ER Shaw rifles

[Albert GRANT]

It seems like the list of lefty options is shrinking again. Bunch of companies discontinuing lefty models and only base models for most of the companies that still offer them now and in limited calibers. Plus you always pay more than right handed. If you go the custom route you will be paying as much as $700 more right off the bat just for being left handed, very frustrating. That being said, curious what peoples thoughts are with ER Shaw rifles? Free to pick your caliber out of about 50 offered and price is the same, right or left handed. Best part is you get a mid custom rifle for around $1000-1150. What is the general opinion of this company and the rifles (both hands)?

 

[gillettehunter]

I can't remember reading anything negative about them. Perhaps someone will have some first hand experience.
Bruce

 

[C.W. Richter]

Greetings, Southpaw: I have a re-barreled Win Mod 70 S/S Classic CRF action w/ an HS Precision Stock in .416 Chatfield-Taylor by Shaw...it is among the Most accurate (and dependable) rifles I own. (One hole groups at 100 yds off the bench and <1" groups off the hood of a running landcruiser with a PH full of tea and ready to go!) The elephant to the left, an old dagga boy and hippo (all stories featured on the AH forums, and my son is finishing the last article for AHG) were each taken with it. The PHs were impressed with the accuracy when checking out the rifle after the flights!! I handload to take full advantage of the gun, as well. My son goes to dental school nearby, so I dropped by some time ago to visit with Shaw and check out their works-I was very impressed. They own a bunch of cheap real estate (two locations), so they keep costs down to keep typical PA custom rifle prices low. The most accurate rifles in America have always come from PA (from re-barreled English actions to Daniel Boone to Present Day!) If you want exceptionally pretty wood, look westward my friend and the prices will double...lol I have done both! Shaw can do much more than that $1K rifle. 'Just tell them what you want, or ask what else they can do...No worries at all. I'm not a big AR guy, but the prices they sell customs for is simply unbelievable. Good luck.

 

[C.W. Richter]

*Mine was made with the other left action. Hope that doesn't affect anything. When I practiced shooting it left-handed, the groups opened up somewhat? lol

 

[C.W. Richter]

'Not trying take anything away from Shaw (Excellent!) but you're in ME-talk to Nate at Hillbilly Rifles in Newport VT and compare the two! Also great stuff (using some tech from PA (action) great Jim Borden and (gunsmithing) great Mark Bansner!) Have rifles from them as well, but had Shaw do the CRF DG rifle as they are very fluent in that regard...Bansner/LAW has a newer CRF action that's worth taking a look at as well. Ask Nate what you want will cost with a LAW 704 CRF action. Shaw will cost you less. They are no-nonsense, and if it's not right, they won't give it to you until it is.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Just had a look at them and not a bad looking rifle. I have used a couple of their barrels and had good luck with them especially for an economy priced barrel. Hopefully someone comes along that has gotten behind one and can tell us a tale.
Cheers,
Cody

 

[C.W. Richter]

Shaw has been doing custom gunsmithing in PA for a LONG time, excepting Paul Jaeger and Flaigs (and those earlier colonial types that won us America.) I'd be shocked if you never heard of them.

 

[Ray B]

Not sure if it's the same Shaw, but I read that Shaw provided barrels to Ruger for their Model 77s when I got one in 1977. Folks at the range said Shaw barrels had a mediocre reputation, but the one that I had was very accurate. It was a 270 Win and I shot some varmint loads in it. At 300 yards I'd get a ten shot group with in 3 inches, which is not spectacular, but 5 or 6 of the ten would be within an inch. I suspect the "fliers" were more a result of load development. Regardless of what the club "experts" said, my experience with Shaw barrels was very favorable.

 

[sestoppelman]

Its the same Shaw Ray B. I had one rifle barreled from them. It was a post 64 Model 70 that I had them rebarrel to .338-06. It shot acceptably well, but not really impressive. This was some time ago however and I have heard better things about them since.
The barrel was supposed to be blued chrome moly steel but someone slapped a SS barrel on it! They called me and offered to do it again, or take the SS for the same price. I just took it as SS, didn't want to wait any longer. I didn't have it very long.

 

[C.W. Richter]

I think there were 2 diff Shaws and the company is now owned by yet someone else who worked there for a long time. That said, the work they are doing now is good, if not even better than in the past. I've seen plenty at shows living near the PA/NY border...some said Shaw, others ER Shaw. They are known first and foremost as the "re-barrelers" of factory receivers. Mine says E.R. Shaw on the bbl and it is perfect in every way!

 

[BobT]

The most accurate rifles in America have always come from PA (from re-barreled English actions to Daniel Boone to Present Day!)

While PA has it's share of top notch gunsmiths, the above statement is incorrect,

You might check out John King from Kila, Montana.

As to the original question, I have never known an ER Shaw barrel not to give acceptable hunting accuracy but I have never heard of one winning a bench rest match either. If it matters to you Shaw builds their bolt actions on Savage receivers, I happen to like Savage actions but they will never win any beauty contests, they do tend to be shooters though.

 

[Albert GRANT]

I'm not generally a fan of savage, but in this case I may make an exception. Would prefer crf but that's basically a full custom option now for LH and back at that $5k mark. I did just find out that I can get LH zastava action only, but the question is if you could find someone willing to build a rifle off that action.....

