So I was in the market for a deer rifle, and decided I had a few requirements.
1. Bush capable gun as the area I am hunting ranges from 25 - 150 yards.
2. Caliber... A tried and true deer caliber, commonly available, with bullet options.
3. All I own are black guns (cause once you go black... you ... well your safe fills up with more...) so I wanted a more traditional gun.
4. Iron sights that are usable should optics fail.
5. Protection for the irons such as wings, or a hood.
6. potential for follow up shots relatively quick, as deer do not always travel alone......
7. Optic mounting options that allow for flexibility of red-dot or scope.
8. Cost... I budgeted between $650-$800 for this rifle, not including optics.
I decided on a lever action, which added a few more requirements:
9. port loading
10. side ejecting
11. pistol grip style grip - not straight
This complicated things slightly....
Stock photo... my wood was not this nice... no grain hardly at all.
So I decided on a lever action .30-30 Marlin 336w, as it is a tried and true deer gun, in a commonly available cartridge. BOOM!, there is reasons 1, 2, and 3 done.
I was lucky enough to find a used gun at EPPS, for $550 but my god it was ugly brown wood furniture. That had to change.... However it had usable iron sights, and even had a hood to boot! (There is number 4 and 5). now, I do prefer peep sights so I bought a set of Williams Firedot iron sights to upgrade ($80) which allowed me a rear Peep slightly further back for that longer sight radius, and a nice fiber optic front.
So far so good.
I got home and promptly installed my new sights..... Damn... they are higher than my old ones.... and my hood doesn't fit.... ####!
Ok, I can work with this.... moving on....
Time to hit the range.
So off I go, to zero my newly installed irons, all goes mostly well (documented in another thread... still working on a refund for that ammo) but the gun is shooting well. and man you can cycle the action pretty quick (number 6).
Now on to optics...
I decided to go with a XS sights lever scout rail, so I can easily position a scope, or red dot, and maintain my rear peep.
Install goes well, except for using a brass hammer on an aluminium rail.... that didn't go as planned, but this is a bush gun.
I expect it to take some abuse.
Ultimately I decided to use my SIG romeo 4 red dot, as my eyes are good so I don't need a scope (yet), and the target acquisition with a 2MOA dot is pretty fast. If my optic fails..... I will just remove it.... I not care about see through rings or any of that crap, Irons are there for backup.
Now I get into the actual DIY.
I bought a limbsaver recoil pad.... but it was designed for the synthetic stock (not specified on the packaging)
and needed to both re-shape the wood, and remove material from the pad.... well I guess it is time to fix the ugly factory wood
I chose Black.... predictable eh?
So after several coats of POR-15 Chassis paint... which turned out to be way too glossy (for my taste) I put on a topcoat of MAT black Tremclad.
Perfect!
Now for a gun designed to cheek weld for irons, I added a rail and optic.... I guess I need to raise my stock comb.
I broke out the sewing machine, and decided to try from scratch.... I am pretty happy with the result.
I made a removable cheek piece, and removable cartridge holder.
Since I had my sewing stuff out, I decided I needed a sling, so a small strap of webbing, and some hardware, I made a simple but effective sling.
Next up, I decided I had to so something with that front sight... Especially now since it had a relatively fragile fiber optic tube.
So out came some scrap sheet metal, vice-grips, Dremel, and safety glasses.... and Violla! new hood to protect the sights I ope to never use.
Here is the pics:
Overall I am a little over budget, at $802.26 not including optics, but I am quite happy with the rifle, especially having made my it my own.
Making my own accessories from scratch, and putting in a lot of time into it, makes this rifle special to me.... Now hopefully the effort helps fill the freezer this year.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
1. Bush capable gun as the area I am hunting ranges from 25 - 150 yards.
2. Caliber... A tried and true deer caliber, commonly available, with bullet options.
3. All I own are black guns (cause once you go black... you ... well your safe fills up with more...) so I wanted a more traditional gun.
4. Iron sights that are usable should optics fail.
5. Protection for the irons such as wings, or a hood.
6. potential for follow up shots relatively quick, as deer do not always travel alone......
7. Optic mounting options that allow for flexibility of red-dot or scope.
8. Cost... I budgeted between $650-$800 for this rifle, not including optics.
I decided on a lever action, which added a few more requirements:
9. port loading
10. side ejecting
11. pistol grip style grip - not straight
This complicated things slightly....
Stock photo... my wood was not this nice... no grain hardly at all.
So I decided on a lever action .30-30 Marlin 336w, as it is a tried and true deer gun, in a commonly available cartridge. BOOM!, there is reasons 1, 2, and 3 done.
I was lucky enough to find a used gun at EPPS, for $550 but my god it was ugly brown wood furniture. That had to change.... However it had usable iron sights, and even had a hood to boot! (There is number 4 and 5). now, I do prefer peep sights so I bought a set of Williams Firedot iron sights to upgrade ($80) which allowed me a rear Peep slightly further back for that longer sight radius, and a nice fiber optic front.
So far so good.
I got home and promptly installed my new sights..... Damn... they are higher than my old ones.... and my hood doesn't fit.... ####!
Ok, I can work with this.... moving on....
Time to hit the range.
So off I go, to zero my newly installed irons, all goes mostly well (documented in another thread... still working on a refund for that ammo) but the gun is shooting well. and man you can cycle the action pretty quick (number 6).
Now on to optics...
I decided to go with a XS sights lever scout rail, so I can easily position a scope, or red dot, and maintain my rear peep.
Install goes well, except for using a brass hammer on an aluminium rail.... that didn't go as planned, but this is a bush gun.
I expect it to take some abuse.
Ultimately I decided to use my SIG romeo 4 red dot, as my eyes are good so I don't need a scope (yet), and the target acquisition with a 2MOA dot is pretty fast. If my optic fails..... I will just remove it.... I not care about see through rings or any of that crap, Irons are there for backup.
Now I get into the actual DIY.
I bought a limbsaver recoil pad.... but it was designed for the synthetic stock (not specified on the packaging)
and needed to both re-shape the wood, and remove material from the pad.... well I guess it is time to fix the ugly factory wood
I chose Black.... predictable eh?
So after several coats of POR-15 Chassis paint... which turned out to be way too glossy (for my taste) I put on a topcoat of MAT black Tremclad.
Perfect!
Now for a gun designed to cheek weld for irons, I added a rail and optic.... I guess I need to raise my stock comb.
I broke out the sewing machine, and decided to try from scratch.... I am pretty happy with the result.
I made a removable cheek piece, and removable cartridge holder.
Since I had my sewing stuff out, I decided I needed a sling, so a small strap of webbing, and some hardware, I made a simple but effective sling.
Next up, I decided I had to so something with that front sight... Especially now since it had a relatively fragile fiber optic tube.
So out came some scrap sheet metal, vice-grips, Dremel, and safety glasses.... and Violla! new hood to protect the sights I ope to never use.
Here is the pics:
Overall I am a little over budget, at $802.26 not including optics, but I am quite happy with the rifle, especially having made my it my own.
Making my own accessories from scratch, and putting in a lot of time into it, makes this rifle special to me.... Now hopefully the effort helps fill the freezer this year.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
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