Custom High Grade Hunting Rig

Leeper said:
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.
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Good points.

The Spartan Bipod might be a good idea though. perhaps there is a way to hide an adapter so that you could shoot the rifle off a bipod but never have one hanging off it.

I run a spartan bipod on my mountain rifle on the advice of Bryan Martin (pretty well known sheep guide) and it works awesome. I shot a Dagestan Tur ram at 500 ish yards in Azerbaijan last summer while basically hanging off the side of a 2000 foot drop. Without the spartan bipod helping me stay steady I wouldn't have been able to do it. you carry it in your pocket until ready to set up and it is held on by a magnet.
 
Is your ideal an American Classic like the photos, classic American like Griffin and Howe, classic British like H&H or Fraser, modern Euro classic like Dorleac & Dorleac, or other? Will you be wanting to match wood to engraving or keep it understated?

If you want an M70 then I am partial to early Griffin and Howe, something in good hard French walnut without a mountain of figure, light scroll engraving, matted receiver, redundant vintage open sights, stock made to measure, using the specs outlined by G&H for the M54. Accuracy is in the barrel with a hunting rifle not in the action, so benchrest specs would be needless expense. Maybe an additional barrel on another 30-06 based cartridge.
 
Dogfish858 said:
Is your ideal an American Classic like the photos, classic American like Griffin and Howe, classic British like H&H or Fraser, modern Euro classic like Dorleac & Dorleac, or other? Will you be wanting to match wood to engraving or keep it understated?

If you want an M70 then I am partial to early Griffin and Howe, something in good hard French walnut without a mountain of figure, light scroll engraving, matted receiver, redundant vintage open sights, stock made to measure, using the specs outlined by G&H for the M54. Accuracy is in the barrel with a hunting rifle not in the action, so benchrest specs would be needless expense. Maybe an additional barrel on another 30-06 based cartridge.
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I would have to say the American classics are my favourites. I like a Schnabel fore-end but not sure if I want to go that way. I am not a big guy either at 5 "7 180 so I am partial to a rifle that is on the smaller side or a featherweight type slim rifle. I shoot a lot of shotguns and I do like a rifle that snaps to the shoulder nicely but I also love my big Cannon Christensen Ridgeline with the 26" barrel and muzzle brake. It is so friggin accurate and it makes the shots when it counts.

the only rifle I have ever missed a big game animal with is my .308 featherweight Model 70. I missed a 200 class mulie in AB with it in 2015 at around 450 yards. the guides fault for calling the distance wrong and forgetting the rangefinder. my fault ultimately though and I learned from it. Thank god it was a clean miss. I was really upset. *I ended up killing that deer later that day after finding him again bedded down in a coulee and shooting him at around 100 yards trotting off. He went 201 green with the guide taping him. 3X4 antlers- cool buck.

I want a rifle that shoots as it looks. I have always loved the idea of using high end pieces hard. And by hard I mean not abusing them but using as they were intended. so that is the intent.
 
I recall a left hand Model 70 at a gun show. It had a tapered octagonal barrel, modest vintage scope, full steel fittings, no iron sights, longer barrel, trigger moved farther back in the gaurd, plain bolt, longer stock, bit more drop, bit straighter grip, no forend cap, no schnable, no cheekpiece, fluer de lis with checkering. To me it so perfectly nailed the 'western' concept the Jack O'Conner rifle almost gets, I don't think I've seen it done better. When I picture a Model 70 I picture it accordingly: a bit more drop than a modern gun, fittings and stylings reminiscent of an old lever action. Good Claro or honey California English stock, not too prominent, not too dark. Little touches.

Actually to think of it the color and scheme was intentionally or otherwise identical to well used tack.
 
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AR15meister said:
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.
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Custom work is expensive, mostly you're paying for labour. Ten grand is probably a minimum.

A Mauser action will be at least $300 to have something decent to work with. A Mauser will need a trigger and safety at a minimum. IF you can find a pre'64 action, you can double that. If you have to tear down a complete rifle, they start at around $850 and go up. Then you have the barrel. There's no point in cheaping out, so $300 plus for the barrel plus whatever the smith charges to fit it. Bottom metal for a Mauser- $400 USD, for an M70, $360. They still need polishing and prep work. Depending on the grade of wood, $1000-3000. Again, no point in cheaping out, but you should be able to pick up a decent blank for around $1000. Getting this carved into something resembling a gunstock will be the single biggest expense. Be picky about who you get to do the work.

The only reason not to have a custom rifle built are time and money. If you have lot's of each, then go for it.
 
Leeper said:
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
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Lol! Agreed...
 
I was thinking on similar lines the other day, not sure if this would be the cheapest route but might be close. Go to Trade Ex Canada, buy a used FN98 / Husqvarna 1600 in 30-06 with a rough barrel / damaged stock. ~$350 if I recall correctly. This gives you the controlled round feed of the M70 you want without having to pay out the nose for a M70 action. You want a custom stock anyways and a new barrel should be fitted as well. Now you have all the bottom metal, trigger, and action - along with an already inletted stock (not sure if that helps a stockmaker or not). Get the action polished and blued, new barrel, custom stock - good to go.
 
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