How do you want to go about keeping your wife from knowing what you spent on it?

Good answer I was thinking more specifically about bullet choice, brass, OAL of cartridge, The rifle is to be custom. Why not ask these questions?

I thought most of these custom rifle makers did that research for you and then worked up the ideal load FOR you, not the other way around?

I have never seen a gunsmith that did load development for you. Maybe they are out there.

The biggies are action you plan to use, caliber (then select proper twist barrel, barrel contour, length, crown, etc), stock you plan to put it in.

Before beginning building a rifle

Do you want a good clean chamber or want it put cuts all in your brass?

The only one I've actually looked into was Carolina Custom Rifles....from what I can tell, you tell them what caliber you want, and the intended purpose, and they work up the ideal load combination and even give you a box of like 20 custom-loaded rounds to "get you started", as well as the "recipe" so you can handload comparables at home. I guess I just thought that was the norm for high-end custom rifles. Hell, for $5-10k for a rifle, working up a load recipe is the least they could do...

Do you want a good clean chamber or want it put cuts all in your brass?

Seems a backwards question. I would think there are things a customer needs to ask a competent gunsmith. Mostly those things won't be known to ask until a person actually has need of a custom rifle. The reason to get a custom would be to change those things that you ask the smith about,from what you could get in a production rifle.

RH you are correct...almost. You should have a good idea about the type, components to be used and purpose of rifle you want to build but listen to suggestions the gunsmith may give you about the finer points of the build. You should be asking questions and he should be asking you questions. If you find that he only wants to do things his way, you may need a different gunsmith. Don't go to a smith who builds 'tacticool' rifles and expect him to be able to rebuild a mauser 98 with a beautiful English walnut stock, it ain't gonna be pretty. Find a smith who builds as close to the type of rifle you want and try working with them.

Its like buying anything else, the more research you do the more informed you will be and be able to make better decisions. WRITE the specifications for the build, do not trust that they will remember what you agreed upon.