I am a little miffed right now after having to return my MRC because they never checked the feeding or ejecting before it departed the factory.
It seems the more I spend the less I receive. The first custom rifle I purchased was a Brown Precision in 450 Ackley. Went to the range and it wouldnt feed anything unless I fed it one at a time. My next custom rifle was from Remington Customs shop. This one was a LH 375 H&H. First time trying to chamber a round and the bolt would not close. A trip back to the factory to have the chamber recut due to headspace being off. Next try was a W70 LH from there custom shop in 300 WM with the same headspace problem as the Remington. Finally the MRC, it will not feed or eject.
I can buy a plain jane factory rifle and it feeds and ejects and goes boom everytime I pull the trigger.
Is there some unwritten law that says the more we spend on a rifle the worse it will be?

Snowwolfe, Sad but your stories have a ring of familiarity to them. My business partner got his .375 Dakota safari years ago to top my Sako Safari. The rifle would ot fire with factory ammunition untill it had been returned to Sturgis! Insufficient firing pin protrusion, and only a $5,000. rifle. It never shot with anywhere near the accuracy of the Sako. Two things I have learned about spending on "quality" weapons; first see it in person first if new, and second, buy older known manufacturers wares. It isn't just you.

Snowwolfe
Your problems with bolt rifles sounds familar.

Thar is why I went to double rifles for dangerous game.

The only bolt rifle that I have had work 100% is the Blaser R 93.
[Sorry Johan, but it is true.]

If I were to buy an action from MRC with the thought of turning it into a big bore rifle I would have them ship the action a little way south to Dennis Olson and have him barrel it and check the feeding. He has barreled a pile of these actions and I am sure you would not be singing the same tune when you got it from him. In fact, if they would go along with it I would see if they would have him check and fix it.

If I decide to wait long enough for the P.H. action I have spoken for I know I will have them ship it directly to him. He is as good as there is when it comes to making a rifle feed and function reliably.

What do Brown Precision, Remington and MRC have in common? May I suggest German precision and attention to detail? HEYM.

quote:

It seems the more I spend the less I receive.

This is true of everything, not just guns! Almost invariably, makers of everything (at least in the U.S.) have forgotten about, or are too cheap to pay for, quality control - this means a human inspecting things after they're made, but before they leave the plant! It's much cheaper to let the customer discover if there's a glitch, then pretend to be concerned when the complaint comes in.......

I go with Idared, don't buy aftermarket without having a reputible 'smith on hand. In the case of the Remington, Winchester and Brown, that's disgusting!!!!! With the prices charged that's there best?

People like Brown, Dakota, and the Remington and Winchester "custom shops" do not make custom rifles. Sprinkling a little glitter on factory crap does not a custom rifle make. As noted by several posters above, you need a good gunsmith.

There are very few people who really know how to make a rifle feed properly, and their have huge backlogs of work. I suspect that none of those people work at Brown, Dakota, MRC or Winchester.

Custom work costs tremendously more than assembly line work. Whenever you get a "custom" gun built, unless the original facory magazine was properly designed, and you stick with the factory chambering or varient, then the custom needs to have a magazine, feed rails, extraction port etc properly made for the new round. Very few smiths do that work because most customers aren't willing to pay for this very expensive work. Also, most customers look no further than the groups they fire off the bench, so plenty of smiths can be kept busy by simply screwing on new tubes and saying, hey, look at great it shoots.

A tru DGR is a very expensive gun, because alot of work goes into making it flawless, testing to make sure it is flawless, and doing whatever work is required after testing to make it truly flawless.

Its kinda like cars. You can drop a few bucks to add some hp to the engine, but that doesn't make it a race car. To really be reliably fast and a complete package, that added hp needs mods to the driveline, suspension, tires, and reinforcing the chassis to take the exra loads. So while you can maybe doulbe the hp for say $3k, to take full advantage of the power and keep it all together, you might need to figure on $20k.

Same deal with rifles, any numbnuts with a late and reamer can put a new barrel on for $500. But is he capable and are you willing to put $1-2k into action mods to assure flawless functioning, and maybe $2k into a stock that fits you perfectly and will stand up to serious recoi?

You got what you paid for, but not what you wanted.

Paul,
You made some valid points. But every factory rifle I have owned has been more reliable than any custom or semi custom rifle I have owned and that is what torks me off.

I understand your frustration, as I've been there too.

What I'm saying is, put in the research as to the select few who actually build what you want, and be willing to fork out $5-10k to get it.

That is the problem with so many companies and small businesses in the USA today. They want you money but they do not deliver
If a company such as Remington, Winchester, Brown Precision, MRC, etc offers a barreled action or a rifle in a certain caliber for a certain price then you should get a functioning piece of machinery. It should feed, fire and eject, Period.
It may not be as fancy as a 10k rifle but it should work.

I have come to the solid conclusion that a majority of gun smiths are total retards.

HOW IN THE WORLD can somebody build something as exacting and meticulous as a rifle and then NOT CHECK IT FOR FUNCTION!!! GEEEZUSSS!! Of course that is after the obligatory two years past the promised completion date.

I've had a belly full of it with gunsmiths over the years.

The majority of gunsmiths I know are always moaning the same old tired weepy song. "I’ve no money and I’m 6 months behind." I’ve got a cure, COMPLETE A F’ING JOB ON TIME EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE AND DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! That’s how you get paid!

I guess I am just lucky.
The rifles I have had built, target or hunting, have fed well and been what I expected and paid for with one exception...a 50-110 M1886 Winchester clone built from a M71. The gunsmith is still "fussing" with getting the feeding right. The other rifles he has built me have been excellent examples of the gunsmiths art. It's a shame you guys are hung up on boltguns, if you ever bought a Shiloh Sharps or Meacham HiWall you would experience true quality and art in fine walnut and blued and browned steel.

regards,

Rich

Much like taking brand new car to a mechanic for a checkup, eh, stupid concept!