What would you fellow hunters and rifle afficianados suggest. Be sure to include input on scopes and loads in your thinking too.
A couple of outfits that I am very interested in is the H-S Precision semi-production rifle in the 6.5-284 Norma( I think? this round would be adequate for elk) w/ a Leupold 2.5-10x Leupold LPS and I love the classic lines of the Dakota rifles. Maybe a Model 76 in .300 Dakota w/ a 4.5-14x Leupold LRF scope.
Thanks 4 the input,
and Good Shooting
HBB

Spend about a month looking for and talking to gunsmiths in your area, and on the internet, then decide. I think a custom Mauser (or M70 classic for +$300) working rifle with a Kreiger or Cutrifle barrel in an old-fashioned caliber like 30-06 is a VERY good place to start. I'm not talking about a $4000 rifle. You will be surprised at how reasonable they can get.

I am partial to a cut rifled barrel as they seem to be less picky about load and bullet than any others. But the Shilens, Harts, Pac-Nors, Douglass etc, are all yards better than the factory barrels.

You are likely to spend the cost of a custom barrel tinkering around trying to find a good load for a factory barrel.

Talk to (I know I'll leave somebody out - no offense) John Ricks, Craftsman, Duane, Bill Leeper, etc, on the Gunsmith forum before you leap.

I know the 30-06 does not sound sexy or modern, but it is still very hard to beat for an all-around North American rifle. I don't think you will regret getting it first.

Don

Thirty years ago I gulped and handed over ~$100 for my first .30-06 & Tasco scope. Today, the gunsmith is trueing & tuning a M70 classic action & trigger for me, attaching a Lilja stainless, fluted barrel and chambering it in a snug .30-06. Along with Tally rings and bases the whole thing gets sent off to be Tef-Coted in OD Green. It then will be bedded in a McMillan stock and topped with a VariX-III 2.5-8/Premier 4a reticle. Price for the whole shebang: ~$2500.

Ouch!!

Educate yourself on 'scopes, rings & bases then buy the very best you can afford. That setup can stay with you through many, many rifles. I suggest you start looking at Leupold.
I recommend you look at a .30 caliber from any of the Big 3 (Win, Rem, Ruger) which will cover all your hunting needs until you decide to get into the specialty game. If you buy from one of the Big 3 then down the road that rifle can be handed to a gunsmith for accurizing. Later still, that action can be the basis for your 'gotta have' custom rifle.
You should be able to do that plus get a heap 'o ammo for the money.

Just beware of the rifle-o-meter...

[This message has been edited by Puddle (edited 08-28-2001).]

I personally would buy one of the Ruger Safari models with quarter rib, barrel band front sight and Circasian walnut..That is a close to a true custom rifle as you will get...

Another option is to buy a m-70 and have it glassed, custom whatever..fix it up yourself.

But you have to remember I'm not a fan of plastic and stainless steel, guns that look like my wifes toaster or can openner.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

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To be old and wise.....first you have to be young and stupid!

Eropean rifles are simply better out of the box,
And you won�t need to customize them.

Zeiss, Svarvosky or Smide und Bender scopes and you have the best scopes on the market.

Einar Icelander.

There is no doubt about it that a true Custom from one of the premier makers will go up in value. But spending $3K-$4K for your neighborhood Smith or another "unknown" to build a rifle is IMHO a total waste of money. I really stay away from CUSTOM anything. I may just have been unlucky, I'm not the sharpest gun trader, BUT every time I do anything with the title "Custom" attached to it......I lose money.

My other $ .02 worth of wisdom concerns doing a deer rifle with the idea of maybe someday doing elk with it, so you end up with a .30 when you maybe wanted a .243 or .257, etc. I would build this rifle for what YOU want, worry about elk later. An elk hunt is a great excuse to buy another rifle, a great place for a SS/plastic gun anyway. Horses,scabbards and camp life are no place for a beautiful rifle. Thats what the PVC rifles are made for.

Good Luck........Frank N.

Before anyone should build a custom gun, they should start with a known quantity, ie factory gun, though I'd say have a competent smith tune the trigger, shoot and hunt with it for a few years, and at the end of that time, they will know exactly what they do and don't like with the factory rig, and can then have what they really want built. You will also be in the work force a few years, and can afford to get what you want as well.

I think there are two reasons you see many used customs on the market, #1 is that most folks don't budget enough money for the project, so don't get what they really want, and #2 is, they don't know exactly what they want to start out with, and by the time they learn what that is, they've forked out several $'s to find out what they got ain't it.

A true custom includes a stock built to fit you, and that alone would swallow your budget. Most folks never see the value in having this done, so just customize a rifle, but no matter how good the barrel blank, or how carefully its assembled, if the gun doesn't fit you, you are only getting a fraction of the performance available.

I bought a very nice one recently in 35 whelen for next to nothing, FN M98 action polished and reblued with a douglas barrel and in a very nice walnut stock.

And Ray, don't you think the Ruger Safari Express is just a tad heavy. I think they are a really nice rifle, but the barrel profile seems very heavy for the calibre.
I love the magnum mauser action and the general quality of the rifle just the weight seems a tad excessive.
I think the Win 70 Classic Express is almost as nice, wood not up to the same standard but certainly cheaper as well.

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A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed !!

quote:

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Originally posted by John S:
As Ray pointed out, your dollar limit takes you out of a true custom rig, those start around $2500 for a glass gun with all the goodies.
For the dollar figure you gave, I would buy a new M70 Super Grade and have it "touched up" by a top class 'smith. Do the works, lap the lugs, true the action, square the bolt face, etc and then have him bed the metal into the stock using pillars. I'd spend anything left over on the best scope that amount would buy.

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