Why are custom rifles so Pricey??

dodgefreak8 said:

I am slowley coming to the realization of what you just said. I am more interested in function than form and like I stated above I really enjoy tinkering. I think I have decided to go with something in between having a smith completely build me a rifle and building the entire thing myself. Honestly because I will never have the kind of $$ needed saved up all at once. It seems like something always comes up and the money has to go else where. I am pretty sure I have found my gunsmith if he is wlling to work with me purchasing the parts slowly and sending him what I am uncomfortable doing. This thread has went many directions and I learned a BUNCH!! Everyone was pretty helpful even with my under whelming ability to try and eplain what I was asking!

Hopefully this old Turd chaser can show you just how meticulous we can be

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I think that is a good idea !

I know lots of guys that bought there rifle piece by piece over a long period of time and when
everything was in hand then they talked to their Smith.

All of the major parts cost somewhere around $400.00 dollars each and if you buy one at a time
the impact on your wallet is not bad at any one time.

This way you can decide what you want the smith to do and what you want to do yourself.

The only downside to this is that most smiths will not guarantee any accuracy level unless they
do everything.

J E CUSTOM

I think that is the route I will take. I will stay in contact with my smith and make sure he is comfortable with the products of I have chosen. I will be more than happy to listen to his direction as well. thanks again everyone for their contributions to the thread!

As my machinist friend says, a really good automobile such as a BMW 535 will set you back $50K-$60K. There is a night and day difference between those and a $25K-$30K automobile.

A new headlight for a Beemer or Benz will set you back as much as a high end composite gunstock.

Just a replacement bumper or fender will set you back as much as a very good mass production rifle.

Since automobiles are much more mass produced than custom rifles, I don't see what you mean by the price of custom rifles being high. For the amount of labor time involved, it would seem that a job at the Beemer or Benz plant pays much better than most gunsmithing.

desertbull said:

buy a used Savage or Remington at the gun shop or pawn shop, blueprint action, re-barrel, restock, new trigger, bed the action, get good bases and rings.

$1200-1500.

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Ive heard of doing this and this is something I just dont understand (Im new so forgive me)
If you do that, you are buying a new barrel, new stock, new trigger. The only thing you are keeping from the rifle is the action. Why buy a rifle just to throw everything away except the action, how does that work out cheaper?
Why not just buy all those things including a new action? I dont get it

timmay said:

Ive heard of doing this and this is something I just dont understand (Im new so forgive me)
If you do that, you are buying a new barrel, new stock, new trigger. The only thing you are keeping from the rifle is the action. Why buy a rifle just to throw everything away except the action, how does that work out cheaper?
Why not just buy all those things including a new action? I dont get it

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Because a used rifle is frequently cheaper than a new action. One can frequently buy a long action complete rifle in 7mmMAG for $250 to $300 bux. That's less than a Savage action all by itself.

For big game (deer, etc.) hunting at "normal" distances, like out to 500 yards, it is possible to build a more than adequate rifle out of a used AccuTrigger Savage in a common chambering (the more common the chamber the less they cost) by replacing the barrel and recoil lug, truing the front face of the action, pillar bedding the factory stock, and putting on a good scope. The only things purchased besides the old rifle are the barrel, recoil lug, some bedding materials, and scope.

I've seen rifles in relatively common calibers (.30-06, .270, etc. shooting holes half lapping clover leafs @ 100 yards and barely over an inch at 300 yards following this approach.

Other than by coincidence a rifle like this won't shoot with a high end custom, but not as many people as one might think can shoot well enough to see the difference.

Fitch

Wow, I just read this whole thread. First off I am a fellow tradesman, GC, and I find it funny that you a pinching pennies, as a plumber you are at the top of the food chain, at least in my area. Take no offense . I am going to give you some straight shooting advice. From the sound of it I think you could do part of the build. I did on mine and may have had a advantage that I have bench rest buddies and Defance,Lonewolf, and Falcon are all within 15 minutes of my house. I had a barrel and action fitted and worked on the rest and saved some coin. It took twice aslong as it was supposed to and I spent time and money mailing or part chasing, to the tune of full days and alot of fuel in my deisel. In the end I have my dream gun and probably value it more.Buy the way I was on a test drive with one of my bench rest friends in his Lingenfelter Vet, and I dont think you can get the same feel from the Camaro Good luck, and remeber SH..... runs down hill

Man I wish I was in your area then Just started my buisness in April so I'm in that funky period of not knowing what the hell I'm doing (buisness wise). As for the Vette I'm a mopar guy anyway so I wouldn't be caught dead in either anyway lol.

timmay said:

Ive heard of doing this and this is something I just dont understand (Im new so forgive me)
If you do that, you are buying a new barrel, new stock, new trigger. The only thing you are keeping from the rifle is the action. Why buy a rifle just to throw everything away except the action, how does that work out cheaper?
Why not just buy all those things including a new action? I dont get it

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First, Price a action, then a stock, trigger, floor metal,mag follower and spring,mag
box.

If you find the right don er this is what you have that is very usable. the only thing you
normally throw away is the factory barrel.

Add the price of a quality barrel and the machine cost and you have a very reasonable custom
rifle.

I look for a rifle with = low shot count, proper bolt face and mag length, A high end composite
stock or a laminate, all for under $600.00. (And occasionally find one for under $500.00).

I just a Mod 7 Rem laminate stock In 300 SAUM (Magnum bolt face) and after spending $350.00
for a premium 338 Barrel I had invested $900.00 in all the parts to build a 338 RCM.

Add the cost of the smith (I did it my self)to do the chambering and crowning + blueprinting
the action (You can price this work on line) and you have a very reasonable custom that should
shoot under 1/2 MOA.

I did a little pricing of some high end factory rifles and this is what I found.

Remington custom = $1999.00 to $2999.00.
Weatherby mark 5 = $1779.00 to $3044.00.
Dakota arms = $3350.00 to $7285.00.

So a custom rifle with quality everything for $1500.00 to $3000.00 doesent sound high to me
for what you get.

Just some more comments.

J E CUSTOM

Weatherby will guarantee 1 1/2" groups at 100yds. with their Accumark! YOOWWWW!

Originally Posted by timmay
Ive heard of doing this and this is something I just dont understand (Im new so forgive me)
If you do that, you are buying a new barrel, new stock, new trigger. The only thing you are keeping from the rifle is the action. Why buy a rifle just to throw everything away except the action, how does that work out cheaper?
Why not just buy all those things including a new action? I dont get it

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First understand that buying an "action only" isn't as straight forward as one would hope/like it to be. Remington occassionally has a run that they peddle off to Brownells. These are not normal stock items however. Remington wants to sell guns. Not just actions.

About the only thing you can buy from Winchester is a T shirt anymore. If it's a gun part they almost always demand to have the rifle back. You'll be hard pressed to find an action only from them. (that means never)

The F/N special police receivers are sold this way I believe. I built a rifle on one not too long ago that came as an action only.

Your next option is the custom line. If all your after is a builder and dollars/cents mean more than pretty here's the nutz n bolts.

Your baseline custom action will start at about $1000.00 give or take a hundred bucks.

A Walmart Model 700 is between 4 and 5 hundred in most cases.

The stock is junk. It's glorified hockey puck rubber/plastic.
The barrel makes a nice stick for a vegetable garden. Even if it is a shooter, it'll be useless if you decide to have the action blueprinted. That involves machining the receiver threads and the fit will be so poor afterward that it'll be dangerous to try and shoot it with the old barrel.

It sucks sometimes, but it's just how this game is played.

Hope this helped.

C.