338 RUM custom build questions...

[superdown]

Can you guy's call what you do, hunting with those thing's? Do you buy your out of state tags and just hunt from the porch at home or what? At any rate nice rifles wish i could figure out how to get far enough away from a deer when hunting to justify a rifle like that.   

[Biggerhammer]

When you hunt country like this the big .338's shine.

[superdown]

When you hunt country like this the big .338's shine.

Beautiful country. I hunt north east Okanogan so it can be quite open in places but i hunt black powder so my approach might be slightly different

[TeacherMan]

Can someone line out the cost of a fully custom keeping cost in mind. Piece by piece. This may take me a little time to buy all the pieces be nice to create a check list. Staring to think of not using my Remington 700 .338RUM and do a total custom. If I do that I'd build the 338 Edge. Just trying to get an actual cost of this endeavour 😉

[addicted]

Bookmark.

[high country]

Start by picking your parts. You may love an a5 but hate a chassis or vice versa. You may drool over a 30" Broughton or may be like me and be just fine with anything in stock.you may want a dbm.....you can see where this goes.  Labor is covered by Landon a few posts back.

I'd either screw a tube onto what you have, or save my scheckles and build it once. If you don't have a 12 pound rifle yet.....I'd try one before you buy one. ....just me.

[b23]

Start by picking your parts. You may love an a5 but hate a chassis or vice versa. You may drool over a 30" Broughton or may be like me and be just fine with anything in stock.you may want a dbm.....you can see where this goes.  Labor is covered by Landon a few posts back.

I'd either screw a tube onto what you have, or save my scheckles and build it once. If you don't have a 12 pound rifle yet.....I'd try one before you buy one. ....just me.

high country, makes a very valid point.  Sometimes, certain things may sound like a great idea and we "think" it's what we want but then we get it and quickly realize reality is vastly different.  I think this often happens when people select an aftermarket stock for their build.  Probably why you see so many slightly used aftermarket stocks for sale.  I know, I've, made this mistake before.  On my very first full custom build, I just knew I wanted a MCM A5 stock.  I'd never even held one in my hands, let alone shot anything with one on it, but, I knew that's what I wanted.  The gunsmith that was doing the build asked me multiple times before he ordered it, if I was sure an A5 was what I wanted on this particular build and the notion in my head always lead me to say yes.  Then I got it and quickly realized maybe an A5 wasn't the best choice for this particular build.  Make no mistake, an A5 is a fabulous piece and I still have two of them on different rifles but I think they are more of a purpose built stock and depending on how or what you plan on using the rifle for, they may not always be the best choice. 

Stock selection is just one of the things you'll want to really do your research on.  Barrel length, muzzle brake, trigger, the type/style of bottom metal, if any, you want and don't forget about the finish.  Do you only want it bead blasted or do you want some type of coating, like Cerakote, put on it.  Finish type is personal choice but having had rifles both ways, I highly recommend Cerakote.  A good Cerakote job, in my personal opinion, is worth every penny!

Pricing out a full custom rifle will be something like this.  Prices for labor/machine work will vary from smith to smith but this will be pretty close.  I'm going to price this out for you with a Stiller action.  Stiller is a very good custom action and they are the least expensive of any custom action that I'm aware of.

Stiller action $950-$1000     If you decide to stay with your Rem 700 action instead of using a custom, you'll spend $225-$250 to have it blue printed/trued/accurized different smiths call it different things.  If you find someone that does it for a lot less, great, just make sure they are doing a full blue print and not just truing the face and lapping the lugs.

Barrel fluted $450-$500 (-$125 non fluted) FWIW last fall I ordered a Benchmark fluted barrel for a friend it was $430 delivered to his gunsmith)

Trigger $135 Timney,  $235 Jewell,  Rework Rem. factory trigger $50-$75

Muzzle Brake $200-$250 installed.  Price will vary depending on size and whose you use.  I'd recommend a baffle type not a radial type.

