500grains,

Of those German makers it appears as though most of the actions and a lot of other parts come from Prechtl, which makes me think that of the German rifles Prechtl may be the most for the money, since they have to earn a profit on anything they sell to Johannsen or others. Thus far I haven't seen any US importer listed for Prechtl. NECG is listed as importer for Johannsen, but I cross referenced a couple of price lists (on AyA shotguns) between NECG and another importer, and NECG adds a comparatively substantial amount to all prices and all options.

Mike,

I didn't know D'Arcy does Mausers, I thought he specialized in custom Model 70's. I understand that Gene Simillion also does great work but that Simillion only uses synthetic stocks, and if buying a custom rifle I want a nice piece of oil finished real wood on it and I want that wood made to fit my measurements.

I still have months to decide though (laws of economics: still earning $ for the Searcy double) and the Empire rifles sound good, especially if able to be ordered in intermediate length actions designed for a .375, but I'd definitely like to hear opinions from some owners of the Empire guns. It seems that the Empires are priced about the same as the German guns before import fees are added and the weather resistant "matte blue" ceramic finish sounds appealing.

I'm dead set on a Mauser action (although I intend to keep one stainless Model 70 in .375) so that rules out Dakota and Weatherby.

Not certain of the cost of Hartmann & Weiss actions, but they may cost a lot less than $5k, because Martini & Hagn in Canada build their Mausers on an H&W action and their prices for the completed rifles aren't high enough to allow $5k spent on the action alone.

Mehul,

I think Fred Wells used to build his own huge Mauser action for his custom rifles that are .50 calibre and larger. Not certain whether or not he still builds his own now that other Magnum Mausers are commercially available.

Thank you,

Richard