I went through the old posts looking for a gunsmith who is capable of making a complete rifle that looks goods and performs flawlessly. Seems as though Dennis' name came up whenever a big bore was discussed. I called him and we chatted about the rifle I want built. He suggested a new M-70 action. I want quarter rib, hooded banded front sight, etc... All the bells and whistles. My problem? The price he quoted me seems well.... low. Even with my piece of wood. I'm not complaining, I definitely do not like spending more than necessary. On the other hand I do not mind spending for quality either. I was figuring on some where around 7K for the rifle complete. His qoute was nowhere near that. I'm hoping that some of you who have had rifles built by Dennis might share some photos or impressions. The old posts photos no longer display. His reputation on here seems to be sterling, which is why I contacted him. Any thoughts?

Dennis can do it but he has a huge backlog of work.

Or you could use Ryan Breeding. http://www.rbbigbores.com

500- Dennis said it would be about a year-which seems to be about the norm, if not a little sooner.

A year is probably a good amount of time. shorter than I would expect. I will say that at a show the best gunmakers were wanting 18k-20k for a full blued and wood rifle.

You can probably do it in your budget if you contract it to different people to do the work for you. What about American Hunting Rifles, there are guys here that speak very highly of them and I think they are normally right around 3000 from what guys here say they have paid.

I am not giving negative on Dennis, just saying if your budget doesn't allow that route look at others, you can easily get a very very nice 375 built for your budget or less depending on how fancy you need it to be. You didn't say whether or not you were wanting integral bases and custom sights, other metal work done. At that level he is probably going to take whatever action you give him and true the entire thing up to the bore, make sure the holes for the bases are perfectly aligned there with. things that you wouldn't normally get from your standard put the barrel on and chamber it (what my smith calls "plumbing").

Make yourself a very detailed list of what you want done, see how much of it is going to be custom work. Then think about the time as well. if you are sourcing it all out yourself then it is probably going to take much longer to get it all done then just having one smith do it.

Red

nyrifleman

You have just found out what many people have known for a good long while. Dennis is REASONABLE and he builds rifles with real QUALITY. Three other things he is noted for:
1. He does what you want him to as long as it is safe.
2. He almost always gets it done when he says he will.
3. He charges what he said he would.

I have had him do things that he really didn't care to do but did it anyway such as fit a Springfield triggerguard to a Mauser 98. He also rebarreled an Mauser 98 action for me in 9X57 which a lot of gunsmiths wouldn't touch. Both of these projects were done superebly and at reasonable cost. His true love is big bores and he builds a lot of them. You can rest assured when he sends it out the door it will function as it should. I have seen many rifles in his shop that were sent to him to fix or correct because they were not right, especially in the feeding department.

Bottom line, I wouldn't hesitate a second to have him build me a custom 375 with all the "bells and whistles". I am sure you would be happy with it even if you paid less than you thought you might have to. I remember one rifle he built and Monte Mandarino told him that a prospective buyer was afraid of it because it was priced too cheap. Dennis remarked to tell him the price had doubled if that would make him happy.

nevermind what I said then, I thought that you were saying he was nowhere close as in the higher than 7k category, not less than. cool.

I have only had Dennis do one thing for me, adn that was just send me a pattern stock, I will say that he was very friendly, helpful, and indeed got it to me very quick. No complaints.

Red

I have seen quite a bit of work from Denis, and he has done the metal work on an MRC M1999 in .270 Win and some stock work for me. The only thing I have to add to the positive comments above is: Denis is not known to be the world's most proliferate communicator... If you managed to talk to him over the phone for any length of time, you have already done pretty well. Once you agree on what you want done, don't expect much more than that.

Is this a negative?? Depends on you really. I guess it could be negative, but if you set your expectations right...

Other than that, no complaints.

- mike

A year is a relatively short amount of time for a gunsmith of Olson's caliber.

Don't worry about that sort of waiting period. It goes with the game when you hire great riflemakers with solid reputations. He has a backlog of work for a reason, and those reasons are why you want to hire him.

One suggestion: Great rifles are comprised of a lot of little details that count, so don't spare the details, even if it means a little more money..........

AD

Don't know what Dennis told you but be prepare to wait at least 3 years for your project, as he is booked up all the way. There are at least a couple of friends who still waiting for their big bore rifles complete after sending them out to Dennis 2.5 years ago so...Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by nyrifleman:
I went through the old posts looking for a gunsmith who is capable of making a complete rifle that looks goods and performs flawlessly. Seems as though Dennis' name came up whenever a big bore was discussed. I called him and we chatted about the rifle I want built. He suggested a new M-70 action. I want quarter rib, hooded banded front sight, etc... All the bells and whistles. My problem? The price he quoted me seems well.... low. Even with my piece of wood. I'm not complaining, I definitely do not like spending more than necessary. On the other hand I do not mind spending for quality either. I was figuring on some where around 7K for the rifle complete. His qoute was nowhere near that. I'm hoping that some of you who have had rifles built by Dennis might share some photos or impressions. The old posts photos no longer display. His reputation on here seems to be sterling, which is why I contacted him. Any thoughts?

Another endorsement:
He has built me one complete custom and done both metal and stock work on several others. He's honest, very skilled, relatively quick (I recieved all my projects in months, not years) and friendly, esp. in person. He prices a job for what he figures its worth, not necessarily what he could probably get for it which is yet another reason he's busy. I'm just glad as hell he's still working and local.

He'd do a great job on your .375.

Thanks for the responses. Seems like it might be a year.....or it might be 2-3. Not exactly building confidence here. I am willing to pay..and wait..for quality. Anyone have any pics of metal work and stock work available?

post your e-mail and I'll send pics.

Snowcat-PM sent

NYRifleman

There is one other thing you could do.
YOu could have Waffenfabrik do a barreled action for you. You can get them with double square bridges and their scope mounts all set to go. Cost about 3 grand, but you are getting a modern action that is completely metalsmithed and ready to go.

If you are planning to spend 7 grand on the whole project, you would have 4 grand left to play around with, which would, I think, buy you a pretty nice stick of walnut, a few excessories, bluing, and labor, depending on who you had do the work.

I have a feeling Hein could get you one of their barreled actions in a month or so.
http://rifleactions.com/Actions.htm

and in fact, they are having some sort of deal now whereby you could get a Tracker Elite for about $3000.00 in .375 H & H, completely done up with a quality barrel and decent wood and the whole bit.

NY-
Here's a couple of pics of the MRC Dakota that Dennis built up. I did the stock so that's not his fault. Total cost was less than $1500 all up. Shoots a true .75"

Thanks Snowcat!! That helps a great deal. Looks good!!

nyrifleman

Here is a Springfield that Dennis installed a new bolt handle and two position safety. He also filled in the groove on the barrel just ahead of the receiver that aligned the military sight sleeve and reprofiled the barrel to a more pleasing look. The military barrel shoots wonderful so rather than change it I just had him improve the looks. It turned out well. He also drilled and tapped for a Lyman 48 receiver sight and low scope bases.

Nice metalwork Idared, Thanks for the view.