A Visit with RBros Rifles

Recently we had an opportunity to stop by RBros Rifles and pick up Steve’s newly rebarreled rifle. We took this opportunity to chat with Travis Redell, the founder and owner of one of the top custom rifle shops in the country. We’re all about the journey and Travis’ journey is an interesting one.

Travis’ father was a hobbiest-gunsmith and Travis and his brother Jesse grew up watching him. Before long they learned some of the finer skills including machining but drifted away from the trade in their teen years. They picked things up again in their early thirties but with a focus on long range precision rifle. They competed in their first matches in 2006, and driven by their success in those matches, decided to create some serious match rifles. Their original intention was to pay for the hobby by building a few rifles a year but things quickly snowballed.

Fast forward and the decision was made to go full time into the business. What’s it like to quit a secure day job so you can turn your part time avocation into your primary means of support? “Fear” and “uncertainty” were a couple words that Travis used to describe the feeling, but with no turning back there was only one direction to go. Travis’ day job involved building up companies, selling them and moving on, but doing it for himself was totally different. But once he got over the initial hump of going it alone he felt a sense of relief and was able to focus on moving forward with the business.

Like many business names “RBros” has a special meaning – it refers to the collaboration of the two Redell Brothers Travis and Jesse. Today Travis focuses on building rifles and Jesse focuses on marketing. While they live a few hours away from each other, over time they expect to be working under the same roof.

Travis has also made a significant contribution to the precision rifle community by advocating for and providing his support in the recent formation of the Northwest Precision Rifle League (6.5 Guys is an official sponsor of the league and information can be found here: http://www.65guys.com/northwest-precision-rifle-league/). Match directors in the Pacific Northwest have created a series of matches that attract top competitors but have very reasonable match fees ($20-30). Long story short, the success of the league has resulted in precision rifle matches being held just about every weekend in the Pacific Northwest.

Due to the popularity of precision long range rifle, we have seen some interesting products from the major manufacturers – case in point is the Ruger Precision Rifle. How will this impact the purveyors of custom rifles? Travis believes that it may take a chunk out of the custom rifle market initially, but long term it will allow more people to enter the sport. Over time, these new competitors will know exactly what they want and they will be looking to the custom rifle shops to fill that need. What we are seeing from the likes of Ruger is validation of the sport and that will increase the number of competitors, grow the sport overall, and spur innovation.

As a custom rifle maker, Travis will take time with the customer to get them a build that is most suitable. Provided there are no safety issues, Travis will give a customer what they want. If a customer defers to Travis for a long range rifle platform, he will recommend something very similar to our builds ( http://www.65guys.com/our-match-rifles-2015-update/). People have asked us about the more traditionally shaped sloped butts of our rifles and Travis explains that they allow for better elevation control. While not saying they are better than butt hooks, in Travis’ experience butt hooks tend to move elevation control out front to the bipod which is slower and less precise.

Every rifle comes with a test target (The test target here shows the results of Steve’s recently rebarreled match rifle – 8 shots here)

A lot of folks like to acquire parts from various sources and send them to a custom builder for final assembly. If you decide to go this route, don’t do it for the overall cost savings. Any short term savings will evaporate as the gunsmith attempts to get a disparate collection of parts to cooperate. Travis recommends that you convey your requirements to your builder and let them source the parts – it’s a more cost effective approach in the long run. When you leave everything to the builder, they can also provide you with recommended loads – something that may not be possible with a “Franken Rifle.”

The favored cartridges have also evolved. Early on most of the matches were field matches and the fastest flattest cartridges were in vogue. Over time, matches started to be held at more moderate distances and on square ranges. As a result, barrel life became a primary concern so most folks switched to 6.5MM cartridges. When the Berger 105 hybrid came out, everybody wanted to move to a 6MM. Now we’re seeing more of a balance between the number of shooters using 6MM versus 6.5 MM cartridges. Competitors are now focusing on consistency versus maximum velocity – they are not running their rifles full tilt. For new shooters who cannot afford a dedicated practice rifle, Travis recommends a 6.5MM cartridge due to the increased
barrel life. 6.5MM is the new .308.

Currently RBros builds are running four months or less. To keep wait times to a minimum, Travis has made a point of keeping components (stocks, actions, triggers) in stock including left hand! Left handed shooters are no longer “left out” so to speak. Unlike some custom builders, all RBros rifles are test fired and come with a test target. RBros serves the entire U.S. and you can find them at http://www.rbrosrifles.com.