Best Canadian Gunsmiths?

[wonnabesniper]

Hey guys,

I’m looking to build my first custom PRS rifle and open to advice.

the first and biggest thing on my list is finding a gunsmith to put it all together. I have no experience with any gunsmiths in Canada and looking for some advice. Does anyone have any experience with any gunsmiths in Canada you would trust to put together a precision rifle? Preferably one in Ontario but willing to deal with someone out of province.

I’ve been thinking about getting it chambered in 6.5 creedmore but open to suggestions. and parts that I’m interested in using for the rifle would be, a deviant defiance or deviant defiance tactical action, a proof research carbon fibre barrel, a trigger tech diamond 2 stage trigger. I don’t necessarily have stock in mind, possibly a h-s precision pst007 stock.

 

[adamjma]

@wonnabesniper are you Canadian or just living here? The way you say you don't know any Canadian gunsmiths leads me to ask.

My first suggestion by reputation (never had work done by them) would be the Chou Brothers (Ontario), but they are not taking on new work. Insite Arms (makers of the Heathen muzzle brake) are also well regarded up here but they are based in Alberta. They spun me up a Bartlein (blank bought from the Chou Bros) that has consistently delivered far more accuracy than I can.

The reason for asking about where you are from is that if you are from say the USA, you would likely find it faster and easier to have a rifle assembled in the US and import it here. Getting all the parts up here for a dream build may involve more than one dealer or vendor and quickly add time and cost.

 

[b6graham]

Insite Arms

 

[hemphill]

I have had Insite spin me up a pair of barrels and they have shot quite well.

 

[Matt_3479]

I’ve had the Chou brothers build a rifle, EM Precision build one, Insite arms build one, redknobb build one and 2 done by go ballistic gunsmithing. Happy to share my experiences with them!

 

[Northernjets]

If you're out West, Insite for sure.

 

[dgheriani]

I've had Insite do me up 8 or so barrels over the past few years and they are all hammers. They're also a wealth of experience and can talk you through options for your build.

I'd suggest against a carbon fibre wrapped barrel if the purpose is mainly PTS-type matches as the weight savings isn't a benefit and the cost is greater than a steel barrel.

 

[Perceptiv]

If you want to overpay go with Insite… PM if you want the horror story behind it.

And their service is awful. I’ve tried buying products and barrels from them for years and never ever herd anything back after initial contact. I asked and asked about a barrel predict barrel and they Keith saying they are in the way, I even offered to pay to make sure one was ordered in and that I’m in line for one and they said no I didn’t need to, I kept asking a few times after that only to find out some barrels came in and they spun them up and sold them to people who weren’t even waiting as long as I was m, so I didn’t get one. That’s just one of a few times where their customer service has been complete shit. I was a new shooter and was wanting them to do a custom build and give them my business and after initial contact I was asking advice about chambers and recommendations and questions about dummy rounds and they didn’t bother responding and left my messages on read.

 

[wonnabesniper]

@wonnabesniper are you Canadian or just living here? The way you say you don't know any Canadian gunsmiths leads me to ask.

My first suggestion by reputation (never had work done by them) would be the Chou Brothers (Ontario), but they are not taking on new work. Insite Arms (makers of the Heathen muzzle brake) are also well regarded up here but they are based in Alberta. They spun me up a Bartlein (blank bought from the Chou Bros) that has consistently delivered far more accuracy than I can.

The reason for asking about where you are from is that if you are from say the USA, you would likely find it faster and easier to have a rifle assembled in the US and import it here. Getting all the parts up here for a dream build may involve more than one dealer or vendor and quickly add time and cost.

Ahaha I’m Canadian born and raised. I’ve never dealt with a gunsmith before all my guns are factory built and purchased of the shelf.

figured I’d emphasize I’m looking for a Canadian gunsmith as I know there are lots of Americans on here as well

 

[wonnabesniper]

I've had Insite do me up 8 or so barrels over the past few years and they are all hammers. They're also a wealth of experience and can talk you through options for your build.

