Alexander Popoff Gunmakers

Traditional rifles taught me patience. Modern precision rifles taught me measurement.

Many people know me through Ma**er actions, walnut stocks, and traditional rifle work.

What fewer people know is that over the years I’ve also built and worked on a large number of modern precision rifles.

Different tools.

Different actions.

Different goals.

Yet the same principle always applies:

Accuracy begins long before the first shot is fired.

It starts with measurement, geometry, fit, and attention to details that most people never see.

This week I started another .308 precision rifle project.

A modern build, but approached with the same mindset I use on every rifle that comes across my bench.

The technology changes.

The standards do not.

— Alexander Popoff Gunmakers

The target is the easy part.

The hard part happened weeks before.

Measuring.
Machining.
Fitting.
Testing.
Starting over when something wasn’t right.

These targets came from two classic hunting rifles — a 7x57 Ma**er and a .280 Re*****on.

No tricks.
No marketing.
No cherry-picked internet numbers.

Just rifles doing what they were built to do.

A target is only the signature at the bottom of a very long letter.

The real work is everything that came before it.

**er98

Some cartridges fade away.

Some become legends.

Today on the bench: fitting and chambering a new barrel for one of the most respected European hunting cartridges ever designed — the 7x64 Brenneke.

Introduced in 1917 by Wilhelm Brenneke, the 7x64 wasn’t built by a marketing department. It earned its place through generations of hunters who trusted it in forests, mountains, and open fields across Europe.

Fast enough for long shots.

Powerful enough for large game.

Accurate enough to remain relevant for more than a century.

What makes projects like this special is not the barrel alone, nor the action alone.

It’s the combination of proven ideas.

A classic Brno Ma**er-style action.

A fresh custom-fitted barrel.

Carefully cut chamber dimensions.

Proper headspace.

Attention to every detail that nobody sees when the rifle is finished.

Because accuracy doesn’t begin at the range.

It begins on the workbench.

Long before the first shot is ever fired.

Can you think of another cartridge over 100 years old that still earns this much respect today?

**erAction CustomRifle

Most people won’t see the difference.

Will you?

Most people look at the finished checkering.

But the value of the work is determined long before the first line is ever cut.

There is nothing particularly exciting in these photographs.

Just measurements, reference points, and layout work.

Why?

Because wood is never perfectly symmetrical.

One side may be slightly fuller.
The other slightly slimmer.
The wrist may have a subtle shift that is almost impossible to notice until you start measuring.

If a pattern is simply transferred onto the stock without proper layout, the differences become visible.

One border ends up longer.
The opposite side shorter.
The spacing between metal and checkering no longer matches.

Most people won’t be able to explain what is wrong.

They will simply feel that something is off.

And that feeling matters.

True symmetry is not created by a template.

It comes from understanding the geometry of the stock and adapting the pattern to the piece of wood in front of you.

That is why every layout begins with measurements, centerlines, reference marks, and countless checks before a single checkering line is cut.

Because checkering is not the art of cutting lines.

It is the art of creating balance.

The checkering is only the final chapter. Geometry writes the story first.






PopoffGunmakers

Over the years — across both Facebook and Instagram — this page has slowly become much more than just photos of rifles and shop work.

For more than seven years, I’ve shared traditional gunmaking, restoration work, precision fitting, barrel work, stockmaking, old techniques, failures, lessons learned, and the reality behind custom rifle building.

Some of you have followed this journey for many years now — long before short videos and algorithms became part of everything online.

During the past year, something unexpected happened.

The conversations, questions, support, and shared passion for traditional craftsmanship from people around the world inspired me to finally sit down and write the first book in a series focused on traditional rifle work and precision sight regulation.

The first book is now finished, and more will follow.

And honestly, a large part of that happened because of this community.

So lately, I’ve been genuinely curious:

What useful, memorable, or unique things have you personally taken away from this page over the years?

Not in terms of views or entertainment — but real knowledge, perspective, appreciation for craftsmanship, or technical understanding.

If something here helped you:
– improve your own work,
– better understand precision rifle building,
– appreciate traditional methods,
– avoid mistakes,
– learn something new,
– or simply see craftsmanship differently,

I’d honestly appreciate hearing about it.

If you’d like, feel free to mention:
– your profession or company,
– your country,
– how long you’ve followed the page,
– or what specifically stood out to you.

Comments in any language are absolutely welcome.

I read everything, and I truly appreciate the people who have supported traditional craftsmanship through all these years.

— Alexander Popoff

Ma**er 98 stock checkering.

Cut by hand. No shortcuts.

Grip isn’t about looks.
It’s about control — especially when it matters.

Each line laid out.
Each diamond raised clean.

Before oil. Before finish.
This is where the work really shows.