Confused! lots of customs for sale?

[bigngreen]

There are a LOT of guys who build customs as their hobby, there are guys out there that just enjoy the dream, design and build process then their board of it. Even more guys that go through the process do load development and get board as soon as it hammering then on to the next.
With the amount of custom action we have now there is something different about each and guys will sort through components and try rifles till they hit the one they want.
Then you have guys who treat customs like an investment, they build then hardly shoot but they trade them around. They usually have some factory guns they flog like rented mules and pull out the custom for one or two shots.
Custom rifles are currency!

 

[Straight Shooter]

I would love to have a custom gun. I just can't afford one. I would love to have a custom grade walnut stock and a deeply blue, glossy barrel like the old Ruger tang safety M77. However, when the 6.5 CM craze hit I just had to try one. Actually I was looking for a 260. But when Ruger came out with the RAP I figured I would try it in the 6.5 CM and if I didn't like it I wouldn't be out that much. It shoots in the .2"s. In my old age with my eyesight and shaky hands I can't shoot any better than that. I don't like the stock and have always wanted to put a nice walnut stock on it. But everytime I shoot it I look at it and say "why should I change anything with this gun". I am a shooter and not a builder or tinkerer. I am a fan of Col. Townsend Whelen, "the only interesting rifle is an accurate rifle".

 

[108676]

The other point that I have not yet seen is that most factory rifles will not fetch much on the secondary market and in my case not enough to warrant the hassle of selling it and paying a FFL and or an online site the commissions. I would rather just get another safe and coat it in RIG or another long term preservative grease and let it sit (and make my kids deal with them when I am gone-LOL)
I guess lf you are really upon hard times and even a few bucks will make a difference then you sell what you have but until that happens I would venture that most guys-especially the ones on sites like this- will just make it a safe queen and call it a day.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Alibiiv]

I would love to have a custom gun. I just can't afford one. I would love to have a custom grade walnut stock and a deeply blue, glossy barrel like the old Ruger tang safety M77. However, when the 6.5 CM craze hit I just had to try one. Actually I was looking for a 260. But when Ruger came out with the RAP I figured I would try it in the 6.5 CM and if I didn't like it I wouldn't be out that much. It shoots in the .2"s. In my old age with my eyesight and shaky hands I can't shoot any better than that. I don't like the stock and have always wanted to put a nice walnut stock on it. But everytime I shoot it I look at it and say "why should I change anything with this gun". I am a shooter and not a builder or tinkerer. I am a fan of Col. Townsend Whelen, "the only interesting rifle is an accurate rifle".

I buy Ruger 77 tang safety rifles on Gunbroker, there was mint one on there recently in .270 Winchester that sold for $450. I picked one up on Gunbroker recently, it was beat up a bit (1973 vintage), the stock was pretty rough, it had a Leupold 3.5X10 for $400. I bought the rifle as a donor rifle, refinished the stock, shot the rifle and now it is at the smiths for a rebarrel and accurizing.

 

[Savage 22-243 AI]

I will spend up to two years or more building (with the help of gunsmiths and custom products) the ultimate rifle setup for precision shooting. Work up the best load over the next 1-6 months of slow development. Make a one hole shooter and sell it............repeat...........I do regret selling some of them, well most of them.

 

[Double BC]

I think it takes a few customs to figure out what you really want and what suits your hunting style and area

 

[HobieH3]

He's being sarcastic about how the CM shooters think it's magical.

"THINK" ? Doesn't CM stand for Cartridge, Magical? Definitely the best for hunting Unicorns and Jackalope.

 

[Gcan]

I just spent a few minutes looking through the classifieds and noticed there's a whole lot more custom rifles for sale than factory it seems, and lots of higher powered rifles and fewer low powered. So it's got me thinking, it could be just that everybody here gave up on factory stuff long ago and doesn't have any of those left to sell. That's one possibility. But the big caliber and magnums has me wondering is everybody selling off their custom 300wm's to get into a 7ss or something like that? Do people buy big and then regret it? Just curious if it's a trend, or just today.

I suspect it's complicated.
Custom guns are a sickness of sorts. Its kinda like collecting art. Personally, I enjoy building a High Power or custom gun with a smith. I enjoy getting it to shoot and then shooting it but I'm always thinking bout the next one. When you think about the cost of a real custom gun from a top tier smith ($6000 plus) and then the quality glass it must have ($4000) many of us can have $8000 to $12,000 or more in a real custom gun. Sadly, for most of us the number of those we can have and hold is limited by good sense and simple economics. It's possible that custom gun owners sell custom guns to marshal funds for the next one. This may also explain why we are not selling factory guns worth hundreds when our next gun is thousands. Another factor to support this is the number of custom guns for sale absent glass or with an add on to include the glass. All of my glass has lived on more than one gun.
Just a thought.

 

[skipglo]

I just spent a few minutes looking through the classifieds and noticed there's a whole lot more custom rifles for sale than factory it seems, and lots of higher powered rifles and fewer low powered. So it's got me thinking, it could be just that everybody here gave up on factory stuff long ago and doesn't have any of those left to sell. That's one possibility. But the big caliber and magnums has me wondering is everybody selling off their custom 300wm's to get into a 7ss or something like that? Do people buy big and then regret it? Just curious if it's a trend, or just today.

I think what is today is that guns have become FASHIONABLE! They are ART and like kids there is a new stock, barrel, trigger and CALIBER born every minute! Those of us that love em upgrade all they time...but I never sell! When it comes to the larger magnums you are seeing I believe a lot of it is bad advice to new shooters...."You want One gun to do it ALL son buy .338 or .460 Weatherby" . Yes you can shoot gophers to Rhino...but the recoil and expense is obscene . Now to fashionable and Custom! Years ago custom meant a lot more than it does today. Read a pile of these articles,watch YouTube. Anyone can be a CUSTOM Gun builder today or at least that's what folks are saying...I'm ordering X barrel Y stock J trigger K action, I'm screwing the barrel into the action putting 2 bolts in trigger, and 2 into the stock and I definitely have a custom...and when they aren't driving tacks because they are custom they hit the sales page.Just my 2 cents

 

[lyotehunter]

The prices have gotten out of hand I think some are 0ver 10 grand and I am not talking about 50cal.either.

 

[MTGEEZER]

Full disclosure: I've been "snooping" this great forum for a couple of years and just had to sign up. Thank you all for the great info and advice! To the op, my vote goes to the 7ss, probably because if I had deeper pockets, I'd get one. All of my shooters are production guns ( 1 Kimber, 3 Tikkas, a Bergara, and a CA 6.5 PRC ), and, of course, 'ole Meat in the Pot', my dad's 721 '06 which is still getting it done! Hope to have something of value to contribute in the future. Just beginning to learn what's needed for long range shooting. Again, thank you all for sharing your expertise!

 

[MudRunner2005]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Greg Hunt]

I think most of the big magnums being sold here are being replaced by Creedmoors since they kill just as well with half the recoil and twice the accuracy.

"Blarney", It would be inhumane to shoot an elk with a 6.5 beyond 300 even if you hit the boiler room! Just because it's going to die eventually doesn't make it an ethical Kill. Elk deserve better than that and Hydrostatic shock needs to be a major factor when killing a large tuff animal and the 6.5 fails in that category, it was designed for paper and humans not big game! The inability to handle felt recoil is not a reason to choose a light recoiling caliber to shoot a large animal...

 

[MTGEEZER]

Welcome to the forum.