Full Custom

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Phil Kadath

Tam wrote about the building of custom firearms here. Chris Byrne followed up with his views on the subject, here.

Let me just take a moment to put something down on the subject.

For the same reasons as Chris, I must have at least some customization in my firearms. My arms are extra long. The LOP on my rifles approaches a foot and a half. My eyes aren’t what they once were, and they were never great. Because of this I have done many experiments with sights. Everyone likes a good trigger. I require them and will repeatedly send a gun back until the smith gets it perfected.

I have a Remington 700 in .308Win that cost me as much to build as a factory new Barrett M99. It is one of my favorite rifles to take to Boomershoot every year.

When folks hear how much I’ve got into it, some of them as why didn’t I just buy the Barrett? My first reason is because I have a decent supply of .308Win and no supply of .50BMG. Secondly, the Barrett wouldn’t have been big enough for me from the factory and I’d have had to put another few hundred dollars into making it fit. Oh, and when I’m on my game, my 700 shoots sub half-MOA groups.

I have the same LOP problems with shotguns. I’ve learned to compensate with customization. Without it, my nose gets introduced to my thumb.

I recently put a fully kitted HK USP’s worth of cash into a Browning HiPower. Besides the fact the HK thinks I suck and hates me, I didn’t buy a new wunderpistol that money because the HiPower does everything exactly the way I want it to. And because it is the number of deliveries on target that matter and not how impressed the bad guy is with your firearm selection, I’m quite happy with it.

Likewise, all of my 1911’s are either frame-up builds or base model customs.

While I may not have the quantity of individual pieces that some guys have, I no long “need” anything. Sure, there are firearms I “want”. And in time, I will acquire them. But until then, I’m fully kitted.

Chris touched on the topic of selling custom firearms and losing money by doing so. I know that if I ever had to sell my 700, I’d only get $1200 to $1500 out of it. Luckily, when I had the stock built, I made it fully is adjustable, so my potential market is larger. But still, getting 50% out of a fully customized firearm is average. Some get more. Some get less. I recently sold my customized Ruger MKII-10 and only took a 10% loss, but only because this model is somewhat rare and the buyer REALLY wanted one.

Other than that one pistol, the somewhat recent firearms purge from my safes were all factory models that I hadn’t yet customized. I sold them all to friends and family for what I paid for them.

I highly recommend that every single person build at least one firearm from the frame/receiver up in their lifetime. After the joy you get from your first firearm, there is no joy greater than that of a gun you built explicitly for yourself and no one else.

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6 Responses to Full Custom

Rivrdog says:

November 10, 2009 at 1:44 pm

For someone who departs from the body-size norm that production-line long arms are generally made for, major stock mods are what you need. OTOH, I am very average in stature, and can use any maker’s rifle off the shelf.

The adjustable stocks seen on the “tommy’d” ARs and other military-style rifles (and now shotguns) make some sense tactically, because they allow one to adjust for heavier clothing & gear while keeping the same cheek weld, etc as you had during your range time.

What I don’t get is the huge difference in price between built-up handguns and off-the-shelf. If a handgun doesn’t fit your hand, don’t buy it! I can’t shoot a double-stacker .45 auto of any kind with my small hand. I can only grasp my Glock 22 because it is a Gen One without all the new-fangled grip improvements.

My 1911A1 is built on an Essex frame, cheap, but well-machined, and everything GI fits on it with no re-tooling. Why would I want to get a Kimber frame and try to beat that? The Essex is a shooter, and is my heavy pistol for when the likelihood of trouble has gone up. I doubt that a Kimber or Para-USA would let me kill my target any deader.

Same goes for my milsurp rifles. I don’t have a 1913 rail on any of them. They are all factory stock. If my eyes get worse, I might have to add optical or holo sights, but there won’t ever be a laser, or light, added to any of my milsurp rifles or carbines.

Adjust yourself to the weapon, not the other way around, if at all possible.
Ron Miller says:

November 10, 2009 at 3:05 pm

I would like to hear more about your Remington. I am thinking of building or buying something similar. So I am curious as to what all you had done.

Regards,

Ron
Gerry N. says:

November 10, 2009 at 9:28 pm

I’m kinda like RD, every rifle I’ve ever picked up seems to have grown from my shoulder. The one that fits me best and hits right where I’m looking without thinking about it is my M1 Carbine. Not the deadliest piece in the rack, but then all my loads are either soft point jacketed or hollow pointed cast. You should see what a 130 gr. wheelweight round nose with a 1/8″ hollow point does to a plastic milk jug filled with unflavored gelatin at 50 yards.

My go-to pistol is the one I could afford, a Star B in 9mm. It is loaded with cast hollowpoints, too.

I never signed the Geneva convention.

Gerry N.
Phil says:

November 11, 2009 at 9:19 am

Of course, if the pistol doesn’t fit your hand, it would be silly to modify the grip. But that is not what I’m talking about, RD.

The idea that “everything GI will fit” on a 1911 is hogwash. Barrels are not interchangable on 1911’s because of the swinging link. The same goes for thumb safeties and all but the wimpiest of mag releases. If you want ultra interchangability, go for something like a Glock.

I know the pistol of which you speak and I know that it was fitted together by a gentleman friend of yours.

You’re lucky, Gerry. I wish I could say the same. But if I tried to shoot a M1 Carbine with a proper hold, my nose would be sore. Anything much bigger in caliber than an SKS will make it bleed.

Ron, I’ll send you an email in the next couple days with the particulars. If you live in the PacNW, I’ll have a list of smiths for you too.
Kyle says:

November 12, 2009 at 10:21 am

Second on the list of smiths in the PNW! I am in Oregon, but grew up in WA and am in western WA quite a bit.
Rivrdog says:

November 12, 2009 at 1:22 pm

It’s a GI barrel. That’s what I meant. GI trigger too, if what the Coyote Kid told me is correct.

Can’t ask him now, he just had a 5-branch by-pass and is still in hospital, but I’ll get back to him next week.

You have huge hands, you can shoot anything. I have small hands, and can only grip pistols with narrow grips such as a 1911 or Gen One Glock.

We shoot what we can. You also have more $$$ for weapons, and it is natural that after getting your collection more or less the way you wanted it, your improvements would go into gun quality, not quantity.

I suit a gun to a job, period. If an off-the-shelf rifle will perform the way I want it to, I see absolutely no need to spend three or four times that much to get one that might be a bit more aesthetically pleasing, or from a maker with a better reputation, etc.

I also drive older vehicles and am communicating on a 7-year-old laptop computer. I’m not a cheapskate, but then again, back to my credo: buy what will do the job the way I want it done, and no more.