Custom High Grade Hunting Rig

AR15meister

AR15meister

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Gents,

This forum has always helped me. As you know, often we need to put some ideas out there that take a few years to materialize, especially when buying or building a fine weapon.

I have been toying with the idea of building an "all around rifle" with a custom wood stock. This rifle wouldn't see any backpack hunts but will see some good honest use on North American and African plains game hunts. Any hunt where I can wipe down and store my rifle in a place where it wont rust. I have a good rifle for bad weather/backpack hunting where I am sleeping in a tent, shepherd hut or some other crappy accommodation. I am actually taking it on a backpack bighorn sheep/mountain goat combo hunt for 11 days in October :cool:

Anyways, I was thinking of doing a 30-06 pre-64 Model 70 custom. I don't like hard recoiling rifles but I want something versatile enough to hunt impala to Elk/Grizzly with success.

Any suggestions on set up...configurations or parts? What about type of wood?

Any suggestions on gunsmiths? I have an excellent stock maker who I would like to do the stock for me.

Am I making a mistake on doing a mdoel 70?

I want the rifle to be very very accurate. Accuracy is the most important thing. Beauty and form is secondary but also important.

I was thinking of modelling the rifle on the Jack O'Connor #2 maybe? Loosely- but the same idea of a model 70 with a highly customized stock and a telescopic sight. I would probably do something like a Swarovski Z5 with the turret mapped to the gun.

My thought was all CCH with CCH rings and then something engraved on the floor plate like a Kudu? I am open to suggestions here too.

I have thought about this for years and toyed with the idea of doing a single shot as well but I think a bolt action in a versatile caliber with high quality components would be something I would get most use out of.

Thank you in advance.

Adam.
 
Hard to find much fault with a model 70 action or a .30-06 for 90% of hunting anywhere on this blue marble we call home. A .300 Winchester or 7mm Rem Mag would check a lot of boxes too as would a .308 or .270. If easily available off the shelf ammo is a consideration.
I have slightly odd tastes in that I love the look of a stainless barrel with a blued action and a simple straight grained piece of walnut or maple.
 
If accuracy is the absolute most important thing to you, don't start with a Winchester. That hurts me to say, because I'm an unapologetic fan of the M70s in most everything else. That's not to say one can't be made to shoot very well though. JOCs #2 rifle shot MOA, which might have been a big deal in 1959 but isn't now.

I wouldn't start with a pre-64 since in my experience the current production are better rifles. If you are a real purist you could have it back-fitted to the old style trigger.

Another way to go would be to just hand-pick a Kimber Select Grade for the wood you want. French walnut too. In many ways the stock is influenced by the Biesen design, and the floorplate might as well be a copy. Compare two pictures and you'll see what I mean. Stock is a little straighter, as it should be. Action is about as Model 70 as you're going to get without being one, just slimmed down.
 
I like your idea of a custom M70, but don't get too obsessed over accuracy. Iirc, O'Connor's rifle wasn't/isn't particularly accurate, at least by today's standards. I've had it in the back of my mind to do something similar, but I don't feel like getting stuck into another prolonged custom project.

O'Connor's #2 was based on a featherweight barreled action with a factory barrel. I would likely get a new barrel, but of the same contour. Wood should be French or Turkish walnut. Blackburn bottom metal. Calibre choice would be .30/06, then .270. If I were doing a Mauser it would be a 7x64.
 
Dogleg said:
If accuracy is the absolute most important thing to you, don't start with a Winchester. That hurts me to say, because I'm an unapologetic fan of the M70s in most everything else. That's not to say one can't be made to shoot very well though. JOCs #2 rifle shot MOA, which might have been a big deal in 1959 but isn't now.

I wouldn't start with a pre-64 since in my experience the current production are better rifles. If you are a real purist you could have it back-fitted to the old style trigger.

Another way to go would be to just hand-pick a Kimber Select Grade for the wood you want. French walnut too. In many ways the stock is influenced by the Biesen design, and the floorplate might as well be a copy. Compare two pictures and you'll see what I mean. Stock is a little straighter, as it should be. Action is about as Model 70 as you're going to get without being one, just slimmed down.
Click to expand...



Dogleg, if the rifle can shoot under an inch at 100 yards wouldn't that be good enough to rely on it out to 500-600? I normally don't shoot outside of 300 yards but I want a rifle where if, for the sake of argument, I flubbed a shot at an animal at 275 and it reappeared above the treeline at 490 yards I would have a good chance at making an accurate second shot. As we all know, hunting is always a fluid situation and it is better to have capabilities and not use them than the other way around.

I would think that someone competent could make a "new" rifle with an old action that shot very very well- no? New match grade barrel and new match grade trigger, etc.

Nice tip on the Kimber I will check those out.

I love the Dakota Alpine Deluxe.
 
Just over 40 yrs ago a copy of Outdoor Life magazine showed up in the mailbox. In it was a feature article by Jim Carmichael about custom rifles of the day. I was so taken by the rifles that were illustrated that I kept that particular magazine. Carmichael and O'Connor ruined me, instilling in me a love of finely crafted firearms that I still can't really afford to indulge in.

