So, this will sound like a dumb question.  And it is.  That’s okay, it is outside my area of expertise.  I answer others dumb questions.  I try to be gentle.  So be gentle with me.  I will hand you the Vaseline. ??

I want to have a bolt action rifle built.  A precision rifle with a precision action.  Maybe Stiller, Defiance, Surgeon or MacMillan.  I have talked to a few barrel companies (big names) that have chambered and threaded barrels fir the actions.  Now I add an AI or Cadex chassis.

With a precision action and a modern aluminum chassis, there does not seem to be much “Gunsmithing” to be done.  I will hire someone who knows what they are doing, but there is no truing or chambering.  Screw the barrel in, attach the chassis, done.  I know some will doubt the pre-fit barrel, but they are out there.

What am I missing?

Tag,I'm considering.

A precision rifle is basically: lock, stock and barrel

The lock, or action comprises: the action, trigger and bottom metal. There are a lot of ways to go here from Tikka through custom action. Action & trigger are basically a bolt together, but you have to know how to dial it in safe. You really cannot find good info online about how to judge your trigger safe.

Barrel: When you talk to quality barrel makers, they basically make blanks. You still need someone to thread, chamber, maybe contour, and muzzle thread. In my world, I need somebody to do this machining. You can put the barrel on the action with a couple hundred in tools(barrel vice, action wrench, torque wrench) though.....but if headspace is ng, it is back to the smith.

Stock: There are a few good chassis out there. I have an MDT. It is ok. I would rather have a stock. Chassis are convenient and solid, but stocks feel much better IMO. Stocks are better bedded. You or a gunsmith can do that.

The thing is we are talking over $2500 worth of components here. Might be worth $500 for a good smith to be involved, especially when thinking through reamers, throating, mag length, etc.

You won't have a big name gunsmith's name stamped on the side of your barrel though.

I've built two rifles based on Curtis Custom actions. One was a full chambering job on a barrel blank.  The other was doing exactly what you are talking about with the pre-fit barrel. Both use triggertech triggers and Manners stocks with mini-chassis.  After the lathe work on the barrels you are just torquing the barrel into the action, pinning on the trigger, then bolting the barreled action into whichever stock you choose.  

If you have a barrel vise and an action wrench of some sort it is absolutely possible to put one together yourself.

CHRIS

With the modern era of sub moa factory precision rifles you pretty much always come out ahead with a Ruger precision rifle, Tikka, or Bergara. Than buying a  nice expensive 700 clone action, stock, bottom metal, and having a barrel made up. That said my main precision rifle is a Surgeon and I have swapped barrels and checked head space my smith had spun up for me. If you are fine with spending a lot more money and understand you are not getting a great amount of improved accuracy with that money and time spent the by all means do it.

May I ask how you chose the TL3 over the Origin?

Precision cutting your barrel threads to just fit in the receiver with minimum clearance is part of a custom barreling job. You won't get that type of fit from a do it at home mail order build.

That's not what I'm referring to. Most actions are trued by custom gunsmiths. Once trued, the barrel tenon and threads are cut on the barrel to just fit "that" receiver. Those threads aren't cut any deeper than necessary for just enough clearance to screw into that receiver.

Pre-fit barrels have to work in any receiver. That means their threads are cut with a little more clearance than needed for a factory receiver. They will have more slop built into the threads right out of the gate than any custom gunsmith would allow. If you already have a trued receiver this slop will be even greater.

I've been screwing together .5-.7MOA rifles in my garage for over a decade with just common sense and a tiny bit of mechanical accumen. The only "special" tools I have for it is a Savage barrel nut wrench and a set of aluminum AN vise jaw inserts for my bench vise. Every rifle I put together has no trouble cranking out deeply sub-MOA groups because it's easy.

If you start with a Bighorn Origin action then the notion of needing a gunsmith is a bit funny. Literally, just screw all the stuff together. It's not hard and requires very few if any special tools. Their tolerances are so tight you can mail order a shouldered barrel (from them and a couple other outfits).

If you start with a box stock remington 700 then yeah, because it's a 1-piece bolt you'll want to get it trued. Similarly with a Winchester M70 it'd be best to get it trued because it's a 1-piece bolt and little misalignments will matter. If you want a shouldered barrel set up then a machinist if not a smith is almost always required (but not always because of things like Bighorn Origin). If it's a Savage 10/110 then there's no real point most times in calling a gunsmith up at all unless the action is really out of whack because the of floating bolt head and the barrel nut. Sending a Savage to SSS for truing and timing might net a small gain but for me, not enough to justify the hassle or expense.

It’s not 1989 anymore AI’s have been running shouldered prefits for decades and nobody is complaining about their accuracy.

Fwd to today several custom action have tolerances tight enough to run 1/2 moa or much better with a shouldered prefit or bbl nut for that matter.

Even factory rifles like Tikka have prefits available.