Apex Custom Rifles
Official LRH Sponsor
I recently became a LRH Site Sponsor, so I just wanted to give a quick synopsis of myself and my business. Been a forum member since 2009.
I met my wife 15 years ago, little did I know at the time, it would lead me here in a sense. I was always very involved in hunting, fishing, and the outdoors and went out every chance I could get. After dating my wife for a while, I found out that her Grandfather was a fairly well know gunsmith regionally. He was involved in BR and custom hunting rifles mainly. After hanging around him on a regular basis, he talked me into building a rifle for myself. I've always been fairly mechanical fixing my own vehicles, swapping engines, doing construction of various types and just fixing things in general. My first rifle was a 308 Norma Mag, built with a Hart #4 barrel, on a 1917 Enfield that we heavily modified into a very nice sporting rifle. Timney trigger, cottonwood stock, cock on open conversion. First 5 shots out of the rifle landed under 1/2" at 100. From that point I dove deep into the rabbit hole.
I was able to build a few more rifles with him over the next couple years and he also would have me help out on random customer rifles from time to time. During this time I also started absorbing everything I could read or get my hand on about building rifles, shooting techniques, ballistics, reloading, gunsmithing techniques and as much as I could find about building an accurate rifle.
After he slowed down and eventually passed away, I got a part time "night" job working for another gunsmith in the area. I would work construction from 7am and get done around 4-5 every day, then would immediately go to work in the gunsmith shop from about 5 pm to 9-10 almost every weekday and many Saturdays. I did this for a few more years. While I was here I ended up doing a lot of different types of work. I did a lot of muzzle brake installs, quite a few barrel installs, a ton of general repairs. One of the perks was also being able to use the shop in my "free" time to build whatever I wanted. I built myself and friends and family several rifles during this time as well.
In 2014, I went back to school to become a Chiropractor, finished in 2017 and in my free time, which there wasn't much of, I built a couple more rifles for myself. I purchased my clinic in 2018 and have been running it since. In the meantime, I was always getting people asking me to do work for them or do repairs or builds. Not having an FFL or a shop to do the work out of, I was very limited on what I could do for others.
I have always had plans to run my own gunsmith shop. Having my wife grow up in this world, she has always supported me with all my endeavors, including opening a shop. In 2020 during the height of Covid, I started to get everything together to open. Several months later everything was in place and in October of 2020 Apex Custom Rifles, LLC was officially opened. Over the past almost 2 years I have had quite a bit of business in my region and from guys all over the country. While I am not full time with this business at this point, I could just as well be. The only holdup is Gunsmiths usually don't make as much as Chiropractors do, so currently, that is my day job. However, I usually spend 20-30 hours if not more working on the Gunsmithing business every week. Now I know some of you may be thinking, and it has been discussed, about part time gunsmiths. I believe there are two types of gunsmiths, be they full or part time. Ones that truly care about the quality of work they produce and the attention to detail put into everything they release, and then there are those that have the "it's good enough" mentality or "that'll work". I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours researching, practicing, applying, testing and checking my work and the reasoning behind it. I don't have to rely on bringing in the next buck currently to get products out the door that may not meet my standards. Therefore, I can pick and choose what I take on, stick pretty close to timelines, and put out the best product possible to keep my customers happy and give them exactly what they want. I've also been fortunate enough to re-invest everything back into my company to ether machine new tooling to help me achieve my goals or invest in better products/tooling to make things easier, quicker, or more productive.
After having success in the rifle building world, I started to get the idea to start selling some of these products that I use in my shop to build rifles online. I know there are a bunch of good retailers out there and several on this forum. However being the chronic entrepreneur, I wanted my own site to try and bring more products to people. I officially launched my site in June, so it's fairly new, but so far so good. While I don't have the widest product availability at the moment, I plan to add more products as time and money allows. I'm trying hard not to be a drop ship company so I can keep control of everything I sell. I check daily for more products and am always working to get linked with more companies to bring you guys/gals all the great products that we are all looking for.
I would invite everyone to at least go check out my site or check me out on facebook. I wouldn't be doing this stuff if it wasn't my passion. LRH was the first place I decided to advertise because I know there are a bunch of great people here that I could potentially help and it's always been a great place for information. I am also open to suggestions or requests as to products you would like to see me carry. Currently I'm a one man show, but I've always had the opinion that If I can't handle it, I'll get help to maintain customer satisfaction. Without satisfied customers, what's the point!
Website link:
Facebook link:
www.facebook.com
PS. My bull elk from last fall using one of my rifles. 300 PRC (AW specs) on a defiance Anti-X, Proof, Mesa Altitude, Hawkins rings & bottom metal, Wyatt's Mag, TT Special. 350 yards, Lapua brass, N568, 200 ELD-X.