Barrel work $200-$250   
This will give you an idea of what is all included in that price, I don't know that all do this but this is how a friend of mine (Kevin Cram) in PA. that is an excellent gunsmith does it.    All barrel work is bore indicated true within .0002” or less of concentricity using PTG live pilot indicating rods and Mitutoyo .0001” dual indicators. in MCR’s barrel fixture. All chambers are cut using PTG live pilot reamers held in a JGS floating reamer holder.  Single point turn and thread to a class 3A fit.  Chamber to minimum head space.  Single point crown.  Custom engrave cartridge designation.

Stock $225-to as much as you want to spend.  Depending on what you want, you can pick up a nice HS Precision take off stock from a Rem Sendero, Rem 5R, Rem LTR, Rem 700P, Rem PSS in the  $225-$250 range.  Or, you can go with a MCM or Manners, both are VERY good, from around $350 for a used one on up to as much as you want to spend.  If wood is your thing, you can spend as little or as much as you want there, too.

Bedding and Pillars $75-$250   Stocks, like HS Prec. or B&C, that have full Aluminum bedding blocks integrated into the stock, can usually get by with skim bedding and that'll be on the cheap end of the range.  Fiberglass, wood, and pretty much any stock without the aluminum bedding block in them will cost more to bed and on a big thumper like a 338 RUM, I'd always have pillars installed but I'm sure you can find those that think differently, too.

Bottom Metal $25-$500   This is another area with a huge price range.  If you go single shot the only cost you'll have is trigger guard.  Standard BDL type setup $150ish range.  The last Detachable Mag system I used on a build was a Seekins and with one 3 round mag it was $450 installed.  That was two years ago.  DM systems look very cool and most work fine but they have their quirks, too.  Depending on the brand and how many rounds the mag holds, they can stick out the bottom a far bit.  Some feed better than others and again, depending on the brand, vary in allowable overall length of the cartridge.  HS Prec. makes a very nice compact setup that you barely know it's there, but, they have a shorter allowable O.A.L. compared to say the Seekins DM system, which allows for a longer OAL but is more expensive and doesn't feed as smoothly as the HS Prec.  And don't ever lose on of those mags because they are expensive and you'll be relegated to single feeding if you do.

Finish $0-$250  You can go with no finish or just a bead blast finish and depending on your gunsmith it'll cost little to nothing.  Or, you can go with something like a Cerakote finish and even though it'll cost you a couple hundred bucks, my personal opinion is it's, easily, worth the money but you may think differently.

I think that about covers it.  If I left something out, I'm sure someone will mention it.

[TeacherMan]

Wish there was a super store that had all these parts in stock and educated people to tell me about them  Id love to hold all the different stock types but how?

I know Id like a spiral fluted barrel with side muzzle break squared off.

Here goes the kids college money 

[high country]

I use a pair of systems when dialing in a bore. I use a interapid 2.75" reach indicator and then verify with a device that I made using a starrett center finder that rides a bore mandrel and gets read by a b&s .00005" indicator. I am not a fan of range rods and prefer not to use them due to tolerance stacking. ....many use them and have great results. The important thing is that they are using something to center off the bore. I prefer bore my reamer single point and use a homemade reamer holder that works like the bald eagle. I like to feel what's going on with the reamer so I can make adjustments on the fly. Some may question hand held reaming,  but I have video of the bore and chamber at less than .00015" out......moral is, ask the smith if he will guarantee the chamber to be square to the bore within a given amount.

There's a lot of ways to skin the cat, but ask for a guarantee on the work. If the smith is nervous about that......you should be too.

I like to answer these questions when designing a rifle:
What is the budget?
What brand of parts are a must?
What does it get stocked in?
What's the weight window and length?
Lastly is finish.......but,

Most people get so hung up on the machine work that they lose focus on the finish. If you had a gap or longrifles rig sitting next to a de rig and looked at the seams between the action and stock you will understand.

This is two pieces. ...

