I had the opportunity to shoot a $12,000 rifle this past Sunday. Now before all the naysayers start screaming how their Remchester or Savageby in .308 or 300 Win Mag is just as good and every bit as precise and accurate let me say I agree with you for the most part.

A few friends and myself went out to shoot prairie dogs this weekend and one of them showed up with a brand new Gunwerks LRM 1000 that had every option offered. It had a titanium action and bottom metal, carbon wrapped barrel, custom muzzle brake, Nightforce scope with a verified BDC turret, the G7BR rangefinder, a very cool custom case, the rifle had been broken in and a custom load worked up for it.

By the afternoon the shooting had slowed down and he decided it was time to see how good the rifle was out of the box. He had just received it a week before and had not put a single shot through it yet. I ranged a dog for him at 472 yards, he dialed 475 on the turret, held .75 MOA for the wind and the prairie dog exploded. The next shot was at just a tick under 550 with the same results. 20 shots accounted for 17 prairie dogs. The misses were bad wind calls. Not bad for a brand new, out of the box rifle package.

I have to admit that Gunwerks builds a pretty complete system for long range hunters. Now for the price of their packages, that's up to the shooter. If you have $20k or $30k invested in a once in a lifetime hunt then this rifle makes sense.

I've got friends that drive Mercedes and I've got friends that drive hoopties and they all get were they are going.

Here's the only picture I thought to get of the rifle.

For me personally, I would never pay $12K for a rifle. There are so many other things to spend that kind of money on. To each his own certainly, but it's not for me.

Glad you guys had a good day out

I can't afford a 12k dollar gun, if I could then maybe I would get a fully custom thing-a-ma-bob.

The important thing is did the owner of the gun get that gleam in his eye and do the "Ahhh" (like when you sip a cold beer after a long day's work) after the shooting ended.

Hope so and nice report on the long range shooting of small live targets.

Exploding prairie dogs certainly is good clean fun.

I don't do it with a rifle in that tier, though.

I got a pic the other day of an old friend shooting a rifle that HAD to be at least $12k or lots more mebbe...a double gun in whatever the metric version of a 250 Savage woud be I think was a Holland or sme other Euro fantasy rifle... I think I kept the pic & note, lemme see if I can find it....the gun was "regulated for 100meters" I think is what he said. Reminds me of the time I spent 2 hours waiting for a client, whose "shop" is at the Enid Airport in a hanger, to get off the phone with a guy in RSA,and played with a double 375H&H that was built in the 1920's and looked like it had been drug down a gravel road in Botswana a few dozen times, and priced at $37,500, or just about half of a new one at the time. It's only the price of a guys toys, IF he has the gitus to play in that league. I never did or will....but would for sure if I could without hesitation & will WHEN I pop a Big Lottery. Ya'll will all be invited.
Ron

I'd say 85% at that range on that size target is pretty stinkin good. I wouldn't spend that much on a gun because I know you can get something equally good for less, but if the guy has that kind of money and that's what he wants then so be it.

Most luxury items don't really make "sense", but they sure put a smile on your face.

Women flock to nice vehicles. Expensive rifles, no so much.

Seems accurate but 12k for that rifle setup is insane. Complete system or not, he paid for a Ferrari and got a Mercedes. i see about a 6500 gun and 1600 rangefinder. Am I missing something here?

I'm kind of a believer that if they flock to anything but me, to heck with em anyway!

If I could afford a 12G rifle that I had made, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I can't so I try not not dream about it. I'm still working on getting a $1500 one at this point!

If you make enough $$ then spending it on toys makes sense.

Sounds like a nice rifle.

IMO Gunwerks cannot build a $12,000 rifle. They can apparently sell one for that though.

D'Arcy Echols can build a $12,000 rifle. And that's what his base model costs.

I wouldn't pay $12k fir a synthetic fun of that type, but then again I know what goes into that. Good friend D'Arch Echols is in that price for a synthetic gun, but I know more goes into them.

Double rifles I know all too well. $12k doesn't get you one of my doubles. That's a while different ball game though.

Shared a sheep camp with D'Arcy in the Yukon. Super nice guy. Sat around the campfire the first night and fixed a sticky floor plate on my old Pre-64 Model 70, tweaked the mag spring, and a couple of other things. Just messing around while we swapped stories. We still email one another to this day. If I ever decide to go nuts on a bolt rifle he will get the call.

I can't say if that rifle is worth that much but it works extremely well for its purpose. I've shot more custom rifles than I can count and this one was every bit as well put together as any of those. With all of the titanium and carbon fiber it was a good two pounds lighter than my rifle. That being said, I'm positive it's no more accurate than mine. My 6.5 accounted for quite a few prairie dogs Sunday.

I think Gunwerks caters to a customer with that budget and offers their rifles as a complete system for a long range hunter. I don't drive a Mercedes but I do like playing with them.

This. I can't afford a $12k rifle. I can't even justify a $1,200 rifle at this point. But if I was independently wealthy, it sure would be fun.

I don't think I want to afford a $12K rifle. It's more about a $5700-$6K rifle, and the rest profit and fluff.

Action- $1200, call it $1500
Carbon barrel- $850
Stock- $500
Muzzle brake- $150
Bottom metal- $100
Gunsmithing- $500
NF scope- $2000 (about)
Rings/base- $150

That rifle is about $5750. The rest is some load dev, and the fluff that gunwerks makes. But, shoot that rifle out past 600 yards, and in conditions that the turret was not "calibrated" for, and the shooter will be lost. Inside 500 yards, the turrets will be close enough for a hit in most similar conditions the turret was designed for. Once the shooter starts shooting more, they realize they have outgrown the "calibrated" turrets, and will want to lose them. The "calibrated" turrets is like a scope with training wheels.

But, it's a nice rifle! And good shooting!

He shot PD's with 12k rifle for same reason I hunt dove with 20k shotgun....cause we can! Folks don't grasp the idea of 10K plus firearm but will spend 40K plus on vehicle that we park in open or drive down hiway next to complete idiots...that's irony.

I spent $18k on my vehicle that gets me to work and back every day because it performs that function significantly better than a $1k car will. If the differences between a $1k car and an $18k car were as insignificant as the differences between a $1k shotgun and an $18k shotgun, I would have bought a $1k car as well.

Also there is way more work parts and material that went into a car, even a cheap one than that rifle. I think the negative is in reference that he paid 12k for a name, not so much the capability of the rifle. Like paying 40k for a chevy cavalier... just not worth it.

More like a 12k system then 12k rifle. Think that price includes their class also

That's all I am saying. One can debate all day long the philosophy of acquiring the finer things in life, but that is not the question. Like someone said above, the issue to me is paying for a Ferrari and getting a Mercedes.

(IMO Gunwerks stuff is not even a Mercedes-they are in large measure " Best of the West" marketing hype. But that's another subject.)

I don't see the value in paying a ton for a modern rifle to achieve accuracy. I think it can be achieved much more reasonably if that's the goal.

I agree, but Bobo has a point, they aren't just buying a 12k gun it is a rifle scope range finder tuned load and load development sited in with custom turrets.

Lots of costs beyond the rifle alone. What would it cost you to have someone do a custom load workup and get custom loaded ammo for your gun? Did it include reloading dies in the price? What does it cost to have a custom turret made? Who knows about the class, but I would agree its a lot more than just a gun which is what I and probably most initially compared it to.

I can see that.

I admit I am just not a big fan of Gunwerks, a company that basically promises they can sell you accuracy in a box/a class/a cartridge. All to make a buck.