I met my wife 15 years ago, little did I know at the time, it would lead me here in a sense. I was always very involved in hunting, fishing, and the outdoors and went out every chance I could get. After dating my wife for a while, I found out that her Grandfather was a fairly well know gunsmith regionally. He was involved in BR and custom hunting rifles mainly. After hanging around him on a regular basis, he talked me into building a rifle for myself. I've always been fairly mechanical fixing my own vehicles, swapping engines, doing construction of various types and just fixing things in general. My first rifle was a 308 Norma Mag, built with a Hart #4 barrel, on a 1917 Enfield that we heavily modified into a very nice sporting rifle. Timney trigger, cottonwood stock, cock on open conversion. First 5 shots out of the rifle landed under 1/2" at 100. From that point I dove deep into the rabbit hole.
I was able to build a few more rifles with him over the next couple years and he also would have me help out on random customer rifles from time to time. During this time I also started absorbing everything I could read or get my hand on about building rifles, shooting techniques, ballistics, reloading, gunsmithing techniques and as much as I could find about building an accurate rifle.
After he slowed down and eventually passed away, I got a part time "night" job working for another gunsmith in the area. I would work construction from 7am and get done around 4-5 every day, then would immediately go to work in the gunsmith shop from about 5 pm to 9-10 almost every weekday and many Saturdays. I did this for a few more years. While I was here I ended up doing a lot of different types of work. I did a lot of muzzle brake installs, quite a few barrel installs, a ton of general repairs. One of the perks was also being able to use the shop in my "free" time to build whatever I wanted. I built myself and friends and family several rifles during this time as well.
In 2014, I went back to school to become a Chiropractor, finished in 2017 and in my free time, which there wasn't much of, I built a couple more rifles for myself. I purchased my clinic in 2018 and have been running it since. In the meantime, I was always getting people asking me to do work for them or do repairs or builds. Not having an FFL or a shop to do the work out of, I was very limited on what I could do for others.
I have always had plans to run my own gunsmith shop. Having my wife grow up in this world, she has always supported me with all my endeavors, including opening a shop. In 2020 during the height of Covid, I started to get everything together to open. Several months later everything was in place and in October of 2020 Apex Custom Rifles, LLC was officially opened. Over the past almost 2 years I have had quite a bit of business in my region and from guys all over the country. While I am not full time with this business at this point, I could just as well be. The only holdup is Gunsmiths usually don't make as much as Chiropractors do, so currently, that is my day job. However, I usually spend 20-30 hours if not more working on the Gunsmithing business every week. Now I know some of you may be thinking, and it has been discussed, about part time gunsmiths. I believe there are two types of gunsmiths, be they full or part time. Ones that truly care about the quality of work they produce and the attention to detail put into everything they release, and then there are those that have the "it's good enough" mentality or "that'll work". I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours researching, practicing, applying, testing and checking my work and the reasoning behind it. I don't have to rely on bringing in the next buck currently to get products out the door that may not meet my standards. Therefore, I can pick and choose what I take on, stick pretty close to timelines, and put out the best product possible to keep my customers happy and give them exactly what they want. I've also been fortunate enough to re-invest everything back into my company to ether machine new tooling to help me achieve my goals or invest in better products/tooling to make things easier, quicker, or more productive.
After having success in the rifle building world, I started to get the idea to start selling some of these products that I use in my shop to build rifles online. I know there are a bunch of good retailers out there and several on this forum. However being the chronic entrepreneur, I wanted my own site to try and bring more products to people. I officially launched my site in June, so it's fairly new, but so far so good. While I don't have the widest product availability at the moment, I plan to add more products as time and money allows. I'm trying hard not to be a drop ship company so I can keep control of everything I sell. I check daily for more products and am always working to get linked with more companies to bring you guys/gals all the great products that we are all looking for.
I would invite everyone to at least go check out my site or check me out on facebook. I wouldn't be doing this stuff if it wasn't my passion. LRH was the first place I decided to advertise because I know there are a bunch of great people here that I could potentially help and it's always been a great place for information. I am also open to suggestions or requests as to products you would like to see me carry. Currently I'm a one man show, but I've always had the opinion that If I can't handle it, I'll get help to maintain customer satisfaction. Without satisfied customers, what's the point!
Website link:
Facebook link:
Apex Custom Rifles LLC | New Ulm MN
Apex Custom Rifles LLC, New Ulm, Minnesota. 411 likes · 18 talking about this. Gunsmithing services specializing in high precision custom target, hunting and competition rifles!
www.facebook.com
PS. My bull elk from last fall using one of my rifles. 300 PRC (AW specs) on a defiance Anti-X, Proof, Mesa Altitude, Hawkins rings & bottom metal, Wyatt's Mag, TT Special. 350 yards, Lapua brass, N568, 200 ELD-X.
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