What's the best rifle...?

[Shrek]

There are a lot of these threads and my thoughts are are running a bit different than most suggestions. It's TikkaSavageRemingtonWinchesterKimber variation. Next it's replace the stocktriggerbedfloatcutbarrelcoatpaint. How about pick your components and build what's in your minds eye. In the end it doesn't cost a bunch more and you can get your idea of what you want. Search out the action , barrel , stock , trigger , bottom metal , and whatever else your heart desires and find a smith to put it together for you or one to barrel the action and you fit and assemble the rest. I get a queezy feeling when I look at most factory rifles these days and from all the aftermarket stock and parts suppliers it seems many other people fell the same. Who else feels this way ? I'm surely not the only one.

 

[gelton]

I think most people buy factory due to expediency. Most are a I want it and I want it now philosophy including me. Also, warranties are a big deal as well. Didnt you have some issues with the .270 WSM you had built? Or was it a .280?

Also, sometimes its not a whats the best rifle question but a whats the bast caliber question.

With that in mind, I am considering either a .270 wsm or a 7mm wsm...which would you prefer? Which components did you go with on your build, I forget.

 

[Shrek]

I've built a couple now and I've had success and issues. My first build went pretty well except for missed promised completion dates and a throat shorter than it was supposed to be. The smith fixed the throat and it was good. My second was a little rushed but it went well. I had issues with the velocity I was getting vs what I expected to get but that has gone away and I killed my elk with it. My current build has had a few twists and turns so far but it's getting there. I bought a used action from an individual and it turned out to be a very early model of the MRC 1999 and is a little rough. I'm not satisfied with the barrel contour but I'm getting that modified by the smith who's going to smooth up the feed on the action. I could have avoided that by buying a new action from MRC. I went 7mm WSM on this last one and I found several hundred new pieces of brass so I'm good. Building from scratch there is no reason not to go 270 WSM because you can spec the barrel and throat to shoot the new bullets available in .277. I think berger is going to make a hybrid .277 in 170gr and there is already the Matrix available. I think 6.5mm to 7mm is the ideal for a North American big game moderate range carry rifle (700ish yards ). If you want to go long range then go big or go home.
I built my first two on M70 WSM actions and this third on the MRC. My next project will be an Ultralite on a custom TI action with a CF wrapped barrel. My first barrel was a Lilja the second a Benchmark and this last one that I have not shot yet is a Dan Muller. Lilja and the Benchmark were accurate and clean up easy. I have made things more difficult than they had to be by choosing things to save a buck or wanting to do it myself. Two smiths took longer that quoted. One was completely on him and the other was waiting on the barrel. John Whiddon did the barreling with a weeks notice and Benchmark helped me out and got the barrel to me quicker than expected when I need it and the same with PTG for the reamer. I've had a lot of fun and satisfaction along with some frustration and disapointment. I've learned a lot and wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Yellowknife]

I've built a couple now and I've had success and issues. My first build went pretty well except for missed promised completion dates and a throat shorter than it was supposed to be. The smith fixed the throat and it was good. My second was a little rushed but it went well. I had issues with the velocity I was getting vs what I expected to get but that has gone away and I killed my elk with it. My current build has had a few twists and turns so far but it's getting there. I bought a used action from an individual and it turned out to be a very early model of the MRC 1999 and is a little rough. I'm not satisfied with the barrel contour but I'm getting that modified by the smith who's going to smooth up the feed on the action. I could have avoided that by buying a new action from MRC. I went 7mm WSM on this last one and I found several hundred new pieces of brass so I'm good. Building from scratch there is no reason not to go 270 WSM because you can spec the barrel and throat to shoot the new bullets available in .277. I think berger is going to make a hybrid .277 in 170gr and there is already the Matrix available. I think 6.5mm to 7mm is the ideal for a North American big game moderate range carry rifle (700ish yards ). If you want to go long range then go big or go home.
I built my first two on M70 WSM actions and this third on the MRC. My next project will be an Ultralite on a custom TI action with a CF wrapped barrel. My first barrel was a Lilja the second a Benchmark and this last one that I have not shot yet is a Dan Muller. Lilja and the Benchmark were accurate and clean up easy. I have made things more difficult than they had to be by choosing things to save a buck or wanting to do it myself. Two smiths took longer that quoted. One was completely on him and the other was waiting on the barrel. John Whiddon did the barreling with a weeks notice and Benchmark helped me out and got the barrel to me quicker than expected when I need it and the same with PTG for the reamer. I've had a lot of fun and satisfaction along with some frustration and disapointment. I've learned a lot and wouldn't have it any other way.

