Guns came in end of last week and picked them up from the FFL early this week. Will post some pics later, but overall impressions were that there are a lot of attention to detail that the gun builder did that I didn't think about. I left a lot up to them along the way, giving them general information on my intent/interests and generally have them guide the way.
Some initial impressions:
1) The MTU and M24/M40 barrel profiles are heftier than I envisioned. I had shot some rifles with those barrel profiles before, but I guess I never really stood out to me as much back then.
2) The bolts on these custom actions are suuuuper smooth. The action is melonited to a dark finish, which I like. How firearms and components function are most important to me, but still appreciate aesthetics. I went pretty plain/basic, but thinking back, I had a lot of options to "personalize". Base cerakote options included solid, two tone, fades, shades, texturing, and splatter.
3) The gun is a Defiance Ruckus, but exclusive to the gun builder, so it has specific markings. Including serial numbers too. Nice touches on that.
4) Overall balance of these two builds are way different. I went with a MPA ESR chassis on the .308. While I was waiting for the gun build, I ended up getting a KRG X-Ray chassis for the 6.5 CM build. Mostly to try the KRG chassis, as well as a decent "budget" stock for the barreled action. Balance point of the gun is not a super big deal to me, but something I noticed. The MPA is quite a bit heavier than the KRG. With the heavier profile and longer barrel length, that makes the difference more noticeable.
5) I have a Teslong bore scope and ran it through the new guns, mostly to test the borescope. But was interesting to see what a new custom gun and premium barrel looks like. At least before I get shooting.