel out to 1,000 yds no! The lower your budget the sooner you hit the point of diminishing returns. It costs a lot of money to go from a 1/2 MOA rifle to a 1/4 MOA rifle. But to go from a 1.5 moa to a 1 MOA is very affordable and to go from a 1 MOA to a 3/4 MOA isn't bad either once start getting below a desired 1/2 moa it will cost you!
If your goal is 1/2 moa pick the cartridge you want to shoot and the bullet you think best fits your application. Then get a factory action from Savage, Remington or Tikka. Savage being the cheapest Tikka the most expensive. The cartridge will determine what action is best because Tikka actions do not work well with long action cartridge like the 300 win mag. And Remington short actions do not work well with WSM or SAUM cartridges. There is no need to blueprint a factory action; the added cost surpasses the point of diminishing returns. There is not a large enough impact on the accuracy to justify the cost. If you can afford to blueprint it then you can afford to buy a custom. (Unless you find a used custom that has had the work already done or unless you already have the action) btw I advise buying everything used except the barrel. Then pick the best barrel from the best barrel maker that fits your needs (caliber, cartridge, bullet and rifle weight) If you are going full budget and decide on a barrel nut set up it negates the work done to blueprint the action anyway. If you ate having a Smith do the work he may not guarantee the accuracy without blueprinting the action.
Then pick a stock that fits you and your style of hunting/ shooting. The stock is the interface between flesh and machine and it should be a hybrid of sorts. Something that creates a seamless flow from your body to the steel of the rifle. I can't stand rifle Chassis because there just another piece of metal that is boxy and doesn't blend well from my body to the rifle. Lots of guys like them but I have tried and can't get used to them.
Sorry for rambling, good luck going down the rabbit hole!
