Precision Rifle Gear Would you do it again

[Shoots 700's]

I have no regret. I started with no money and bought a Remington 700 when i was 16. Shot the shit out if it. Now i am fortunate to buy what i want and have gone the custom route.
May have an AI in the future and wouldn’t get rid of any of them

 

[nksmfamjp]

Custom rifles are tricky.

Honestly, I’ve never lost money on basic factory rifles and pistols.

AR’s are tricky too. IMO, AR’s give me a best return selling off parts and replacing them with what is next on my build plan. Still probably losing 10-20% in general.

These bolt together rifles seem to come apart similarly and as separate parts, they have higher resale.

The true customs are the hardest. I have a M70 in 300 Sherman with a couple grand in work I would guess I have $3000 in it. It is worth that, but I would guess I’d struggle to get $2000 for it. People will think of it as a std Win M70.....it is not. Still, it is a custom hunting rifle that I know I want. I may want to change the barrel or something someday, but this will be with me for the long term.

I have a Bighorn Origin on the way. It will be worth what I paid for it minus wear and tear. It is DLC coated so, that will be minimal. I plan on getting an Origin prefit, so the barrel will have trade/sale value. Stocks are Rem 700 inlet, so highest possible appeal & resale value there. I plan to build it once, but who knows....sometimes a person gets a different itch to scratch.

The way to really get hurt is to pay more than rifles are worth.
Custom Actions are $800-$1600.....triggers $200 - $400....bottom metal $200
Custom Barrel $350 .....fit & chamber $350
Custom Composite Stock $300-$1200
Extras.....

That is about $3600 or so.

Now think about those folks charging $5000-$10000 for a $3600 rifle. They do offer certain services, load work up, reamers setup for factory ammo, not to mention how cool they are. It may be worth it to you, but don’t expect to put that rifle in the classifieds after you miss an Antelope at 400 yds for the $6500 you paid for it. In general, people searching are thinking they are paying 25% under $3600 for a top shelf rifle. You will really have to sell it to get even $4000 for it. The other issue is people pick colors, stock pattern, rails on stocks in these high end guns, but is that where the next guy will want it?

Maybe this helps a person think a bit smarter financially with custom rifles.....but honest you are better off to change a stock and barrel to get to the next configuration instead of selling and building again.

 

[jim10801]

buy once cry once

I have often seen/heard this incomplete quote. It usually applies to tools, firearms certainly belonging to the gruop.

Buy quality and cry once, buy cheap and cry every time you use it.

 

[muzzletalk]

I very much appreciate the honest feed back by every one. We all have different prospective's as to what is important, which is unique to each of us. I'm not a competition shooter. I do thank God for living where I do & the abundant hunting opertuities. . The main reason I own my rifles is for hunting & putting the best quality ( in my opinion ) & healthy meat on my table. I still have my Rem 700 I bought new in 1964 & it still will put three shots at or under an inch. I used it to take my best bull ever in 2014 on public land hunting by myself. . Over the years it has accounted for many deer , elk & a few antelope. For those who enjoy the custom route I have no problem with that. I believe in freedom to pick & choose as one see's fit. My question was because I have seen so many expensive custom rifle's up for sale on this forum & others. Was just wondering if those shooters would do it again knowing what they now know.

Chances are, they are already doing it again and selling off inventory to acquire $$ for the new build. I think that most people that build or have built a custom gun for them, probably do it again especially if they are a competitive shooter.

 

[Leland T]

How can anyone get excited about guns, or shooting knowing we cannot resupply our powder, or primers at present ? " I'm depressed"

 

[hafejd30]

How can anyone get excited about guns, or shooting knowing we cannot resupply our powder, or primers at present ? " I'm depressed"

Go be depressed somewhere else

 

[teslawasframed]

My stance is similar to what others here have mentioned...spend what you can (without going into debt!) so the rifle can do what you want the rifle to do.

I started out as a broke 16 year-old with a stock Rem 700 in 308 with a 3-9x Nikon Buckmaster scope, and my grandpa's sporterized Enfield 303. Shot the hell out of both of them, and they did what I needed them to do.

Fast forward a decade, and I'm working on joining my department's sniper team. I could make that old Remington sing and raise some eyebrows, but it just wasn't able to meet the accuracy standards, especially during a lengthy string of fire. It felt wierd to be "better" than the gun I was shooting. I got some trigger time on some of the other guys' custom builds and was very impressed with what a custom build could do. Rebarreled mine, Timney-fied the trigger and snagged some superior glass, and now it can do what the job demands of it, and more. Once again, I'm behind a rifle that can shoot better than I can.

I bought a Mauser M18 and put a 1-6x LPVO on it to fill the role of deer rifle, and for an ensemble that totals under $700 it performs admirably.

If my standards (read mission requirements) hadn't changed, I wouldn't have spent the cash on a custom build...at least not until the kids were grown and gone, and I wanted a hobby to keep me busy.

