Terrible custom build experience

[RockAndSage]

I’ve had my bad experience with a gunsmith. Documented on here. It’s not fun.

I found a gunsnith that does custom rifles and he’s the antithesis of the stereotypical gunsmith. He’s honest, on time, follows up on promises, responds quickly, etc.

Do this good gunsmith and all of us a kind deed, and share his name...

 

[Ucsdryder]

Do this good gunsmith and all of us a kind deed, and share his name...

As much as I’d like to keep him a secret I’m going to do a review on a rifle he built me. Nothing formal, just for fun.

 

[06 SB]

I would never have a builder work up my loads…ever. Load your own and/or try factory ammo then see how it works. It could be a great shooter which is the main reason to buy a custom. No need to send it back yet. They messed up the load, maybe not the rifle. You should be refunded for their load development without question then do it yourself.

 

[SDHNTR]

I would never have a builder work up my loads…ever. Load your own and/or try factory ammo then see how it works. It could be a great shooter which is the main reason to buy a custom. No need to send it back yet. They messed up the load, maybe not the rifle. You should be refunded for their load development without question then do it yourself.

I hate load development. I’m happy to pay for it.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

My first custom build (R700 custom in 2015 with RW Snyder) he did weird ass muzzle threads that were not exactly class 3A 5/8-24 threads and I had to have them redone. Plus he undertorqued the barrel onto the action and I didn't find out until I had the action nitrided years later.

This is bittersweet news. RW is only down the road about 40 minutes, and I was going to have him thread my 7-08 for me. I guess I'll keep looking.

 

[JohnJohnson]

This is bittersweet news. RW is only down the road about 40 minutes, and I was going to have him thread my 7-08 for me. I guess I'll keep looking.

To be fair to him it's been 9 years there's every possibility that those things have been corrected in the meantime. There's a reason I had that stuff corrected, the gun shoots everything well. You may want to find someone who's got feedback in this decade before counting him out.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

To be fair to him it's been 9 years there's every possibility that those things have been corrected in the meantime. There's a reason I had that stuff corrected, the gun shoots everything well. You may want to find someone who's got feedback in this decade before counting him out.

This helps and thank you. I was providing the muzzle device for my suppressor, and I would think this would help eliminate any threading problems, but you never know.

 

[JohnJohnson]

This helps and thank you. I was providing the muzzle device for my suppressor, and I would think this would help eliminate any threading problems, but you never know.

I'm quite sure that would eliminate any muzzle thread issue. He can't change the muzzle device threads so he has to get them right. Which again, things are much more standardized now in regards to thread specs than they were back then. I'll bet he's evolved with the times.

 

[B23]

I'm wondering if they did a load work up for the OP's specific rifle at all and instead just used something they'd used before that shot well in another rifle chambered in the same cartridge but possibly one without a det mag setup.

I had a 300AX built by the creator of that cartridge some years ago. Waited over three years to get the rifle finished and even then it only got done because I asked for the return of all my stuff or the rifle be finished. It, finally, got finished and sent back to me and was told everything was good to go and shot well. As soon as I cycled a round through it there was a problem, it wouldn't eject the cartridge loaded or just empty, out of the action. It would start to then just kind of pop out of the bolt face. This particular smith only did email communication and I never could actually talk to him on the phone. I knew going in that this smith didn't/wouldn't communicate over the phone and I started the build with him anyway so I hold no fault to him for that but learned a valuable lesson and won't ever do that again. Anyway, after numerous back and forth emails the smith suggested I box it up and send it back on my dime and he would reimburse me the shipping cost. My frustration level was pretty high and we were already over three years waiting for this build and not because the smith was waiting for any parts/pieces so I took the rifle to another smith that was local to me and has always done me right to get a second opinion. They fixed the problem and I was up and running in two days. I'm sure I could have sent it back and the smith that built it likely would have done the same fix but I was pretty pissed off it ever left his shop not functioning 100% and being told it did in the first place so I chose not to deal with him ever again. I later found out I wasn't alone and there were numerous others that had a bad experience similar to mine where they were told one thing and it ended up being something vastly different. This is why I always prefer to use a smith that is local enough I can drive to their shop to drop my stuff off or talk to in person. I know that isn't always possible with everyone but it sure does make things nice.

 

[Formidilosus]

About 50% of “customs” I have used have mild to major functional feed/fire/extract/eject issues as received. The reason is simple- they don’t shoot them, nor run any rounds through the mag. If they do shoot them at all, they almost always single feed the rounds at a bench.

 

[Mojave]

Couple questions for you.

Is this your first build?

Does the shop normally "develop loads", or is this something you requested?

What was the dollar amount to work up loads? Was this in the build sheet?

