I bid on an won the Remington M1917; as I would expect when this auction hit the reloading forums most members would go out of their way to make themselves look good at the builders expense.
I asked them to hold down the insults because I thought the attention could drive the price up. I did not think someone that did not know what they were doing could build anything this ugly.
I loaded up 12 different loads with 12 different head stamps, bullets and powder; I took the rifle and 120 cartridges to the range vie the back roads and test fired the rifle. In the beginning I was bidding on the sum of the parts; after firing I decided there was nothing I could do to improve the accuracy so I applied the 'leaver policy', I left-er the way I found-er.
The sight base, rings and scope cost more than the rifle; the trigger group that came with the rifle would cost $75.00 plus shipping.
The sum of the parts? The sum of knowledge by the builder was greater than the sum of knowledge of reloaders on forums that responded. I did sign the rifle up in 'Ugly Gun contest'; it won both of them.