Montana Rifle Company Closes
- Thread starter Buckmastr
- Start date
nowarningshot
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Its Trumps fault, he's just a crappy salesman. If Killary had won, she would have surpassed Barry as salesman of the century.
+1. That sums it up nicely
I found the Montana Rifles to be a bit pricey, and they were not seen very often in Gun shops around Ontario. So availability and price here was an issue. It was deemed as an improved Winchester M-70 having all the features that were preferred by a majority of hunters. Well maybe Winchester will consider a take over of Montana Rifles... And it could be called the Winchester / Montana model. And it would reinvigorate the brand that once offered a LH version. Something that the LH market would welcome.
Last edited:
- Location
- West Quebec
That would be what's necessary to keep the product going but would Winchester want to invest in newer manufacturing equipment is the question
MRC needed to refine their manufacturing but the concept was good. They were building an affordable, if somewhat rough, Model 70 variant. They took a lot of work to finish and often a lot of remedial work as well but still, they were an option. I always felt they should have stuck to providing actions and barrels to the trade and worked on quality control.
I won one from SCI a few years ago and actually ended up sending it back because I ran out of windage with every scope mount possible I got it back and man is it a tack driver a little on the porky side but crazy accurate dont get to use it much myself as my son has kinda claimed it lol nice rifles but as stated maybe their place is barrels and actions I see the former president is now working at Nosler
Become a TV evangelist of course. He already has the huckster angle down pat.
Winchester would have to take a look at the milling equipment and evaluate it's condition. I'm not sure if Winchester manufactures rifles in the US any more; or whether they followed Browning to Japan. Winchester could obtain the copyrights on the rifles and either use the milling equipment or take the patents and manufacture the products elsewhere. I like the Montana model with the cheek rise carved in the stock. That is the type of rifle I prefer to use over others. Kinda like the older Sako AV model.
My best guess would be that I'd doubt Winchester would. The current Model 70's manufacturing process has likely been worked out to a fine science. From my understanding, current barrels are cold hammer forged at the FN plant in SC. From there the barrels are sent to the FN plant Viana Portugal. I'd bet just about all plants in FN Herstals global network are basically state of the art geared towards mass production of fairly high quality arms. MRC was a small shop... Just my two cents, but I doubt FN Herstal would have any use for the equipment.
After watching the video above about the MRC American Standard (published April 2018), I gotta say I don't know... Based on my tastes, in a way I'm kinda not surprised by the shut down. $1440 US (2018 prices) is a fair penny for a cast receiver and a button rifled barrel... The stock appears alright but nothing out of this world.
I think at that same time, a Winchester M70 Super Grade cost a fair bit less?... I got mine then at about $1500 CAD before tax. With that option, you're getting a forged receiver, a cold hammer forged barrel, a decent stock that to my eye looks better, and has a genuine ebony forend tip, and steel bottom metal which I think is machined? That's a tough list of specs for a small shop to compete with... They probably sold a lot on the "Made in America" premise. Internationally though that rifle just can't compete, at least not to my taste. Your millage may vary...
Last edited:
