Looking for a Unicorn- in KY, TN or close by.

[WWG55]

Mike Gross of Gross Precision in Jackson KY is as good as it gets. He built me a 30 BR that shoots under 0.2 groups at 200 yds. He has built several PRS Champions rifles and won a national Rimfire championship himself with one of his rifles. Hit him up on facebook

 

[Plowboy85]

Southern Precision Rifle aka Bugholes.com is a close and solid option. With a quick turnaround time needed seems like a prefit is the better option

 

[SixDemonBag]

I thought that Southern Precision was going to be a slam dunk, as they have a great reputation, and only an hour away. His website says that he is like 12 weeks out on prefits and 6 months on shouldered barrels. Those findings were the reason for me writing this note. As I said in my opening statement, I knew that I was going to get comments about the good being worth the wait. I am well aware. I am not after 'instant gratification', I am after a reasonable timeframe. 6 months is not reasonable to me. I would have the barrel in hand, the reamer in hand and the action in hand. We're talking about 3 to 4 hours worth of work. Anyway, I could rant all day, and I won't, but sure hope these high demand gunsmiths are making a killing, as it sure seems that they are leaving a lot of work on the table with folks like myself that won't wait that long, and go another direction.

I had SPR do a 7SS for a Bighorn Origin pre-fit. All mail in. Buddy mailed the barrel, Rich Sherman sent the reamer to them and I paid on the phone from over seas. We put the rifle together back over stateside before hunting season (I am..friggin still stuck... stationed overseas) and the gun shoots like its on autopilot - you have to try to get bad groups. I say SPR (bugholes) is worth the wait. Absolute top notch services, turn around, and above all product/customer satisfaction. SPR will get every future rifle chamber work until I wake up on the wrong side of the grass.

I am sure similar praise can be given to a bunch, just my personal experience with SPR.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Machine shop! Machine Shop! It's what they do full time...! I've never figured why folks think think only a gunsmith can do a machinists job, but a machinist can't do a gunsmiths job?

You are kidding right?
A few years ago my good friend passed away and his daughter started selling off the equipment that my friend and I purchased without notifying me. Jill and I were left with 1/2 the GS equipment at our house so we sold everything we had left.
Since we didn't have any machines left I took a 1911 Slide to a local Machine Shop to have some cuts put in for holding on the slide. I even took another STI Slide to have as a templet. The Machine Shop screwed it up. They didn't work on firearms so had no knowledge. If you think that you can just take a barrel to a local Machine Shop and have them chamber a barrel you are mistaken. I am not saying that they can't do it, but they need specific tools and the "KNOWLEDGE" on the Chambering process.
Just go and find a local Machine Shop, take your barrel blank & action and ask them to chamber the barrel in a .243 Winchester or any caliber.
Then post their response on LRH.

I already know the answers:
Our Company does not work on firearms due to insurance
We cannot chamber your barrel blank due to not having the tooling and knowledge to do so.
We cannot work on your firearm due to not having an FFL.

If Gunsmithing was so easy and chambering barrels was so easy why is it so hard to find someone to chamber a barrel or BUILD a custom rifle? If it was a lot of shooters and hunters would be doing it!

I remember a long time ago a good friend and GunSmith told me. He said Son if you think that you are going to make one million dollars off of GS make sure that you have Two $$Million to start! Then you may end up with One $$million.
Equipment/machinery/tooling/licenses/permits/taxes is the expense that hits hard on any ROI!
Recently Lathes/Mills/tooling has gone up 30-40% in price since December 2020. You are all aware of the increase on Powder/Primer prices. Take a look at machinery cost increases!

 

[javman]

My best friend/hunting partner has been using Bill Weismann for years and lately he's taking months to work done. We know he had a personal setback but it's been awhile already and he hates having his current project shipped back and sending to someone else.

