First build action

Soyshaun - Going the custom rifle route is a great way to deepen your understanding of what is important to you with regard to rifles. Getting feedback on options to consider is helpful on the front end of the planning phase. Obviously it can be a bit overwhelming with the variety of options to consider. Many of the members here have safes full of customs and have a solid understanding of what they like and dislike. Soak it in, but only you can define what you want.

Things that I learned when going through my first custom:
This is not for the faint of wallet. Budget will drive a lot of your decisions.
Think about the reason you are going this route. Are you looking for a custom because it is something you have always wanted? This is valid enough reason IMO.
Be honest with yourself on your current skill level on assembling rifles.
Weight can add up quickly. To me heavy hunting rifles spend most of their time in the safe.
Are you going to shoot long mono bullets? Consider appropriate barrel twists.
Barrel length if shooting suppressed.
Pack your patience. Typically the process will take a significant amount of time.
The best advice I received was from my GS. Get exactly what you want after seeking input from experienced people in the custom world.

Enjoy the ride!
 
Mark37082 said:
Soyshaun - Going the custom rifle route is a great way to deepen your understanding of what is important to you with regard to rifles. Getting feedback on options to consider is helpful on the front end of the planning phase. Obviously it can be a bit overwhelming with the variety of options to consider. Many of the members here have safes full of customs and have a solid understanding of what they like and dislike. Soak it in, but only you can define what you want.

Things that I learned when going through my first custom:
This is not for the faint of wallet. Budget will drive a lot of your decisions.
Think about the reason you are going this route. Are you looking for a custom because it is something you have always wanted? This is valid enough reason IMO.
Be honest with yourself on your current skill level on assembling rifles.
Weight can add up quickly. To me heavy hunting rifles spend most of their time in the safe.
Are you going to shoot long mono bullets? Consider appropriate barrel twists.
Barrel length if shooting suppressed.
Pack your patience. Typically the process will take a significant amount of time.
The best advice I received was from my GS. Get exactly what you want after seeking input from experienced people in the custom world.

Enjoy the ride!
Click to expand...
Yeah, the communication and relationship you develop with your GS is probably the most important when planning and building that custom rifle. He/she in many cases has tons of experience and has entertained just about any question you can think of that you can throw at them...been there done that. In addition, through that MANY conversations you will have with them, they gain that sixth sense if you will as what is best for you and your purpose. Anyway, good luck, learn and enjoy the ride.
 
Rick Richard said:
Yeah, the communication and relationship you develop with your GS is probably the most important when planning and building that custom rifle. He/she in many cases has tons of experience and has entertained just about any question you can think of that you can throw at them...been there done that. In addition, through that MANY conversations you will have with them, they gain that sixth sense if you will as what is best for you and your purpose. Anyway, good luck, learn and enjoy the ride.
Click to expand...
I dont know why, but this thought of your Local Gunsmith being your go to resource kinda rubs me wrong. That may say not be the case. I am going to try very hard to not let this sound like I am representing all gunsmiths in the same light, but your suggestion that your local gunsmith is going to want to have a discussion with you is very presumptive. If you had a way to take a survey of a large percentage of people that utilized the services of their LGS to build or rebarrel a rifle, I think you would be shocked to know how many people end up dissatisfied with the total experience. I want to fast forward to hopefully extinguish the forest fire before it starts to say that any of the 'smiths that have gained widespread acceptance by this informed group ARE NOT the 'smiths' that I am speaking about.
My point in saying this is we should be careful with suggesting that your LGS is the answer or that you will be happy with your decision to use them. There is a significant risk of the experience being less than desirable.
In my very strong opinion, if a guy wants to build a great rifle, there is a lot of value in taking the time to understand the build process by building one yourself, or find someone that is genuinely interested in allowing you to be a participant on the build. The lessons you learn will be a huge value to you in understanding what goes into building a rifle.
The reality is that your second build might turn out to be your best build based on exercising the first build and being honest with yourself about what went well and what didn't as far as your build choices.

I say build your first one with the more inexpensive of the high-quality choices and learn what you need to learn in the process. This is how I would do that:

* Order the following from Northland shooters supply
Big Horn Origin action
Criterion or Shilen prefit barrel
-barrel nut prefot if you want to do it yourself
-Shouldered prefit if you want to hire it done, or.if you want to make the additional investments in tools to torque
-triggertech trigger
* Order whatever chassis/stock your budget permits.
Go shoot and take notes on what is great and what isnt.
I bet it will shoot lights out!
 
I have big horn origins and several ARC Nucleus's. I prefer the ARC's, although I haven't gotten a Coup de grâce yet, it will probably be my next one.
 
