416, same as the barrel itself.
Nobody would pay me what I would need to make any money making this sort of thing.
if the sights were available, I wouldn't have made them.
Finally got my 9.3x62 finished **Post #51, page 3 update**
- Thread starter double gun
- Start date
if the sights were available, I wouldn't have made them.
Ardent
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I don't have double gun's talent with metal, but am certainly familiar with the time involved. The last stock set I did, if charged at my standard day job hourly rate, would have cost several thousand dollars before materials. I've even asked double gun if he'd be willing to take a job to replicate a beautiful inletted No.1 safety he did, and I can fully understand why you weren't able to take it on. I still have a friend's rifle here for restocking a year later, it's tough to find time and without a big shop, the pace isn't commercial. More than anything, it takes the scant time you have for your own projects.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
As long as parts were only manufactured, there would be no credible complaints.
Nobody would pay me what I would need to make any money making this sort of thing.
No you won't attract the folks whose idea of a dream rifle is a M-770 Remington, but you might be surprised at the response if you put some products out there. You have some talent, and talent is a marketable skill which has value. Of course to exist in a business sense, your products would have to be priced competitively with other custom parts makers, (not to be confused with mass produced products) so the difficulty is finding a balance between your overhead and what folks are willing to pay. Don't forget, some people are willing to pay $5000 for a rifle, without glass, for what on the surface appears to be little different than the ones that Canadian Tire sells for $850. Look at what Richard Near charges for scope mounts, despite store fulls of similar products that sell for a fraction of the price; yet he seems to sell enough units that at the end of the day he can eat. Lets consider your sling attachment. NECG sells a barrel band sling attachment for $68 USD, if you shortened yours up as C-FBMI suggested, so the lines of the drop flowed to the ends, you could charge $100 CDN for it, and still be competitive with the American product. If your cost to produce a small run of them (a "one of" is always more expensive) was say $50/each, you would have a nice profit if you sold 10, not that $500 would keep the lights on in the machine shop for very long, but it could be an interesting sideline to your regular endeavors, and CGN allows many potential customers to see it, which simplifies marketing.
Well, I made another band. I had a member graciously lend me a kodiak so I could study the features and dimensions. This time I made the band thickness considerably thinner, the stud shorter, and radiused the stud to the outsides of the band. Now I will see how well I can fill/blend out the stud hole in the forend which will determine whether I use the new band or not.
It's a shame this isn't your primary vocation, you'd have several customers from this thread alone.
I would certainly be getting into the line-up...
**Update - finally finished**
Well to recap, back in November I was wondering about using a banded swivel, I wasn't happy with the original version so I made a fresh one getting some ideas on proportions from a sako kodiak stud. Well it turned out well in my opinion, but to get it on meant removing the front sight. That's where things got interesting.... Long story short a new front sight needed to be made.
Anyways, here is the completed rifle, with the new banded swivel stud, and front sight - now wearing a conquest. I took it and my first batch of hand loads out yesterday to sight it in. These are 270gr speer hotcores. Seems to shoot 3 rounds into an okay group at 100yrds - should work for spring black bears. This is my favorite build to date.
Well to recap, back in November I was wondering about using a banded swivel, I wasn't happy with the original version so I made a fresh one getting some ideas on proportions from a sako kodiak stud. Well it turned out well in my opinion, but to get it on meant removing the front sight. That's where things got interesting.... Long story short a new front sight needed to be made.
Anyways, here is the completed rifle, with the new banded swivel stud, and front sight - now wearing a conquest. I took it and my first batch of hand loads out yesterday to sight it in. These are 270gr speer hotcores. Seems to shoot 3 rounds into an okay group at 100yrds - should work for spring black bears. This is my favorite build to date.
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Yep! Looks like it shoots too!
So I should take my 243 and not try my new rifle because it can be done with the smaller cartridge? Good advice....
Guess what - I own more than one rifle that can do the job, but I like to hunt with them all.
