Custom vs Factory Rifle

Horse96

Horse96

Regular
Rating - 100%
28   0   0
Location
Calgary
Just as the title says, please weigh in on the custom rifle vs the factory riflle.

Resale is always a hot issue, people saying a custom resells less than what a factory rifle would. I have a good gunsmith, so I'm not worried about a rifle he puts together being able to shoot. Also, the lower price of the custom can/may offset offset a lower resale price. Not looking to resell, but you never know...

The rifle would be for precision matches, maybe the odd f-class match, and for hunting (500ish yard shots on elk for eg). Calibers being .308, but 6.5 calibers preferred, contemplating 6mm calibers if just for precision/target shooting.

I'd rather spend less than $2,000 on a rifle, but a good rifle is worth the stretch, up to a max of $5,000.

Option 1) Ruger precision rifle. Nice low price, modular, reported to have 1/2 inch accuracy. Comes in .308 and 6.5 creedmoor. Uses huge variety of mags.

Option 2) PGW Coyote. Very nice rifle. Krieger barrel, Cdn made is a huge plus. Proprietary mags is not good. Cost is lots.

Option 3) A defiance action, ai ax stock, good barrel (prob Krieger). Cost is estimated at what the pgw costs. AI mags, good as I have a few already.

Option 4) break the bank and go ai ax. I did see one for under $5,000 though. But have not fully investigated.

So let 'er rip. Please keep comments positive, something I can work with. I am an experienced shooter, if that helps.

Thanks!
 
You need to look at what type of matches you want to get into. Some have caliber restrictions like .308 and .223, others would put you in open class. To primarily shoot tactical matches anything you listed will work well.
For the occasional F-Class match thrown in, out of those 4 I would go Coyote since it has the heaviest profile barrel.
 
Added option 5

Horse96 said:
Just as the title says, please weigh in on the custom rifle vs the factory riflle.

Resale is always a hot issue, people saying a custom resells less than what a factory rifle would. I have a good gunsmith, so I'm not worried about a rifle he puts together being able to shoot. Also, the lower price of the custom can/may offset offset a lower resale price. Not looking to resell, but you never know...

The rifle would be for precision matches, maybe the odd f-class match, and for hunting (500ish yard shots on elk for eg). Calibers being .308, but 6.5 calibers preferred, contemplating 6mm calibers if just for precision/target shooting.

I'd rather spend less than $2,000 on a rifle, but a good rifle is worth the stretch, up to a max of $5,000.

Option 1) Ruger precision rifle. Nice low price, modular, reported to have 1/2 inch accuracy. Comes in .308 and 6.5 creedmoor. Uses huge variety of mags.

Option 2) PGW Coyote. Very nice rifle. Krieger barrel, Cdn made is a huge plus. Proprietary mags is not good. Cost is lots.

Option 3) A defiance action, ai ax stock, good barrel (prob Krieger). Cost is estimated at what the pgw costs. AI mags, good as I have a few already.

Option 4) break the bank and go ai ax. I did see one for under $5,000 though. But have not fully investigated.

Option 5) Keep an eye on the EE and buy someone's custom that they are bored with or changed their mind on, with little to no round count for substantially less than they paid to have it built.

So let 'er rip. Please keep comments positive, something I can work with. I am an experienced shooter, if that helps.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Option 5. I looked for the same thing a few years ago. I ended up with a Remington LTR and rebarreling it with the same contur and length but better make. I have shot everything I could want to shoot. F class, precision even service rifle. I did ok. But now have dedicated rifles.
 
I have the SSG3000 and have a Ruger Precision on pre-order and it looks like both will be far less than $2000 CDN, if the Ruger is even close to the SSG3000 I will be thrilled as it has been incredible for me, with my hand loads. I have been shooting for only 3 years so what do I know but I do love my Sig.
 
Before you make any commitments, contact the guys at Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply (ATRS). They are great to work with and will talk you through some options to get you a very nice rifle at a price that while certainly not cheap, will likely give you a "little room to maneuver".
They built a rifle for me that included:

  • an "accurized" Remington 700 action
  • a 22 inch Lilja barrel (.260 Remington) in a Heavy Varmint contour
  • a Timney Trigger
  • an Accuracy International AX Chassis (non folding)

aics_ax_260.jpg


Just a thought.
 
I've had rem 700 actions, looking for something a little more serious. That being said, a good savage would probably be step for step with any high priced action. And I'm combing through the EE for a deal. Couple possibilities , but nothing close, so far, for what I'm looking for.

