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Gunsmith recommendations

Jlmccrarey

Private
Minuteman
Oct 3, 2021
28
2
Evansville IN
Hi,
I have an idea of who I’m going through but Im wanting recommendations on a precision rifle gunsmith to cut the chamber for .308 on a 30 caliber proof research barrel blank as well as thread the barrel and fit it to a Nucleus action. Thanks in advance
 
Most have very long waits however if you want something within the next 6 months I would call the following:

LRI
ALTUS
SAC
Sawtooth Rifles
Bugholes (SPA)


There are many other really good places to get a chamber job done but most have big backlogs. The above last time I checked, are more reasonable.

Be wary of any smith that doesn't have a backlog at all and a good price. There is probably a reason for it.
 
Is there a reason you need a Proof barrel and/or fit by a ‘smith? Or is this just how you want it done? There are plenty of places that sell good barrels for the Nucleus.
 
Is there a reason you need a Proof barrel and/or fit by a ‘smith? Or is this just how you want it done? There are plenty of places that sell good barrels for the Nucleus.
Yeah, is there any advantage to getting it fit? I'll admit I don't know much about the subject
 
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I’ve used Phoenix Custom Rifles(2 full builds),West Texas Ordnance(Switchlug with three barrels) and Wildcat Precision (RimX and building me a 6GT as we speak) All three have done outstanding work.
 
Yeah, is there any advantage to getting it fit? I'll admit I don't know much about the subject
Not really, especially with the newest crop of custom actions. They’re machined well enough that any competent ‘smith can take the measurements from the blueprints and machine the barrel. It’s only a matter of the quality of the blank that is started with and how good the person is that’s running the lathe
 
Blue Mountain Precision give Eric a call, great guy to deal with.
 
Smith close to me has been doing builds with proof barrels for quite a while.
Local to me in South texas
 
Most have very long waits however if you want something within the next 6 months I would call the following:

LRI
ALTUS
SAC
Sawtooth Rifles
Bugholes (SPA)


There are many other really good places to get a chamber job done but most have big backlogs. The above last time I checked, are more reasonable.

Be wary of any smith that doesn't have a backlog at all and a good price. There is probably a reason for it.
All good recs.

Altus is spinning a BA for me now. They are great.

At some point, I’ll have my Rem 700 .308 trued and rebarreled and will go w LRI.

SAC and Southern Precision ( bugholes) have an outstanding reputation for high quality work also.

And I’m sure there are many great smiths Im overlooking.
 
All good recs.

Altus is spinning a BA for me now. They are great.

At some point, I’ll have my Rem 700 .308 trued and rebarreled and will go w LRI.

SAC and Southern Precision ( bugholes) have an outstanding reputation for high quality work also.

And I’m sure there are many great smiths Im overlooking.
Yea man. They are off the top of my head the "fastest" of the good smiths if someone needs something soon.

Of course, you can also shoot impacts and always have Bartlien prefits in stock ready to ship.
 
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Yeah, is there any advantage to getting it fit? I'll admit I don't know much about the subject
Some advantages are:
- possibly more concentric chambering/ threading
- custom reamer specs using custom reamers
- custom lengths (steel barrels)
- fluting options (steel barrels)

Valuing the advantages is a different story and is up to the user.

Also, any accuracy guarantee of a particular smith may or may not be honored using a prefit barrel. The may have their own personal methods for smithing that differ from pre-fit manufacturing. Not all smiths are equally equipped and from my readings there are many different techniques/methods used.

Prefits perform well for the most part and are VERY convenient. The turnaround time being a great advantage of prefit barrels. Nothing like finding what you want on the shelf!