I posted this under the American Hunting Forum also but I felt as though I should post this here as well since many who hunt in Africa are international and may be interested in one of D'Arcy's rifles



I post this experience for anyone seriously interested in owning any custom rifle or an Echols rifle out of my own desire to share what a positive experience it has been for me.


In 2000 I decided to purchase a custom hunting rifle. I ran across the usual names and looked and looked. I believe it was Allen Day (now deceased) who eventually referred me to D'Arcy Echols. I did not know Allen or D'Arcy at the time, only Allen's reputation on the internet hunting forums and what I could find about D'Arcy.

So I called D'Arcy and we talked for a while about what kind of hunting I did and what I planned to do in the future and my experience level with rifles and firearms in general. At the time I knew nothing about a rifle except where the trigger was located and I wasn't sure about that.

D'Arcy is very straight forward and will tell you what he can and can't do or won't do. In other words there is no pretending he is going to give you one thing and then you get something else. You get what he promises you will get.

Even though I knew a lot less than I thought I did about rifles D'Arcy never talked down to me or tried to show me how little I knew. Instead he said before he would sell me a rifle but I had to call 10 of his references first.

At this point I had already decided to purchase an Echols rifle but I called all of his references anyway. It was quite a mix of people who owned his rifles and they all gave excellent reviews of D'Arcy the man and D'Arcy the rifle maker.

Before, during and after construction of the rifle, D'Arcy also offered to have me fly to Utah and spend a day or several days visiting with him and shooting it at the range. I finally settled on 300 Winchester Mag after much mental gymnastics. I don't know how many times I called D'Arcy and his shop asking question after question but they never seemed upset and never rushed me along.

So I ordered a Legend and about 6 months to 1 year later I got it. Of course many phone calls were made along the way at key points of updating during the construction. The rifle arrived in a Kalispel case with instructions on how to care for it and with targets shot by D'Arcy to demonstrate what the rifle was capable of and it is a sporter weight DRILL.

Well I fully intended to visit D'Arcy but life got in the way. Over the course of ownership I took the rifle to Canada a few times and many times deer hunting in my own state. BTW, some of the references for guides to hunt with in Canada came from D'Arcy which he did on his own with NO prompting from me....and they were excellent references.

At this point I had spoken to D'Arcy several times on the phone during the construction of my rifle and a few times afterwards with some emails. Fast forward 13 years

Via email D'Arcy invites me to a speaking engagement he has in Maryland last summer. I happen to be traveling there with my family anyway so I get to attend. Free food, beer and talking about guns and hunting...what could be better? I finally get to meet D'Arcy in person. He has two beautiful rifles there and gives a detailed 30 minute powerpoint presentation on the construction of his rifles.

After the presentation I am looking at D'Arcy's rifles and out of the blue he invites me to Utah to his shop AGAIN to visit with him and to shoot with him at a local range. 13 years later!!!

Well an opportunity comes to visit Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele Utah (Tooele is pronounced 'too well uh' as far as I can tell). So a few months before the trip to Tooele I coordinate a visit with D'Arcy.

What do you know he is a man of his word. He sets aside a whole day to meet with my wife and I, and Completely unsolicited he takes my wife and I out to dinner the evening before.

The following day we visit his shop. I've never been to a rifle builder's shop and frankly D'Arcy's shop was much smaller than I expected but apparently greatness is born out of a humble place. It is typical of a small craftman's shop with some machinery and lot of hard earned experience and knowledge. After spending a couple of hours with D'Arcy and Brian at the shop we go to the range.

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To check zero after the flight we shoot a 3 shot group off the bench at 100yds using a factory Remington Safari load with 200 gr Swift A frames. Rounds go into between 1/2" and 3/4" just like always as this rifle likes this round. My best with this rifle off the bench is a handload with RL-22 and Nosler 180gr partitions which will do 1/4" at 100yds. I did not have any of these handloads available so I took the Remingtons. We then moved the target to the 300yds where a 3 shot group was just over an 1".


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I have not had the opportunity to shoot field positions at 300yds before so it was a new and humbling experience for me. D'Arcy provided me with coaching, encouragement and the necessary level of BS and also gave me a new found sense of urgency to find a 300 yd range to shoot at.

He and I spent the whole day together and while I am sure he had a lot of work to do it always felt like two friends just spending the day together shooting the bull, talking rifles and shooting. D'Arcy talked to me exactly the same as the day I called his shop to order it 13 years ago.

Finally my normal life had to resume and so sadly I left Utah to return home but that trip was just tremendous and I can't wait to go back to Utah. I can't say enough about how beautiful that country is and how much fun I had there. Kudos to Southwest Airlines too. Only one delayed flight and my rifle was delivered as given to them.

