Need Advice on a Rifle

[zr600]

I say go the custom route. I priced out a build with a local guy here were I live and he is very responsible. Will cost me the same to do a custom as it would to buy a Christensen Arms rifle. And that's with a manners stock.

 

[ejd1]

He only charges $850 to build the rifle. I buy all the components, and he puts them all together. His precision on the machine work is second to none.

 

[xsn10s]

There really aren't many "secrets" to smithing or rifle building. What you pay for is a person's "work ethic". Them doing what they say they will do in a timely manner. Sounds like you have a good one there. Hopefully he'll be able to pass on the skills and his work ethics.

 

[ejd1]

There really aren't many "secrets" to smithing or rifle building. What you pay for is a person's "work ethic". Them doing what they say they will do in a timely manner. Sounds like you have a good one there. Hopefully he'll be able to pass on the skills and his work ethics.

Mainly the "secrets" would be things he does to speed things up. He's super fast with the builds. Perhaps experience does that, but I haven't waited longer than three months for him to finish any rifle, once I get him everything.

 

[louis f]

I might be way off base. I have never owned a carbon barrel rifle. But from what I have heard, you either get one that shoots or one that doesn't. Only have one friend who had a Christensen arms rifle. He had trouble getting it to group. Sent it back and was told they had a new way of applying the carbon fiber. The barrels are held vertical when the carbon is applied. As opposed to horizontal. That was supposed to fix the problem. He still had no luck getting it to shoot. Sold it and that was that.

 

[WildRose]

Hello all. I have a friend at work who is debating on whether or not to build a custom .300 Win Mag with a SS barrel, or just buy a Christensen Arms rifle with their carbon fiber barrel. All of my rifles are custom with either Proof or Hart barrels. I have a local builder who is really good. He's been doing it for over 55 years. That's who he will go with, if he goes custom. I just don't know much about Christensen rifles at all. Are they good, sub half shooters? Can anyone give me pros/cons regarding their rifles? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

If you have the budget I'd certainly have it done locally.

 

[Kimber7man]

I will be the devil's advocate and say that I have seen, held and shot my hunting buddy's CA Ridgeline in 6.5x284. The Nosler factory ammo with 129 LRAB shot two 3/4" groups right out of the gate. He then used our gunsmiths first handload he threw together with R23 and the 130 accubond. It put three bullets touching at 100 yards, at 3075 fps.
He and our other friend used that rifle to shoot a mule deer at 115 yards (easy shot), an antelope at 320, a cow elk at 370, and a mule deer at 570. All with one shot.
I'm now looking at a Ridgeline in 6.5 PRC, all because of his....

And for the custom route, I have learned that if you want to sell a custom rifle built by a gunsmith that's a) not well known and b) retired, you're going to be lucky to recoup the cost of the parts.

 

[WildRose]

There really aren't many "secrets" to smithing or rifle building. What you pay for is a person's "work ethic". Them doing what they say they will do in a timely manner. Sounds like you have a good one there. Hopefully he'll be able to pass on the skills and his work ethics.

No, most of what you are paying for is his equipment, experience, attention to detail, and knownlege.

It's not like a monkey with a digital modern machine shop can do the work, have the kowledge of how to put all of it together right and get it all right on the first try, know where to look when problems appear which they will and come up with the solutoions on his own no matter how good of a work ethic he has.

 

[xsn10s]

Mainly the "secrets" would be things he does to speed things up. He's super fast with the builds. Perhaps experience does that, but I haven't waited longer than three months for him to finish any rifle, once I get him everything.

Oh yes I'm sure he's got a wealth of knowledge. I have many friends who are gunsmiths, engineers, machinists, trainer ete in the industry. And unfortunately good gunsmiths or manual machinists and a dying breed. I'm sure he knows how to streamline production.

 

[xsn10s]

Running cnc or swiss machines aren't as simple as pushing a button and sitting and watching. first off most machine shops won't let you sit while working. And you'll have to know G codes if you're programming. Even a common machine operator while have to know how to read blueprints, measure parts with mics and calipers, probably use and overlay, and atleast use gauges. You'll have to know how to "touch off" tooling and understand how materials affect the tooling. Feed rate of parts can affect how parts turn out. Heck offsets will have to be changed just due to the ambient temperature. So it's not really something a "monkey" can do.

 

[xsn10s]

And using a reticle for shooting at distance is pretty easy. It's one of the reasons why Primary Arm and the Russians use reticles like ACSS. It's minute of torso that even a caveman can use.

 

[WildRose]

And using a reticle for shooting at distance is pretty easy. It's one of the reasons why Primary Arm and the Russians use reticles like ACSS. It's minute of torso that even a caveman can use.

How much of the game we're seeking has a kill zone of 30" in the vertical?

KY windage is far more difficult to master than reading a ballistic chart or program and dialing.

The first requires a lot of practice and some considerable skill the latter can be done by a 6yo.

 

[ejd1]

Thanks y'all. I'm going to give him this info, and let him decide.

 

[ejd1]

And for the custom route, I have learned that if you want to sell a custom rifle built by a gunsmith that's a) not well known and b) retired, you're going to be lucky to recoup the cost of the parts.

He is very well known in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. That I know for a fact. Also, my personal opinion is that I won't ever sell a rifle that shoots. I have sold several factory rifles that I couldn't get to shoot, but never even thought of selling one of his rifles. Most, if not all people around here hold on to them because they shoot so well.