If I had to do it over, I wouldn't change anything. I lived and shot within my means, learned a lot, and still use the rifles I've paid for. Then again, I may be an oddball...I've never sold a gun except to a friend or family member that needs it.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

My rifles were bought for a purpose.
Yet it's my cheapest rig that I like and use most.
You'll probably fall down the rabbit hole, like the rest of us.
The addiction and satisfaction of pushing pills accurately and further on beasts and steel.
Enjoy!

 

[Lkellley29]

I grew up fairly poor in southern Mo. ,but my dad always had guns around. He always said," If you keep nice guns around, you'll always have something of value to trade or sell."
You get what you pay for and only live once.Buy the best quality gear that you can afford for the job it's intended.

 

[Dragoon300]

I would certainly do it again, I have had a great time! Wish I would have earlier, although I can afford it better now.
I recommend talking to everyone you can about the subject, and figure out as best you can the things you expect to do. Then figure out the equipment you want to have to accomplish that goal and work toward that.
Come to terms on what items you need vs what you want, and can afford at this time, and prioritize working towards your goal.
Figure out what you like and want, and will or will not compromise on in all of your equipment.
It is very difficult if not impossible to get perfection so get as close as you can to what you want. I have done this and had a great time with very few regrets.
Don't forget hind sight is where we evaluate how well we figured all these things out. If you decide to change directions its ok, there are many ways to get there, just keep heading toward your goal.
Have as much fun along the way as you can!

 

[CommissarGrub]

I don't know in which exact place of the spectrum I belong, but I don't feel the need to get the top notch stuff all the time and even less swapping or collecting gear every so often for the sake of it.

Don't get me wrong, I am one kind of a performance geek, and if there is anything that get me frustrated very quickly is when I know that something in my gear is holding me back from achieving what I consider at the moment as a good performance. As humans there is a heck lot of ways we introduce inconsistencies in our shooting despite practicing towards getting them under control as much as possible. And this process of analyzing and correcting is usually quicker when you can have a dependable, well built rig, that you can have a high level of confidence into. It eliminates most of the "was it me or the rig ?" guesswork.

But another thing that I value a lot is the beauty of functionnal simplicity (and this is where " beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" comes into play for me). I won't be spending any money on overly expensive stuff if they don't bring anything valuable to the table.

My best example is not a gun but a bow. I've spent many years shooting bows exclusively (longbows and compounds alike), and did a lot of competition both in and outdoors. After spending spending a couple years with an entry/mid range compound bow to gather knowledge about this type of shooting I upgraded to a quality bow, with a lot of features for achieving a high level of accuracy. It wasn't made out of carbon fiber, nor with fancy cuts into the riser nor flashy anodized paintjob. Just a longer camo painted hybrid target/hunting compound, but with all the essentials features to be precisely tuned by myself at home. I did not bought an expensive scope, but sticked to a quality sight without magnification more reliable in low light condition or under the rain, a reliable index trigger realease aid and a short stabilizer, together with some quality arrows that I put together myself. The whole package probably cost me about the same as a bare, top of the line, bow of the time, but I was very pleased by how it looked and how it shot. It was MY bow and I spent countless hours being proficient with it, perfecting my form and looking for small upgrades I could do along the way.

I went all the way up to some national league matches and often ending on the podium or close, with that bow that many archers would be considering as an average, uncompetitive hunting rig. And that was something that I really enjoyed : to get excellent results with that gear that I carefully put together and adjusted to my needs, without buying what the market want to sell you as the "ultimate best of the year" . The bonus satisfaction was being able to seal shut the mouths of a few snobs with expensive fancy bows and arrows that were smiling at "teh hairy guy with teh hunting bow" before seeing my name on top of theirs on the scoreboard at the end of the day...

Even if I'm not shooting bows anymore, I still have this bow with me and won't be selling it, as I tend to grow quickly emotional with the stuff that I spent a fair amount of my time with. It may look silly to get attached to a machined piece of aluminium, but trust in my gear is - I believe - what allowed me to get quickly on tracks because I focused only on my errors instead of blaming the equipment, and I enjoyed every bit of time I spent practicing with that bow, and that is most likely why I never felt the urge to buy a newer, more expensive, supposedly "better" equipment.

I believe that I will follow the same path with firearms, I'm doing a lot of researchs because I can't really afford to buy and sell gear all the time to find the right fit, but so far it seems like I'm not that much attracted by the high end stuff.

Simpler things like, for example, the MDT Oryx chassis looks to me much more elegant and appealing in it's simpicity than a lot of other more expensive alternatives that may not do a lot more better for me. And for the price I won't have any reluctancy to get out the tools and make a few upgrades myself (like new sling mounting points...) to get it up to my needs. With a good tikka action and barrel in it, decent glass (with high quality turrets though) and some home brewed ammo, as long as it shoots almost as good as the more expensive stuff (don't have to be the smoothest operating bolt nor the smoothest recoil dampener) no need for me to look elsewhere... Unless I need a totally different purpose rifle, which won't result in me selling the other anyway.


Sorry for the novel , I wasn't expecting to type that much.

