School me on custom bolt rifles

[Chuck R.]

Wow, I am further behind the times than I thought. I go back to the Featherweight hunting rifle era.

Yup, dragging a 15+ lb rifle up a tree to shoot a deer at 70 yds is the latest thing...

Honestly I'd build a precision rifle, then go put something together for hunting swamps. I'm just not a huge fan of the one rifle concept.

 

[Anchorite]

Yup, dragging a 15+ lb rifle up a tree to shoot a deer at 70 yds is the latest thing...

Honestly I'd build a precision rifle, then go put something together for hunting swamps. I'm just not a huge fan of the one rifle concept.

Amen.

 

[JFrank]

Lots of information posted, almost too much with some guys making they’re points it’s tough to get a word in sideways.
Personally I like shouldered vs barrel nut. Much easier to change out, I can pull a barrel in just a couple minutes for a good cleaning if I want to. I’m not sold on the carbon fiber barrels, I hear they can be hard to tune along with the extra cost leads me straight to a good ol stainless Krieger 4 groove.

 

[Varminterror]

I'm just not a huge fan of the one rifle concept.

I’m not a fan of a “one rifle concept” either - with the exception being the reality where we swap barrels and bolts and drop a weight kit so we have one rifle which flexes for different purposes.

But…

I’m REALLY not a fan of:

1) I have a custom built long range rifle I shoot all of the time, but I hunt with a cheap rifle that feels and shoots - comparatively - like garbage.

Or

2) I have a custom built long range rifle I shoot all of the time, and because I like that level of quality, I also built a $6000 hunting rifle which I only shoot 20 rounds per year.

So instead, it’s pretty easy to just be in better shape (good paradigm to live by anyway) and tolerate hauling the heavy rifles we shoot every week after game for the few shots per year it really takes.

I HAVE other rifles I can hunt with, blued and walnut even, but by and large, I hate driving them. They don’t shoot as well, they don’t run as well, they don’t fit as well, and I always have to worry about moisture, scratches, dings… so I don’t enjoy hunting with them, and would rather carry my higher grade rifles, even though they’re heavier than the internet says they should be for a hunting rifle.

 

[JFrank]

I mainly roll with an old 30-30 Marlin or a 308 Tikka walnut.
For hunting……

 

[InTheSwamp]

So instead, it’s pretty easy to just be in better shape (good paradigm to live by anyway)

Time takes its toll.

 

[Nature Boy]

There are far better options to do this job than the Win 70 - if a guy wants to build an M70 out of nostalgia, great, but when it comes to "build a semi-custom long range rifle on the cheap," a Win 70 is one of the worst roads to choose.

You’re absolutely correct on every point, particularly the “not cheap” part.

However, I did it anyway

I knew what I was doing though and have no regrets. It’s probably my favorite rifle.

 

[LoonWulf]

It’s probably my favorite rifle

JMO, but thats the important part in all this. Build or buy the rifle you want and will enjoy.

Figuring out what your really want......that often takes a few tries.

 

[chicharrones]

This rifle weighs 19lbs without the suppressor. My son was 9 when he shot this deer and wrestled 73lbs that season. He carried that rifle 1/2 mile into the blind each morning, and carried it out each evening. He also carries it at PRS matches, and he’s hit targets out to 1200 yards with this rifle - and generally ends up carrying it about a mile over the course of the day.

Tough kid. At my current weight, that'd be like me carrying a 48 pound rifle.

 

[chicharrones]

Time takes its toll.

Yep. I have to work twice as hard to stay half as strong as I used to be.

 

[Varminterror]

I knew what I was doing though and have no regrets. It’s probably my favorite rifle.

if a guy wants to build an M70 out of nostalgia, great

I grew up hunting with Rugers, so now I have a couple custom Ruger M77’s. Objectively, it’s some of the dumbest money I have spent, but I love the rifles.

 

[Walkalong]

I knew what I was doing though and have no regrets. It’s probably my favorite rifle.

I grew up hunting with Rugers, so now I have a couple custom Ruger M77’s. Objectively, it’s some of the dumbest money I have spent, but I love the rifles.

So it isn't dumb money. Maybe not the best bang for the buck, but not dumb.

 

[Nature Boy]

So it isn't dumb money. Maybe not the best bang for the buck, but not dumb.

Yep. These aren’t investments so it would be a mistake to measure them as such.