The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing Wanted Good Gunsmith!Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Wanted Good Gunsmith! | Login/Join |
| One of Us |
I'm a little disappointed in the local guy that I was recommended to as he can't seem to complete my rifle in less than one years time. I'm not complaining about the quality of his work or the rifle, but I just didn't expect it to be this long of a wait. I'm almost ready to move on to a new project and was thinking I'd see if anyone out here on the forum would like my business. What I have is a M70 push feed barreled action chambered in 7mm Rem Mag. In recent trades I have acquired a A&B barrel blank in .375 Caliber 1:12 twist rate 26" long. I want to build a .375 Ruger on this action in a "Heavy Magnum" contour with around 24" barrel and blueprinted action. I'd like a rear adjustable and hooded front sights installed on the barrel as well. I don't need the stock refinished as I will do that myself, but I would like the action glass and pillar bedded with the new barrel floated. As this obviously isn't a stainless action and barrel, I would like the finish to be a very rust resistant matte finish. I'm pretty open to all suggestions except on the action and barrel I'll be using. I would like to have the rifle ready to do load development in about 4 months +/- a couple of weeks from the date the action, barrel blank, and stock is received. I would like to use this rifle on elk this fall. If this doesn't sound too unreasonable to someone on this forum please PM me with a price quote, email, and phone number. Thanks in advance. | ||
|
one of us |
I have waited that long for checkering. | |||
|
| one of us |
Maybe it's not your Gunsmith where the problem lies??   | |||
|
One of Us |
Mike McCabe does very good work and is in the Denver area. He posts on here as Z1R...and he is within driving distance of you Mike Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
|
Moderator |
pretty simple job.. and lots of guys will take it.. the RUST BLUE part will ruin any budget savings that an AB barrel might give.. my advice? find one the the "i barrel a million ab barrels" guys on ebay or gunbroker, with a list, tell him which parts you would like done, and accept a matte hot blue finish... guesstimate of what it should cost, not an offer of services $200 bucks for the sights $100 install $100 for inletting +xbolt+wrist ping $100 bedding (full length, dont' waste time with pillar or floating.. but thats $100 more) $150 for installing the barrel $100 bead blast and blue $75 for reamer rental .. about the price of a new ruger.. .which you could sell your winchester and ab barrel, spend $400 more, and have a new, factory rifle+ bedding+xbolts+wristpin+dies+brass.. you call, spend 850 more, or 400 more... you can pick a ruger in a week opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
|
one of us |
Z1R is going to get you for this one. taylorce1, my suggestion is that you sell your parts and buy a Ruger Hawkeye. You'll be many dollars ahead. ______________________________ "Truth is the daughter of time." Francis Bacon | |||
|
one of us |
+1  As usual just my $.02 Paul K | |||
|
| One of Us |
Thanks for the opinions guys, but I'll still go ahead with this project. Jeffe your ala-carte menu of options is pretty much what I have already received in quotes from the guys off of GB. Except for the reamer rental as most of the ones I've talked to have the .375 Ruger on hand. I was just seeing if there were any guys out there getting started gunsmithing that might want to tackle my job. I'm willing to give them a shot and see what they can do. I will probably use one of these guys for the rebarrel and do most of the stock work myself (just being lazy). I've had a couple rifles reblued through a local shop about a 2 week turn around after I drop of the pieces so I'll probably go that route. The sights can wait as I'm not really in a hurry to have them on. ForrestB, I've talked with Mike McCabe before and this isn't the kind of job I'd even think about using him for. So hopefully that will keep Mike_D out of the dog house. Now I have an old severly bubbaized Mauser that will probably get his attention, but I haven't decided what I'll be doing with that one yet. | |||
|
| One of Us |
have you talked to this guy:http://www.weaverrifles.com/index.html I have no first hand info but read some good words about him. If you use him let me know as I have a couple of rebarrel jobs I need to get done. C.G.B. | |||
|
| One of Us |
I've personally met Kevin, one hell of a nice guy and fun to talk with and does a damn good job with rifles as well. The only problem is he is really busy, and I didn't want to be on his waiting list. I'd highly recommend you have a rifle built by him if you ever get the chance. A lot of guys on this forum have used Kevin and will give you a lot more information than I can. | |||
|
| One of Us |
jeffoso: DaveTalley tells me of a guy coming into a Gunsmith shop...he tells the gunsmith what is wrong, then tells him how to fix it, then tells him how much to charge...your "estimate" is about right for 1963 | |||
|
| One of Us |
| |||
|
| One of Us |
I think that guy lives in my neighborhood....... Bill | |||
|
One of Us |
Those are bubba's prices. _______________________________________________________________________________ This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend, it is my life. | |||
|
| One of Us |