Emmons .270.jpg
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Btw, the one I would dearly love to own is the Emmon's M70 at the bottom of the first pic.
 

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AR15meister said:
Dogleg, if the rifle can shoot under an inch at 100 yards wouldn't that be good enough to rely on it out to 500-600? I normally don't shoot outside of 300 yards but I want a rifle where if, for the sake of argument, I flubbed a shot at an animal at 275 and it reappeared above the treeline at 490 yards I would have a good chance at making an accurate second shot. As we all know, hunting is always a fluid situation and it is better to have capabilities and not use them than the other way around.

I would think that someone competent could make a "new" rifle with an old action that shot very very well- no? New match grade barrel and new match grade trigger, etc.

Nice tip on the Kimber I will check those out.

I love the Dakota Alpine Deluxe.
Click to expand...

Of course MOA or thereabouts is good enough, and truth to be told more than good enough for nearly every big game hunting purpose. You're the one that said it was the most important thing to you. Its just that if accuracy was in fact the most important thing every hunting rifle would look like an F Class gun and weigh 18 -22 pounds. Since accuracy isn't 22 pounds worth of important, the first of a string of compromises can begin starting with portability.

Its hard to mess up a bolt action so bad that it isn't a 300 yard hunting rifle, and 500 is as much or more about the loads than the rifle, and by the time accuracy matters wind matters more. That frees you up to worry about things that matter, like portability, function, fit, cartridge capability, pointing it right and whether you like it or not. You will do very well using something M70 based (or seriously influenced) as a starting spot for a hunting rifle. Or you could just stay there. :)
 
I'd be tempted to find a modern M70 stainless and use it to build in a nice walnut handle.

Chamber it in 300H&H for that extra bit of classic. :)
 
Dogleg said:
Another way to go would be to just hand-pick a Kimber Select Grade for the wood you want. French walnut too. In many ways the stock is influenced by the Biesen design, and the floorplate might as well be a copy. Compare two pictures and you'll see what I mean. Stock is a little straighter, as it should be. Action is about as Model 70 as you're going to get without being one, just slimmed down.
Click to expand...
That's a great idea. Those are nice rifles!
 
What is your budget? Are you wanting to go with a factory action or whole hog with a custom action?

They are very expensive but give you a pretty awesome basis for a rifle and are much more precisely machined than factory actions. I have used Stiller and Defiance to build rifles that shoot pretty amazing
 
If you want a classic North American sporter, a pre-64 Mdel 70 in 30/06 would be pretty hard to beat. I like the transition actions best. They still have all the best features of the pre-war action and have a safety which works with a scope. With a later action, I would modify the tang to the pre-war pattern. The Model 70 is kind of nice to work with because it is a nice design but usually has some room for improvement. This means the 'smith has some work to do. Contours and finish are not perfect. Trigger work, smoothing of feeding, truing of the bolt and receiver, and other refinements which may be advisable, all give the gunsmith an opportunity to make a good rifle better.
In my opinion, this type of rifle has is sort of an hommage to heyday of custom rifles and it has to be treated that way. No 50mm objective scopes and, if an owner puts a bipod on one, he need a swift kick.
Properly done, a Model 70 may not be quite as accurate as a modern custon action but it doesn't have to be that far off. As a hunting rifle, accuracy can be much better than adequate. I have a pre-war Model 70 which, in 308 Norma, has produced numerous sub 1/2 moa groups and I think that's ok.
 
Id look into cooper rifles. I think they still sell barreled actions. I know theyll use your blank if sent to them. Prophet river could let you know for sure

Im debating between a 275 rigby and a 250 savage for a custom cch action and floor plate in a nice wood stock myself
 
hgeo33 said:
What is your budget? Are you wanting to go with a factory action or whole hog with a custom action?

They are very expensive but give you a pretty awesome basis for a rifle and are much more precisely machined than factory actions. I have used Stiller and Defiance to build rifles that shoot pretty amazing
Click to expand...

I haven't really thought too hard into budget but I would absolutely not go over 10 and would want to stay closer to 6-8. I still have to put optics on so need a few thousand there.

I haven't really thought about a custom action. I would think they would be very expensive, no? I was thinking a factory pre-64 Winchester 30-06 action or I also would consider a .275 Rigby and a .270WIN.

I am open to listening to others. I don't have any friends who have built custom wood stocked rifles so nobody to bounce ideas off or to hear opinions from- one reason why the forum is such a great tool.
 
brybenn said:
Id look into cooper rifles. I think they still sell barreled actions. I know theyll use your blank if sent to them. Prophet river could let you know for sure

Im debating between a 275 rigby and a 250 savage for a custom cch action and floor plate in a nice wood stock myself
Click to expand...

Prophet River has a really nice looking (actually he has 2) Coopers in .275 Rigby on his site.
 
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