My advice to anyone looking to purchase a custom rifle to hunt anywhere in the world or if you just want to own a finest quality firearm because you love them......give D'Arcy a call.

I have bought and sold some toys but I have never ONCE considered selling my Echols Legend and have always considered it an heirloom. To D'Arcy's dismay I try to keep it in immaculate condition but I have hunted with it on warm sunny days and days close to or just below 0 and snowing. When it comes time to pull the trigger it has never let me down. When I am going on a hunt requiring a rifle it is the ONLY rifle I reach for.

I have purchased some toys in my life that cost far more money but I have never been treated better or felt like I got more for my time and money than I have with my D'Arcy Echols Legend. If I have a question about it or where to hunt or with whom D'Arcy is just an email or phone call away.

In my opinion there is not a finer rifle builder than D'Arcy Echols.

I've talked with D'Arcy on the phone and we've PM'd on this site.

Fine fellow.

Ben,

+1. I've known D'Arcy for about the same length of time and have added several of his rifles to my vault. I have never questioned the reliability of the rifles in less than perfect weather conditions! They may be heirlooms, but they sure are fun to hunt with.

Bryan

quote:

Originally posted by Ben S:

In my opinion there is not a finer rifle builder than D'Arcy Echols.

It's time I relate to everyone what a great rifle mechanic I believe D'Arcy and Brian to be.

Some background first. I have two rifles with names; 'Betty' is a 264 that my dad won in a 25cent raffle in 1963 and 'Susie' is a 375 H&H that I found in an estate sale several years ago. 'Betty' was my everything rifle from the time I graduated high school until I got my son out of high school and could finally afford to start buying some other stuff. I took 'Susie' to Oz just after buying it and fell in love with it over there.

A couple of years ago while hunting in CAR 'Susie' developed a problem with the safety. When I got home I started looking for somebody who (a) had or could get parts and (b) had a reputation for being able to successfully repair old Model 70s. While there are some very competent mechanics locally, I consider them to mostly be remington mechanics and I didn't want to trust 'Susie' to one of them. The internet search began and I talked to some very competent smiths that either didn't want "repair" work or, after a brief phonecon, I decided against. When I called D'Arcy he said something to the effect of "I don't know if I can fix it but I'll take a look". I decided to trust him and boxed 'Susie' up. About a week later he called and said it was fixed and he was sending it home. When I got it, it was fixed. No BS, just a straightforward repair job on my pride and joy. OH yeah, forgot to mention, he sent the rifle and then later sent me a very reasonable bill for the repair after he was sure that I was satisfied.

Fast forward a couple more years and after a very satisfactory hunt for duikers and such in RSA, 'Betty' all of a sudden quits shooting. She couldn't keep 3 shots on paper at 100. I have no clue how many coyotes, deer, elk, doodad, and other stuff 'Betty' has accounted for over the years but I know I shot her a good bit when I was messing around with the 1000yd crowd. Probably something waywayway over the life expectancy of any barrel, much less an old Mod 70 with a poor reputation for barrel longevity. I considered "Ghostbusters" and even bought a new Supergrade 264 but it wasn't the same. I wanted 'Betty' back. So I called D'Arcy and he said "I don't know if I can fix it but I'll take a look". 'Bout a week later he calls and grumbles about the "crud" that had built up on the stock (shit happens when you haul it around in the ranch truck and saddle scabbard) and says she needs a new barrel and this is where life got more complicated. Since I had a custom stock, D'Arcy was going to have to match the contour almost perfectly and I just knew this 'was too hard to do'. Not to fear he says, I can do it but it will take a while as my barrel maker is backed up, give me about 6 months. I told him if he could do it to get after it and not to worry if it took a year. Sure as it never rains around here, about 6 months later D'Arcy calls and wants to know what bullets I usually shoot so he can throat the barrel for that bullet. A couple of weeks later he calls and tells me he's shipping me my rifle, to let him know what I think. When 'Susie' arrived, it was like she never left except now she shoots little bitty groups. D'Arcy and Brian matched the barrel to the stock perfectly and did this challenging job very reasonably I beleive. I had a little trouble getting the scope to zero so D'Arcy said to send her back and he'd make it right. Some technical stuff happens when you perfectly match the action to the barrel that results in the scope mounts not aligning the way they did before. 47 other mechanics would not have been able to solve something like this but D'Arcy did it in less than a week.

Not to steal Ben S's thunder but in my opinion there is not a finer rifle mechanic than D'Arcy Echols. (Hope he don't get mad at me for calling him a mechanic.) He and I have discussed him bringing his daughter down for a doodad and I can't wait to go hunting with them.

Great stuff and nice to hear. One day an Echols Legend will grace my gun safe!