I think you answered your own question. Dealing with 'smiths and sourcing parts and fixing function issues can take time and be a frustration.... I've been down that road before a couple times. Meanwhile there are dozens of companies, producing hundreds or thousands of variations of the average bolt action rifle. Very easy to walk into the shop and pick out something that will do 100% of what a "built" gun will for most people.

To even semi justify building a gun, you need to be filling a tiny theoretical niche (sheep rifle, etc), or have very specific requirements (long range). Otherwise it's just for fun, which is just fine... but certainly not for everyone. When it's all said and done, what you have is a tool for killing things, only very subtly different than any other bullet launcher. I may do another custom or semi-custom at some point, but I'm not fooling myself that it's going to be anything particularly special.

You could have killed your elk this year with any off the shelf 30-06. Why would looking at one make you "queasy"??

Yk

 

[Stid2677]

Having built customs,, they are only the perfect rifle to YOU, and almost never sell for what they cost. A factory rifle holds value better... Seen it over and over. The devil you know versus the devil you don't know. Plus in places like Alaska and other places the shipping and lack of smiths drive the price out of reach to most add items lost in shipping or build delays and you can quickly see why many choose a factory and tweak it some.

 

[Shrek]

YK , the queezy part is all the compromises that the company chose and not what I'd choose. Heck , I have trouble with many of my own choices. Stid2677 , I know and I'd tell anyone who asks that most of the money spent on a custom will not be recovered in sale price.
I'm just saying that the only answer to the question isn't a choice between factory rifles. A lot of guys want a rifle to fill a specific niche but it hasn't occurred to them to spec out a custom build and it's almost never recommend.

 

[Yellowknife]

YK , the queezy part is all the compromises that the company chose and not what I'd choose. Heck , I have trouble with many of my own choices.

mmm ? What compromises are those? We have calibers that cover every possible hunting scenario, with massive overlap between most of them. Barrel lengths that vary from 16 to 26". Factories make everything from super flyweights to heavy long range rigs. Factory twist rates that stabilize the vast majority of hunting projectiles. DBM, blind, and floorplate magazines to pick from. Push and controlled round feed and hybrids of the two. Stocks of every type from grade A walnut to hand laid fiberglass to modern chassis style. In today's world, I would say we have an absolutely incredible selection of off the shelf guns to pick from. A few suck, but most work fine for killing things, and simple upgrades are often enough to fix any perceived flaws.

Not knocking the custom route because I'll probably do it again, but when somebody asks me about typical hunting rifle I guess I can't see a pressing reason to recommend that they spend a bunch of time building a full custom just to go kill a critter. And if they aren't an experienced hunter and shooter, they probably aren't going to have a good clue what to spec out anyway.

Yk

 

[BroodBuster]

I could see where a competition shooter or an avid back country hunter would go down the custom road. But I'd think that is a very small percentage of the shooting population. I'm mainly an archery hunter but do pull out the guns a couple of times a year and do a gun hunt every other year or so. Pretty much every off the shelf rifle is more accurate than I am. The rest of the stuff I have no idea what you are talking about and really don't care.

So I think it's an evolutionary thing. If I got really into it the shortcomings of my current rifles would be more apparent but for now if I put the cross hairs on the target at 300 yards it's going down and at the end of the day that's all I really care about.

One thing does perplex me though. It seems that stainless barrels for all weather conditions is the commonly recommended rifles here. As an archery guy I couldn't imagine walking around in the mountains with a stainless barrel. May as well walk around in a mylar suit. Living in the wettest part of the planet I've never had any rust issue's and I'm not all the careful about it. Do folks paint their stainless barrels or do they just ignore the mirrored barrel they are carrying around? And wouldn't painting any barrel finish make it just as impervious to the weather as a stainless barrel? I've been meaning to ask that question as I'm thinking of buying a .17HMR this year. And if I do buy one it will most likely spend most of it's life in the back of the truck or stowed away in one of my two boats so it will see some pretty humid weather on a regular basis.

