Allen and Wayne, You are both 100% about D'Arcy's rifles. There are none better. However you don't always get what you pay for as you can spend almost as much and get a whole lot less. In the past two years I have seen two bolt handles come off of over-priced "big name" ultra light rifles and another that wouldn't extract reliably. (That was real fun on an expensive Alaskan Brown Bear hunt!)

I have to agree with Allen 110% on this one. Improving on a rifle built by D�Arcy is going to be awful tough if not impossible to accomplish. I have spent literally days and hundreds of dollars researching rifle builders across North America and if you want the pinnacle of absolute complete functional perfection in a big game rifle, Millville Utah is where its at. Period. That�s just how I feel about it.

I�ve had the opportunity to handle a few and shoot a couple of Echols �Legends� and �Classics�, along with an Echols Hagn single shot in progress, and fabulous is an understatement. One in particular was Allen Day�s 375 H&H, and for the person who travels and hunts the world, this rifle would fill every requirement and then some. With no need for anything else. In fact, other firearms of lesser quality in the safe would be an absolute nuisance at best. I personally would pair it with a 300 WM, and rid myself of anything else.

Accuracy is, in my mind, a non issue here as anyone who has shot one of D�Arcy�s rifles knows they �shoot� with boring consistency. Really, what more could you ask for? I have an acquaintance who has hiked over 100 miles twice to kill a couple of Dall Sheep in Northern BC and he makes a pretty good case for a light rifle. However, bolt handles popping off in that situation would be pretty tough to swallow, even if life and limb were not at stake.

None of this is to suggest there aren�t other fabulously talented gunsmiths out there. There are. But when it comes to a complete hunting package, an Echols built rifle is tough to beat, hunting both dangerous and non-dangerous game alike.

Chuck