Originally Posted By sagillman:
What's your budget? I shoot 300WM and picked the Savage action, specifically because the caliber is kind of a barrel burner and swapping barrels myself is a time and money saver.

Originally Posted By safetyoff:
Best Bang for the buck would be to go with Stiller.  Any custom action for that matter but the Stillers are least $$ of the custom lot and are top notch, and you are asking "bang for the buck" so I am going with lowest cost best quality.  I have said this elsewhere recently, after much experience building 20+ rifles on trued 700s, and many of them being as accurate as any custom action based rifle I have built,  I would never waste money on truing a Rem 700 again.  You will spend the same amount of money as the Stiller or possibly more, and it will be worth $400 bucks when your done.  Buying a "trued" 700 does not mean you are getting a custom quality 700 action, and I personally, would not pay $600 for a trued 700.  I have seen firsthand, trying to sell trued 700s myself, that there are VERY FEW people that will pay that.   IMO it would be foolish to pay $600 for a trued 700 when you could have a custom for @$400 more. IF you ever sell your Stiller based rifle that $1000 action will be still be worth right at $1000.  

Don't misunderstand I am not saying trued 700s are bad or not a good base for an accurate rifle.  I am saying from a money standpoint, back to bang for the buck statement, it is a poor investment to use a 700.  A basic $400 blueprint of a 700 does not get you close to meet what you get from a off the shelf custom action.  

1.Blueprint

2.Sleeve bolt and ream raceway

3.Bush firing pin hole to .062\ turn firing pin

4.Check scope base holes, weld up \re mill to true centerline of raceway, VERY COMMON PROBLEM that is rarely fixed and cannot be fixed by simply drilling\re tapping to 8-40 screws.  

5.Install Sako extractor

6.Fix bolt shroud drag, not always needed

7.Remove and replace bolt handle for proper timing, not always needed

Items 2-7 cost extra, on top of the standard blueprint, out of your pocket and are worthless to any future buyer or the value of your custom firearm.  A fine shooting rifle can be made on a 700 but after you are done with it, you love it and have spent $2000+ dollars on it, wouldn't it be comforting to know that your fine custom rifle is actually worth the money you have invested in it, even if you never intend to sell it?  For me anyway it always eases the pain to know I can re coup a large portion of the money I have in a rifle if I ever needed to sell it.

   

Originally Posted By Darkhors5:
Safetyoff's post nailed it.

Myself and 2 buddies built 700 pattern rifles.  1 has a trued Rem 700, the other has Stiller Tac 30.  I went with a Defiance Deviant.  By the time they were barreled, All same profile and caliber Bartlein Barrels. the Stiller was the least expensive.  The trued Rem had $200 less invested than I had in the Defiance Machine action.  He should have gone with the Tac 30 as he was trying to go the least expensive route.

My thoughts - "Best bang for the Buck" in your chosen caliber- Stiller Tac 300

I went with the Defiance as they offered some options I wanted.  If not for those specific wants I'd have gotten a Stiller as well.