 

[340PR]

I do benchwork for a small Gunshop in Lebanon, TN (Lebanon Gun Shop). The owner is David Wilson.
David is primarily a benchrest shooter (has won several matches this year already) and is a meticulous fanatic when it comes to chambering/building precision rifles. His lead times are running 2-4 weeks right now (after receipt of barrel, reamer, etc). He has quite a few reamers, and barrels in stock, but welcomes customers bringing theirs in. He will need the action for the first project, but subsequent barrels can easily be done without it.
Every rifle he has done for me is the best they ever shot. the 6BRA is a one-hole machine, 6.5 Creedmoore wins matches when the shooter shows up (had several sub-2" groups in "tactical" at 600IBS matches last fall).

He is in the shop most of the time. Hours are: 10:00-6:00 Tuesday-Saturday.

if you call the shop, the retail guys will answer. Ask for David or Dennis by name.

Shop# 615.547.9600.

 

[Bang4theBuck]

Southern Precision Rifle aka Bugholes.com is a close and solid option. With a quick turnaround time needed seems like a prefit is the better option

I realized last night that prefits are not always 'premade' as I get from Northland. I can see where making a prefit would be faster, even if a custom chambering. I am fine with a prefit, and I can live with that 6-9 week timeframe as compared to 6-8 months.

 

[William W.]

I have been a very loyal customer of Northland Shooter's supply and the Rem/Age set-ups, for dozen's of builds between myself and those we built with shooting buddies. However, they don't stock what I am looking for for my next build. I am thinking of hiring a gunsmith to chamber in my specific cartridge, but I have not found anyone reputable and extremely skilled in chambering a precision rifle barrel, since relocating to the Nashville. The 'unicorn part' comes in with my next statement. I've got a little bit of issue with ADD when it comes to long wait times. If I bring a blank and a reamer to a 'smith, I am not willing to wait months and months to have the work done. I'm sure I'll get beat up by guys telling me that good guys are in high demand and all of that, but it doesn't change my opinion. Waiting forever for services like this takes all of the fun out of it for me. Anyone have a smith that they could recommend that does quality work and turn around in under a month?

Jonathan Slagle, Augusta Ga is very responsive. He worked under the late Robert Gradous. His new shoo is L3 Rifles.

 

[William W.]

I have been a very loyal customer of Northland Shooter's supply and the Rem/Age set-ups, for dozen's of builds between myself and those we built with shooting buddies. However, they don't stock what I am looking for for my next build. I am thinking of hiring a gunsmith to chamber in my specific cartridge, but I have not found anyone reputable and extremely skilled in chambering a precision rifle barrel, since relocating to the Nashville. The 'unicorn part' comes in with my next statement. I've got a little bit of issue with ADD when it comes to long wait times. If I bring a blank and a reamer to a 'smith, I am not willing to wait months and months to have the work done. I'm sure I'll get beat up by guys telling me that good guys are in high demand and all of that, but it doesn't change my opinion. Waiting forever for services like this takes all of the fun out of it for me. Anyone have a smith that they could recommend that does quality work and turn around in under a month?

I also use Southern Precision Rifles, but they are a busy shop and I NEVER press them on time.

 

[biff's reloading]

Honestly tho, theres just no reason to put a guys barrel on a shelf for 6 months.

Some Smith's just sit on stuff to add a mysterious feel to their work I think. Now, if it's a dead blank and he wants threads, shoulders set, and muzzle threaded, that's maybe a little different

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Honestly tho, theres just no reason to put a guys barrel on a shelf for 6 months. It takes an hour to do a simple chamber in a jamnut barrel if you're set.up for it. When I chamber a pipe, I typically try to do a few that day regardless of when they showed up, because it saves me the time to setup the fixtures. Hes not asking for 30 hours of labor by tomorrow morning.

