What is the cost of having a custom stock made?

Could you be any more vague?

Stocked by a prestigious craftsman/artist or an angry beaver.

Who supplies the exquisite blank or the to-be-gnawed cordwood?

I'd guess they start at around $3,000 and go up from there depending on wood type/grade and embellishments.

Awfully broad question, but Ahlman's checkering gives very reasonable starting price estimates on their website for custom stocks for various actions as well. From their website:

Deluxe Custom Restocking



870, Model 12 type shotguns.....$600.00 and up
Tanged actions - “A-5”, “94’s”, etc......$800.00 and up
Box lock doubles, Parker type.....$1,100.00 and up
Side lock doubles, LC Smith type.....$1,300.00 and up
Bolt action - includes glassbedding.....$1,000.00 and up
Other types - Thumbhole, etc. .....Price upon application

Then look at the Wenig's custom gunstocks website. Pick the kind of wood blank you'd be interested in. Call them and ask them to quote the style of stock you'd want them to route and whatever other services you'd want (checkering/finishing/etc). This will give you another data point for a semi-custom stock.

Moving to the higher end, 15 years ago a really top-notch stockmaker well-known in the ACGG was getting about $4K to do a complete finished stock not including the blank. This has likely increased significantly.

HTH.

The specific answer to your question is: $600 to $6000; Maybe more, maybe less, depending on 8 critical variables, none of which you specified.

This is like asking "How much does a new pick up cost"

Suggest you contact the stockmaker to find out.

Aaron Little just posted a custom stock..."150 hours"

Do the math ..even a minimum wage.

I never even make a suggestion of..say..engraving cost... This I do know...You can get shit engraving real cheap...same goes for all aspects of gun work, house painting, etc ,

Brings to mind the old saying "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it" I guess that doesn't apply to guns because we are all nuts.

Dave

A lot more then you well get for it when you go to sell the stock.

Anywhere from $4500-$8000 not including materials. There are some crazy people doing it cheaper, and some big names getting more.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
A lot more then you well get for it when you go to sell the stock.

Try selling the cost of a guided hunt on the secondary market.

At least when you have a rifle custom built you get to keep it regardless of weather you pulled the trigger on a guided hunt with it.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
A lot more then you well get for it when you go to sell the stock.

Yeah, and if you commission a custom, then go to sell it, whose fault is that? I mean, why commission something if not with the intent to keep it.

The reality is nothing used fetch's the original price on the used market. Buy a new car, drive it around the block, then try to sell it for what you just paid for it.

You buy something custom to suit your needs and typically because off the shelf items don't meet those needs.

quote:

Yeah, and if you commission a custom, then go to sell it, whose fault is that? I mean, why commission something if not with the intent to keep it.

You tell me they come up for sale fairly often here.

A lot of them barely or not used.

quote:

At least when you have a rifle custom built you get to keep it regardless of weather you pulled the trigger on a guided hunt with it.

That can be said about any firearm you brought and took on the hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Yeah, and if you commission a custom, then go to sell it, whose fault is that? I mean, why commission something if not with the intent to keep it.

You tell me they come up for sale fairly often here.

A lot of them barely or not used.

What do you do for a living????

I can't understand why every time pricing on custom guns comes up that there are those that show up to the keyboard and proclaim they're a complete waste of money. I would speculate that none of those lobbying for the elimination of the custom gun trade put their money down and have a custom built. After all there would be ZERO custom guns on the secondary market without clients willing to pay highly skilled individuals and patiently wait for their project to arrive..

If your purpose is to only purchase second hand at pennies on the dollar for someone else's vision then you will never appreciate the true value of a custom rifle. Assuming this, you should motivate more customs to be commissioned so there are more to flood the secondary market depressing that price.

quote:

The reality is nothing used fetch's the original price on the used market. Buy a new car, drive it around the block, then try to sell it for what you just paid for it.

The best value for many items can be had on the used market.

Thank you all for the response’s! Got what I needed!

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by gunmaker:

What do you do for a living????

still waiting for an answer

Almost all my shotguns and rifles were custom stocked. Over the years my old friend Gary Goudy built quite a number of stocks for me and charged $3000 to $4000, not including the price of the blank. Last year while visiting the shop in Oregon I asked James Tucker what he was currently charging for a custom rifle stock and he told me $6000. Of course, James is one of the finest stock makers currently working and Gary Goudy is retired from making guns.

So I'm thinking that you should be prepared to spend from $4500 to $8000 including blank to get a true custom stock built for you out of a quality blank.

quote:

Originally posted by gunmaker:

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by gunmaker:

What do you do for a living????

still waiting for an answer

Your job is to convince people to buy your product. I have no problem with that.

I wish you all the best in that.

The more people who buy brand new is better for people like me who buy used.

That doesn't change the economics of the situation.

Numbers are numbers.

I am just a retired old fart now.

With a small firearm/self-defenses training business on the side.

It's just as hard to convince people to give me their money as it is for you to convince them to give you their money.

In my other life I was a deputy sheriff and a state trooper for 33 years.

If you want something and can afford it, buy it. It's your money and how you spend it is nobodies business but your own.

Dave

Curious: This "small business" sounds like a write off for a hobby???

