Everybody seems to be happy with them. But, they sure are proud of thier prices. If you know first hand a decent gunsmith in the area, you could get all that done here in MD or PA. I like mine but recently has done things I didn't like. And overcharged me on a few items. So I wouldn't send you to him.
I talked toHCR today. They arefinished withmy Sako that I sent them back in February and are shipping it back to me this week. I had them put a new Lilja barrel on it chambered for the .300 Win Mag. This is the first time I've dealt with them on anything, so I can't really speak to your post. However, I can say that they were highly recommended, which is why I sent them this rifle. I hope it gets here before this weekend so I can take it out for a spin.
The rifle arrived yesterday from Hill Country. From a cosmetic standpoint it looks like they did an excellent job. I will hopefully have a chance this weekend to take it out and see how it shoots. They tested it with factory Hornady Custom ammo before shipping it back and sent me the target with the test group........3 shots at 100 yards that measured a hair over .4".I hope tobe able to equal or exceed that with carefully handloaded ammo.
So right now, not having shot the rifle yet, I'm pretty satisfied with the job Hill Country did. It wasn't inexpensive, though. The price for the rebarrel job, which includes the Lilja barrel, was $725. It might have them do another one for me next year, but I'm also going to consider some other options, like Pac-Nor for example.
So, basically I'd say give Hill Country a try. They seem to be good folks that do a good job.
The Sept. issue of Shooting Times did a review on HCR. The author used their servies and was pleased and tested their Harvester complete rifle. They report very high quality work, nothing against HCR at all but when is the last time Shooting Times wrote anything even slightly negative about anything? I am with bigcountry, HCR is doing nothing special that a good local smith can't do upon request. . . . good luck finding one however! Solitary Man - it sounds like you have one nice tack driver there!
Mr. Longbeard, I had a chance to take the rifle that HillCountry rebarreled to my hunting club for a few shots this past weekend. Without going into details, I'll just say I was very pleased with how it shot, very pleased.
Have you decided yet on whether to send them your rifle?
After I bedded my rifle and adjusted the trigger and floated my barrel it's printing right at 1" with factory loads and just under with my reloads... I'm pretty happy right now
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"public land will make a turkey hunter out of ya"
Hill Country Rifles