Well the post worked, I was contacted by a member of this forum who said he would like to take on my job. We hashed out the details and I'll be sending my rifle off to him next week. He also said that he could do the job in my time frame. I'll be doing the refinish work on the stock myself, probably next winter as a project. This stock does have some honest dings in it from hunting but it should clean up real nice. I might even try my hand at covering the recoil pad in leather.         | |||
|
one of us |
give ole westpac a call, I think he can get to you alot sooner than a year, also just MHO why spend all that money with smithing, site install, blueing etc on a bottom tier barrel, It doesn't make sense to spend all that money on anything less than the absolute best quaility barrel. IMO if you are gonna use a cheap barrel, why not just takes forest's advice and buy a factory gun, if it don't shoot you can unload it and buy something else and not be out a whole lot of money, if you spend a bunch on smithing and custom work and find out your cheap barrel is shit, look at the money pit you will have dug yourself in times when one needs a rifle, he tends to need it very badly.....PHC | |||
|
| One of Us |
There was a time I would have agreed with you, but since I volunteered in the fall of 2006 to help a widow and sole owner of a local gunsmithing business bring her HUGE backlog current so she could close the business's doors, my back log of work grew. I am trying to play catch up now so that I can start accepting big jobs again. But thanks! _______________________________________________________________________________ This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend, it is my life. | |||
|
| One of Us |
I will never part with this rifle, so it might be a money pit but it will be my money pit for life. I did a little research here and other forums and for the most part people who are using them seem to be satisfied. The biggest complaint I've heard so far is that they foul in a few rounds average runs about 30-40. Adams & Bennett I really doubt that I'll ever shoot that many rounds out of it during one trip to the range. If it doesn't shoot I'll try something different. I thought about only doing the re-barrel and seeing what kind of accuracy I would get out of it with the barrel in the white and just slapping a scope on it. I've sure blown money on worse bets than a cheap barrel. I'm sure most of us have done something that doesn't make sense to everyone, but we still did it anyway. But I do appreciate the opinions, so thank you all. | |||
|
| One of Us |
What matters most is what satisfies you, after all you will be the one using it. That said, everyones idea of "satisfactory" differs greatly. What is "satisfactory performance" with ones, may not be satisfactory performance for you. What you need to do is talk to your gunsmith and let him know what your realistic expectations are in the way of performance, and see if he feels he can met or exceed those expectations using the components you have chosen. Let your gunsmith play a part in your decision making. After all the project will be wearing his name. _______________________________________________________________________________ This is my rifle, there are many like it but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend, it is my life. | |||
|
| one of us |
to each his own I guess, a premimum barrel would only likely run you an extra $150 and you are already spending 800-1k in smith work so the price of the barrel isn't that big of a cost of the gun, plus once you are all done you will think man I should have poneyd up the extra $150 for a krieger barrel, because after all, you are not going to ever part with the rifle in times when one needs a rifle, he tends to need it very badly.....PHC | |||
|
| One of Us |
Well guys I now have a .375 Ruger thanks to Toomanytools. He took on the job and did a great one for me. I'm pleased with how the rifle looks, but I need to refinish the stock and bottom metal now to make it really shine. I'll be able to shoot it a week from now as I have other commitments this weekend. I'll shoot at 50 yards with the installed sights for starters. I don't have a scope for it yet but I think a 1.75-6 VX-III is calling to this rifle. Here are some pics, I'll try to get some better ones when I get this rifle outside in better light. Still far enough under $800(including barrel) to make this project worth while.      Thanks again Toomanytools! | |||
|
One of Us |
Hey TMT....it looks nice, congrats!! It's a pleasure to read a thread like this compared to the Satterlee thread!!!!! /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill | |||
|
| Moderator |
looks like you got what you wanted, and tmt delivered.. great day all around... how does it shoot? opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
|
One of Us |
Taylorce1: Thought i would leave the other forum hanging, now that i see it here. Looks to be a fine job, hope it works out and shoots well for you! _____________________ Steve Traxson | |||
|
| One of Us |
Well I finally got to shoot this rifle. We had a break in the weather on Saturday afternoon so I grabbed my big game portabale bench and my targets walked out in the pasture and fired off a few rounds @ 65 yards. This is my first step into big bore rifles and I only fired off 9 rounds as the recoil was quite noticable. While recoil was tolerable it is definatly a step up from my .30-06. Accuracy was pretty darn good as I only used the rest on the bench instead of bringing any sand bags with me. As I work up to the recoil of this rifle I'm sure my groups will improve. Here is my best 3 shot group:  | |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia