I've been considering sending my Marlin Guide Gun t one of these two places to have it done up right.

The Yobo consist of:

* Shorten and recrown barrel at 16.5"
* Custom LPA ghostring sight installation with winged post front sight
* Barrel mounted Picatinny rail
* Enlarged lever loop
* Smooth all ports, inside and out
* Modify loading gate for easier loading/unloading/downloading
* Extensive action smoothing
* Trigger job
* Bobbed hammer
* Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad
* Leather butt cuff ammunition carrier
* Complete action dehorning
* Satin matte metal prep and blueing

All for about $1500.00 I also like their sidesling mount (not shown).

A pic:

yost-bonitz.com/mediumfoto/photos/biglewie/biglewie2.jpg

The WWG consist of:

Barrel length 18.5 inches
Recoil Control Porting System
Straight style Wood Stock Cut to Your Length of Pull
Pachmayr Decelerator pad
Action tuned for reliability
WWG Trigger Happy Kit installed and set at approx. 3lbs
Safety Vented Magazine Tube
WWG Ghost Ring Rear Sight
Williams Fire Sight in red with skeletonized hood
Mil-Spec Parkerized finish or Bead Blasted Stainless
Test Fired
AND its rechambered to .457 Wild West Mag which will still chamber .45-70

Retail price here is $1320.00

I can't find a decent pic of a WWG Guide Gun.

My problem is I kinda like the Yobo package better if only I could get it chambered in .457 WW Mag.

What do you all think?

I know Yobo posts here on ARFCOM but don't know his/her screenname.

Thoughts?

Price difference doesn't matter much to me but it seems like you get much more bang for your buck with WWG. However, I've heard they are assholes to deal with. I'd like to be able to shoot .457 WWM tough, can anyone do that chambering and stll have it work well with a .45-70 load? Are there any downsides to it? Wil it hurt .45-70 performance? I will be shooting .45-70 most of the time after all.

Is there anyone else out there I should consider?

If you want to spend a lot of money tuning up a Guide Gun you should also consider the work done by Brockman http://www.brockmansrifles.com/lever_action.asp That said, many of the modifications you are considering...
-Ghostring sight with winged post front sight
-Barrel mounted scope rail
-Enlarged lever loop
-Leather butt cuff ammunition carrier
-Pachmayr Decelerator pad
-WWG Trigger Happy Kit
...can be done from home with a screwdriver and a credit card.

Why in the hell would anyone get a 45-70 rechambered to 457 WWG Magnum? All one needs is a modification to the Marlin 1895 action to cycle 2.67" COAL rounds. The standard Marlin 1895 45-70 throat is long enough to handle that length of cartridge with any bullet. The 45-70 at 2.67" COAL is indistiguishable performance wise from the 457 WWG Mag. Expensive 457 WWG Mag brass is unnecessary. I would go with Reeder, Brockman, Clements or Clay and ask them to modify the action to cycle the longer rounds as described by M.L. McPherson in the October 1998 issue of Precision Shooting. Dave Clay is right in your neck of the woods.

David Clay
DRC Armaments
4201 E. Renfro Rd.
Alvarado, TX 76009
1-817-783-6099

http://www.clementscustomguns.com/

http://www.reedercustomguns.com/