Custom Rifle Value

How do you figure the value of a custom rifle? I have a 7mm Mauser AI with a Proof Research carbon barrel, McMillan stock, Remington action, and have forgotten the trigger in it. I do not know the gunsmith that built it and neither did the gunsmith that I got it from. I got the gun for the wife but it is just physically too large for her. I also have Redding dies for it with neck sizer. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks Daniel

Got a photo of a group it has shot?

Figure up the retail price of each part, as well as gunsmithing fees. You'll have to deduct the final talley by a percentage, but I'm not sure how much. Im rhinking to start at 20% less.

Customs never bring as much as someone has in them.

Jason, when I have done my part it will shoot half inch regularly. Gun has been bedded. Would I be out of line asking $2000 including dies and what brass I have for it? Yes I have targets that I could take pics of but would have to send to a phone. Daniel

The problem selling customs is generally people have money as they are not cheap

So you need to a) find someone who wants it set up in the way yours is and is looking to save time and hassle or b) lower the price to convince someone to buy yours over what they want


The more info you provide the better, things like shot count matter.

I've sold a few and lost on all of them.

Now, I'm going Tikka rifles and making them 'mine'. Custom stocks, bolt shrouds, bottom medal, and magazines....still a sickness.

$2k would likely be fair to both parties, but be prepared to take less. Also, where you market it makes a differece.

Yep. They never seem to bring anywhere near what someone has in them, unless you made some pretty bland choices and can find someone who was looking to get exactly what you have.

I dont have to sell, would consider trade. If that doesn't work out will keep it. Have a step-son and a son that probably like to have it. Shot count would be a guess. When I got it, gunsmith said it had been fired very few times. I have put approx. 250-350 rds down the barrel.

lost me at 7mm mauser

How about if it was a 275 Rigby???? Buzzsaw, The cartridge is actually the 7x57. I have just always referred to it as the 7 Mauser.

A couple of years back I got a divorce and liquidated my guns. I had a left handed semi custom with a solid $4000 invested. It was the best shooting gun I ever owned. I sold it on here for $2800. That’s 70% of initial investment. It sold in just a few days even being left handed. Granted it was a 7-08 not 7mm Mauser but it was before 7-08 regained the popularity its enjoying today. It was built with the best parts available at the time. I don’t know if this gives you any help but definitely a point of reference.

Note: the sale was a complete package. Bipod, pelican case, Nosler brass, bullets, dies etc.

Save it for the sons. There is nothing wrong with the cartridge except it is not the current cool round. If it was a Creedmoor there would be a line to buy it.
If you short sell it for way less than you would like to get you will be pissed and regret selling. Give it to one of the boys and be a hero.

M

MClark, there is only one problem with that! One gun Two sons. I will probably do that though.

I know but nobody wants one

A 7x57 has the potential to outperform the 7-08 if it's handloaded to similar pressure. There is NOTHING wrong with that cartridge, and I'd choose it over the 7-08 any day of the week.

Totally agree....I was using the 7x57 in Ruger No 1 as my primary deer gitter back when the 7-08 was introduced.
I actually talked a good friend into a Rem 788 in 7-08 as it was the new Kool aid. Quickly saw it was nothing special ballistically over the 7 mm Mauser so have never owned one to this day.

I'm sure its a great round, I'm just saying to most who are shopping for a $2,000+ rifle will want 6.5 something, not an old African Cartridge. Just my opinion, the OP asked for it, not what we think about the round.

You never know....probably still a lot of us Jack O ‘Connor disciples left kickin around.

But it's not a 7x57, he said it's a 7x57AI.

Can 7X57 be made from .308 Win brass?

Then it will easily out perform a 7mm-08 velocity wise

If you did the neck would be real short and have to fireform IIRC

I don't know how long it has been since I even scanned a "gun magazine" but I think that the 7 X 57 is around 125 years old and probably not the current "rage" but my best guess is that it will get the job done just fine.

Ever hear of a fellow named W. D. M. Bell? It was his favorite elephant rifle. Ivory hunter. Get the book.

The original post mentioned 7 X 57 AI, is this Ackley Improved? This may be a bit of a problem as now you can't use factory ammo. Potential buyers are now restricted to those hand loaders who are comfortable fire forming their own brass, however 100 cases will outlast the barrel.

You can still get 7X57 factory ammo, AI version just needs fireforming to get the brass.

If the accounts I have read are correct Bell killed most of his elephants with 303 British, 275 Rigby whih is the same thing as 7X57 and the 6.5X54 MS.