Some Smith's just sit on stuff to add a mysterious feel to their work I think. Cmon. Ream, chamfer, check bolt depth and take the mans money. Now, if it's a dead blank and he wants threads, shoulders set, and muzzle threaded, that's maybe a little different but still not a huge project

Edit: dont take it to a machine shop. That used to be a good idea for mundane detail stuff, but these days, the only shops in business are high production cnc facilities where guys spend all day pressing "start" and "stop". Very few of these places even have "dads old southbend" in the back room anymore, and the ones that do wont want to run it for your gun projects

WOW
You have to have an amazing shop and machines to be able to thread/chamber a barrel in one hour. My hat off to you. You must have a "Fluid Flow Thru System" and CNC. When chambering takes me almost that time to just setup the barrel -PERFECT, then cut the tenon and thread. I don't have a flow thru system so only cut about 25 thousands at a time in the chamber between cleaning chips. Could take me all day to chamber a barrel from setup to finish.
I have been very lucky to be able to see the process of the TOP Rifle manufactures (not production) and "Shadowed" their best machinist for chambering a MATCH barrel. Even with a Flow System for chambering and CNC/manual Tenon Cutting/Threading - the machinist would only do 1 barrel in 4-5 hours depending on the caliber. Those barrels are guaranteed at 3/8" MOA, but shoot one holes.

 

[Rflshootr]

I thought that Southern Precision was going to be a slam dunk, as they have a great reputation, and only an hour away. His website says that he is like 12 weeks out on prefits and 6 months on shouldered barrels. Those findings were the reason for me writing this note. As I said in my opening statement, I knew that I was going to get comments about the good being worth the wait. I am well aware. I am not after 'instant gratification', I am after a reasonable timeframe. 6 months is not reasonable to me. I would have the barrel in hand, the reamer in hand and the action in hand. We're talking about 3 to 4 hours worth of work. Anyway, I could rant all day, and I won't, but sure hope these high demand gunsmiths are making a killing, as it sure seems that they are leaving a lot of work on the table with folks like myself that won't wait that long, and go another direction.

3 to 4 hours worth of work huh? I'd wager that you've never done any precision barrel work or even run a lathe for that matter............just my guess

 

[Rflshootr]

WOW
You have to have an amazing shop and machines to be able to thread/chamber a barrel in one hour. My hat off to you. You must have a "Fluid Flow Thru System" and CNC. When chambering takes me almost that time to just setup the barrel -PERFECT, then cut the tenon and thread. I don't have a flow thru system so only cut about 25 thousands at a time in the chamber between cleaning chips. Could take me all day to chamber a barrel from setup to finish.
I have been very lucky to be able to see the process of the TOP Rifle manufactures (not production) and "Shadowed" their best machinist for chambering a MATCH barrel. Even with a Flow System for chambering and CNC/manual Tenon Cutting/Threading - the machinist would only do 1 barrel in 4-5 hours depending on the caliber. Those barrels are guaranteed at 3/8" MOA, but shoot one holes.

You forgot flipping it around and re-setting up to cut and crown. And then there is coffee breaks, lunch breaks, pee brakes, answering phone calls from people that are in a huge hurry.......Some people just don't understand what is involved.

 

[biff's reloading]

WOW
You have to have an amazing shop and machines to be able to thread/chamber a barrel in one hour. My hat off to you. You must have a "Fluid Flow Thru System" and CNC. When chambering takes me almost that time to just setup the barrel -PERFECT, then cut the tenon and thread. I don't have a flow thru system so only cut about 25 thousands at a time in the chamber between cleaning chips. Could take me all day to chamber a barrel from setup to finish.
I have been very lucky to be able to see the process of the TOP Rifle manufactures (not production) and "Shadowed" their best machinist for chambering a MATCH barrel. Even with a Flow System for chambering and CNC/manual Tenon Cutting/Threading - the machinist would only do 1 barrel in 4-5 hours depending on the caliber. Those barrels are guaranteed at 3/8" MOA, but shoot one holes.

I have no cnc. Just a 10 and a few fixtures. But I do have backflow pump, which helps some. not really a lot, but it's a cleaner job.