 

[sestoppelman]

https://www.shawcustombarrels.com/history

ER Shaw, Shaw Barrels. All same.

 

[crs]

My daughter shoots left handed, so she shoots a 20 ga SxS , double action .38, and two left handed center fire bolt actions which both shoot sub minute of angle with factory ammo:

Savage 110 .243 with Leupold scope and custom stock.
Weatherby Mark V Deluxe 7mm Weatherby magnum with Leupold scope.

With some careful shopping, you can locate some fine shooters at reasonable prices.

 

[Albert GRANT]

My daughter shoots left handed, so she shoots a 20 ga SxS , double action .38, and two left handed center fire bolt actions which both shoot sub minute of angle with factory ammo:

Savage 110 .243 with Leupold scope and custom stock.
Weatherby Mark V Deluxe 7mm Weatherby magnum with Leupold scope.

With some careful shopping, you can locate some fine shooters at reasonable prices.

If you want the limited normal caliber selection, yes, but you are looking for harder to find calibers, not so much. Also push feed is much easier overall than CRF. Winchester and CZ no longer make them in LH and its extremely hard to find any up for sale, when you do they are pricey ( Current available Win 70 LH's range from $2800-$5k). Rugers can be had in LH CRF still, but only in a couple garden variety calibers and .375Ruger and you are still looking at around $1k for those. Montana has had issues of late, possibly going out of business, and not answering the phones currently, plus base model LH is $2k(with likely no factory repair service now). The only other none custom option I am aware of for a LH CRF is Zastava, and I'm not sure it's that good of a buy. A lot of places will not work on them. Then you get into the push feed manufacturers- Browning, Sako, Tikka, etc and you are still stuck with the limited caliber selection and prices that are roughly similar or far exceed the cost of the Shaw rifle (LH Sako). Although it is push feed, you can get a semi custom rifle in the caliber, barrel length, and stock (3 options) of your choice for the same price as a ruger(less depending on model) but is built individually to be reliable and accurate, instead of mass produced,being a crap shoot on what you get. Seems like a good deal, but I'd like to hear some first hand stories before committing.

 

[C.W. Richter]

[QUOTE="C.W. Richter, post: 623306, member: 37471" The most accurate rifles in America have always come from PA (from re-barreled English actions to Daniel Boone to Present Day!)

While PA has it's share of top notch gunsmiths, the above statement is incorrect,

You might check out John King from Kila, Montana.

As to the original question, I have never known an ER Shaw barrel not to give acceptable hunting accuracy but I have never heard of one winning a bench rest match either. If it matters to you Shaw builds their bolt actions on Savage receivers, I happen to like Savage actions but they will never win any beauty contests, they do tend to be shooters though.[/QUOTE]

Montana wasn't even part of the US during part of the timeframe referenced! LOL My ancestors here in the 1700s had super accurate guns-and we still do. They just don't care to be on TV! LOL Jim Borden's actions have won many a benchrest tournament (and featured in many custom guns sold by Bansner, Hillbilly, LAW, etc.) 'Have some custom guns from out west and they are fine too, just-they weren't around when the best of the best American guns were made! In simple terms, PA has been making custom guns for over 100 years more than MT! lol

 

[C.W. Richter]

I see 6 top gunsmiths listed in PA and the one you name in MT (plus scores not even mentioned that use Borden's actions to build perfect guns!) Jim's actions cannot be beat, though the perfected Granite Mtn. Arms mauser actions of AZ cannot be beat for hunting either!! https://www.6mmbr.com/gunsmiths.html *I developed the 264 WSM (better than the 10 yrs later 26 Nos and 6.5-300 Wby-in a light, short-action 23" bbl) after conversing with both Borden and Dr. Lou Palmisano (of PPC fame) and tested it out at his range. They are essentially the fathers of the short, fat cartridge accuracy-which the factories eventually cashed in on...

 

[Nevada Mike]

Accurate rifles are being built all over the USA. Even in Montana.

I have shot a left handed since 1958 when my dad made me change over to the wrong shoulder. I remember how awkward it felt when I first began. My first centerfire rifle was a M96 Swedish Mauser in 6.5 X55. after shooting this rifle for a while and bagging a number of mule deer and black tails, I bought a LH Matthieu in 7X61 and had it stocked to fit. Soon after I bought a LH M700 and had a custom 30-‘06 built. In those days there were only a couple of choices if you wanted a LH rifle. But I got into the habit of having guns that actually fit and worked properly from the left side.

I now have a number of LH rifles and a number of shotguns all restocked or bent to fit. Current projects are a “rough use” .388-‘06 on LH Roger M77 mark. II and a .404 Jeffery on a Granite Mountain double square bridge action with all the bells and whistles. I enjoy these projects and working with the talented people who build them.

 

[Nevada Mike]

Re: E.R. Shaw... what is a “controlled round push feed action”?

 

[Albert GRANT]

Re: E.R. Shaw... what is a “controlled round push feed action”?

I have yet to find a good explanation of this this, but that is their new mk x action, which is not yet offered in LH. It is based on the savage action, but they made it their own. From the shaw Web page-"Here at Shaw Custom Rifles we have made the ultimate receiver for the Mk. X Rifle, with our proprietary design, by combining the best features from Ruger®, Winchester®, Sako®, and Savage®." I think they are doing something similar to sako, so it's not actually a CRF but is better than a standard push feed.