How to pass the time until the custom is ready?

[MudRunner2005]

so I was jokingly just telling you to quit bragging that you have a good smith close. I Have a Lathe and could do it myself, but just don't feel confident enoght in my skill to spend $500 on a barrel and reamer. I will soon. and I don't have a good smith that I know and with so many out there that aren't that woopy, I had to go with who I knew I could trust. which is why Jim Hart did the work. I didn't want to spend $1500 on a barrel and bolt and all that and then not have it the very best.

so I was just having fun with you a little because I am jealous!

Practice on a crappy take-off barrel. There's only one way to get good...

The only thing holding me back is money... I have the shop, I have the spare time (Lord knows as much time as I spend on here, I have the spare time)...The only thing stopping me is the money for a lathe and a mill and all the tooling.

I've been around metal fabrication my whole life, and I am a welder and custom fabricator by trade...Unfortunately, I do things the Jesse James way, with old school tools and with hammers, heat, and anvils. But if I had the time, I'm sure I could learn machining pretty quickly.

 

[Brewer]

Practice on a crappy take-off barrel. There's only one way to get good...

The only thing holding me back is money... I have the shop, I have the spare time (Lord knows as much time as I spend on here, I have the spare time)...The only thing stopping me is the money for a lathe and a mill and all the tooling.

I've been around metal fabrication my whole life, and I am a welder and custom fabricator by trade...Unfortunately, I do things the Jesse James way, with old school tools and with hammers, heat, and anvils. But if I had the time, I'm sure I could learn machining pretty quickly.

OK. you need to come to Kansas and you can work on my lathe all day. I am saving for a mil right now, I figure I can get a Grizzly mill and enough tooling to get started for around $3500. having said that, its hard to save that much money when you see other toys like a .45 or another ___________. I want a night force to atop my Ackley and that's a bunch of money too.

the lathe and mill are not complicated tools, and I am sure no doubt you could get them figured out in 20 minutes. its having the tooling and tools that really matter. and that's the expencive part. I suppose I have by now about $10,000 in my lathe and tooling but I do work for people which allows me to buy the tooling for the things I want to do.

so you can come to Kansas anytime.

 

[MudRunner2005]

OK. you need to come to Kansas and you can work on my lathe all day. I am saving for a mil right now, I figure I can get a Grizzly mill and enough tooling to get started for around $3500. having said that, its hard to save that much money when you see other toys like a .45 or another ___________. I want a night force to atop my Ackley and that's a bunch of money too.

the lathe and mill are not complicated tools, and I am sure no doubt you could get them figured out in 20 minutes. its having the tooling and tools that really matter. and that's the expencive part. I suppose I have by now about $10,000 in my lathe and tooling but I do work for people which allows me to buy the tooling for the things I want to do.

so you can come to Kansas anytime.

Thanks for the invite... If I'm ever out that way, I'll holler at you.

 

[Greyfox]

One of the things I do with my dead time is hone my shooting skills. Easy to do on my property using my relatively inexpensive, but exceptionally accurate Savage heavy barrel 22LR to do what I called, scaled down LR hunting. My quarry is smell rodents and pests,winged and furred, out to 150 yards. I set up my rig with a turret, 6x20 Leupold and use Match grade ammo capable of.5moa. The scaling is 1/10 my big game range, ie 100 yards=1000 yards. In use a rangefinder and "Shooter" for elevation and wind settings. This simulation is great fun and excellent practice, and inexpensive.

 

[Timber338]

One of the things I do with my dead time is hone my shooting skills. Easy to do on my property using my relatively inexpensive, but exceptionally accurate Savage heavy barrel 22LR to do what I called, scaled down LR hunting. My quarry is smell rodents and pests,winged and furred, out to 150 yards. I set up my rig with a turret, 6x20 Leupold and use Match grade ammo capable of.5moa. The scaling is 1/10 my big game range, ie 100 yards=1000 yards. In use a rangefinder and "Shooter" for elevation and wind settings. This simulation is great fun and excellent practice, and inexpensive.

Now that sounds like fun!

On the customs that I've ordered, I just try and totally put it out of my mind. Keep busy with other things. I did do the obvious like buy the dies, brass, bullets, powder, but that's all pretty quick compared to the wait. The less I thought about it the faster the time seemed to pass.

Now I'm lucky because I have no money for a custom rifle any time soon, so I don't have to worry about waiting for one to be built.

 

[The Oregonian]

Would it make it better or worse if you?
Tell us the details
How long to make up your mind
Who is the smith
Why did you pick the caliber, color, stock, action, barrel... Blah blah blah

I've got one in the hopper with Dallas Lane. I don't care when he gets it done because I will have to pay the balance...with that said I can't wait to burn some powder.

Like little kids we are...

This...

I'm looking into building one and would like to hear the thought process that you went through

In the mean time make a Christmas wish list of everything you wanted but didn't get two weeks ago. If anything it's fun to make one now then look at it 11 months from now.

Darrell Holland is building a 30-06 on his custom action. 24" barrel, lefty, told him I wanted weight around 9 lbs for rfile without scope, so I would guess a #3 or #4 barrel.

At the time of order I didn't reload and didn't have plans to, so I went with a 30-06 due to wide variety of bullets and different ammo, so I could try a bunch and see what works in my rifle, and find ammo on the road if anything ever happened to mine.

I now reload, so if I had it to do over again I would have probably chosen the 280AI, but to be honest, the confusion is a turn-off. I would want it to accept Nosler factory 280AI brass, but I am not sure how to tell if it would until finished. That could probably be worked through with Darrell, but it was a hang-up.

I also don't plan to shoot game over ~500 yds, and I think at that range the difference between a 30-06, 270, and 280 (rem or AI) is minimal and the game would ever know, assuming you get the drop charts right. The heavier 30's give a little more punch on the elk trip that I hope to have one day. All in all, I thought, and thought, and thought some more. Finally came to the conclusion that it is the nut behind the gun that matters more than whether it is a 30-06 or 280AI. I did get valuable feedback here.

It is LH McMillan Hunter with his custom fill - I wanted his stock with the wooden adjustable comb, like the one below, but it had right hand palm swell - I ended up using the same swirl colors for McMillan stock. For barrel color, I just asked him to match the action as close as possible.

Again, no complaints about the time as I expected the wait, just excited to get it. I ordered about 16 months ago, and it should be getting close. 18 months is certainly nothing to complain about and I knew the workload he had when I ordered it.

I still haven't heard too many stories from folks with his rifles, but his reputation seems to be beyond reproach, so I am ultra-excited to get it. I have a March scope waiting to be put on it .

 

[nosualc]

I had a Darrell build me a .280 Remington a few years back that is pretty much exactly what you've spec'd for yours.

It's worth the wait.

-nosualc

 

[blacktail 8541]

I would be very happy to get my rifles back under a year! Most of the custom rifles have been around the 2 year mark. My smith was Fred Huntington of RCBS personal smith Tom Miller.