 

[gelton]

I have always gone factory and just tossed in a Timney trigger set at 2 lbs a bedding job and away I go...happily ever after!

 

[rayporter]

half the fun is gathering the parts.

but getting what you really want is the best feeling a shooter can have.



there really are smiths out there that meet deadlines and dont charge and arm and a leg.

 

[handwerk]

All my rifles are pre 64 M70's of some type, some as from the factory and others quite customized. Once you know what works for you the decisions get easier.
I too find almost nothing currently offered that interests me much...I think kimber has a fine product, and there are many seemingly accurate factory rifles now days...but I still choose a rifle with some soul, the rifleman's rifle.

 

[luke moffat]

YK , the queezy part is all the compromises that the company chose and not what I'd choose. Heck , I have trouble with many of my own choices. Stid2677 , I know and I'd tell anyone who asks that most of the money spent on a custom will not be recovered in sale price.
I'm just saying that the only answer to the question isn't a choice between factory rifles. A lot of guys want a rifle to fill a specific niche but it hasn't occurred to them to spec out a custom build and it's almost never recommend.

I want the lightest tool for the job that still shoot less than 1.5" groups at 100 yards. Really that's all I need given the distances I hunt. Turns out I can get a sub 5 pound rifle (before scope) for about $1200. All I am doing is swapping out the trigger guard and bolt handle and cutting down the barrel 2-3". It's still basically a stock gun but it works for my needs. In fact my $1200 rifles are lighter than even the famed $3k+ Nulas and are actually all stainless too. If I could have built a custom gun as light or lighter for around the same money I would have done so but it just didn't work out.

I am not like you Shrek and kill a bunch of animals beyond 600 yards so it works for me and want to keep things light there as a rifle is simple a tool I use for a few minutes our less on a single hunt so the less it weighs the better . Killing a critter isn't the hard part for anyone regardless of the rifle. Procuring the time and money to actually be about to get out and hunt is most people's limiting factor rather than the rifle.

In the end everyone's needs are different as well as view points. Just sharing mine.

 

[husky390]

Dealing with gunsmiths is reason enough for me to buy factory or figure it out myself. It's why I'm really beginning to like AR's.

 

[hodgeman]

I've got one semi-custom rifle, I love it and it shoots lights out- it's a consistent .75MOA gun.

But, I've now bought three factory rifles that shoot just as good for about 1/3 to 1/4 the price tag. As much as I love it, I don't think I'd do it again.

 

[Beastmode]

It was touched before but I think there are a ton of guys that can't shoot as good as a custom gun can. I am one of those guys. Most factory guns can shoot better than me. I mainly archery hunt and spend way more time shooting my bow than my gun. I know I would be a better if I shot more and I'm working on this. Until then a bedded gun with a good trigger and descent optics work great for me.

 

[adventure907]

The biggest thing I look for in a rifle is how it handles, and how it shoots (groups).....

And no matter what rifle I have in my hands, I don't "stunt shoot" like seems to be all the rage these days.

 

[5MilesBack]

I used to shoot a lot. I've always been a good shot from the day I got my first BB gun. Every stock rifle I've owned has shot great. But I picked up archery about 10 years ago and haven't looked back. I hadn't shot my Browning A-bolt 7mag in 10 years until this past weekend. And probably 20+ years since I've shot it past 300 yards.

Took it to the 600 yard range and after shooting high twice, I got it dialed and center punched the 8" bulls-eye on the steel gong on the third shot. That's all I want or need in a rifle, something that will hit where I'm aiming.

 

[Shrek]

I don't "stunt shoot" like seems to be all the rage these days.

So what does "stunt shoot" have to do with getting the best rifle for you ? Are you grinding some personal axe here ?

 

[5MilesBack]

So what does "stunt shoot" have to do with getting the best rifle for you ?

I'm still trying to figure out what "stunt shooting" entails.

 

[Stid2677]

I'm still trying to figure out what "stunt shooting" entails.

Killing game animals at distances many perceive as too far.