New premium rifle or custom

[mdwest]

I’m thinking of getting a higher end bolt rifle or maybe a custom build. I have been looking at a Springfield Waypoit 2020 with carbon barrel. I know there are Seekins, Bergera, Fierce, Christensen and others in this price and quality range. I know there are people on here who are gun aficionados well beyond my knowledge. Any thoughts? These are in the $2500 range. I have a local customer compary (Hart) that will do a similar custom build for 4-5k. Is it worth it or not. Who has one of these higher end factory rifles that is positive on the rifle. Not sure what caliber I’ll get. Thinking somewhere between 6.5 PRC and .300 PRC. Big range i know lol, but looking for a modern cartridge. Thx.

10 years ago I would have told you to go the Hart route, no questions asked. The premium barrel makers like Hart, Shilen, Douglass, etc were simply turning out guns capable of doing what no factory gun reliably did. Super smooth, super accurate, etc… of course you were going to pay 2-5x more then what you were going to pay for an off the shelf Winchester or Remington or even Sako, etc.. but you truly were getting that much more gun for your money..

Today, things are different…

Companies like Fierce, Seekins, Christensen, etc are putting out guns that guarantee sub moa (some guarantee sub .75 moa), and are actually producing .5-.75 MOA groups reliably… the actions are slick.. the guns are reliable.. the stocks are well designed and made, etc… and they are only fractionally more expensive than an off the rack Remington/winchester/ruger/etc..

If you’re into traditional blued steel and walnut, you’re not going to get that out of a seekins or a Christensen…

But if you’re wanting precision, accuracy, reliability, etc… you can do that pretty easily for less than $2500 new… and sometimes less than $1k used with those modern semi production guns (I got my Christensen 308 for $900)…

Don’t get me wrong… a hart barreled gun, if well built, will almost certainly out shoot an off the rack Christensen…

But… I’d wager that 99% of the shooters out there would never know or see the difference…

If the shooter isn’t capable of shooting .25 MOA groups at 100… a .25 MOA gun isn’t likely to produce any better results for him than a .75 MOA gun…

 

[cwpayton]

I'll give it a shot (pun intended). I will assume the barrel length is 24" = 2 ft. I will also assume the average muzzle velocity for 24" barrel 7mm Rem = 3,200 ft/second. Thus one second's worth of wear down the barrel = 3,200 ft fired through it. The claim is the barrel can last ten seconds of wear = 32,000 ft fired through it. The barrel is two feet long so, presumably, it will last through 32,000 ÷ 2 firings = 16,000. Seems like a lot so my calculation is probably wrong. Not surprising as my PhD is history not math. But it was fun trying.

yep that SOUNDS logical, and Im no where near that number, long live the rem 700.

 

[375Ruger416]

just curious what is the barrel life for the carbon fiber barrels. my rem 700 7mm mag steel, if I remember correctly is about 10 seconds. Ive no idea how many rounds that equals.

Gunwerks school rifles go through more rounds in a year than most of us go through in a lifetime. They told me they have gotten up to 5-6000 rounds out of their 6.5 CM barrels. They clean every 60-100 rounds or when accuracy degrades. It seems barrel life is the same whether carbon wrapped or just steel as far as I know. Has anyone experienced otherwise?

From what I have read/heard, the quality of the steel and quality of the rifling determines how quickly barrels foul and length of shot strings and amount of powder determines how quickly you burn out the throat. I am not aware o

 

[Sabre]

But… I’d wager that 99% of the shooters out there would never know or see the difference…

If the shooter isn’t capable of shooting .25 MOA groups at 100… a .25 MOA gun isn’t likely to produce any better results for him than a .75 MOA gun…

This is one of the most important points. There are a lot of 6MOA (or even 10MOA) shooters out there stressing themselves out over trying to get a .25MOA gun.

Granted, of course it is better to have a more accurate rifle even if you are a bad shot, due to tolerance stacking.

The good news is that there are so many capable rifles on the market nowadays. The bad news is that most people spend more time and money trying to get a rifle that shoots better than 1MOA rather than making sure they themselves can shoot under 3MOA.