I'd suggest against a carbon fibre wrapped barrel if the purpose is mainly PTS-type matches as the weight savings isn't a benefit and the cost is greater than a steel barrel.

Any other reasons you’d avoid against a carbon fibre barrel, besides just financial. From my understanding they are more ridged and more likely to stay consistent and they heat up

 

[spife7980]

Any other reasons you’d avoid against a carbon fibre barrel, besides just financial. From my understanding they are more ridged and more likely to stay consistent and they heat up

Than a steel barrel of equivalent weight. So the carbon is stiffer than a pencil hunting barrel, not lighter.
The carbon is lighter than a thick steel barrel, not stiffer.
If you want to do PRS you’re gonna want to pack on the pounds, not lighten up. Recoil and watching impacts is the name of the game. I say find the thickest steel barrel you think you can manage and go one contour size bigger. You’re going to be shooting lots and fast. A carbon barrel is just extra money for the wrong kind of benefit for prs.
Wanna hunt or tinker, go carbon, sure.

 

[b6graham]

Any other reasons you’d avoid against a carbon fibre barrel, besides just financial. From my understanding they are more ridged and more likely to stay consistent and they heat up

More ridged is a shit statement. Yeah maybe if comparing to a steel barrel of the same weight but comparing an MTU steel to a Sendero or even M24 carbon the steel MTU wins every day

Steel more consistent hands down unless you're hike hunting

 

[wonnabesniper]

Comparing different profiles is ur issue off that bat.
It would only be fair to compare like profile, such as a proof stainless bull barrel to a proof carbon fibre bull barrel. I’m not expert and can be wrong but from my understanding the carbon bull barrel would be more rigid then the identical steel bull barrel. How ever you would loose out on thermal mass and weight. There’s other ways you can compensate for weight so that’s not a big issue. From what I can gather the battles is with thermal mass vs rigidity

a thicker heavier barrel would be able to store more heat with out having to worry about losing accuracy.
And a carbon barrel wouldn’t be able to store as much heat but would be able to maintain accuracy due to rigidity and not flex/warp under the heat

one again I’m not a scientist and haven’t tested a stainless or steel barrel vs a carbon so see who would come out on top

 

[dgheriani]

Comparing different profiles is ur issue off that bat.
It would only be fair to compare like profile, such as a proof stainless bull barrel to a proof carbon fibre bull barrel. I’m not expert and can be wrong but from my understanding the carbon bull barrel would be more rigid then the identical steel bull barrel. How ever you would loose out on thermal mass and weight. There’s other ways you can compensate for weight so that’s not a big issue. From what I can gather the battles is with thermal mass vs rigidity

a thicker heavier barrel would be able to store more heat with out having to worry about losing accuracy.
And a carbon barrel wouldn’t be able to store as much heat but would be able to maintain accuracy due to rigidity and not flex/warp under the heat

one again I’m not a scientist and haven’t tested a stainless or steel barrel vs a carbon so see who would come out on top

A carbon fibre wrapped barrel will not be more accurate or consistent than a steel barrel. The only benefit to a CFW barrel is that it will be lighter than a steel barrel of the same contour. Given that there is no benefit of dropping weight for PRS and that barrels are consumables, there is no benefit for PRS-type shooting to pay more for a CFW barrel than a steel barrel.

If you look at what guys who actually shoot lots of PRS/NRL matches use, you will not see any CFW barrels since, again, there is no benefit and they cost significantly more.

They shine for a lighter weight build for say hunting, or for shooting disciplines where you either must make a certain weight (think NRLH) or where there is an incentive to drop weight because you are covering ground and need to make a time hack (Mammoth, SAC, etc).

 

[Tokay444]

I had KS Arms cut, cut-rifle gain twist, profile, and chamber a prefit for my Archimedes from the ARC tenon print, and it’s an absolute hammer. They make their own actions as well, and sponsor the Canadian F-Class team.

 

[adamjma]

I forgot to mention Redd Nobb, who another poster mentioned. He's done some work for me, but not a barrel.

I will also echo that Insite was hit and miss with deadlines and communication.