This rifle has a long story behind it. It's built on a 1951 FN commercial action. My dad's friend, Tom Krcmar, a well known retired gunsmith in San Antonio, built a 264 Win Mag on itin the early 60s. It had a 26" #5 barrel, double set triggers, and a wooden stock - I believe from a Fajen semi-inlet blank. I inherited when my dad passed away in 1991. I used it a few times on hogs and deer. In 2002 I went back to Tom (40 years later) and had him rebarrel to a 7mm Mag with the same length and contour. I didn't reload at the time or I might have kept it a 264. I continued using the rifle and replaced the old 3-9x40 AO Redfield scope with a Weaver 4.5-14x40 scope and updated the recoil pad. Well, in 2012 I decided that I'd had it with the #5 contour barrel and sent to Dennis Olson who recontoured the barrel to a #2, straightened the bolt handle, added Talley bases, a classic Mauser bottom metal release, iron sights, and a barrel band. The barrel was left at 26".

In 2014, I had a mesquite semi-inlet blank made for it, but recently decided I didn't want to spend the time doing another wood stock (I will in the future, maybe when I retire) and decided to recycle a MPI fiberglass stock I had for a 8x57 Mannlicher and turn it into a mountain rifle. My goal is 7 lbs with a scope.

Now to the pictures. It's rough right now as I had to cut-off the stock, reinlet, and fill in the thumb notch and other areas.

Original stock on 8x57 (now has a wooden stock):



Views of the inletting. I used Acraglas Gel on the recoil lug, rear tang, and contact points on the bottom metal. I mixed in 50% volume of glass microspheres for the barrel bedding to lighten even more. Finally, I finished the inside of the action area with a 33% mix of the glass spheres - the 50% was a bit hard to work with in tight areas. I also used the 33% mixture for capping off the front of the stock and building up some of the areas around the action.














I also need to reinlet the bolt handle area. After that, sand it down and paint it. I got some tips for Tinman on the finish he used for his professional rifle and will be trying that. I figured I'd show it ugly and then pretty for everyone! I also plan to get the double set triggers gold plated. Still deciding whether I leave it polish blue or go black nitride or similar for rust protection. Finally, need to pick out new scope. Thinking about a Leupold 3-9x33. Very light! Or maybe a Swaro 3-9x36 or a Leupold 4.5-14x40.

It will be good for another 50 year when done!

Sir,

I'm liking what I see so far.

Look forward to following your progress.

how did you get the mannlicher stock?

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
how did you get the mannlicher stock?

The original black one? From MPI. Not brave enough to do my own synthetic stock yet, but thinking about trying to do my own carbon fiber.

Great caliber choice. I've found the 7 Mag to be the most useful, all-around caliber I've used.

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Great caliber choice. I've found the 7 Mag to be the most useful, all-around caliber I've used.

Sort of wish I had kept it a 264 Win Mag, but you can't beat the ballistics of a 150 gr 7mm Mag at 3,200 fps. And want something more for Africa or Alaska? 175 gr Aframe. Thud.

Ok - all the epoxy and Bondo has been sanded out.

Next step is to paint the stock. I'm thinking about Duracoat, but need to check with them and see if I need to prime the stock first. The also have a texturizer for their paint, but it would require me to purchase a HVLP gun since they can't premix it. The other option I was considering was some two part epoxy paint (in an activated can from Eastwood), then applying some webbing, and then sealing with some Eastwood 2 part matte primer.

Here's a picture of the stock in the priming process. I'm using some high build urethane primer from Eastwood.. It's a two part mixture that comes in a can that you have to activate and is good for 48 hours.

The picture below is some Bondo over the second primer coat to fill some larger pin-holes in the epoxy that the primer didn't. I used Eastwood's degreaser to prep the stock and then sprayed a coat yesterday. I recoated after 30 minutes and then allowed to dry for several hours at which point I wet sanded it, degreased, and painted again. I let it set over night and then knocked down the roughness of the paint with some grease-free 0000 steel wool before applying the bondo. The plan is to let this dry today, wet sand tonight and apply a final coat of Eastwood primer.

The final steps will be applying some texturing to the stock (I think I will use the Duracoat SoftSand additive around the grip and forearm) and finishing with a darker gray. I like their Tombstone Gray.

This looks good but I like your Mesquite stock much better!! Can't beat nice wood...

quote:

Originally posted by cooksey:
This looks good but I like your Mesquite stock much better!! Can't beat nice wood...

I have a piece of mesquite for this rifle as well, just wanted to get this rifle stocked and some loads developed. I'll get to the mesquite stock for it one day!

Ordered some additional Duracoat products today - Gray Wolf for the final color, some SoftSand texture, and some flattening agent.

I'm going to do some experiments before I finish the stock:

1. Determine if I need to flatten the paint more to remove any excess sheen

2. Determine texture options:
a. Use of Softstand in paint - either for whole stock or in traditional grips areas
b. Texturing of paint using air pressure and nozzle setting on HVLP sprayer


Stay tuned!

OK - finally got back to this project.

I used Duracoat Gray Wolf for the final finish with a HVLP sprayer attached to air compressor. I added 10% of their flattening agent to take the sheen off. I adjusted the air pressure, paint flow, and spray pattern to make the texture. When I was finished, I removed the tape covering the bedding/inletting and knocked down the edges that had built up from the previous priming and the final painting. I then cleaned the inletting and set the sprayer on higher pressure to get a very fine, controllable pattern to lightly coat the inletting and change from creamy epoxy to gray. I taped over the recoil lug bedding. If I did it again, I'd dye the epoxy black or dark gray to avoid this step. The pics don't do it justice, it came out great! Now, I want to get the metal nitrided for the ultimate mountain rifle finish.

Tured out very nice. Great job on the coatings

Got the rifle back yesterday from having Cerakote applied. I went with "Graphite" - basically a matte black.

I put the scope on after these pics. A Leupold V3X 4.5-14x40 BDC.

Great caliber choice.

Looks good.

Dave

Talk about a silk purse out of a sows ear. It would really be nice if you put a Model 70 safety on & lower scope mounts.

Here's a final picture. The coater didn't apply Cerakote to the extractor collar, so I had a titanium nitride finish applied. It matches the gold plated triggers and the gold Leupold ring.

Nice touch. A little something to catch the eye, but nothing showy. Really nice build.

Jeremy

Very sharp, thanks for posting!

Went to the range yesterday. First time firing since 2004. Since then it has had the barrel reprofiled from a #5 to a #2 and the stock upgraded per the story above.

I grabbed some Winchester factory 140 gr Accubond that I've had for 12+ years. Shot sub-MOA at 3,197 fps. Think that will work fine for my October pronghorn hunt!