First custom rifle

[Pugs]

All,

Decided about a year ago after hunting in the rain for a week with my walnut and blued M70 that I wanted an all-weather deer rifle as a back-up. Started buying parts in March and I assembled it this weekend.

Specs
Caliber: 257 Roberts (you can keep your magnums shipmates! )
Montana Rifle Company short action
Barrel Lilja #2 contour at 23"
McMillan Edge stock Olive with black web (M70 fwt pattern)
Cerrokote in "graphite black"
Leupold VX-III 2.5-8 x 36

Weight 8 lbs on the nose with the scope and Talley lightweights. Making the component decisions and working with the smith on exactly what I wanted done was a lot of fun. More complex than walking in and picking it up over the counter but I ended up with a one of a kind. You're also in for a good chunk more money doing it this way

Spent the morning playing with the Stoney Point gauge and loaded 10 each of 100 gr Nosler Partitions and 100 gr TSX over H4350 and 110 gr Accubonds over Varget so all set to get to the range tomorrow if the wx cooperates.

I'm glad I picked the M70 fwt stock. I always like the schnabel stock on the 1980's M70's (although I hated the scroll checkering)

 

[WheelsUpHeelsUp]

VERY nice, cartridge is your prerogative and .257 is a good one. I might have gone with something else only because of availability. What kind of groups are you getting out of it? I'm somewhat surprised it weighs what it does I would have guessed a lb. less.

 

[scoober78]

Well done! Nice looking rifle...although...

This thread is useless without groups!

Enjoy!

 

[Pugs]

Well done! Nice looking rifle...although...

This thread is useless without groups!

Enjoy!

Tomorrow for the first range trip guys! No worries about ammo availability guys, I've been a reloader since I was 14!

 

[feddoc]

Pugs...you have yourself a nice little (rifle) package. You gonna shoot any critters with it?

 

[Pugs]

Pugs...you have yourself a nice little (rifle) package. You gonna shoot any critters with it?

Every critter that gets close enough!

Mostly designed as my wet weather deer rifle. In good weather I have a Kimber 84M Classic in 7mm-08 I tote that's a lb and a half lighter and the hills are getting no less steep.

For metallic silhouette I shoot a Cooper M22 in .308 with turrets.

Do hope to get in on an antelope hunt here in the next couple years but we're looking at a big move (I hope) this year that may put that off and open the Moose window.

 

[A4sForever]

VERY nice package. You said that you "started in March" ... was there any problem with parts??

I'm not familiar with Montana Rifle Company ... but it just "sounds" good . I don't know much about .270 either, other than what I've read. Is 100 gr a standard??

 

[scoober78]

All,

Specs
Caliber: 257 Roberts (you can keep your magnums shipmates! )
Montana Rifle Company short action

I don't know much about .270 either, other than what I've read.

Ouch...you are "getting along"...

 

[Pugs]

VERY nice package. You said that you "started in March" ... was there any problem with parts??

I'm not familiar with Montana Rifle Company ... but it just "sounds" good . I don't know much about .270 either, other than what I've read. Is 100 gr a standard??

The custom small arms business in America is alive and well and a such here's always a demand. I have a buddy with an FFL (and many here know him as he's a Commander at NASC) so I ordered all the bits through him.

Here's the MRC website http://www.montanarifleman.com/index.html and when you order an action (no matter what their website says) plan on it taking four to six months so it came in Sept.

The barrel came from these folks at Lilja http://www.riflebarrels.com/ and it takes about two months to have one made up.

The stock is actually one of the longest waits. McMillian is considered one of the very best and it was a nine month wait. It's a drop in custom fit so you need to know the action and barrel before you order. I ordered in March and got it in Nov. http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcmillan/ultralight/

Plan on a month for the chambering and such. There's just not a lot of young smiths around anymore and most decent one's have a backlog.

Send it off for coating or blueing a couple more weeks and suddenly you're nine months. I suspect if you had a custom builder lined up and he could pre-order or had some stock in hand you could get it quicker but if you want to do it yourself it's about the norm.

I do load the .270 for my brother but we both like the .257 Roberts. It's a 7x57 Mauser case necked down to .257. 100 to 110 grain bullet is the norm for deer and such although there are lighter ones for varmints and plinking. Handloading will get the 110 and 100's up to 3000 fps so it kills stuff just fine and has minimal recoil.

All told doing it yourself you're going end up pretty close to $2K in it. All the parts are there to make it a solid shooter but we'll see.

 

[A4sForever]

Ouch...you are "getting along"...

And I don't know much about .257, either.

Yeah ... my eyes must have crossed ... :glasses_1

Bitch.

 

[A4sForever]

The custom small arms business in America is alive and well and a such here's always a demand....

True story ... I have a pre-64 Win M70 off right now for a "White Feather" job -- they advertised 4 months -- if I see it in 8-10 I'll be happy.

And what you said about gunsmiths is also true -- they are a dying breed. All the good ones I know/knew -- the really good, competent, can-do guys, are either retired or in the ground. Most of the current crop are R&R guys ...

Too bad ...

 

[BlkPny]

Good choice on the caliber. I recently finished a 6mm Reminton on a pre-war Mexican Mauser action, in a Claro walnut stock. Gave that one to my son. The next rifle I put together will be a the .257 on another short Mauser action. Great caliber for deer and antelope. As much as I love the Nosler partition bullets, try the Sierra 117 grain boat-tail spitzers. Incredibly accurate.

 

[Pugs]

As much as I love the Nosler partition bullets, try the Sierra 117 grain boat-tail spitzers. Incredibly accurate.

There's no doubt in my mind that Sierra builds the most accurate bullet out there but for a game bullet I've given up on them. Too fragile for me as I tend to shoot for the shoulder and when they hit bone they will go to pieces (or the one's I've recovered anyway). I REALLY prefer the Barnes TSX but I could never get it to shoot well out of my last .257 but the Nosler Accubond went great so that was my go to bullet for that rifle (a Ruger M77 Ultralight I gave to my brother)

I DO buy Sierra's by the thousands for silhouette shooting though and the 168 gr Match King has a decent ballistic coefficent and yields sub MOA groups out of my Cooper out at 500 meters where the Ram sits and taunts me.

Here's a 120 grain TSX I got out of wild bore I shot a couple years ago. Weighs 119.8 grains. Can't ask much more out of a bullet IMO.

 

[Pugs]

True story ... I have a pre-64 Win M70 off right now for a "White Feather" job -- they advertised 4 months -- if I see it in 8-10 I'll be happy.

And what you said about gunsmiths is also true -- they are a dying breed. All the good ones I know/knew -- the really good, competent, can-do guys, are either retired or in the ground. Most of the current crop are R&R guys ...

Too bad ...

Yep, I keep thinking that might be a nice little business after retirement from the rat race but the administrative and regulatory burden is pretty high and I suspect it's a job that could easily suck up all the time you had.

The guy who did the chambering and action work on this one is in NPA and near 70. No e-mail and he only works four days a week but does a quality job. Dieing breed as you say.

 

[ninersfan]

Pugs,

That's an excellent looking rifle. I like everything about your component selection as well.

Barnes and Nosler make excellent hunting bullets but have you had an opportunity to try the Swift A-Frame?

Best Regards.