When you're shooting lefty rifles the choices in calibers is limited. Therefore if you want a particular caliber that isn't offered in a factory lefty a custom is required unless you just want to settle for something else. I'm not very good at settling.

Spending 4k on a rifle I am not buying a 1/2 moa shooter. I spent that because I got a rifle built for a purpose down to every little detail exactly how I want it, that will shoot consistently no matter the conditions. Yeah I might suck as a shooter but the rifle is built for a special purpose and you can not buy that off the shelf.

Walter

I had a friend ask me to help him get drop data for a new, completely custom rifle he just had built. While we were getting his 200 yd zero dialed in he turned to me and said "I'm pretty disappointed in XXXXX(name of gunsmith). For almost $5K, this rifle doesn't shoot for s*&t!"
I asked if i could give it try. Five shots and a sub .5 MOA groups later he decided to listen to some advice about shooting position, cheek weld and trigger control.

A custom, expensive rifle allows you the possibility to shoot well, it doesn't guaranty it.

^^Gospel^^

the common trend is a sniper rifle and wanna be behind it. seems everyone forgot to hunt.

Not every rifle is designed to be hunting rifle.... But my custom rifle has it's share of hunting. Just because it doesn't have a wood stock and weighs more than 6 pounds doesn't mean it won't kill an animal any different.

Walter

your words not mine

I think whats being missed or overlooked here is application. Now a days savage, tikka, some remmys and cz can produce 1/2 moa out the box at 100 yds.with a capable shooter and right factory ammo. Most will even do it inside 300 yds. Why guys will fork out custom money comes down to 2 reasons. They want a rifle that can shoot 1/2moa at any distance and repeatedly. 2nd having a conversation piece. For most out to 300 yds is the ideal ranges, but some like shooting from long ways out 600+ yds. Most good factory rifles even with right ammo arent consistent enough. That throws anothrr variable into a complex equation. Same as glass. Do guys need a march, s&b, mark 6, nf scope to ring steel at 1k absoluetly not. I love my 6-18×40 nikon buckmaster and can make hits all day out to 600 yds on my ar. What makes me buy a nf or mark 4 for my 260 and 243 match type rifles is repeatibility tracking at further than 600yds. In fact for 99% of guys a mid range 2nd plane scope is more desirable than say a 1st fp nf. I prefer 2nd plane, but getting way out there i see the advantage of 1st plane. Most good production grade hunting equipment will do far more than whats needed for normal conditions, but certain applications require specialized tools.

Fwiw, a very respected and heck of a smith told me that 90% of the accuracy starts with the barrel. Thats why you see rebarreled savages with quailty custom barrels ahoot bug holes a long ways out.

Im actually experimenting with a remage rifle. Remmy action with savage type barrel nut that works with savage nut wrench. I have a 243 shilen match, 25-06 krieger, and 280ai shilen that im going to experiment with. Itll make it so that i have a quasi switch barrel. My build will be less than 2k for this setup. Had i just gone 243 it would have came in at 1k w/o glass. My research has shown this concept has produced outstanding lr rifles w/o a gunsmith.

Montana Rifle Company with handloads will produce 1/2 MOA. $1125 in stainless and synthetic, bedded and ready to go out of the box. A safer design than the pre-'64 Win M70. As usual, FJG makes some good points. Groups only matter if they consistently go where intended. Consistency takes a good rifle, good scope, good ammo, and usuallybthe winkest link is the person behind it all. I really like this set up, which makes it enjoyable to practice.

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There are also plenty of people that sit in a box blind a hundred yards from a feeder that never learned how to shoot and/ or don't know their rifle system. Then they miss vitals at that distance.

Two ends of that spectrum.

Shooting proficiency is a benefit for hunting. It increases the likelihood of success and reduces the risk of wounding and the animal suffering.

Exactly, And for the guys gust getting into it, you are paying for customer service and knowledge that you are not going to get from a 299 package gun. Ever tried calling up Savage and asking them what ammo to shoot out of your exact rifle, or what scope to recommend for a mountain goat hunt, or help what to get and how to learn how to reload. There is a lot more to a custom rifle than a .5moa guarantee.

A custom will produce consistency and also durability that cannot be matched by an off the rack rifle, other than a few that are as expensive or even more so (thinking of Accuracy International in particular).

In the scheme of life, one really well built, great rifle is a good place to spend money, a real joy, and a far better expenditure than a safe full of good, but not great, ones. Bad ones just have to go and have no place at all.

Rifles are sort of like vehicles, they all should get you from Point A to Point Z. What happens in between depends on what the driver desires. In other words, it is hard to go 150 mph across a freshly plowed field the morning after a 6" snow while towing a 32' RV and transporting the ladies from the nursing home.

Carry on!

what a great thread, the OP really knows how to spark great conversation doesn't he?

It's great to know there are great shooting rifles for all of us. Whatever budget you are on, there is a rifle/scope combo for you, which can shoot lights out.

Some have the custom gun budget, some don't. then there are guys like Walter Burke who work their azz off, scrapes and swaps, till he gathers the components for a custom build. I think this is the best because he REALLY appreciates what his money and his knowledge got him. He can also drive the hell out of it.

I'm fortunate enough to have some custom , higher end toys BUT, I sure am eyeing that Ruger American in 6.5 Creed for about $400 or the sweet Montana Rifle Co, Extreme 2.

Why I have this disease, who knows but I sure do love guns and toys.

Carry-on

I have 2 Savages, 5 Ruger 77s, 1 Winchester Featherweight, 2 CZ 550s and one Kimber 84 M Select. I have them in 223, 257R, 6.5x55, 7-08, 308, 338 Federal, 350 Rem Mag and a 9.3x62. All will shoot MOA or better once I find the right handload for them. Some needed a little tweaking like bedding and trigger job. Some are more picky with what I feed it. One rifle, the stock Savage Precision Carbine in 223 will shoot .5 MOA with any bullet I feed it.

Some of the cheapest rifles with a barrel nut and funny trigger are the cheapest and the most accurate. If you reload, you tend to shoot more and it's easier to tweak things to find the right load combination.

An acquaintance of mine, who as far as I know has hunted his whole life, does not even know how to sight in a scope or even clean his rifle. It is a nice rifle, too- a match rifle built on a mauser action. His father zeroed his rifle and cleans it for him. An no, he's not mental, or anything like that- as a matter of fact his main weekend hobby is drag racing and he works on cars all the time. I believe he just never really cared to figure it out, which seems crazy to me. He's not a kid either- 38 years old!