Here are several reasons you may consider having a gunsmith fit and install a custom barrel for your next project. Price ends up being very similar in many cases and about the only advantage to a pre-fit barrel is that you can usually get them faster. Outside of that, with a good gunsmith that pays attention to detail and follows good practices, in most cases you are better off having your barrel machined professionally.
Another reason why benchrest shooters and F class shooters don’t use prefits is because no barrel company makes a prefit barrel that is 32 inches long and 1.25 inches in diameter.
I have been using prefits in F-Class and winning. If you do your part hand loading and head spacing, the rest is about the condition you are shooting in. The 12 o'clock and 6oclock thing is just theory. I shoot with guys that run Full custom guns and there score is no better than mine. I have tried both avenues. Both shoot well if you do your part.
I agree with your assessment
I have enjoyed your videos. I have multiple rifles that were custom chambered and multiple that I installed prefits myself. I think that one huge driver in making those decisions is timeframe. I am not a gotta have it now kinda guy and neither are most of my friends, but many of us would never have considered prefots if it were for the extended wait times for services. It's crazy to me to wait 10-20 weeks for what amounts to 4 hours of work. Certainly not devaluing the quality of the workmanship or saying that a prefit is as good as a custom chamber job, but none of us are getting any younger!
I agree, that is the one HUGE advantages from a prefit. Order it today, have it in a few days and be using it.
One would think that a shop that trained/paid well could have enough qualified individuals and machines doing the work to get the lead time down from months to weeks. If the back log is months deep, it reasons that there's enough work to support more people. Is it a matter of the lack of talented individuals that are capable of the work?
I think you missed the mark with this video. Guys that buy prefits are not looking for a bench rest rifle or bench rest accuracy. I think what they ARE looking for, myself included, is a rifle that is a step above an "off the rack" rifle in terms of customization and accuracy, but is still reasonably priced. Another big factor for me is the ability to pick out the exact parts I want and then build the rifle to my idea of what makes an ideal rifle. Its not unlike the thousands of guys who build rifles off the AR platform...again, customizing them to their idea of what makes a great rifle. Finally, IMO there is certain pride that comes along with putting a rifle together that is different from the factory cookie cutter bolt action and then having it shoot tiny little groups.
More power to the guy that wants to bolt one together themselves. I don't build cookie cutter rifles. I have never built two identical rifles. Every rifle I build is a culmination of what the customer wants. I give guidance and advice, but ultimately, the customer chooses the components. It's my job to make all the parts function flawlessly and as accurately as possible. Compatible parts are not always compatible to each other.
Just got 6.5 proof carbon prefit for my tikka. No issues so excited just waiting on my new scope!!!
Pre-fits are chambered by best gunsmiths in the world. Reason bench rest guys do their on barrels is cause their going to basically cut it to work with only one load only. All the actions they make pre-fits are dead on. You brought up rem 700 well they don’t make pre fits for regular 700 actions caused actions are not the same
Yea you are exactly correct!! But if I can’t do the work, I don’t want to play the game. Just comes from engineering all my life. But I do understand most don’t have the skills. That’s cool too. More in the sport the better. 🤘🏻
90% of Shooters will never leave or be able to extract the kind of accuracy a bench Shooter demands from a rifle
Number one, the absolute peak of shooters, say the top 1%, is a level NO ONE can reach! Not even really the top 5%! You certainly aren’t at that level! I’m not.. and 100% of the people in shooter forums aren’t at that level. So comparing those few to everyone else is a moot point. Now, you can talk all you want, but he fact is, given any number of high quality barrel options installed with a barrel nut vs a gunsmith shouldered barrel, & questioning accuracy potential of one over the other, has revealed NO evidence of the shoulder barrel somehow being better. In fact, under like condition with like high quality components, accuracy potential is a dead heat! It’s EVEN! This is the actual proof free to all for researching, by those with dog in the fight. The ONLY ones arguing that Shouldered barrels by a gunsmith are more accurate, are… oh yeah, the Gunsmiths themselves…. And the people who PAY away more money! Gee! Both of these have dogs in the fight, and obviously are biased! The Gunsmith is biased because it’s his livelyhood & the buyer who paid more is biased because… uhhh, he PAID MORE and must argue he got something for that extra money, in order to be RIGHT!