 

[NDAR15MAN]

Shooters needs to stay in his or her budget. Plus now a days with very little reloading supplies and very little factory ammo and it will continue for 4 years I think. You can buy a nice Savage or Ruger That will shoot MOA with factory Ammo.
If you reload you can get it to maybe 3/4 inch groups. Or custom rifle for many thousands of $ that will shoot 1/2 inch groups. For me , with the way this country is going I would rather buy factory gun and save the money I would have spent on a custom rifle for a Rainy day. And that Rainy day is coming , you can count on it. MD

 

[Memberberries]

I don't know in which exact place of the spectrum I belong, but I don't feel the need to get the top notch stuff all the time and even less swapping or collecting gear every so often for the sake of it.

Don't get me wrong, I am one kind of a performance geek, and if there is anything that get me frustrated very quickly is when I know that something in my gear is holding me back from achieving what I consider at the moment as a good performance. As humans there is a heck lot of ways we introduce inconsistencies in our shooting despite practicing towards getting them under control as much as possible. And this process of analyzing and correcting is usually quicker when you can have a dependable, well built rig, that you can have a high level of confidence into. It eliminates most of the "was it me or the rig ?" guesswork.

But another thing that I value a lot is the beauty of functionnal simplicity (and this is where " beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" comes into play for me). I won't be spending any money on overly expensive stuff if they don't bring anything valuable to the table.

My best example is not a gun but a bow. I've spent many years shooting bows exclusively (longbows and compounds alike), and did a lot of competition both in and outdoors. After spending spending a couple years with an entry/mid range compound bow to gather knowledge about this type of shooting I upgraded to a quality bow, with a lot of features for achieving a high level of accuracy. It wasn't made out of carbon fiber, nor with fancy cuts into the riser nor flashy anodized paintjob. Just a longer camo painted hybrid target/hunting compound, but with all the essentials features to be precisely tuned by myself at home. I did not bought an expensive scope, but sticked to a quality sight without magnification more reliable in low light condition or under the rain, a reliable index trigger realease aid and a short stabilizer, together with some quality arrows that I put together myself. The whole package probably cost me about the same as a bare, top of the line, bow of the time, but I was very pleased by how it looked and how it shot. It was MY bow and I spent countless hours being proficient with, perfecting my form and looking for small upgrades I could do along the way.

I went all the way up to some national league matches and often ending on the podium or close, with that bow that many archers would be considering as an average, uncompetitive hunting rig. And that was something that I really enjoyed : to get excellent results with that gear that I carefully put together and adjusted to my needs, without buying what the market want to sell you as the "ultimate best of the year" . The bonus satisfaction was being able to shut the mouth of those snobs with expensive fancy bows and arrows that were smiling at "teh hairy guy with teh hunting bow" before seeing my name on top of theirs on the scoreboard at the end of the day...

Even if I'm not shooting anymore, I still have this bow with me and won't be selling it, as I tend to grow quickly emotional with the stuff that I spent a fair bit of my time with.

I believe that I will follow the same path with firearms, I'm doing a lot of researchs because I can't really afford to buy and sell gear all the time to find the right fit, but so far it seems like I'm not that much attracted by the high end stuff.

Simpler things like, for example, the MDT Oryx chassis looks to me much more elegant and appealing in it's simpicity than a lot of other more expensive alternatives that may not do a lot more better for me. And for the price I won't have any reluctancy to get out the tools and make a few upgrades myself (like new sling mounting points...) to get it up to my needs. With a good tikka action and barrel in it, decent glass and some home brewed ammo, as long as it shoots almost as good as the more expensive stuff (don't have to be the smoothest operating bolt nor the smoothest recoil dampener) no need to look elsewhere unless I need a different purpose rifle, which won't result in me selling the other anyway.


Sorry for the novel

Bows are in a world of their own when it comes to marketing creating the market to upgrade every year. The Mathews Vertix turned into the VXR then into the V3 while essentially all they changed was the riser length and limb angle. if you give them a few years though it gets pretty awesome, I upgraded bows this year (old bow was a 2006 model). I shoot the same arrows 52 fps faster at the same poundage/draw length and my bow needs a press for half the adjustments the old bow needed it for. It's quieter too

 

[6.5 GUY]

Personally I think the used market with the right rifle can be a great purchase...... #1 If it's a quality build by someone you know that builds great rifles. #2 That the previous owner took good care of it and the round count is real, along with the value/price being reasonable. No one wants a rifle some Jackwagon burned up the barrel running 20+ rounds or more showing off his skill set!

In 2013 I bought a GAP 260 Rem built by George himself, and another one built by Mark Gordon at SAC this year that were both great deals for $2,500.00 each. Both of which shot/shoot way better than the AI AT I own in any caliber and I have 4 barrels for that gun.... more money in that one then the other two combined. They are a good production rifle, that said I no a rifle built by Terry Cross, Mark Gordon, George Gardner, Travis Redell, Dave Tooley or the late Robert Gradous will be more accurate as much as a AI is a better battle gun IMO. Which they are.

Whenever there's a lot of inventory on the market Buying used might just be the best deal of the day for you?