Anyone can slap a rifle together. It might feed it might not feed, it might not chamber custom ammo and it might. It all depends on a million things.

Often people will short seat bullets and then go back and reseat them to the correct depth. They do this to maintain consistency. As they can measure every neck-to ogive length. This is for really super long range stuff or benchrest. This step might have been missed.

Well known could be anyone, and maybe only well known to your area. Most bigger shops don't do load work up anymore, as they don't have the time to commit to it.

Tuning feed lips to make ammo feed from both AICS and BDL may or may not function.

What kind of stock is it? Is this a 700 or a clone?

 

[JBradley500]

About 50% of “customs” I have used have mild to major functional feed/fire/extract/eject issues as received. The reason is simple- they don’t shoot them, nor run any rounds through the mag. If they do shoot them at all, they almost always single feed the rounds at a bench.

It's crazy to me that builders don't quickly understand that they should be trying to, at a minimum, mimic the function checks that the buyer is going to do on the day the rifle is received. Maybe most custom rifle buyers just fondle them and put them in their safe and never have anything to complain about.

 

[ridgehopper]

I wouldn’t be tempted to give them a second chance if they will give you a refund.
How does this even happen?

Agreed! We’re paying a premium for a “custom” build and we should be getting treated as such. Things like this are just not acceptable. People make mistakes but in the custom rifle industry they shouldn’t happen as often as we’re seeing them. These builders are just pushing stuff through to see their bottom line as high as possible and the customer is getting screwed. Might as well buy a high end factory rifle at this point. Some of these shops that are selling “custom” rifles are just not delivering.

 

[roosiebull]

I’ve had my bad experience with a gunsmith. Documented on here. It’s not fun.

I found a gunsnith that does custom rifles and he’s the antithesis of the stereotypical gunsmith. He’s honest, on time, follows up on promises, responds quickly, etc.

If I remember correctly, it wasn’t the gunsmiths fault, it was your fault for buying a bore scope

There have been a lot of threads on this site, but I do think I recall your scenario… but, it can always be worse, unless you buy a fierce, then if you have a bad experience, it’s probably pretty bad

 

[Wrench]

About 50% of “customs” I have used have mild to major functional feed/fire/extract/eject issues as received. The reason is simple- they don’t shoot them, nor run any rounds through the mag. If they do shoot them at all, they almost always single feed the rounds at a bench.

A lot of this is due to the machinist mentality that everything has to be sharp and defined, minimum clearance and square.

A slick running rifle is typically not that. They usually have large radius edges, plenty of clearance and generally look like shit compared to a precision machined piece.....but for a hunting rifle, that's exactly what needs to be produced.

 

[Formidilosus]

A lot of this is due to the machinist mentality that everything has to be sharp and defined, minimum clearance and square.

A slick running rifle is typically not that. They usually have large radius edges, plenty of clearance and generally look like shit compared to a precision machined piece.....but for a hunting rifle, that's exactly what needs to be produced.

Could be sir. I can just say there are just about no smiths that I would take their rifle immediately out and know it will work correctly across the board, and from all aspects.

 

[Wrench]

There are several custom smiths who do OEM work.....they just have to keep it under NDA.

 

[JohnJohnson]

This is semi-relevant to custom hunting rifles but the list for this season's PRS came out for the gunsmiths used by the top 200 ranked PRS shooters. A lot of them make hunting customs too. Interestingly enough, Walls rifles come with a 0.3 MOA guarantee which is pretty confident. He actually seems to make a lot of hunting rifles if his website's photo gallery is any indication.

Top Rifle Gunsmiths: What the Pros Use

Choosing the gunsmith that you’ll trust to chamber your rifle is critical. This article will share ...

precisionrifleblog.com

 

[Jimbee]

This is semi-relevant to custom hunting rifles but the list for this season's PRS came out for the gunsmiths used by the top 200 ranked PRS shooters. A lot of them make hunting customs too. Interestingly enough, Walls rifles come with a 0.3 MOA guarantee which is pretty confident. He actually seems to make a lot of hunting rifles if his website's photo gallery is any indication.

Top Rifle Gunsmiths: What the Pros Use

Choosing the gunsmith that you’ll trust to chamber your rifle is critical. This article will share ...

precisionrifleblog.com

Are those the same folks that love scopes that don't work?

 

[JohnJohnson]

Are those the same folks that love scopes that don't work?

The last scope survey was in 2018 (new one coming out sometime in the next month or two I assume) but the company that was most represented was Nightforce back then. The second most was Kahles. I think Nightforce scopes work just fine.

What bearing does that have on gunsmith/action choice? Given the sheer volume of shooting they do, as well as rainy/muddy/dusty conditions, they're tougher on the function of their rifles than most hunters.