I have a 275 Rigby and a couple 7mm-08s no animal will ever tell the difference when shot with either one IMO

At the end of the day the chambering is really a roll of the dice, IMO. I think most folks who would lay out the cash for a custom usually know about cartridges, and all I really know is that being a 7x57 would be no turnoff for me. It really would depend on whether I really liked the rifle. Chambering does influence my own buying to a certain extent, but I'm sure everyone has their own way of seeing it. And seeing it is key...

agree

I wish I would be able to look forward even 50 years and see what the status of the 6.5 Creedmore is??? Some calibers are true die hards and seem to live forever, others are a flash in pan. As shooters we are ALWAYS looking for something better for one reason or another. I am a hunter and from a personal standpoint the 30-06 will never be outdone, with the bullets available today, it will take anything on the NA continent and a lot of animals on the African continent.

I think the Creedmoor will be around but my prediction is Remington will discontinue the .260 then come out with the 6.5 Remington Express and say it’s a 6.5 based off the .308 case and market it with heavy high BC bullets.

Not a bad prediction.

Of course, Hornady did knock it out of the park with the Creedmoor. Take a .308 case, neck it down, give it a shoulder like a Creedmoor (we're approaching .260 A.I.) and it'll hold more powder, and make more velocity. But, if they're smart, there will be less free bore than a 6.5 Creedmoor has.

Remington is good at screwing things up, though. So I don't know what they will build as an answer to the 6.5 Creedmoor.

7mm Creedmoor is next

on the 7x57, be patient, post it with lots of pictures and groups it has shot. there will be a buyer. just like the 7mmWSM I had built, full custom top to bottom.

I built it to shoot f-class and 400 yard clays. I CHOSE a single shot set up like the benchresters do. never thinking about resale. I had tons of buyers but when the found out it was single shot, it cost me about $1k when I sold it. guy in Oklahoma bought it and killed a huge elk the first time out.

it will sell

Never underestimate Remington's ability to turn a silk purse into a sow's ear. I seriously believe Remington's screwups would make a great case study on 'how not to do things."

Buzzsaw, I have not made a decision yet as to selling it or trading it. Been too busy getting ready for a PD shoot in late June. Right now it is setting in the safe. I was very frustrated when my wife told me it was just to big for her to handle so I got her a Rem. Mountain rifle in guess what--- 7x57. She loves it and can handle it fine.

7X57 is the round Eleanor O'Connor used mostly for what ever large game she was hunting from what I remember reading. Got the job done then and still does today

The wife took the 7x57 Mountain rifle to Montana this fall for our elk hunt, no luck with the elk but she did drop a nice WT at approx. 200 yds in his tracks. The guide was taken back with her shooting and the cartridge. He had never heard of the 7x57, didn't want to admit it but his reaction when told what it was showed he didn't know about it.

Would not be wise. Not enough case capacity to do well.

What would be wise, is brass makers and rifle builders to make 7mm-08 Ackley Improved. 280 A.I. brass exists, damn shame the only way to get 7mm-08 A.I. is fire or hydro-forming.

7x57AI would be between the 7mm-08 AI and the 280AI, not a bad place to be on the cartridge list

fps, fps+, fps++

I agree. You could title it, "This is what happens when you give the bean counters too much say."

Doesn't mean they won't do it to make a buck now that they have name recognition. Maybe they will reintroduce the 30 TC as a 30 Creed.

the exchanges on Sniper's Hide and Long Range Hunting are the standards I use for judging the custom rifle used market.

Their new cartridge is the 6.5 PRC.

Maybe, but not a lot of guys serious enough about shooting to buy/build a semi-custom don't load. Yes I know the 65CM can shoot factory ammo well, currently it can help end hunger and is reducing global warming too. Reality is most serious shooters with 65cm load. I just don't see a guy buying a semi-custom and then buying ammo at Walmart for it.

I give it a big fat MEH.

I pretty much give them all a big fat meh.
There hasn’t been a truly revolutionary hunting cartridge come out in the past 30 years, with the possible exceptions of the short magnums (new in design only, not performance) and the .17WMR.
Errybody fire-forming this and “AI”-ing that just to get the same performance already found in another caliber - especially if you’re not a recoil wimp.

Don't knock it until you try it. YMMV but you have made it pretty clear where you stand. Others may not share that same opinion. Let it be.

Just curious - if you could spec out a revolutionary new hunting cartridge, what type of requirements would be important for you?