Shortly after the first bullet was propelled toward a target by gunpowder, it is a near certainty the man behind the trigger was thinking of ways to make future shots more accurate. The quest to precisely place bullets at long range has absolutely consumed rifle builders and shooters. Whether the plans were penned with a quill and shaped with a file or drawn up with zeros and ones and executed by a robot, proficiency and accuracy are what define riflemen and rifles. Time has not changed that fact, but technology has made the end result more attainable.

There is not much in the way of hard data to confirm my suspicions of an increase in the number of guys offering up custom work and precision rifles, but it seems, even with my limited perspective in terms of years behind the trigger, that every day someone else hangs out his shingle and declares his rifles the best. With such a proliferation of custom houses, a whole new language has emerged--trued, blueprinted, coated, lapped, and bedded--and we are all quick to toss around the terms. But what do they really mean and is everyone comparing apples to apples? What goes into making a precision rifle?

I was fortunate to meet a gentleman a few years ago that struck me as just the guy to explain the process in detail. Jered Joplin at American Precision Arms has quietly built a stellar reputation for accurate rifles over the past 10 years. Collectively, the guys in his small shop have 45 years of riflemaking experience. APA makes a small line of aftermarket parts and builds everything from benchrest rifles to hunting rifles to rifles for SWAT teams. They handle every step of the process except machining the action from bar stock and putting rifling in the barrel. I liked Joplin's approach, especially after suffering through diatribes from numerous blowhards that proclaim their way is the only way and their rifles are the best, period. Joplin was quick to say there are plenty of great riflemakers, and his processes are time and range proven but certainly not the only way to get the job done.

I spent a day last fall at Joplin's Jefferson, Georgia, shop and looked at all the different tools and techniques that go into building a precision rifle. Joplin first explained that while there are all kinds of rifles, heavy and light, large caliber and small, the principles that go into building an accurate rifle are pretty much the same. APA's craftsmen start with the action.

Every surface of a trued bolt and receiver will be parallel or perpendicular to the receiver’s centerline.

The Action
All actions are not created equal since rack-grade units could never hope to equal the precision or consistency of a custom action from companies such as Nesika or BAT Machine. They also do not cost more than a grand.

Regardless of where it comes from, each action gets a thorough inspection by APA's craftsmen, who carefully measure critical dimensions. The process is commonly called truing or blueprinting. Blueprinting, in its truest form, would involve matching every critical measurement to a set of drawings, which no one does. Truing simply assures that all the angles are square or perpendicular to one another and other parts are perfectly concentric. While used interchangeably, the two terms really mean different things.

"We measure every component to make sure it's perfect," Joplin said. "There are no guarantees, and nothing is taken for granted, since we've seen 'custom actions' that were out of square. Nesika and BAT have proven phenomenal over the years--their actions are right."