I'll shoot f-class just for 'practice ' and fun. Not to win, so not such a deal breaker. More a tactical/precision build and some LR hunting.

I helped sight a buddy's savage in the other day. Plastic stock, weaver basics scope, factory ammo, and for the 50 yard zero, I nailed the center dot twice after being zeroed.

Kinda leaning to the Ruger PR. If it shoots as good as a savage, and uses multiple mags, then why not? Although the pgw looks good. But anything with a Krieger bbl looks good as well.
 
Well, you can make a traditional custome, meaning make a civilian clone of a military grade rifle. I have made a few for friends, and im always saying it, M40's and a M24A1 or A2 are always going to preform outstanding if you A: Get it made properly B: Put in the proper effort. You can go complete custom, or factory. Just be sure to put good glass on it, and you don't need high magnification, regardless of what people say.

Im using PGW and I love it. Its accurate as hell, and it really can reach out and touch, tho I am using a Wolf, not a Coyote...

If you are going to go custom 2K is good if you just want a barrel and an action so expect to put in about 3K, but if your going to go stock, put in at least 4K Some good contenders are the Coyote, TRG-22, AI, and perhaps the Ruger Precision Rifle (I say perhaps because I have no experience with it)
 
Last edited:
If you can afford a custom rifle, you will need both a custom rifle and a factory rifle so that you have something to shoot while you wait for your build to be completed; it might take months or even years to complete, depending how busy your smith is, and the difficulty he has acquiring the parts you insist upon. FWIW, I think the advantage of the custom rig lies not in the action, trigger or stock, as excellent examples can be found in factory rifles, but in the quality of the barrel, and the barrel specifications that you have control over. You can choose between stainless and chrome-moly, fluted, or non-fluted, the contour, length, style of crown, type and pitch of rifling, as well as caliber and chambering. When you buy a factory rifle, you get what they make, which can be very good, but which could be just a bit better.
 
Part of the reason for owning a custom rifle is pride in ownership. With a quality action you can run the bolt with one or two fingers, like a Barnard or Defiance or Borden etc.. It can also be less expensive than some other choices. Mil Spec doesn't really mean anything. They just have a standard but that does not mean it can't be better than Mil Spec. It's like the building code, it can still be better made and the code is just the minimum level acceptable.
 
Horse96

You said "I'll shoot f-class just for 'practice ' and fun. Not to win,". If you do try to win it will help you in any game you enter. Using the "I didn't try to win anyway" excuse is a waste of your efforts. Just my take on it and match experience is very worthwhile to keep the jitters down when you do try to win.
 
I've shot .308 in f-class. If I go open, I'd need a dedicated f-class rifle in probably a barrel burner caliber. My goal is more to shoot precision rifle matches, to win. F-class matches are relatively close by, and so great for practice, but still shooting for something. Makes it interesting. If it were a pure precision rifle, I'd probably go 6x47 lapua, but then I'd lose big game ability. Well, I could peg a deer or similar size game. Not really comfortable shooting anything bigger with a 6mm round.
 
There are a lot of good gun smiths in Canada and ATRS is one of them. I deal with them with regularity and come away pleased. I had a rifle built by the Chou Brothers in Ontario and can't say enough good things about them, you should check out their website. The Chou's have a very high level of pride in their work and it shows. Mine was built off of Rem 700 and it may not have the bells and whistles of a custom action but it shoots just as good as any of them.

I also just picked up a TRG 22 recently as it was a steal of a deal. I am very pleased with it so far, even though I have just dry fired and shouldered it a few times. I got the matching bipod and it is quite the system.

I really don't know if I could choose one, my custom is a nice heavy rig than is a real hammer, the TRG is a good bit lighter and feel that I could lug it around and not be too tired. The TRG might be a rig that could do it all. A TRG might do it all for you, it is not an AI but it is one of the top factory rifles made.

I am local so if you want to feel both just send me a PM.

Oh and check out the insite arms out of lloydminster (I think), it looks like they make good stuff.
 
If you want a custom action and want it to be good, watch what the winning shooters are shooting and who built the guns.

That pretty much boils off all the non-sense.

Otherwise opinions run strong on every forum.
 
To be honest, since your a big fan of Accuracy International, get yourself a badger ordnance action. Its an improved version of AI's actions. You could make a AI with ought spending AI price. Get a good barrel make, even a AI stock if you want. Boom, done. Upwards of 3K easy tho, with no glass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom