High end factory rifles vs custom built rifles??

Kevan said:
Ardent, I swear that rifle is to die for !
Is that barrel eight-sided or twelve ?
I have been a lover of octagon-barrelled rifles since the days when as a teenager I lugged a '73 Winchester around with a Whitetail Deer tag in my pocket.
Thanks for sharing with us....... and making my day..
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12 if I remember correctly. Dodecahedron or some such "Fancy Geometry Words for $1000" name.
 
Ardent said:
Beautiful pair of RSIs! Perfect chamberings too.

The fire is alive in their kin here, fresh coat of tung on the wood, natural colour photos taken in natural light instead of shop fluorescents.


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Ardent... finally some pics that do your girl full justice! Beautiful... now how about some daylight shots posed over a goat?
 
sir_springer said:
About 30 years ago I decided my trusty and very accurate BSA 1917 Enfield 30.06 would be a lot better gun if I had it completely customized to suit me. And so I took it to a gun maker here in BC and left it with him for about a year and a half. New stock, jeweled the bolt, completely re-blued, pretty much the works. And he did a nice job of it. It was a one off, and all mine. Didn't shoot any better, but sure looked pretty!

I used it for the next season, handled it with kid gloves, a fretted the hell out of every single scratch and bruise it still acquired regardless.

The next year I picked up a Rem. 700 BDL Varmint Special 25.06 at a local gun show in Lloydminster. Weight didn't bother me, and could it ever shoot the lights out, including smallest group of my life, 1/8" at 100 yds.

The fancy custom rifle has been a Safe Queen ever since.

Point being: Unless you're after bragging rights, go for a gun you won't be reluctant to use and abuse. A great deal of the cost of a custom rifle is in the stock, select grade, and a helluva lot of work to finish it. But in the end, for all that money it's no less vulnerable or fragile than one off the shelf for $1000.

Cooper, for example, builds some supremely accurate rifles with synthetic stocks, as does Jerrett and others. Durable fiberglass/graphite/Kevlar stocks that are a big step up from most standard brands, properly fit and bedded. Use 'em for years, and...with reasonable care...not have it show at the end of the day. Forbes even goes so far as to serialize each stock to each action that it's fit to in order to maximize accuracy.

And considerably less money laid out up front!

Think long term before jumping. Custom rifles in beautifully crafted stocks can be like works of art...and that can be a problem.

FWIW.

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I agree with this.
If you're hunting hard and moving over rough terrain, there's going to be nicks and scratches.
I've had rifles with very nice wood and no nicks and scratches and have felt bad getting that first scratch in it from a tree branch or nick from a rock. I felt a lot better about taking it afield AFTER its had some wear and tear on it. Silly I know but that's how I am with unblemished firearms.
 
Will see if I get time for the goat Hoyt! Busy year.

More "custom" aspects, don't mind the bedding compound flash just getting the rifle tuned up. It puts things in perspective that the objective of the scope is the widest point on the rifle at 1.6". This one was built to be as narrow and slim as possible, the frame is just shy of an 1/8" narrower than standard as well.

 
PSE said:
I agree with this.
I've had rifles with very nice wood and no nicks and scratches and have felt bad getting that first scratch in it from a tree branch or nick from a rock. I felt a lot better about taking it afield AFTER its had some wear and tear on it. Silly I know but that's how I am with unblemished firearms.
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It's a funny thing, isn't it? We take a new rifle into the woods and dread scratching it for fear that it will suddenly look damaged and abused. But if we keep adding signs of honest wear, eventually it looks so much more interesting and attractive than a pristine new rifle fresh from the factory. There's a John Rigby & Sons .470 double that one of my PH's has carried in Africa for many years. It's been bumped, thumped, scratched and just plain worn through thousands of days of being carried in his hands. It was a $50,000 rifle (restored by Holland & Holland and presented to him as a gesture of gratitude for a rather wealthy client he sent their way) when he first got it, all pretty and perfect. By the time I got to handle it myself, it had become an old warrior with signs of history and adventure all over it. I'm sure there must have been some a ding or scratch that was singularly noticeable at some point, but with so many miles on it now, all the blemishes, major and minor, seem to blend into one another and eventually settle into a patina of weathered character. And it seemed so much more interesting with all those tales to tell.

