Is one custom rifle worth several factory rifles?

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I've sold off most of mine in recent years. Down to about a third of what I owned ten years ago. Thinking real hard about selling one more full custom, soon.

Selling customs can be a pain and you can take a big hit on them. But full customs with custom actions, it's not too bad if you are willing to part them out and sell the pieces.

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: DAAI've sold off most of mine in recent years. Down to about a third of what I owned ten years ago. Thinking real hard about selling one more full custom, soon.
- DAA

Hey Dave

I remember you in your first (and my favorite) Varmint Safari DVD you began to show us some of your neat setups. Seems to me a .22 BR and .22/250 AI were a couple of your favorites back then. You put them to good use too.

Still got any of those? Sure enjoyed watching you (and occasionally Tim) launch prairie dogs and rock chucks with them. Heck, I might not have me any rifles in the neato range of yours, but at least your vids got me started down the most enjoyable path of pasture poodle shooting.

Anyway, just curious as to what you still have and what you are still using. Whatever it is, I feel sure that it is more than adequate.
 
Russ, I do still have the two you mention and they'd be among the last to go.

Have a pair of .22BR's and won't likely ever get rid of either. One of them because it's a Savage and not worth anything
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. The other because it's the most accurate rifle I own and just too neat and too much sentimental value to let it go - it's the one with the fancy paint job on the stock of a fire breathing dragon burning down a prairie dog town. And the .22BR is still my favorite p-dog chambering of all time. Neither one ever gets used anymore though.

That particular .22-250AI you mention is still with me and still my favorite 'chuck rifle. On it's third barrel. It gets dusted off and launches a few 'chucks yet each spring. Actually have the barrel at the 'smiths being threaded for a suppressor right now
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.

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: jdunhamCareful, owning just "one" custom often turns into multiple.
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I have a hard time buying a factory rifle anymore. Usually because no one builds them exactly the way I want, so I end up building what I want. Life is too short to not do it the way you want if you can swing it. I would vote 1 custom in your survey.

I'm with this guy ^^^^^
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Originally Posted By: Robinhood21Originally Posted By: jdunhamCareful, owning just "one" custom often turns into multiple.
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I have a hard time buying a factory rifle anymore. Usually because no one builds them exactly the way I want, so I end up building what I want. Life is too short to not do it the way you want if you can swing it. I would vote 1 custom in your survey.

I'm with this guy ^^^^^
w00t.gif


+2

I sold off several rifles to build my "ultimate" several years ago. Now I'm back up to about the same number a rifles that I started with (but that are custom or semi (factory action with new barrel & stock)). It's an addiction, I could care less about stopping by a gun store now unless they have reloading supplies.
 
Originally Posted By: CZ527If I buy a factory rifle... which is almost never, it's because it's in a caliber that's not worth going custom to me, like my 17 hornet.

Other than that.... I have no desire to collect a bunch of common rifles.

What? Now I feel foolish for building my 17 Ackley Hornet. Maybe I am OK, I built it before the the 17 Hornet became a standard chambering.
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Seriously, we all have different needs and wants. If you think you would appreciate a custom rifle, go for it. If your a guy who doesn't care about a custom rifle and has no issue with what you can buy off the shelf, don't waste your money. Spend it on something you would appreciate. Customs are worth it to guys who appreciate them.
 
For me it depends on how many rifles you currently own. For a number of years I would have rather had several factory rifles over a custom because I didn't have that many rifles. Now that I have a decent selection of rifles in different cartridges I would rather have one custom/semi-custom rifle than several factory rifles, especially since I know exactly what I want and there are no factory rifles I know of that fit the bill.

A very fast twist 22-250 with wood stock, 24" barrel and blind or hinged magazine.
 
I certainly wouldn't begrudge any one for buying the gun that suits them. It's a good way to buy confidence.
Myself, factory rifles can easily go into the thousands and even the budget rifles shoot awful good groups,.
I like a good price, groups, all around performance, and top resale value.
 
That's only a question you can answer. I had a custom rifle built some years back. While it came out exactly the way I wanted I don't favor it over a factory rifle. I've actually thought about selling it a few different times but I don't want to take the "hit" and don't have the heart to sell it as pieces. There is no way to know until you have that custom in your hand if it will speak to you or not.
 
It is hard to find one custom which would do everything. So given this binary choice, I'd take a stable of factory rifles which fulfill my needs, even if none of them are real tack drivers or set up exactly the way I want.

That said, I'd choose neither. I am a barrel nut fan. I have a stable of self-custom Savage rifles, and I can build three of them for the cost of a true custom rifle from a good maker. By guns typically shoot in the .3s and .4s, and the latest one has the majority of groups in the .2s and I'm not even done with load development.

For a hunter, why would I spend a ton of extra money for a full custom given this performance?
 
Originally Posted By: dan brothersONLY if you go to a WILDCAT...

That's all I'm going to say about that... Forrest Gump.

