Just bought an action from Montana Rifleman to build a new varmint rifle, can anyone give me some input on them?

Let's reverse this. Why don't you tell us what your first impressions of the action are.
How is the fit and finish. Is the trigger smooth? How does the bolt move in the action - smooth, gritty,
or what? Look at the barrel threads. What quality are they? What do you think of the action????

See my post under Serengeti Stocks as I have an MRC barreled action that they stocked for me.

OEH, I guess I should explain a little more. The Montana Rifle is just now taking orders for their Mini-action (223 bolt face) the first 1000 will be sold at a reduced price, they won't begin production of them for about three months. I just couldn't pass on the price, heck I'm thinking of ordering a second one this morning.I'm curious if anyone else has had any experince with them.

This is a very interesting post. WHy would you buy something you know nothing about? Have you seen any specs on the action? None are listed on the web site, did they give them to you on the phone? If so, then you know more than us. If they did not give you those specs, I can guarantee it will likely be closer to 3 years than 3 months before they actually build these things (if they EVER get built). Seriously.

As for the actions, any oen here would eb taking a SWAG at it. It is safe to assume the actions will be very rough and you will have to spend considerable time smoothing them up or pay some one a ton of money to do it or live with a rough action. It is also VERY safe to assume that for a .223 sized action, it will weigh a lot.

THe only thing they have going for them is a cheap initial price. I am sure that with less than $1000 in additional labor, you can get the action in top notch shape. THat action will also be the heaviest .223 action out there, so what is the point? It will be like people building the short mags on the MR action-they weigh a lot more than just about every other LONG action out there. Very counter productive.

SO there is a SWAG at it. What more could you expect?

Here is the post by army aviator in order to present the other side.

" posted Mar 20, 12:54 AM
I just received my rifle from Serengeti and it is everything I expected and more. It started as an MRC stainless short barreled action in 376 Steyr Serengeti pick it up directly from MRC. They gave it their Serengeti treatment added New England front sites. Talley bases with special Brockman peep site attached. The stainless was also coated and it was stocked in a SS Bastogne blank. It is 8#4oz without the scope which is a Leupold 1-5 x4 30mm Euro. The trigger breaks like glass and the stock is really beautiful and handles well. While I have not shot it yet due to lack of time and bad weather I expect to do so in the next few weeks. I sent MRC 6 dummie rounds of Swift A-Frames and Barnes X's with an OAL of about 3.0 inches for the chamber. It feeds very well and I was surprised that it holds 4 in the magazine and one in the chamber. Another surprise is a round will feed off the magazine without securing it in the magazine. I went hunting with Rod and Larry from Serengeti last year and they are really good guys. I will post a picture if I can figure out how to do it."

I have also seen a fine rifle finished on the MRC action owned by jbmi in .358 Win.

It seems that when one goes all the way on them they turn out good.

I got snookered into the start up program by J. Belk and my own enthusiasm for a deal. My order for one M1999 went to two actions and I considered a third. When the first action came I sent it back as it had defects, damage and was way too rough for me.

It's replacement as still too rough for me and my smith estimated $250 extra to slick and smooth it. This was the crossing of the bar for me. I seemed more interested in something easy and inexpensive than "custom".

So I cancelled the second action and may have sold the first. My smith was going to do that for me. I was asking only $300 for it and I think it's gone.

Regrets? I only lost money and learned some.. The best part of it all was meeting Rod Rogers at the old shop.

Gentleman, thanks for the info so far, yes I was given some specs over the phone. The weight is not a problemas it will be a varmint rifle shot off of a rest not a carried hunting rifle. This is the kind of info I am looking for as far as roughness etc, are their actions any good, just looking for info anyone has about them.

Most of them are probably fine as they come - probably about on par with factory actions in terms of smoothness. They are not supposed to be polished below the stock line, but whether that is important to you, only you can tell.

The M1999 was conceived as the basis for custom built rifles, and some people elect to let their gunsmith polish and even surface grind them. This is the treatment Serengeti applies to them, before they put their name on the actions.

There is always the chance that one picks up an action that demands more attention than the average, but MRC in my experience have been good at standing by their product. A lot of these actions have been turned into rifles now, mostly to the owner's satisfaction. They represent pretty good value in todays custom market.

- mike

Savage99,
Can you post some picks of your gun? I have spoken the Serengeti about a custom gun and am still throwing around the idea. I was going to build on a M-70 action but after talking to Larry I was thinking of using on of the MRC actions. You seem very happy with yours. Those guys at Serengeti are very helpful. My only concern is about the laminate stock. How noticable is the lamination when viewed from the top or bottom of your rifle?

i have gone through five out of six of the actions so far. no complaints from any one yet. they are on par with most factory actions and a lot straighter than most. imho they are a better starting point for a custom than most of the old military stuff out there now. as far as the stock i can only tell you that if serengeti improved mel smarts process, then you are getting a great stock. i have a 375 sako in a blank i purchased from mel. you have to look real hard to see the laminate lines. i carried it in ak for a week of rain. it came home a little worse for wear but nothing a couple coats of oil on the finish didn't freshen up.

max

quote:

Originally posted by ROSCOE:
My only concern is about the laminate stock. How noticable is the lamination when viewed from the top or bottom of your rifle?

It depends - primarily on how well the blank matches in colour throughout. Serengeti also seems to be using varying number of layers in the lamination process (for lack of a better technical description). I have heard of 5 vs 3 layers, and I believe the 3 layer is less visible than the 5 layer version. I'm not sure what the criteria is for selecting a 3 vs a 5 layer lamination process. Maybe it depends on what the wood allows??

But in the end, this is all hearsay. Talk to Larry about your concern, and he'll give you some straight talk. Ask him to help you find a blank that has uniform colouring throughout, to help alleviate your concerns.

- mike