Talked to AHR at the DSC last weekend. Anyone have experience with him or possibly suggesting someone to built a decent rifle without giving up my safari this summer to pay for the project? I have the wood and a old 700 action in .243. Thinking of going to the .260 or .308 caliber. Any suggestions or comments welcome. Thanks

Wayne is good to go and if you have a hunt scheduled he puts you on the short list.

Depends a lot on what you want done. I know a guy that will rebarrel a 700 for you for $110 and the cost of the barrel, not including postage, blue and sights. Will be a decent gun, he will square the action and do a decent chamber and crown. Not going to be a benchrest gun, though. Know another that will charge $250 plus the barrel cost, not including the blue, and will true the action face, lap the lugs, square the bolt, and guarantee 1/2 moa accuracy for 5 shots if you also have him glass bed the gun, at an additonal $50 or so. I have another I would not recommend that sent me a bill for $3300 for a rebarrel and barrel/action finish job. It's hard to imagine how incredibly good that gun ought to be!

None of these guys will do stock work. A lot, lot of the cost of a custom goes into the stock. Expect to pay substantially for that work, as it is time consuming. That's why you see so many aluminum bedded synthetic stocks on customs that guys are doing on a budget. They shoot well at a mass produced price.

You pays your money and takes your chances. Get references, talk to them about their experiences with the smith in communiction, quality, timeliness, and value. Get a written quote and time schedule of some kind (even an email) after the smith has seen your rifle and knows what he has to work with, and make sure you give written instructions of what work you approve to have done, at what cost. If the smith tells you, "your gun will need some tweaking to make it work, I'll just have to charge you a fair price at shop rates, whatever it takes", pay him to ship it back and buy a good one to start from. 700's are too cheap to pay $50 to $150 per hour to have a smith try to correct problems.

Post out what you are trying to accomplish, and there's many here who can give you recommendations.

dave

For timely and relatively inexpensive builds, AHR is very tough to beat.

The 700 AHR on the table there was mine. The Granite Mountain action added considerably to the cost, but a similar rifle on a CZ 550 or Montana PH would be a great DGR at a very reasonable cost.

quote:

Originally posted by sevenmagltd.:
Talked to AHR at the DSC last weekend. Anyone have experience with him or possibly suggesting someone to built a decent rifle without giving up my safari this summer to pay for the project? I have the wood and a old 700 action in .243. Thinking of going to the .260 or .308 caliber. Any suggestions or comments welcome. Thanks

If your in Texas-- check out

www.canyonsportingarms.com

Talk to Tip, it will not be a $110 dollar barrel job, but he does first rate work, and he pretty quick.

Ed

SSDave gave about as good of info as you're gonna get. Get it in writing and have it spelled out on both sides.
Get references and check them out. Fyi, the guy that does the barrel work doesn't have to be the guy (or girl) that does the stock work. If you are in a bind for time, have the barrel work done and hold off on the stock work until after your hunt.
Some women are doing some pretty impressive stock work.

Ask the gunsmith about his stock work. There are a lot of smiths who just don't do it, or may not focus on it. Remember you're talking about 2 different skills...metal machining and wood working. Think of it like a custom car, you're probably better off having an engine specialist do your engine work, and a body specialist smooth out and paint the body. There are plenty of wood specific stock guys and likely most gunsmiths have people they recomend for top quality wood work. If you're just talking a bit of fitting and bedding however, any smith worth his salt can do that.

I don't normally weigh in on this kind of thread, but in my opinion, there are too many really nice, accurate production European rifles to have one built.

Wayne put together an AHR upgrade on a CZ for me and I would be happy to use him again.

Apologies for my crummy picture.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Sullivan:
I don't normally weigh in on this kind of thread, but in my opinion, there are too many really nice, accurate production European rifles to have one built.

Jeff, that's true, but then you'll need to deal with hooked pistol grips and Schweinrücken buttstocks.


cheers,
- stu

Charles, That's what I want mine to end up like!! As far as just buying a new rifle, that's not what this is all about. This old 700 was the very first rifle I ever bought, I think around 1966 or 67. Killed my first deer with it. About 2000, I had a client I was guiding in Mexico who offered to have the gun fitted for my 7 year old son. He would replace the stock so it would fit his small frame. When I got the rifle back, the barrel had been cut to 18", muzzle brake added and the original stock was lost by the gunsmith. I was sick to say the least, but I only had myself to blame for not making myself clear. I couldn't blame my client because he meant well.
Because this was my first rifle, it has a lot of memories and would like to pass it on to my son. I bought a nice piece of turkish walnut from Adam with plans to make something special out of it. Hence, my search for a rifle builder. I'm a sucker for nice wood which is why I like Charles Helm's above!
Looks like I'm going to have to contact Wayne!! Thanks for all the advice!

For the money--

Sterling Davenport

I think you should consider Lon Paul.

quote:

Originally posted by Pegleg:
I think you should consider Lon Paul.

They don't come any better.

Maybe what we need is a better idea of the budget. I'm not sure all of the names mentioned are in the same price range.

I don't know where in Texas you are, but if you want someone fairly local that does great work, you might call John Maples. 713-412-5816

For what it's worth, if at all possible, select a smith that's within driving distance of you. It's a lot easier to bullshit somebody over the phone than over the counter.
Long story short, my bullshit detector went off and I drove 400 miles and asked to look at my rifle that was "coming along nicely". Actually, the look on the smith's face when I walked in and introduced myself was almost worth the drive.

quote:

Originally posted by sevenmagltd.:
Talked to AHR at the DSC last weekend. Anyone have experience with him or possibly suggesting someone to built a decent rifle without giving up my safari this summer to pay for the project? I have the wood and a old 700 action in .243. Thinking of going to the .260 or .308 caliber. Any suggestions or comments welcome. Thanks

I'm not sure where you are in Texas. If you are in the DFW area, I's recommend contacting Doc's Gun Shop in Carrollton. He's in the book. I've never had him build a rifle but he's done excellent work on everything I've asked. He's always about 3 months behind as are most good gunsmiths.


For a custom look stock, you might want to consider Accurate Innovations. They offer fully aluminum bedded actions on laminate and high grade walnut. They are building a stock for me off a beautiful pecan blank. http://accurateinnovations.com/

Just some suggestions. I'm certainly not an expert on custom guns. I'm just currently adding some custom features to a stock Ruger that shoots really well.

Wayne is top notch and built me an AHR 375 Magnum with an upgraded stock and GMA action in seven months and did an excellent job. Going back to him to build a Alaskan bear gun 416 Rigby with a CZ action in a synthetic stock.

Will also have a 600 OK built in the near future.

Wayne gets back to you on E-mail and telephone immedialely and I had a pending African hunt that I was using the rifle on.

Another builder kept stringing me along, and finally cancelled my order and went with Wayne. Gun is finely finished, shoots very accurate and was flawless in feeding and performance on the hunt.

Recommend him 100% and have had my share of problematic gun projects with several other builders.

I also founds that Wayne was easy to contact via email or phone, did what he said he would do, when he said he would do it, and for the amount he quoted.