build or buy

[FIGJAM]

Been shooting a .30-378 for the last 7 years, I think I'll be OK......

Agreed on the resale part, but that is just something you have to roll the dice on. I am like FJ, if I don't love it the gun WILL get kicked down the road.



That is part of my conundrum for sure.

Was your 30-378 braked?

 

[Willib9]

Willib9: What was the cost of this rifle you describe? With both barrels, bolt heads etc...?

Bighorn TL3- $1500 (including extra magnum bolt head
Barrel- $350 ($700 for 2)
Magpul hunter stock- $375 (including bottom. metal)
Calvin Elite 2 stage Trigger- $200
Total- $2775 for essentially 2 guns
These prices are rounded. Some may be a little more or less but this is very close. The magpul stock is very good for the money and is my chouce for a hunting stock. When I shoot for practice or competition, I put it in a MPA chassis. To switch the barrels you will need a barrel vise, barrel nut wrench, and no-go gauges(I headspace off of a dummy round) You can get all of this for less than $400.

 

[Elkeater]

I know it's not a 300 win mag, but the 300 wm is over rated

Blasphemy!!!

 

[ATH]

Go Savage or Remage and screw the barrel on yourself. Custom barrel on the cheap, no need to pay labor. I've gone custom, but no more, the accuracy difference is little to NONE. It takes little talent to do a good bedding job.

 

[Kimber7man]

If I were starting out with $1000 I'd look long and hard at the Tikka.
If I had $2000 I'd go straight to the Christensen Arms Ridgeline. Carbon barrel, already threaded for can, nice true action, Triggertech trigger, and they are definitely shooters.
If you want real lightweight the Barrett Fieldcraft is around $1500-1600 and has barrels twisted right with 3" mag boxes in short action.

 

[COBrad]

I've had 5 Cooper rifles and they all met or exceeded the.5 moa guarantee. I've had a few factory rifles that shot between.5 and .75 moa, but the vast majority did not. I've had 8 custom rifles, and all but two met the accuracy guarantee. Of those 2 neither the builders or barrel makers would even look at the gun. One I sold for parts the other made me so mad I pursued a refund for over a year before finally getting the credit card company to intervene. For my money Cooper has been the best value... as long as I wanted what they offered. They most accurate rifles I've owned were custom.

 

[FIGJAM]

Of those 2 neither the builders or barrel makers would even look at the gun. One I sold for parts the other made me so mad I pursued a refund for over a year before finally getting the credit card company to intervene.

This is the challenge with a custom build imo. If it doesn't shoot, who is going to fix it....

If its a factory rifle and they do have an accuracy guarantee, you can send it back. If they don't have a guarantee you can kick it down the road and let somebody else mess with it.

 

[foul bore]

Some of my friends are, or have been sold on custom builds, but have seen my groups from factory rifles (Brownings) and are changing their minds, expence and long waits don't seem worth it. I agree that money spent on optics is money well spent. You can't see it, you can't shoot it. My scopes cost more than the firearm. It goes down to what ever you want. Just enjoy it

 

[Willib9]

You can also build a rifle like the bighorn I mentioned off of a factory savage long action. The thing with modern day barrels, actions and stocks is that you can build a .5 to 1 MOA rifle by basically bolting together parts. If you bought a savage long action in .300 win mag or any other long action caliber you could build a switch barrel rifle just by buying a 6.5 barrel and you could do it for relatively cheap. What the bighorn buys you is basically a Remington action with savage barrel threads and controlled round feed. I've built a number of semi custom rifles and never had one not shoot. Not to say that it can't happen but nowadays its extremely rare. Plus, any custom gunmaker worth their salt will work with you to troubleshoot/resolve a brand new rifle that will not shoot. Both factory and custom guns are getting so accurate that most of the time it's the person behind the scope that is the problem. A person who buys a $500 rifle and shoots every weekend will generally be more accurate and proficient than someone who buys a $4500 rifle and shoots every 6 months. Whatever you buy shoot and shoot often.

 

[rustyshackleford]

I would like to know why no one ever mentions the new Win Model 70s as a factory option. Inexpensive, well made, good trigger, classic safety, and Mauser controlled feed. What say you?

I've got 3 new production model 70's. 2 Featherweights, 1 in 30-06 and one in 308, and an Extreme weather in 30-06. I have gotten sub MOA groups with all three with factory Hornady ammo despite the extreme weather having a somewhat rough bore.

The current model 70's are very nice guns but they aren't really targeted at the LR crowd. I'm sure if they made a fast twist 300 WSM in a McMillan stock with a 26 inch barrel you'd see them more often in this forum.

 

[Hardshot]

I own customs and factories. I see factory Rifles these days doing great things .For me I have joined the savage crowd with rebarreling when I want a change or need to re barrel it ,is so easy . The main reason for not buying factory rifles is the twist in barrels have not caught up to the great bullets that are available. If you don't buy a custom or re barrel your getting left with less than a top performer. Just my 2 cents

 

[gjk5]

Was your 30-378 braked?

yes, Wby factory MKV with brake. And so will the new rifle, I have zero issue with a braked hunting rifle.

 

[gjk5]

Now you guys have me thinking Remage.....

 

[joekidd]

A friend of mine has a cool setup. I call it his Savage switch barrel. It has a 264WM barrel, 338 barrel and a 450 marlin barrel that he changes out. He changes the scope out with Warne QD rings. Pretty neat. Check out ER Shaw they make a neat custom rifle . You just pick out you finishes,caliber,twist,bbl length, ect.
Cool, just something to look at.