Bang4theBuck said:
I dont know why, but this thought of your Local Gunsmith being your go to resource kinda rubs me wrong. That may say not be the case. I am going to try very hard to not let this sound like I am representing all gunsmiths in the same light, but your suggestion that your local gunsmith is going to want to have a discussion with you is very presumptive. If you had a way to take a survey of a large percentage of people that utilized the services of their LGS to build or rebarrel a rifle, I think you would be shocked to know how many people end up dissatisfied with the total experience. I want to fast forward to hopefully extinguish the forest fire before it starts to say that any of the 'smiths that have gained widespread acceptance by this informed group ARE NOT the 'smiths' that I am speaking about.
My point in saying this is we should be careful with suggesting that your LGS is the answer or that you will be happy with your decision to use them. There is a significant risk of the experience being less than desirable.
In my very strong opinion, if a guy wants to build a great rifle, there is a lot of value in taking the time to understand the build process by building one yourself, or find someone that is genuinely interested in allowing you to be a participant on the build. The lessons you learn will be a huge value to you in understanding what goes into building a rifle.
The reality is that your second build might turn out to be your best build based on exercising the first build and being honest with yourself about what went well and what didn't as far as your build choices.

I say build your first one with the more inexpensive of the high-quality choices and learn what you need to learn in the process. This is how I would do that:

* Order the following from Northland shooters supply
Big Horn Origin action
Criterion or Shilen prefit barrel
-barrel nut prefot if you want to do it yourself
-Shouldered prefit if you want to hire it done, or.if you want to make the additional investments in tools to torque
-triggertech trigger
* Order whatever chassis/stock your budget permits.
Go shoot and take notes on what is great and what isnt.
I bet it will shoot lights out!
Click to expand...
No offense taken, but did not reference my LOCAL GS, but a highly reputable GS who is in fact a member of this forum. We have different opinions on our choices, but at the end of the day we have the same goal.
 
bultinkle said:
I'm personally an enormous tikka fan if you're not loading out long action cartridges past saami coal

I sold my customs and went to tikka money aside I prefer them
Click to expand...
I have heard that a lot as I've started looking into this more and more and I dont think I'd be disappointed with it at all. I just don't know if ill be able to do this again so I want it to count and have a fear of getting it all done and then thinking I should've done something different haha but that's just how it goes in life I know it's inevitable.
 
soyshaun said:
I have heard that a lot as I've started looking into this more and more and I dont think I'd be disappointed with it at all. I just don't know if ill be able to do this again so I want it to count and have a fear of getting it all done and then thinking I should've done something different haha but that's just how it goes in life I know it's inevitable.
Click to expand...
¯\_(ツ)_/ yeah the grass can always be greener so idk how to prevent that especially now when we have so many options and so many people telling us this or that is better.

Sometimes you gotta go your own road and find out for yourself
 
T
Bang4theBuck said:
I dont know why, but this thought of your Local Gunsmith being your go to resource kinda rubs me wrong. That may say not be the case. I am going to try very hard to not let this sound like I am representing all gunsmiths in the same light, but your suggestion that your local gunsmith is going to want to have a discussion with you is very presumptive. If you had a way to take a survey of a large percentage of people that utilized the services of their LGS to build or rebarrel a rifle, I think you would be shocked to know how many people end up dissatisfied with the total experience. I want to fast forward to hopefully extinguish the forest fire before it starts to say that any of the 'smiths that have gained widespread acceptance by this informed group ARE NOT the 'smiths' that I am speaking about.
My point in saying this is we should be careful with suggesting that your LGS is the answer or that you will be happy with your decision to use them. There is a significant risk of the experience being less than desirable.
In my very strong opinion, if a guy wants to build a great rifle, there is a lot of value in taking the time to understand the build process by building one yourself, or find someone that is genuinely interested in allowing you to be a participant on the build. The lessons you learn will be a huge value to you in understanding what goes into building a rifle.
The reality is that your second build might turn out to be your best build based on exercising the first build and being honest with yourself about what went well and what didn't as far as your build choices.

I say build your first one with the more inexpensive of the high-quality choices and learn what you need to learn in the process. This is how I would do that:

* Order the following from Northland shooters supply
Big Horn Origin action
Criterion or Shilen prefit barrel
-barrel nut prefot if you want to do it yourself
-Shouldered prefit if you want to hire it done, or.if you want to make the additional investments in tools to torque
-triggertech trigger
* Order whatever chassis/stock your budget permits.
Go shoot and take notes on what is great and what isnt.
I bet it will shoot lights out!
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I did except for a Mack Brothers action. Prefit. Bought wrenches and headspace gauges. Put it in a Chassis. And it shoots very well. I do some Gunsmithing work particularly on shotguns and have bedded my own rifles and done trigger work so I'm not a newcomer but this process was really easy. It'll put 5 shots into 3/8s of an inch at 100 and I've shot 4" groups a 900 and am still tweaking the load but it does all I want. I haven't quite reached its full potential yet. I'm sure of that. But my purchase recently and first tests with Lapua brass appear that it will pay dividends and tighten things up even more.
 
soyshaun said:
I didn't think it was that bad of a suppresor. Is this a common thing for other folks that have tried the Banish 30? What do you use for a magnum cartridge then?
Click to expand...
It was my first can so I bought into the modularity concept, it's nothing but a hassle trying to take it apart and I've already had a baffle somehow rattle loose.
Compared to my CGS Hyperion and Nomad LT the thing is Loud!
 
I have a defiance deviant and a bighorn orgin. The defiance is a top tier action and I love it but also am loving my 308 with the bighorn. Allot cheaper and great features like interchangeable bolt heads, quick take down bolt, pre fit barrels and nitride coating in the price. My defiance may be a touch smoother but it is a polished action the big horn is smooth as glass also though.
 

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