McWhorter Custom Rifles
 

I have been wanting one of these custom rifles for years. Been following the builds by McWhorters for about 3 years and just floundering about pulling the trigger. I think I have decided to place my order but I am still floundering over the caliber choice.

I have beat this topic up and researched it to death. I want a rifle for deer hunting and for long range shots. I think I prefer a caliber that is light on recoil and high on accuracy.

I have decided on the 6.5x47 Lapua caliber due to its accuracy, light recoil, and the basics of kinetic energy at 800 yards.

I have gone back and forth between this and the 7mm STW for about 3 years now. I like that 7mm greatly but I'm just concerned about the recoil affecting long range accuracy for my style of shooting.

Any opinions on the McWhorter rifles and/or the caliber of choice?

Although I've never owned one, I have shot a couple. They were fine and very accurate... albeit PRICEY!!!

Overpriced for what they are. Go with a Fierce or Cooper or Forbes they make a fine rifle for half of a McWhorter...McWhorter doesn't do anything special, they buy quality parts online and put them together, any smith can do the same thing.

haven't checked prices but I know from having more than a few rifles built, there are literally thousands of young smiths out there who build one helluva rifle who just haven't had they're name built up who do the same work cheaper, smiths I have used in the past have doubled if not tripled in price just because of public exposure.
search some forums that specialize in long range hunting, do your research, there are deals to be had, I have rifles built by the big names, that shoot no better than the guys who are unheard of building rifles, for 60% of the money.
RR

Yup I agree, my buddy in Wyoming is an ex Christensen and botw smith, not well known by name but does excellent work and has built over 4000 rifles.

Buy the parts, pay a smith $200 to spin em together.

in 1996 Mark Bansner built me a Bansner UR1 in 7mm STW, cost me 1973.00 plus S&H + transfer, price one now!
he was 1/3 the price of Kenny jarret or david miller then.
RR

Add up a McWhorter...

Stiller action $1000
Shilen trigger $120
Hart barrel $300
McMillan $500
Bottom metal $200
Recoil lug, small parts etc $100

So $2220 in parts plus $300 for a smith to put it together...less then half of a McWhorter.

Your parts list is conservative. You really think a good smith will put this together for $300 then break in the rifle and test it. Perform load development for the rifle using the customer's preference of bullet, and re-test it to 600 yards for Accuracy? I have been working with Tim and Allan for 7 years now. A rifle is not built in a day. They work their butts off and are not getting rich. Please let us know if you find a smith that can put together 1/4 moa 7.5lb hunting rifles. We would love to hire him.

I know plenty of them and yes you can easily put one of those rifles together in a day. You already have a custom action so no truing is necessary or lapping of barrels since they are custom barrels. $300 wouldn't include load development but that's a buyers preference, any shooter buying a custom rifle should do it themselves in my opinion. Even $600 for gunsmith/load work is still much cheaper then a McWhorter. You can get a Fierce for $2200 and that is with a custom action that someone can't buy over the counter.

Parts list isn't very conservative, if anything its a little high since McWhorter gets things cheaper then list price I'm sure.

There's nothing special about a McWhorter, it's off the shelf parts that anyone can buy online.

If they knew anything about long range they wouldn't use those stupid brakes they spin on, they would use a slab style without holes on the bottom. But then again that is more work since they need timed.

its all about supply and demand, the more folks who want them to build it the more they can charge and stay in business, I have never paid a smith over 600 dollars for a full assembly, if I furnish the parts, and the ones close to that it was a copyrighted cartridge that they owned, my most accurate rifle cost me 400bucks over the cost of the barrel.
do your homework, no name smiths are the way to go, they put more effort into making a good product so they can one day be a big name in the business. but just because they are not well known doesn't make them inferior.
this is my experience from having 25 rifles or so built by a lot of different smiths.
RR

Hey RR there may be another no name builder pretty soon if I can sell my Kubota...

good deal, you owe me so I expect "CHEAP"!
RR

McWhorter Rifles
 

I own four rifles McWhorter built for me about ten to fifteen years ago. They are chambered in 300 RUM, 7 RUM, 220 Swift, and 6 ppc. I also own a 280 Improved built by Kenny Jarrett that never shot worth a damn until I had Tim put a new barrel on it and fix the bedding on the stock.

I own a number of other rifles built by well known smiths, some more expensive and some less than McWhorter's but my favorite rifles were all built by Tim. Every one the guns he built me shoots 1/4 moa or better. Of the ten other custom guns I own, the only one that shoots close to 1/4 is a 7mm STW built by Jarrett.

I am not saying that nobody can build a better gun than Tim or that Tim is the best smith in the world or that you might not find a guy who can build a better gun for 1/3 the price. All I'm saying is that from my own experience, McWhorter builds a damn good rifle EVERY time, and that is pretty rare. When he built my 300 RUM, he re-barreled it three times (at his own cost) before he was satisfied with its performance. It took forever to get it, and it wasn't cheap, but it is my favorite rifle and was totally worth the money it cost.

I know there are other builders out there that have the same kind of reputation, and you might find one that does it for significantly less money than McWhorter, I haven't looked recently so I can't say.

For what its worth, my advice is to save up for a couple extra months (if you have to) and go with a smith who has a solid reputation and a good guarantee. You'll spend a good bit more money up front but you'll know that the gun won't be sent to you until it's shooting 1/4" or better. Plus, you'll have all the load development work done for you.

Both the rounds you seem to like are well respected and will do what you want.
Your not going to find factory ammo for either one in a small gun shop in la la land so you will need to reload to have a good supply of rounds on hand.

I would take the 7mm STW my self just because I like the 7mm's.

:D Al

I have a McWorter 6.5x285 and this is undoubtably the best shooting rifle I have ever shot. I know that it is a lot of money, but i believe that you get a fair return for your money. It's true that you could work up a load for your rifle yourself and sight it in yourself, but this was one of the reasons I went with them. They take the time to work up the load and sight it in for long range shooting and they also give you the load they have developed for your particular rifle. As for the recoil, this is a non factor since the barrel has a muzzle brake, but you will need a good set of hearing protectors.