Building A Custom Rifle Is Like Finishing Your Basement

You are probably thinking how is this guy going to tie those together, well listen closely because it is fairly simple. In the several years that I have been working on the Thompson Center encore career change I have noticed that occasionally there will come a listing that just blows me away on Gunbroker.com. It will have an exotic custom left hand thumbhole curly maple stockset set for a Bullberry hanger bar system for the forend, an engraved frame that has had a custom trigger job done no doubt by an industry giant set to "break like glass" at precisely 2.578 lbs. A custom MGM barrel in SS with a screw on muzzlebrake in a caliber like 7mm STW, a handwoven sling done by the last 3 Aztec Indian princesses in existence using only natural ink dies of course. Hopefully your not reading this blog with that gun in your vault otherwise I probably really ticked you off by now. And trust me I'm not really knocking the "project" concept at all, my wife could certainly describe in detail some adventures I have attempted and the cost associated of course. My issue is when you try and recoup your project cost. Now the flip side, after having been a realtor now for almost 10 years I have been in who knows how many homes, some nice and some well I won't go there in this blog. We always run across the home seller who has finished his basement with Italian marble floors, custom wood trim and doors, fully stocked resort style bar made from copper, sheet metal and tile scraps that he picked up from a construction site, a built in fish aquarium and custom sound system of course. he knows to the penny ( and his wife as well) how much that project cost to install and just like our custom gun guy expects to get every penny back in return. Statistics nation wide show that the basement remodel is the worst investment a homeowner can make and the average return is only about 56% . Not good! Every now and then a wise homeowner will ask us in advance where to spend his money on his home. We give the stats and tell him that if he must finish that basement then just "enjoy it" and I would give that same advise to our custom gun guy, "enjoy it, shoot it, look at it, show it off" just don't expect someone else to pay for your dream. Could happen, just not likely. Thanks for reading and be safe. Marty