That is much my take on most of the custom hi end actions and match rifles pushed and or talked about on this site. No one ever quantifies how these things are better, why they are better and specifically with empirical testing, engineering studies and actual hard empirical measurements how they differ from the competition in terms of materials, heat treats, manufacturing techniques, clearances, tolerances, lock time etc..... All you ever get is "better", "because", and "cost more"! I can tell you why too none of these small shops and gunsmiths even though they have years of experience will actually list a spread sheet with all of the measured variance from Remington, Savage, Tikka,Sako etc... because they afraid to get sued even if all of their information is well documented and true. So they are too cowardly to let truth speak so we just get "because, better, cost more, more precise" with nothing remotely like facts.
The more you want to charge me for an item the more I want to know why it is worth that price? If you are unwilling or unable to publicly make known exactly what I am getting that I can not get some place else for less your just a carpet bagger trying to scam me for all I am worth!
I have been in the automotive world since 1988, aviation since 1993 business since 1998, and engineering since 2001. If it is not documented, empirical and repeatable it is not real or does not matter! The product had better have dimension's and performance I can measure and test once I have purchased it! I have never had to sue anyone but I also do not put myself in a situation to pay for perceived undocumented benefits!
So it is not the price of a custom action I take issue with. It is not the idea that a custom made action can be made to better standards than a mass produced action. My problem is with documented performance or improvement above and beyond mass produced actions that are than accurazized. If your product can not be measured and guaranteed to produce a better result than say a Remington action machined and sleeved by Greg than why should I purchase it. How do I have recourse if your custom action or high end build does not produce results for me? How do I sue you for breach of contract?
In this day and age a companies reputation or word does not mean much compared to actual contractual guarantee with stringent specifications I as a customer can check upon receiving my purchased item. After all the selling point for custom actions is that they are somehow better than a mass produced action or rifle. The marketing is about the perception of precision but we are not given precision specifications to actual measure against!
Long before anyone was using custom actions for competition everyone used factory actions, then re-machined and modified factory actions and then and only then full on custom actions.
I think my first Neskia Bay action was $475 or $485 for just the action. Not sure what they are now but I know I could not get one for that price! I am not new to the idea of a custom action. My point is what can you document and what can you prove. If you can not document it and prove it and ligiate for lack of that quality than it is not real it is imagined!
If you are going to spend big for visual nonsense make sure you get some sort of guarantee in writing up front!