One must appreciate that a custom stock and rifle (shotgun pistol, too) is not a matter of need. It is simply a desire to own an individually crafted object of quality made to one's own specifications. It is no more a rational dollars-and-sense affair than buying a $5k Rolex when a $19.95 Walmart special will suffice or paying $thousands for a priceless antique vase when a 99-cent plastic jug would fulfill the same function.

Custom stocks aren't for everyone. Neither are Rolexs or Rolls Royces. That is not to say all of these should not be appreciated for what they are even if one cannot afford them. It's all about craftsmanship, a vanishing commodity in today's economy, and the desire to have something made for yourself. Were function all important, we all would be shooting plastic stocked Savages and driving VW Beetles. Fortunately, the market can accommodate both the bare bones functional and artistic rendering of the same object.

Cheers from Georgia.

Roger

And one cannot put a price on "pride of ownership"

quote:

Originally posted by RogersGunWorks:
One must appreciate that a custom stock and rifle (shotgun pistol, too) is not a matter of need. It is simply a desire to own an individually crafted object of quality made to one's own specifications. It is no more a rational dollars-and-sense affair than buying a $5k Rolex when a $19.95 Walmart special will suffice or paying $thousands for a priceless antique vase when a 99-cent plastic jug would fulfill the same function.

Custom stocks aren't for everyone. Neither are Rolexs or Rolls Royces. That is not to say all of these should not be appreciated for what they are even if one cannot afford them. It's all about craftsmanship, a vanishing commodity in today's economy, and the desire to have something made for yourself. Were function all important, we all would be shooting plastic stocked Savages and driving VW Beetles. Fortunately, the market can accommodate both the bare bones functional and artistic rendering of the same object.

Cheers from Georgia.

Roger

Well written!

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Curious: This "small business" sounds like a write off for a hobby???

Sounds like some smiths I have known.

And more then a few FFL holders

quote:

Sounds like some smiths I have known.And more then a few FFL holders

A labor of love.

Dave

40 hours + wood + bragging factor

those 40 hours are gumsmith hours which is very different than wall clock time

oups.. forgot the smiley

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
In my other life I was a deputy sheriff and a state trooper for 33 years.

Assuming this was in Wisconsin, that would mean I paid part of your salary, health insurance, dental, VSP vision insurance, pension & possibly accident plan, income continuation insurance, state group life insurance.

Then after you retire and have a supplemental income proclaim on one of few forums that has a custom wood/blued steel following that those that lurk and participate here should not support the custom gun trade.

Every custom rifle shipped has made the "pile of gold" larger in this great country. They start with a pile of parts & raw materials worth $X and in the end the sum of those parts along with some skilled labor increases to $X+Y+Z.

Purchasing second hand does nothing for the pile of gold. Although it should should produce some taxes to contribute to your pension.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Curious: This "small business" sounds like a write off for a hobby???

Sounds like some smiths I have known.

And more then a few FFL holders

Then you never really answer Duane's question.

I have a Mauser 98 stock that is a duplication of a Harry Lawson Cochise thumbhole (all the "custom smiths" are gasping right now). Someone else finished it as it doesn't have the marks Lawson used to use to mark his stocks. Bought it off ebay for $300.It fits me because the design already fit me, I selected a design that fit me.

A friend of mine Russell Le Maitre in Australia is a gunsmith, he started out as a stockmaker and figured out that there wasn't any money in it. The ammount of time to turn a blank into a target rifle stock for a F-Class or Fullbore shooter was 30-40 hours, using a file and a band saw. No one wants to pay $3000 for a target rifle stock. He also made stocks for hunting rifles, and he does a beautiful job. Folks want him to supply the wood and hand over a stock for $1200-1500. He can't do it, as it cuts his business by him not being able to do target rifle barrel work.

People get pissy about the cost of custom stocks. I think it is kind of relative. There are guys that own a pantograph or CNC that they cut stocks on and it saves them a ton of time. Still a lot of handwork after the CNC or pantograph is done.

For $6000 I would kind of expect perfection though.

Two things mentioned here struck a cord. For me 'pride of ownership' is for guns. I buy used cars because they are everyday tools and initial depreciation does not compute. Had a Rolex, it sucked.

I used to be a watch flipper, when a SS rolex was <$3k used. (2000) great investment.


Two things mentioned here struck a cord. For me 'pride of ownership' is for guns. I buy used cars because they are everyday tools and initial depreciation does not compute. Had a Rolex, it sucked.[/QUOTE]

I own several custom rifles. Some I bought as they were (used) and some I commissioned. I never made a lot of money; however, I was willing to pay more for exactly what I wanted than to settle for a Savage 110 which would have likely done the job just as well. I don't make fun of folks that collect signatures of famous people even though I really don't understand the hobby and I don't think anyone who really likes custom rifles should have to explain why they do. If you don't understand it, then they are probably not for you............ go buy the Savage, its a decent rifle.

it takes lots of hours to make a custom stock - and the skill/"name" of the stockmaker will drive the per hour price

cost of the blank adds to it

skill and approach also makes a difference

anywhere from $500 for someone to turn a pattern onto your blank.. to thousands for a bespoke carved gunhandle

Cost of the wood alone can make a ton of difference, Labor alone will run from $3000 to $4500 as a rule, a good time to shop..so say wood is $2000 and labor is $4000 your up to $6000 and haven't touched the metal..

Sit down and talk to several smiths, pick the one that suits you and can and will answer your questions to your liking..Thats what you would do buying a home or a new pickup, hearing aids, and roping horses..