Aren't you the same guy that spent all the time and money making the cow-mobile and driving it all the way out west and back--
And then having that project crash and burn miserably--
And then driving all the way back to SC and doing another project and driving all the way back out west and then getting all bummed out and driving back to SC the next day?
 
Originally Posted By: springer I am a barrel nut fan. I have a stable of self-custom Savage rifles, and I can build three of them for the cost of a true custom rifle from a good maker. By guns typically shoot in the .3s and .4s, and the latest one has the majority of groups in the .2s and I'm not even done with load development.

For a hunter, why would I spend a ton of extra money for a full custom given this performance?


I could have written the very same thing. Put a great barrel on a Savage action, adjust/replace the trigger, put some good glass on top of it and go to town. Works for me.
 
I think if you were serious about going to a custom rifle you should talk to a guy on this forum under the name "Buster Hindend" he knows everything there is to know about building a rifle can suggest the best parts and can suggest budget parts he can also suggest calibers, gunsmiths, and anything else that comes along with a build. But he will also tell you that a custom rifle comes with a price tag, several price tags and none of which are cheap. Unless you have about 10 Coopers or something equivalent you arnt going to get a top of the line custom rifle but you can get something. TALK TO BUSTER HINDEND go to the custom rifle blueprints thread and find his name in there and pm him. He's a great guy and won't bs anything. I'm not saying he is the best and nobody is better but he's the person I'd go to.
 
Originally Posted By: JJTAlwaysWishingI think if you were serious about going to a custom rifle you should talk to a guy on this forum under the name "Buster Hindend" he knows everything there is to know about building a rifle can suggest the best parts and can suggest budget parts he can also suggest calibers, gunsmiths, and anything else that comes along with a build. But he will also tell you that a custom rifle comes with a price tag, several price tags and none of which are cheap. Unless you have about 10 Coopers or something equivalent you arnt going to get a top of the line custom rifle but you can get something. TALK TO BUSTER HINDEND go to the custom rifle blueprints thread and find his name in there and pm him. He's a great guy and won't bs anything. I'm not saying he is the best and nobody is better but he's the person I'd go to.


There are a lot of folks on here with full customs that can answer your questions. All you have to do is ask!!
 
Only thing I'll add is don't get to hung up on doing a full custom compared to a properly built semi custom and think the full custom is going to be a lot better because that just isn't so. Like I said before, I like Rem 700's and have many that had the proper work done to them and a top quality barrel chambered and screwed on them that shoot every bit as good as my full custom rifles.

Depending on what you have to build off of and what you want as and end result, you can save yourself a little money over a full custom. I have some semi customs built off Rem 700's that I spent nearly as much as if I'd have gone with a custom action, but I also have some that shoot just as good that I've invested considerably less in too.

But, if a full custom rig is what you have your mind set on, by all means, have one built.
 
Today only confirmed my opinions....

Pawn shop Savage: $400
Shilen barrel (20 Practical): $375
XLR Element Chassis: $442
Magazine: $60
Luth-AR MBA3: $150
Recoil lug: $35
SWFA scope: $400
Scope bases: Free
Burris Signature Rings: $45

Total rifle cost, as shot: $1907

Result: Consistent groups of 0.2-0.23 inches at 100 yards

What would a custom rifle have gotten me here? This is the second I have built that shoots in the .2s. I'm a former competitive shooter, but not a benchrest shooter, this is a hunting rifle. I can't imagine a scenario that a rifle shooting one ragged hole at 100 yards is not good enough.
 
Originally Posted By: springerToday only confirmed my opinions....

Pawn shop Savage: $400
Shilen barrel (20 Practical): $375
XLR Element Chassis: $442
Magazine: $60
Luth-AR MBA3: $150
Recoil lug: $35
SWFA scope: $400
Scope bases: Free
Burris Signature Rings: $45

Total rifle cost, as shot: $1907

Result: Consistent groups of 0.2-0.23 inches at 100 yards

What would a custom rifle have gotten me here? This is the second I have built that shoots in the .2s. I'm a former competitive shooter, but not a benchrest shooter, this is a hunting rifle. I can't imagine a scenario that a rifle shooting one ragged hole at 100 yards is not good enough. Put that rifle out to 1,000 yards or even a mile and compare it to a full custom rifle then. A half custom savage won't get near as good of groups as a half Rem 700 custom or a full custom rifle at extreme ranges.
 
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Originally Posted By: JJTAlwaysWishingPut that rifle out to 1,000 yards or even a mile and compare it to a full custom rifle then. A half custom savage won't get near as good of groups as a half Rem 700 custom or a full custom rifle at extreme ranges.

Ooohhh...you done it now..
 
Originally Posted By: liliysdadOriginally Posted By: JJTAlwaysWishingPut that rifle out to 1,000 yards or even a mile and compare it to a full custom rifle then. A half custom savage won't get near as good of groups as a half Rem 700 custom or a full custom rifle at extreme ranges.

Ooohhh...you done it now..

LOL I was thinking the same thing when I read that a little while ago. My first thought was, uh oh things are about to heat up now.
 
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