Some builds are just parts assembly. Others are the reason I do this for a living. I’m Lance Rankin, owner and gunsmith at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and this 6.5 Creedmoor AR-10 I put together for a customer named Franklin is one of my favorite projects to come off my bench. He wanted a large-frame precision gun that didn’t look like everybody else’s black rifle, and that’s exactly what he got.
The heart of it: a 20-inch stainless barrel
The centerpiece of this build is a 20-inch Ballistic Advantage barrel in 416R stainless steel, chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. If you’re going to build a large-frame AR, 6.5 Creedmoor is hard to argue with. It shoots flatter than .308, bucks the wind better, and recoils softer, and 20 inches of barrel gives the cartridge room to do what it was designed for. 416R is the stainless alloy the barrel makers use for match-grade tubes; it machines cleanly and delivers the kind of consistency you want when you’re stretching a rifle past the distances most people ever shoot.
AR-10 builds are less forgiving than AR-15s, and that’s worth saying plainly. There’s no single true mil-spec for the large-frame platform, so parts compatibility between brands is a real minefield. Receiver sets, handguards, buffers, and bolt carriers all have to be matched deliberately. This is the part of a custom build where having a gunsmith assemble and headspace the rifle earns its keep. I’ve seen plenty of self-assembled large frames come through my shop with mismatched parts that ran rough or not at all.
The finish: Midnight Bronze and M17 Coyote Tan
Franklin’s rifle got our in-house Cerakote treatment in a two-tone combination of Midnight Bronze and M17 Coyote Tan. Cerakote isn’t paint. It’s a ceramic-based coating that we spray and cure in the shop, and done right it adds real corrosion and wear resistance along with the looks. The two-tone scheme breaks up the rifle visually and gives it that custom character you can’t get off a rack. Photos below; they don’t fully do it justice.
How a custom build works here
Every custom project starts with a conversation about what the rifle is actually for. Hunting? Match shooting? Long days at a distance range? The answers drive the barrel length, the trigger, the furniture, and the budget. Then I source the parts, do the assembly and headspacing on my bench, function check everything, and hand it over. As a Type 07 FFL, I’m licensed to manufacture, so builds like this are squarely in my lane rather than a side hustle.
If you’re thinking about doing your own build first, my how to build an AR-15 guide covers the fundamentals that carry over to the big frame, and my AR-15 upgrades list is a good tour of where parts money actually matters. One tip that applies double on a precision gun: don’t cheap out on the bolt carrier group. I’ve written about BCG coatings and why they matter, and it goes double when you’re asking a rifle to shoot tiny groups.
Franklin picked his rifle up, put rounds through it, and loved it. That’s the whole job. If you’ve got a custom AR-10 or AR-15 project in your head, whether it’s a full build or Cerakote on a rifle you already own, email me at [email protected] or call 817-393-4000 and let’s talk it through.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
What do you have in a precision rifle in 338 Lampua??