Bryant Custom Rifles

In the flat, wind-swept panhandle of Texas, where the horizon stretches forever and the air itself seems calibrated for long-range shooting, there’s a modest 30×50 shop in Wheeler, quietly producing some of the most obsessively accurate rifles on the planet. No flashy marketing, no sponsored pros flooding your feed—just one man, Mike Bryant, turning out custom bolt-actions that have set world records, humbled prairie dogs at absurd distances, and put elk on the ground for hunters who demand perfection without excuses.

If you know, you know. And if you’re serious about precision—whether you’re chasing targets at 1,000 yards in PRS, stacking one-hole groups in benchrest, or building the ultimate lightweight mountain rifle—Mike Bryant’s name carries the kind of understated weight that only four decades of proven results can earn.

Mike didn’t start as a gunsmith. He started as a shooter who got tired of wondering whether his equipment was holding him back. In the early 1980s, while competing in NBRSA benchrest matches, he began building his own rifles. The very first custom rifle he ever assembled—on a lathe in his garage—punched a five-shot group measuring 0.080 inches at 100 yards. That’s not a typo. Less than a tenth of an inch. From a rifle he built himself, with no prior professional experience.

That single group changed everything. After a decade of honing his craft on personal benchrest and varmint guns, Mike went public in 1997. Since then, he’s hand-built hundreds of rifles for clients across the globe—benchrest screamers, F-Class tack-drivers, PRS workhorses, predator rigs, and featherweight hunting rifles that shoot like heavy varmint barrels.

One client, James Phillips, took delivery of a Bryant-built 600-yard gun and promptly shot three world records with it. That’s the kind of pedigree we’re talking about.

Walk into most high-end custom shops today and you’ll see rows of CNC machines humming away. At Bryant Custom, it’s different. Mike still does the vast majority of the work on manual machines he’s upgraded over decades—a Jet lathe fitted with Timken bearings and a DC drive, tooling he knows inside out. There’s no automation theater here; every thread, every chamber, every crown is cut by a man who has spent 37 years chasing the last thousandth of tolerance.

He’ll true and blueprint actions until the bolt glides like it’s on ball bearings. He pillars and glass-beds with the precision of someone who wrote articles for Precision Shooting magazine back in the day. Barrels—usually Bartlein or Krieger—are fitted with indications so low most smiths would call it witchcraft. Triggers are tuned to crisp, sub-pound perfection (he loves TriggerTech Diamonds). And if you want a tight-neck chamber, a wildcat like a 30 BR or 6 Dasher, or even something obscure with a Lazeroni cartridge—Mike probably has the reamer hanging on the wall.

Yet for all the benchrest DNA, Mike’s hunting rifles are legendary in their own right. Ultralight builds on Defiance or Stiller actions, carbon or fluted barrels, McMillan or AG Composites stocks—rifles that tip the scales at 6–7 pounds yet still print half-MOA or better with factory ammo. Forum regulars on AccurateShooter, Sniper’s Hide, and LongRangeHunting swear by them: “Mike Bryant knows how to build a shooter” is a common refrain, usually accompanied by a photo of a ragged hole that looks like it was punched rather than shot.

In an era when many “custom” builders are essentially assemblers bolting together pre-made parts, Mike is a true riflesmith. He’ll take your donor action (or supply a Stiller, BAT, or Defiance) and turn it into something that feeds flawlessly, extracts like it’s offended by the empty, and shoots smaller than the mathematical limit of the cartridge seems to allow.

Turnaround? About two months for a complete rifle right now—an eternity for some, lightning-fast when you realize each one is essentially hand-fitted art. Pricing starts around $3,000–$5,000 depending on components (he’s refreshingly transparent: custom single-shots from $1,000 on your action, mag-fed from $1,250, plus options). No upcharges for “brand tax”—just fair Texas pricing from a guy who’d rather be at the lathe than on Instagram.

Picture this: a 20-inch Bartlein on a Stiller Predator action, pillar-bedded into an antiqued McMillan A-5, TriggerTech Diamond trigger, AI-type detachable mag. Mike test-fired one recently—three shots with Hornady factory match ammo went into 0.170 inches. Then he threw a suppressor on it and did 0.200 inches. That rifle is sitting in his “in-stock” section right now for less than many people spend on a scope alone.

That’s Bryant Custom in a nutshell: unassuming, understated, and unfairly accurate.

In a market flooded with carbon-fiber everything and 8-month waitlists from the latest hot shop, Bryant Custom is the antidote. It’s the place you go when you’re done with hype and ready for a rifle that simply shoots better than you do. Mike Bryant isn’t chasing trends—he’s the trend that others are still trying to catch.

If you’ve ever stared at a 100-yard group and thought, “It can’t possibly get any smaller,” you haven’t shot a Bryant yet.