[high country]

Big difference between putting a brake or cap on and FITTING a brake or cap.

[TeacherMan]

WOW! I'm learning so much its crazy. I new I wanted to have a custom built but I have 10 times more questions now and feel like I know a 100th less than when I started. Id like to do the build under $3k from scratch? Is this doable for a nice finished rifle? (not including scope).

This cost me an AR, 454, and a 45/70 

[high country]

WOW! I'm learning so much its crazy. I new I wanted to have a custom built but I have 10 times more questions now and feel like I know a 100th less than when I started. Id like to do the build under $3k from scratch? Is this doable for a nice finished rifle? (not including scope).

This cost me an AR, 454, and a 45/70 

Your stock, trigger and action choice will answer that. You can spend that much on a stock, or drop it into a $200 used stock......it's all about your choices.

if you find a stock you're into. ....and it's not inletted exactly how you need it, add $200 and it can be filled and re inletted. .....but that about guarantees it will need paint.....and time.

[yorketransport]

If you want to go the easy route, just send your action off to any smith with a decent reputation with a box of cash like Biggerhammer said. Chances are that you'll be perfectly happy with the results.

If it were me, I'd just send the action to Benchmark and let them do the work. There really is something special about their 338 barrels. To give you an idea on cost, a buddy of mine just recently built a setup very similar to what you're looking at except for caliber (he went 338 Edge against my recommendation). The rough quote that he got from Benchmark was $1500 to build off of his action. This included a 30", fluted, SS barrel with a brake installed and blue printing his Rem 700 action. This was just for the metal work. He had an HS Precision stock (from a Sendero) that he was going to use.

What he ended up doing was sending his action to a local smith along with a 30" Bartlein barrel ($350) and a Ross Schuler muzzle brake ($45). I think he paid $350 for the metal work and it was done in about 3 weeks. I bed the rifle to the stock for him and put in a trigger I had sitting around. The finished product didn't look like a $3000 custom gun but that's because it wasn't $3000. There is a slight line at the muzzle brake, but not a step. The stamping on the barrel isn't perfect, but it doesn't look like an intoxicated 3 year old did it. The bedding job is clean but not perfect, but he got exactly what he paid me for! (cheap guy didn't even front me a couple of bucks for the Devcon that I used  )

The only thing that matters to him (or me honestly) is the performance of the finished product. The Bartlein barrel is on the slower side but it makes up for it in accuracy and ease of cleaning. The money he saved on the build helped him pay (too much ) for his NF scope that he put on there. The rifle is holding .5 MOA out past 1300 yards which is about as far as we consistently shoot and can measure our targets. He'll shoot against me with my Jim Borden built switch barrel rifle (which would cost over $4000 to have built) also in 338 Edge (or 7mm RUM or 270 RUM  ). My 338 shoots almost 100 fps faster with the same loads (Lilja barrel) and shoots slightly better groups on a good day, but not always when I'm shooting it. Neither rifle is to blame for a miss at 1200 yards.

You can honestly throw a McGowen barrel on a Savage action for about $400 and do just fine. It just won't have the flash of a full custom rig. I have to admit though that my favorite long range gun right now is a Savage Striker in a factory center grip stock with a 19" 284 Winchester McGowen barrel that I paid $200 for new. It took me about 10 minutes to put it all together. The sum of the parts is probably around $650 but I wouldn't sell it for $1500.

It doesn't always take $3000 to get the performance that you want, but sometimes it's about the package just as much as it's about the performance.

Andrew

[high country]

I just spun up a benchmark #4 fluted on my last rifle. Its plenty accurate and easy to clean so far. I would do it again.

[rbros]

Wish there was a super store that had all these parts in stock and educated people to tell me about them  Id love to hold all the different stock types but how?

I know Id like a spiral fluted barrel with side muzzle break squared off.

Here goes the kids college money 

Not sure how close you are to me but I have stocks, barrels and actions in inventory. Easier to check them all out and make a decision.