I own a Terminus Zeus action that excepts pre-fit barrels and my barrels come from Straightjacket Armory, They chamber to any spec you want and send the barrel out in two weeks for an upcharge. You stated it correctly, if you take a run of the mill bag of shit stock Remington action, which by the way no F-class shooter is using you need a good gunsmith . Two things make a great rifle, Great action and a great barrel. If you own a $200,000 lathe that is completely automated it will make it perfect every time or a highly skilled machinist on any quality lathe will make a great rifle for you. I believe a great Gunsmith-Machinist is worth his weight in gold, However you can do the same thing for less because of modern technology in todays actions and high tech machines using quality barrel blanks.
I agree as long as you have good QC on all the products. a $250K machine can still turn out crap if not programmed correctly or monitored.
Where I live if you need any gunsmith work you have to get on a waiting list of at least a year.
If you are in the US, ship it to someone like me! Easy enough.
I've been having a lot of issues trying to find a gunsmith that won't damage the firearm or parts, rounding screw slots, screws or bolts coming loose. Had a stainless barrel badly scratched, a custom barrel nut rounded and gouged. Three different places, same results. I even had a Savage pre fit barrel come loose on the shooting bench, now I try to do most everything myself if it don't require a lathe, and believe me I've been looking for one!
Unfortunately you are correct. It's not always easy to find someone with attention to detail and the skills to do it. That's why I started my business. There wasn't anyone in the area that even did the work to begin with let along top quality work. Rounding screw heads is one of the easiest things to avoid and is a daily task in most shops.
Look for the gunsmith that does stock finishes/refinishes also. They have the appearance eye and desire to present ya with a "beauty".
Do you install barrels and can you send it to you by mail
Yes, email me and I will get you all the contact info. Can visit apexrifles.com as well.
I’m gonna have to go all Lumburg on ya. How about some additional points um kay? As others have said nobody needs BR precision except BR shooters so why pay for it if you will never be able to either do it or need it? Having a gunsmith do your work over a prefit company does NOT mean automatic better quality nor does the assumption that they have less pride of workmanship hold water. It depends on what kind of day the gunsmith is having and it could be an off day. Wait times are ridiculous on one offs when you can shop around and within reason find something in stock. Yes you can have something made that’s a very special spec like chamber dimensions, twist rates, throat length etcetera. However for practical purposes almost nobody NEEDS those specs either. Prices on one offs are usually vastly higher precisely because a small one man shop just doesn’t have the buying power nor the ability to produce volume necessary to keep the lights on. Now as to me and what I’ve been doing. Four years ago I knew jack about guns and started buying factory. Then as I learned more I began upgrading triggers, stocks etcetera. By the time I was done I realized all I had left of the factory gun was the receiver and bolt. When I thought about buying barrels I then learned that without squaring the action a barrel likely wouldn’t do and good. Then I learned that a custom action right out the gate was no more money than doing all the upgrades needed to get me where I wanted So now I buy each component and build exactly what I want for specific purposes. Yes I pay more than some so called higher end factory or semi custom but I get better value. I’m getting what I want. What I’ve learned along the way is this. Rifle components are being made to very tight tolerances and quality. Actions AND prefit barrels are usually higher precision than most need. With a little learning we can pick out the quality components, install triggers, bed actions, mount scopes precisely and screw on barrels with headspace gages and a torque wrench. Final thoughts here. I am currently going both barrel routes. I’m sending in an action to Southern Precision for a custom built 22 Creedmoor. I’m also having Preferred Barrels build me a prefit 6 ARC for the same action. SPR set me back $900 for a ss barrel vs Preferred only $505. I will be VERY surprised if the SPR is any better. I guarantee it wont produce as much more accuracy as the much more money as it costs.
Reason 1: I (gunsmith) make money
Funny, I don't make much on most of the stuff I do. Quality over quantity.
These prefits guys are kicking barrels out too quickly imo and their qc suffers. I’ve got a prefit and a custom fit barrel for my bighorn action and the custom fit wins in accuracy by a small margin but it’s also a bigger caliber and a steel barrel where the prefits a bartlein carbon. I personally won’t do the prefit thing anymore. I like having a smith I can go and see also and not having to ship stuff around.
Pure BS!!!