This isn't something that applies only to high-end rifles. Every gun starts as new, and most end up worn. But honest wear, like years on a good woman, doesn't take away from beauty in the least. It adds to it. If it didn't, why are we so attached to those old guns handed down from fathers and grandfathers? Why does carrying Dad's old deer rifle feel like you have something special in your hands when a brand new rifle is just a rifle?

We should all be so lucky as to put so much honest wear onto our firearms that those who end up when them after we're gone can't help but gaze quietly and wish that old gun could talk.
 
I dont mind scratches or knicks on my high end rifles, i will always priorised function over looks... JP.

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Neo said:
It's a funny thing, isn't it? We take a new rifle into the woods and dread scratching it for fear that it will suddenly look damaged and abused. But if we keep adding signs of honest wear, eventually it looks so much more interesting and attractive than a pristine new rifle fresh from the factory. There's a John Rigby & Sons .470 double that one of my PH's has carried in Africa for many years. It's been bumped, thumped, scratched and just plain worn through thousands of days of being carried in his hands. It was a $50,000 rifle (restored by Holland & Holland and presented to him as a gesture of gratitude for a rather wealthy client he sent their way) when he first got it, all pretty and perfect. By the time I got to handle it myself, it had become an old warrior with signs of history and adventure all over it. I'm sure there must have been some a ding or scratch that was singularly noticeable at some point, but with so many miles on it now, all the blemishes, major and minor, seem to blend into one another and eventually settle into a patina of weathered character. And it seemed so much more interesting with all those tales to tell.

This isn't something that applies only to high-end rifles. Every gun starts as new, and most end up worn. But honest wear, like years on a good woman, doesn't take away from beauty in the least. It adds to it. If it didn't, why are we so attached to those old guns handed down from fathers and grandfathers? Why does carrying Dad's old deer rifle feel like you have something special in your hands when a brand new rifle is just a rifle?

We should all be so lucky as to put so much honest wear onto our firearms that those who end up when them after we're gone can't help but gaze quietly and wish that old gun could talk.
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Well done...
 
Neo said:
It's a funny thing, isn't it? We take a new rifle into the woods and dread scratching it for fear that it will suddenly look damaged and abused. But if we keep adding signs of honest wear, eventually it looks so much more interesting and attractive than a pristine new rifle fresh from the factory. There's a John Rigby & Sons .470 double that one of my PH's has carried in Africa for many years. It's been bumped, thumped, scratched and just plain worn through thousands of days of being carried in his hands. It was a $50,000 rifle (restored by Holland & Holland and presented to him as a gesture of gratitude for a rather wealthy client he sent their way) when he first got it, all pretty and perfect. By the time I got to handle it myself, it had become an old warrior with signs of history and adventure all over it. I'm sure there must have been some a ding or scratch that was singularly noticeable at some point, but with so many miles on it now, all the blemishes, major and minor, seem to blend into one another and eventually settle into a patina of weathered character. And it seemed so much more interesting with all those tales to tell.

This isn't something that applies only to high-end rifles. Every gun starts as new, and most end up worn. But honest wear, like years on a good woman, doesn't take away from beauty in the least. It adds to it. If it didn't, why are we so attached to those old guns handed down from fathers and grandfathers? Why does carrying Dad's old deer rifle feel like you have something special in your hands when a brand new rifle is just a rifle?

We should all be so lucky as to put so much honest wear onto our firearms that those who end up when them after we're gone can't help but gaze quietly and wish that old gun could talk.
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Indeed you nailed it there, succinctly. Guns, well used, gain character and character is something few material things are imbued with. I respect a well worn and used top quality rifle immensely as it points to a story of appreciation of both fine things and experiences. It's also a dying trend, the Corbetts and Bells of the world aren't beating up Rigby's anymore, they now line plastic surgeons' safes.
 
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