Having a custom rifle made

[RDA 226sig]

I have been looking at assembling a custom rifle and am uncertain the best place to start. My end goal is to have a medium weight rifle built on a Remington 700 action, chambered in 280 Ackley Improved. But not having messed with building or having a rifle built I am not sure whether I should start by buying an older rifle chambered in 30-06 or 270 or just find a new barreled action.

If anyone that has had good or bad experiences would be willing to share the ups and downs they went through it would be appreciated.

 

[hardluk1]

By all means look for a nice used rifle if the 700 action is what you want. Your bigger choice might be finding the right smithy to do the work. Talk to and look at some other clients work thats been done. And your smith might have a inventory of recievers to work with. Mine did ,mausers, sakos and 700's . I used my ruger. Shot like junk anyhow.

 

[TIMC]

The first place to start is with a good gunsmith. I am currently doing exactly what you want to do but I am chambering my rifle in .308.

I started with an older mod 700 action, having the bolt jeweled, timney trigger, surgeon bottom metal detachable mag, 24" shilen barrel, KDF muzzle brake,and hogue DM stock in hardwoods camo that will be glass bedded. The action and barrel are going to be finished in matt black and to finish it off i bought a Leupold vx3 6.5-20x50mm LR scope for it. I am hoping to have the rifle back before deer season.

 

[USSR]

Have had several custom rifles built. First step is to buy a used rifle with the action type and length you need. Then, sell off all the parts you don't need. Then, start searching for parts you want on the custom rifle. If you look hard enough, you can pick up your parts at well under the price any gunsmith will charge you for them. After you have found a good smith, send the barreled action and whatever parts you have found that you want him to install. When he removes your old barrel, have him send it back to you with your new rifle so that you can sell that as well. Oh, and one last tip: Send him a dummy round (no primer or powder) with the bullet you intend to use, seated at the length you want, and have him throat it for that. Just MHO.

Don

 

[benzy2]

I would also consider a custom action. Depending on what the used 700 costs, with then the added cost of blue printing you get close the the cost of a new custom action. I would rather a custom action built well from the start than to try to fix up a 700. If you are going to go for a top tier barrel, stock, and trigger, a little extra on the action should certainly be considered. If you are looking for a budget build, Savage seems to be a great way to go since you can get prefit barrels from Shilen and McGowen for just about the same cost as a blank and install them yourself. I honestly only see a build on a Remington 700 a good idea if you already have the 700 or can get it for next to nothing.

 

[NCsmitty]

If you find a good gunsmith, chances are you'll have a wait list to contend with.
A good 'smith will also be able to tell you what you need, by how much you want to spend on the project.
You can involve yourself like USSR mentioned, or you can take a less active roll, and wait for your custom to be completed.
It's all about how much disposable income you wish to invest.



NCsmitty

 

[hardluk1]

I had Herbs gun shop do mine. Great old guy . To bad he has passed on That oll boy could take a old mauser action and make you a 300 yard sub 1/2" rifle with his hand loads. Light enough you can still hunt with. Find your smith first and feel him out. Some don't care to have all the parts brought to them and will just charge for the agrivation. Mine sold me all the stuff at the same cost i could find it for. Then did a great job building it. Some of the barrel companies will install a new barrel, check and square the bolt to your action and you can then do the trigger and stock your self.

 

[Al Thompson]

Find your smith first and feel him out.

Key right there. Some will only work or specialize on a certain action...

 

[noyes]

Robar

http://www.robarguns.com/choose_a_system.htm

McMillan

http://www.mcmfamily.com/