I have been following this thread but I didn't think I'd add any comments, I was wrong - If a person is building a rifle to compete with, just plug your ears because not much of what I'm gonna say will matter or be appreciated
How is a Stiller, Defiance or any other "custom built" action one tiny bit better for a "hunting" rifle than a Remington or Tikka and that's if you're looking specifically for accuracy with no "huntablilty" mixed in (which would have to include "clunkers" like a model 70 or ?? - I've not owned a Bartlein barrel but their rep precedes them, as do Hart, Lilja, Douglas, PacNor, Kreiger, and a host of other awesome barrels - OK, stocks I get, that's the "handle" and a "one fits all" approach isn't always satisfactory - Jewell triggers are fantastic ... on a target rifle or a varmint rifle (owned several for that purpose) but when your fingers are COLD, you're shaking from the cold and your icy baboon breath is fogging the scope and maybe causing moisture troubles with all of it, how will a Jewell trigger give you any better "feel" or break than a Tikka trigger ? They will adjust down to the 2 lb area (if you really think you need that light of a trigger in a HUNTING rifle) and will out perform your shaking cold fingers I expect - Gunsmiths charge what they charge, who am I to question that just because I have a close friend who, even though he wrote the book on "old school" also has some integrity when it comes to pricing his work, maybe not all of us can find or have a friend like that, but I do - He shoots long range and still, upon request, will build you a beautiful exotic wood stock that will flat shoot, right along with any rifle you care to put up against his, and he'll still happily build whatever he's asked to and for a very realworld cost - I am not, nor would I ever be, here to tell another what to spend his or her money on, that's "not my dog" nor should it be anyone else's, a lot of these threads seem to me to take on a sense of who can top who on outlining the cost of building the next space age rifle - maybe at least some thoughts on what exactly it is that is being asked in the Thread Title would give many of us the chance to just sit back and allow you to "well, this costs more than that does" bunch an honest chance to compare their "whatevers" - and THIS is in the context of a HUNTING RIFLE as the OP apparently intended - Hell, alot good benchrest rifles don't even have a safety !