Why do gunsmith take so long on build?

[shooter7]

I would say that it just has to depend on parts availability. When I had the idea to put together a custom elk rifle I slowly started gathering parts. Took me about 13 months to hunt down everything I wanted. I then moved from Colorado to Montana. I found snowy mountain rifles here in Missoula and went to the shop to ask about barrel installation. They initially told me 6-7 months and then I mentioned I had all the rifle parts for a complete build in the back seat of my truck. I gave them the parts and 5 weeks later they called me up saying it was done. They trued my action, did full barrel installation (chamber, thread, install muzzle brake), cerakote entire barreled action and inlet the stock for custom bottom metal. That really showed me that it's more about parts than what these gunsmiths are capable of.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I have had Phoenix Custom Rifles build me three.....in the last 11 months!!! With months in between. That is with my supplying the action only on one, they got the rest of the parts. Took 2 months for my 6.5 SLR. My next, I got 90% of the parts within a month, and then turned them over to Keith. A month later, I was doing load development on my finished .300RUM rifle. I just dropped my third off the second week on January, a 7Rem Mag, with about 75% of the parts. I was shooting by February.

I had a .25-06 Ackley built by another smith, took about 6 months. All I gave him was an action and a stock.

The .25-06 Ackley in back, the Phx Customs 6.5 SLR in front


The .25-06 Ackley shoots the 115 HVLD pretty well


The 6.5 SLR shoots the 140 HVLD, 140 Hybrid, and 142 SMK pretty well @ 608 yards.


The Phx Customs .300RUM


It shoots the 210 HVLD pretty well


My newest Phx Customs 7 Rem Mag (with a temp scope)




Still working on load development, but the 180 Hybrid @ 2961fps is showing promise.

 

[royinidaho]

My read on time to build has developed over time as I delve into the world of lathes, milling and the finer arts of metal work.

Jerry has it pretty much nailed regarding scheduling and work load.

I only do one thing and that is put brass tips on SMKs.

Efforts to get the Harbor Freight lathe running true, i.e. zero run out with 0.1875" diameter brass rod and again @ 0.375" for the bullet work was monumental. Knowing nothing except what I gleaned from youtube, I rigged up the dremel and honed the two sets of jaws to get things to an acceptable runout. Thus when I switch from tip making to bullet work a change of jaws is necessary due to the cheap chuck.

Anyhow, I imagine that a rifle smith must, to avoid set up time, which is a killer at least for me, run thing in batches. I run all my points then run all the bullets then assemble the whole thing, then I get to go shoot......

I only suppose those the know run custom builds in batches starting with one process for each build in the batch, progress through the different process for each build until the batch is finished. Though I don't know for certain, I think that is the way it is.

If I were a "smith" I'd want to, besides feeding myself, family, supporting hunting and shooting habits, stay in bidness. The more batches the better. Too many in a batch would seem to adversely impact delivery time...

When I see the quality of work coming out of custom shops, one man or otherwise, for me, it's worth the wait, but not years.

 

[LR3]

Thanks for your thoughts.