Build or Buy?

[Desk Jockey]

I say buy.

Unless you have tools and can get parts at holesale, you are going to spend a lot of money. I bought a Remington last year and by the time I changed the stock and trigger I could have gone kimber or almost Christensen. If you really can't DIY and have to pay a smith, I just think you get more value buying below a certain amount, say $2k.

 

[statikpunk]

DIY customs are an option now for anyone with reasonable gun knowledge as long as you are willing to go with a Barrel nut system. It can be done with any savage or remington 700 action, or any custom action threaded the same as a 700, which is a large portion of them. i am currently building a rifle on a pierce engineering action, and a carbon fiber barrel. I have no lathe or gunsmith tooling at all. 150 bucks can get you all the equipment you need to build all the custom Barrel nut guns you could ever want.

I dont know if you currently have a model 700 or a savage in lefty that you would be willing to donate to the cause. but a barrel all cut an ready to screw on in your caliber of choice could be anywhere from 300 to 800 bucks. and I have found that just adding a premium barrel to any decent action can make for an absolute tack driver especially if you handload.

I have used "carbon six" barrels , which are just McGowans and then carbon wraped. screw one of those on to a savage action, hog out the old stock to fit the new barrel and you will have a light weight shooter for sure. A little paint or cerakote will make it look full on custom, and only cost you a fraction of the money. Especially if you already have a donor rifle with the right bolt face for the caliber you want.

 

[hodgeman]

We hear the stories of guys into customs for $8k and they don't get any more accuracy [or worse] than an off the shelf Remington. I dunno how true these stories are...or whether its a 1/2" MOA weapon in the hands of a 3" MOA shooter.

Then we hear of off the shelf rifles putting them in the same hole for a fraction of the $$ of a custom.
?

Yeah- a custom gun is about features, not accuracy. Very, very few folks can shoot up to the level of the rifle and certainly not in the field.

I've got five factory rifles in my safe right now that routinely shoot between 1/2" and 3/4" with factory ammo. A couple of them are fairly high end "Semi custom" type rifles....the cheapest is a Ruger American. The animals can't tell the difference.

I prefer to hunt with my Nosler...but I've knocked stuff over with all of them.

 

[VernAK]

I make a list of desired features and search out the factory specs first.
At the top of my list is reliability and
second is fit.
Grouping is down the list just a tad.
Cartridge is even further down.

 

[Dirty-D]

you will never get your money out of a custom build, but you might get it out of an "off the shelf" custom rifle from someone. try Hill Country Rifles they usually keep some in stock.

 

[camelcluch]

Getting money out of this gun is not too much of a concern. I don't get rid of my guns. Too hard to find lefties so it will be with me a long time. I'm starting to lean towards a new barrel, trigger and stock for a gun I already own. I say that now and tomorrow it will probably change...

 

[ckleeves]

Getting money out of this gun is not too much of a concern. I don't get rid of my guns. Too hard to find lefties so it will be with me a long time. I'm starting to lean towards a new barrel, trigger and stock for a gun I already own. I say that now and tomorrow it will probably change...

If you already have a LH 700 action I would build off that for sure.
If you don't do a carbon barrel you can put it together for less then most of the "semi customs" out there and I bet it will shoot better and you get so many more options.

 

[Mmcan]

Read a bit about the Bergara line of rifles. I have yet to see something negative about them, other than the prices are climbing bc of the info coming in about them.

 

[C Bow]

After owning about 25 custom built guns if you are after a hunting rifle don't waste your money on a custom rifle they are way over priced and if you don't shoot in weekly matches it is a waste of money With a safe full of custom rifles when I go hunting I pick up a Kimber Arondak 308 it will shoot under a inch at 100 yards weighs under 6lbs and at my age it is like a fine good looking woman that will do anything a man wants. I hope this won't be taken wrong I know the older hunters will understand

 

[gbflyer]

I build up a few myself and they cost too much. I have a beater lefty Ruger American '06 that will shoot with the best of them. Go figure.

 

[KurtR]

I got a custom because of fit and function and features i wanted. I use it to hunt and to shoot matches. If just a regular ol hunting rifle at distances most hunters shoot any thing will work. Will never get the money out of it if i sold it but never plan on selling it.

 

[wildcat33]

After building a custom and scratching that itch, for any future guns i would just pick up a Tikka or Win70, get a McMillan stock for it, and shoot it up. If something came up performance wise down the road Id look into some smith work for it and upgrade then.

 

[dotman]

After building a custom and scratching that itch, for any future guns i would just pick up a Tikka or Win70, get a McMillan stock for it, and shoot it up. If something came up performance wise down the road Id look into some smith work for it and upgrade then.

I agree, a custom was a scratch that needed taken care of but now it is gone. Now I have a rebarrel/chamber scratch developing.

My custom is my favorite firearm and I can never see myself selling it.

 

[wapitibob]

You can easily do your own custom rifle for less than $2,000. I did mine for less than 1700. I haven't seen a 2k custom from a known rifle builder yet. Build your own or buy depends on you and whether you get satisfaction from your own handiwork. The only thing you need a smith for is trueing the action and the barrel work.