Gunsmith Review - Oregon Mountain Rifles

[Ucsdryder]

This is spot on. I have 6-8 custom rifles and most of them have had some minor problem. They all shoot lights out, but little things, and some not so little, have occurred. Cracked (hairline) trigger guard at the latch pin. BDL bottom metal with a weak catch that blew open when fired, chamber cut so tight it wouldn’t chamber 3 types of factory ammo, and yes, the dreaded won’t feed problem. And that rifle wouldn’t feed even after the builder did extensive load development too! He single fed every round and never bothered to check mag feed! This shop is also highly regarded as one of the best in the country too. In each case, however, each shop/smith fell all over themselves to rectify the problem. They owned the mistake, apologized, covered shipping both ways and did everything to fix the matter and make me happy. Mistakes happen and parts are sourced from a multitude of different shops for it all to come together. It’s not an excuse, but it’s no wonder little mistakes happen. They also aren’t shooting the guns in most cases so they may not see all problems arise.

It’s sad, but these days I’m actually shocked when someone does a proper job the first time.

I wont go into who was responsible for the mistakes as they were all fixed to my standards and all are great guns, but I will share who built the one that was absolutely perfect… Hill Country Custom Rifles. It’s become my favorite rifle. Flawless. They delivered on precisely everything they said they would, including timeframe, and were a pleasure to deal with. They do Tikkas too.

Most of us are very forgiving and understanding of the shop/business when they own their mistake and do what’s necessary to make it right.

Look at kifaru, they’ve built their brand around an awesome product with better customer service . Aron gives out his phone number on a forum! I had a belt of theirs rip, stitching only. Discovered it the night I was packing for a trip. Luckily I’m in Denver and I called them the next morning. They said come in and we’ll stitch it up. When I got there, Aron was there and asked me what was up. I showed him the belt and he had frank go get a new belt. I was on my way in 3 minutes. Shit happens, it’s how you rectify it that is what really matters.

OMR - if they had any business sense at all would have said, keep the gun, shoot it this season while I wait for a new barrel to come in. When the new one gets here I’ll send it to you and you can have your smith mount it. Send me the old barrel back and we’ll call it good. Or keep the old barrel for my cost and use it as a backup or whatever. The solution was so simple and easy and I would have been happy to tell my story in a positive way.

 

[Mulyhuntr]

Ohh so a measly 100k?
Sorry not everyone is a big time rich guy like you.
Damn privilegemuch?. But to me and everyone I personally know 100k clear is alot alot of money.
If you think 100k is poverty you Sir, have lifed way up beyond most people.

If you worked as hard as you complain, you'd be a lot richer.

 

[BRTreedogs]

If you worked as hard as you complain, you'd be a lot richer.

Good one, good one, you really got me. Ohh man boy am I ashamed of who I am.

 

[Moneyball]

I only use one gunsmith and he happens to be someone that I grew up with and knew loooong before he started making rifles. Lucky because I knew the kind of person I’d be dealing with.

He is so peculiar he still has the same pair of limited edition boots he’s owned since 9th grade and they still look pristine.

He builds a great rifle.


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[Ucsdryder]

I just received the AG composites gen 2 tikka stock. I’m going to do a separate review on it, but they fixed all of the issues I was having…thread engagement and magazine feed issues. I can’t wait to go shoot it.

 

[Ucsdryder]

I figured I’d attach the final chapter. Don’t worry, I won’t sell this gun in the classifieds.

Thoughts on this chamber (borescope)

One turn (assuming the headspace was right and 16tpi) would be .062" If your smith chucks it up and takes a cut, he can see if it cleaned up.....then index your marks. If your bedding was beyond the shank, it may alter the appearance up there too. It would take a pretty good chip weld to get...

www.rokslide.com

 

[Wizbang]

I figured I’d attach the final chapter. Don’t worry, I won’t sell this gun in the classifieds.

Thoughts on this chamber (borescope)

One turn (assuming the headspace was right and 16tpi) would be .062" If your smith chucks it up and takes a cut, he can see if it cleaned up.....then index your marks. If your bedding was beyond the shank, it may alter the appearance up there too. It would take a pretty good chip weld to get...

www.rokslide.com

Maybe you have mentioned this and I missed it but have you shot this rifle yet? Is their barrel any good?


