Bonanza:
the bulk of these "artisans" are fully capable of making their own actions but chose not to as the actions they use are readily available and are implimented in the construction of their guns.

i have spoken to several of these makers and i have not run across one of them that cares anyless about accuarcy than the asthetics of their rifles.

i do, however, agree that they can get a little carried away with "dressing the rifle up" to the point that you may not want to be knocking it about in the field but their anual show is where they bring their best work, this is not to say that these makers wont make you a field grade rifle of excellent quality if thats what you order.

there are some excellent independant makers at SCI as well, but the cost of showing at SCI is so outrageously high that the small makers are shut out of that market and occaisionally you will see two or more of them sharing a booth at SCI. the other reason that you dont see a lot of them at SCI is that there is often a conflict of schedules with their show and SCI.

as a whole, this is a fine bunch of people who check their pretenses at the door and are always up for discussion of their work and their fellow guild members work.

DT