Build me a custom rifle

[packgoatguy]

I own several different custom built rifles and this is just my experiance with them

In general, the going rate for a custom rifle starts at $2500-$3000. Anthing you pay over that is to decrease weight or because you dont mind over paying.

If you want semi-custom. Go buy an MPA and you'll be tickled for a long time.

Find a good gunsmith or get one of the prefits and learn to do it yourself. ive had a lot of success with bighorn actions on proof prefits and so have a lot of guys i compete with. That being said, if you dont want the headache, find a good smith who builds guns for PRS shooters. There's a match in your region. call the match director and ask who is building most of the rifles for the club.

1. the Lone Peak titanum action beats the snot out of the Defiance AnTi. Dont screw around with anything thats not on a Rem 700 clone. Direct mount rings and Intagrated rails are cool, but scope builders are making the tubes shorter and shorter so sometimes you need a real rail to move the optic around. Ideally 2 lug. Whatever you do.... get a long action with a magnum bolt face. Your options here are effectivly endless...6.5 CM all the way up to 300 prc. NO STANDARD BOLT FACE LONG ACTIONS

2. For barrels go as short as you possibly can but do a steel barel not carbon. this has been beat to death on here. Make sure you thread it for 5/8. You might save an ounce or two by getting a slim profile down to 1/2, but thats not worth it as it severely limits your brake and can options. (wait times are super fast right now for the latter and unless you live in Cantada, you should buy one!)

3. Pick a cartrage you can buy Hornady Match ammo for. The QC on mass produced Hornady match is incredible. I have an entire case of 308 Match that is shooting es of 14 and SD of 8. Finding ammo that is essoteric is a waste of time and money. You dont have to shoot animals with the Match ammo if you dont want, but being able to buy a lot of good cheap ammo will pay off. Forget buying $80 box ammo when you dont have to.

4. stocks are cool, you can get a little lighter with a stock than a chassis, but being able to fold the rifle in half has so many advantages its not even funny. Overall length is honestly more important than weight (within reason of course) whatever you do, make sure you can clip the stock seamlessly into an arca rail. round forends look nice but they provide you with literally nothing but asthetics. Theres a lot of light weight options out there for chassis not just the ones that are popular/sponsor rokslide.

5. Theres a lot of good triggers out there, but the TT Diamond/special is so easy to install and work on, no reason to get anything different.


Right now I'm hot on my 16" bartlein on a lone peak and XLR folding chassis (theyve gotten a little pricy if you ask me but i do like them...endless modification and weighting options). Its got an atacr 4-16 on top and hawkins direct mount rings. Run with a TBAC can.

The only thing to be careful of in my opinion is getting lost in the sauce on "light weight".
A $2500 custom rifle can easily become a $5000+ rifle if you get your rocks off on ultra light weight. they shoot no better, but you can save 2lbs.

However, there is no doubt lighter weight guns are harder to shoot. if you breathe on them wrong, the NPA shifts. i like a rifle around 9.5 to 11 lbs all in. this will save you money and heartache in the long run but YMMV.

In regards to the weight of a chassis vs a regular stock... I agree most chassis are heavier than the lightest CF or Kevlar stocks. But the gap is not as wide as it used to be. Sometimes a bit of tinkering can go a long ways too. A factory HNT26 chassis with folder stock is in the 32oz range, but swap the folder mechanism and stock for a lighter weight stock and folder, and drop some ounces. I've got mine down to about 21.5oz including a folder, and 18oz with a non folder stock... which is nearly as lightweight as the lightest stocks on the market (like mpi or CA fft) but far more functional with built in arca and thumb rests, etc

 

[Hans_Grimsgaard]

In regards to the weight of a chassis vs a regular stock... I agree most chassis are heavier than the lightest CF or Kevlar stocks. But the gap is not as wide as it used to be. Sometimes a bit of tinkering can go a long ways too. A factory HNT26 chassis with folder stock is in the 32oz range, but swap the folder mechanism and stock for a lighter weight stock and folder, and drop some ounces. I've got mine down to about 21.5oz including a folder, and 18oz with a non folder stock... which is nearly as lightweight as the lightest stocks on the market (like mpi or CA fft) but far more functional with built in arca and thumb rests, etc

Can you share some more details how you dropped weight on the HNT 26 chassis?

 

[packgoatguy]

Can you share some more details how you dropped weight on the HNT 26 chassis?

Just use the xtn to carbine butstock adapter. There are lots of lightweight stock options out there once you can use a buffertube interface. Or DIY. I actually made my own out if carbon fiber tubing...

https://mdttac.com/xtn-to-carbine-stock-adapter/

A sb tactical btfa folder mechanism is around 3.5oz. It's worked well for my build.