found a remington custom shop rifle chambered in 300 ultra mag. it basically looks like a bdl action in a laminated stock. what makes the custom shop guns cost so much?? anyone had much exp. with remingtons custom shop? thankyou

What makes Remingtons custom shop rifles so special?............ Nothing.

Money better spent elswhere.

Ditto smallfry

Not EXACTLY nothing...they have a marketing dept. good enough to convince some to pay way too much for too little. Once upon a time, components were graded during manufacturing and the best of the best (in terms of tolerance) were culled for the custom shop guns. You got a gun that had a better probability of being great than buying from the general production but the best custom shop guns were in no way better than the best production guns. (I'm excluding the 40XB and company fron this diatribe). Now what you get is certain styles of ordinary guns not offered for regular production; in other words cosmetics. The guys in the custom shop may be competent but I don't think their management is concerned about the same things they might be. Some of you may remember that a while back retail for the custom shop gun was around $800.00 which was reasonable for the amount hand work that went in to them. Then these marketing guys realized that the people who bought custom shop guns were buying bragging rights more than anything and would pay $1400 to $1600 because the more cash, the more "rights". It's a free market economy so more power to them.

Forget the custom shop hype.

If you are lucky the caliber you want is available in an older Remington classic, and you can find one NIB or near to it. They are much better guns than any of the new Remingtons in my view.

My .300 H&H Mag only cost me $650 NIB. hate to think what it would cast IF you could even get it in a custom shop version!

1B

NOTHING they think we are stupid or somthing a few years ago most of those guns were avalable in bdl model and that is half of the price or more. They really piss me off . look at the 416 that could have been had for around 650.00 till it went to the custom shop. what a bunch of bull. I hope the cheap sobs choke on them .

They're not very special. You could just buy a BDL, have a nice aftermarket trigger and barrel installed, and end up with a better rifle for less money. A lot of the calibers/options that you now have to go to the custom shop for were once available on the standard production rifles. It seems like the trend with almost all gunmakers is that you pay more, and get less .

[ 11-20-2003, 21:20: Message edited by: kjjm4 ]

I have never owned a remington made after the 788, so this is just my logic.

Maybe the custom shop charges that much because they make sure to: make the chamber to spec, not oversize, drill and tap in straight and inline, install a trigger that is safe, and put that little sako extractor on it? :-)

Just joking around fellas. :-)

Red

I'll just go back and agree with Smallfry!

................. NOTHING!...............

Hey hvyw8t, Interesting responses to your question.

For the eight of you that have responded, I apparently overlooked one item I would consider very relevant in your posts, how many of you have had a Remington Custom Shop rifle or currently own one?

I feel sure your responses will carry a bit more impact if you base the input you've already given in relation to how much you have shot a Remington Custom Shop rifle, reloaded for it and hunted with it. Basically, are you speaking from "hands-on experience"?

...

And hvyw8t, I've got two of them. I've not had mine as long as perhaps the previous posters, cause I've had one about 12 years and the other one 10 years. That could be wrong by a year or so, but long enough to give you some actual "first-hand experience" information.

I did not Order mine. A fairly local Gun Shop was at one of the Charlotte Gun Shows and I asked him if he had one of the then newly re-released 350RemMags in a M7KS. He didn't, but happened to have a 7mm-08 M7KS and showed it to me.

After some trading, I ended up with it. It has been one of the easiest rifles to reload for I've ever had. I've got more bullets through it than any other rifle I currently own and just don't remember any bad groups out of "maybe" 2500-3000 shots. It loves H414 with any bullet I've tried in it. In fact, it is the reason I went to Moly Coating bullets to try and extend the life of it's barrel. I really do not look forward to the day it will need a new barrel.

After I got it, Mr. Tobias started looking for the 350RemMag I'd originally asked him about. He called me one day and told me to bring my checkbook, cause he had something he was sure I'd want. Also took some more trading bait and ended up with the 350RemMag M7KS.

It has been another rifle that has been very easy to get good accurate Loads developed for. One 35cal Load it really likes put 9-shots "totally inside" a 1" square block over the course of a day. Don't know if I could duplicate it again today or not. I know the rifle is capable, but my concentration isn't as good as it used to be. Huuuum, maybe because of shooting it too much.

Absolutely great lightweight and highly accurate rifles. And of course, they both have the Excellently Designed, totally SAFE Remington factory triggers which are simply outstanding.

...

Nothing at all wrong with less expensive rifles, I have quite a few. And even have some that are more expensive. No way to know if the M700KS you spotted will be a great rifle or not without owning it and developing Loads for it though. Each rifle is different in how well they shoot.

Likewise there is normally nothing wrong with "some" of the Custom rifles either. With them you can specify the exact barrel length, contour and even have the Throat reamed for a specific bullet. Basically you get to pick how you want it built and with the exact components- "IF" you go to the right Gun Smith.

2, HotCore and they were nice rifles back then. The first was a "C" model with beautiful wood, second was a Mannlicher Mod 7 Lam that I made a bunch on when the price skyrocketed. I just don't think today's are worth the new price.

30 years ago you could get lefthanded guns in calibers not listed as lefties in the production guns.

I have owned two custom shop guns-a model 7fs in 7mm-08 and a 40xbks in 6mmrem.Both were well made with the 7mm-08 grouping under 1" and the 40xbks consistantly grouping under 1/2".The 40xbks has by far the most consistant trigger that I have ever used that came from one of the major manufacturers.

The most common KS rifles you see around are the Mountain Rifle and the AWR. I've owned both.

You pay for a different barrel contour and stock (and finish in the case of the AWR until this year).

I've also sold several of the above models, and usually had to go shoot them when the customers came back cussing about the 4" groups they were getting. All required a bedding job to get them to shoot well.

The stocks and barrel contour options are valid, but the workmanship is no better than a factory gun, which isn't saying much. I agree with most of the previous posts...your money is better spent elsewhere, unless you really like the "shape" of the gun (like I did with the AWR in 300 Weatherby).

Exactly what I expected to hear, those of you who own them, think they are above average rifles. Personally, I have had great results with all my Remington's I own. The fact that they are made in the USA, and dont look like they were put together using a cresent wrench, I find appealing in my sporting rifles also.

I'm not bashing Remingtons. I own a 700 ADL of early 80s vintage in .22-250, and it shoots great (1/2 MOA). For the most part, I feel the same way about all the factory "custom shop" guns. You don't get a whole lot more than you get with a standard rifle off the factory floor. Most Remingtons are good guns. I've shot 8 or 9 of them, and none didn't produce groups of 1 1/2" or better at 100 yards; even the cheap-looking synthetic stocked ADLs of current production shoot good. I just can't justify double the price for a rifle that is functionally the same.

I'll jump into this fray and report that at the gunshop I do my gun shopping at a fellow ordered a Rem.Custom Shop in 458 Win. and the scope mount hole were drilled off center so they send it back and Remington replaces it with another which was drilled wrong also.
I went back in later and saw a beautiful Ruger RSM in 416 Rigby getting a scope mounted.I inquired and found out from the owner about the 2 Rem.Custom Shop rifles mentioned above.So I would say judging from these 2 rifles that there is nothing special about the Rem.Custom Shop except that they aparently can't seem to drill the things right.

I have owned one custom shop rifle. It was a Mod 7 in 350REM MAG. 20" bbl kevlar stock. I really liked the rifle and the caliber. It shot factory 200 and 250 gr. and reloads very well even at 200 yards. It was a joy to carry and I did not find the recoil to be significantly more than my Moc 7's in 308.
It had one fault. It fed factory ammo fine, but the shoulders on reloaded cases were just enough bigger that they would jump out of the magazine [porpoise?] almost every time when the shell fed from the right side of the magazine.
I sold it to a friend who did not reload. Along with a near hunting lifetime supply of 200 amd 250gr handloads.
If it did not have this problem I would have kept it. I really loked the way it handled with the Kevlar stock. With good 250gr bullets I considered it powerful enough for even Big Bears and any plains game.
I replaced it with a SAKO Handy rifle 20" [factory McMillian stock] in 375 H&H.

I ordered a 8mm Rem Mag from their custom shop about 15 years ago. I'm not exactly sure I understood what I ordered, so some of it was my fault, I guess. What I got was nothing more than a trued action that was glass bedded (very poorly I might add) into the sorriest piece of wood I've ever seen on a rifle. The wrist of the grip was tiny and the crossbolt was right at the taper, designed to fail in my opinion. There were machining marks all over the action. No mention of Custom or custom shop anywhere on the rifle. The only marking on the barrel was a barely legible stamp of 8mm Rem Mag. The crown was the same as any ADL or BDL. I wasn't real happy, but thought if it would shoot, I could live with it.

After a good cleaning, I took it out and shot it to sight in. I was using Remington factory ammunition, 220 grain Core-lokts. Yes, I checked the screws before shooting. On the 3rd shot, something did not feel right. I examined the rifle carefully and noticed a huge split in the stock. I sent it back to Remington, 9 months later I got my rifle back. I paid shipping both ways. This time the stock let go on the first shot. Again, I sent it back to Remington, me paying the shipping. I spoke with the Custom shop and we talked at length about the stock design and the reasons for failure. I asked if they could put a different designed stock on it, one that was beefed up through that area. No was the answer. Asked if they would put one of their Kevlar stocks on it, then. Yes, they could, but it would cost an addition $600!!! Even though I had only been able to shoot this rifle 4 times in a year after I paid for it in full. Customer service was non-existent.

6 months later, I got the rifle back and the stock failed again. I don't even remember now which shot it was. I called the custom shop again, told them what happened, got the same story. Asked if they would pay the shipping this time. No. I told them at that time, that would be the last penny Remington would ever see from me. I bought an aftermarket stock, bedded it and sold it at a gunshow. Bought a Ruger 338, scope and custom mounts with the proceeds and have never looked back.

Bottom line as far as I'm concerned, I'll never buy another Remington anything.

i have 4 ks's & think they are a good deal.. i have bought 3 1st year production with the brown precision stock for $600, 575 & 328 on the internet.. they all shoot well in fact 1 in 30'06 is now my main hunting rifle..the 4 th is a current production in 35 whelen and shoots around a inch with no development work..