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[Ucsdryder]

Maybe you have mentioned this and I missed it but have you shot this rifle yet? Is their barrel any good?


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As someone else said to me, “he does a good job building barrels, he’s just a terrible gunsmith. And he doesn’t build the barrels”.

I thought that was pretty funny and very accurate. In spite of all the things he did wrong he couldn’t overcome a decent shooting barrel. I have since seen reviews of guys that said they had issues with accuracy but I haven’t, thank God.

Yes the barrel shoots. Even with the .120” jump and all the chamber issues.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

Maybe you have mentioned this and I missed it but have you shot this rifle yet? Is their barrel any good?


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I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I'm still so pissed at Lee that I'll say it again..
Mine shot all over the damn place and he blamed it on my handloading, after refusing to take responsibility for his junk barrel I contacted my preferred smith ( Kampfeld Customs ).
Karl told me it was one of the crookedest and roughest barrels he'd seen.
Never buy from OMR

 

[Dhbwa]

but I will share who built the one that was absolutely perfect… Hill Country Custom Rifles. It’s become my favorite rifle. Flawless. They delivered on precisely everything they said they would, including timeframe, and were a pleasure to deal with. They do Tikkas too.

Years ago when HCR wasn’t as expensive; me and two friends owned probably 6-8 at one time or another and everyone was built exactly as described. Fast forward 10-12 years and many customs later and I realize too late just how good they were……….

 

[Ucsdryder]

I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I'm still so pissed at Lee that I'll say it again..
Mine shot all over the damn place and he blamed it on my handloading, after refusing to take responsibility for his junk barrel I contacted my preferred smith ( Kampfeld Customs ).
Karl told me it was one of the crookedest and roughest barrels he'd seen.
Never buy from OMR

You and I should have talked before I sent him my money! Lol! His attitude was almost identical to me. Pretty evident when he was on this thread “defending” himself. He ended up deleting his user unfortunately.

 

[SDHNTR]

You and I should have talked before I sent him my money! Lol! His attitude was almost identical to me. Pretty evident when he was on this thread “defending” himself. He ended up deleting his user unfortunately.

What a coward. And now this will cost him FAR more than if he had just honestly owned the mistake up front. .

 

[Ucsdryder]

What a coward. And now this will cost him FAR more than if he had just honestly owned the mistake up front. .

Yep. You can never go wrong with the kifaru, black Ovis, crispi, vortex, etc model. Take care of your customer no matter what and they’ll tell all their friends. The alternative is to have them tell all their friends AND strangers. I’ve moved on, not really, I’m still pissed!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Thanks for posting. I was thinking of sending a tikka off to OMR but not anymore.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Thanks for posting. I was thinking of sending a tikka off to OMR but not anymore.

You’re welcome!

 

[Philsummers21]

Hmmm. Wish I’d had seen this earlier. Ordered a barrel in January still haven’t gotten it… just talked to him today. Actually stopped by his shop. He hasn’t gotten the blank in to start making the barrel, Can’t really blame him for that. I can confirm he makes his own barrels tho, I actually watched and he showed me a few that were in different stages. Guess we shall seen when I get it.

 

[WeiserBucks]

He hasn’t gotten the blank in to start making the barrel, I can confirm he makes his own barrels tho

If he made his own barrels, he wouldn't be waiting for a blank from another manufacturer.

 

[Philsummers21]

Sorry should have been more clear. I’m not a gunsmith so. He gets a blank which looks a 2” piece of round stock with a hole drilled in it then turns it down then wraps it in carbon. Along with threading and chambering


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[WeiserBucks]

I know exactly what he does, but he tries to tell some unknowing customers that he makes his own barrels.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Sorry should have been more clear. I’m not a gunsmith so. He gets a blank which looks a 2” piece of round stock with a hole drilled in it then turns it down then wraps it in carbon. Along with threading and chambering


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Tell him you want to see the inside of the chamber before it leaves the shop and you expect it to be smooth and not have huge rings in it. Lol