Well I got my Montana just in time for deer season. I have only put one ammo/bullet combo through it. That was the Federal Premium 165gr Nosler partition. I have only fired about 1 1/2 boxes of this ammo, and was able to put 6 rounds into 1.25". So that is plenty good enough to hunt whitales in VA. Will do more work to see what it really likes in the spring.


Just wanted to thank Allen Day for his advice in helping me put this together.

It's a M1999, with a McMillian Winchester Supergrade Stock (installed by McMillian), with a Pachmayr decelerator recoil pad. Caliber is 30-06. The whole rifle is plain and boring by design. Brown stock, matte finish, and Boring 30-06 caliber, all combine for a go anywhere gun that I will not be affraid to scratch up and do Real hunting with.
The scope is a Leupold VXIII 3.5-10x40mm matte, the Rings are Leupold, the mounts are Burris 2 peice dove tail.
Trigger is at 3#, barrel is 23" , crown is ressesed, lugs are lapped, bla bla bla, you get the idea.

It's certainly one of the best functional go anywhere do anything rifles posted on this forum

Thanks for showing us...

BTW how much ya got in this thing now?

Whose barrel did you use?

Your rifle is my kind of rifle. It may be "boring by design", but it's beautiful nonetheless.

Nicely done!
you'll be a proud poppa!

jeffe

Mark,

A very clean implementation of a great concept, thanks for putting the details up.

If you are sharing, I would like to know what you have in the rifle all up and ready to hunt...

thanks...jim

I have a stainless lefty being built right now in 6.5-284.

I ordered the action on the charter deal. But, I didn't order the barrel until April of this year, the stock in May and my gunsmith's had the action since June.

I hope to have my gun by January.

That is my kind of rifle. Thanks for showing it.
Nicely done.

It's perfect and a great looking rifle !!

Very nice! I hope it brings you years of prosperous shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by AuburnTiger:
Very nice! I hope it brings you years of prosperous shooting.

Ditto that. Great choice of cartridge to boot!

Very good!! That's a nice no BS hunting rifle. The 165-168gr is also my favorite in the '06. Seems that the 30-06 just keeps getting better and better with the new powders and newer bullets.
Congrats...

Nice rifle almost a perfect setup but they put the bolt on the wrong side LOL

Thanks for all the complements guys.
Vapodog, Hunerjim, I have right about 1,650 (no more)in the gun itself, and another 550ish (at the most) in the scope itself, mounts, rings etc. So out the door ready, $2,200.00 is pretty close.

vapodog, the barrel is from Montana as well. I bought it from them as a barreld action.

Mark, I've been wondering about your rifle project, and now I can see the results for myself!

Quite honestly, I love your rifle. It embodies all that should go into a real hunting rifle: A solid, controlled-feed action. A practical, effective, widely-available, eminently shootable caliber. A solid, practical, stable stock that's made to hunt with, rather than stylin' and profilin'. Plus you've topped it off one of the best all-around hunting scopes available today. You've put together a great package.

The only thing I'd do differently is go with lower scope rings. If you do, I believe you'll find your partnership with that stock will be greatly enhanced.

The more I hunt, the less use I have for wood. In fact, I don't hunt with wood at all any more, and I'm unlikely to ever again. I just got back from an elk bunt that had lots of wet timber and blowdowns to wade through, lots of wet snow, belly-crawling through wet grass for a stalk, etc. At the end of the hunt, my rifle was covered with water, mud and gunk, etc. Yet, when it came time for the shot, that bullet went right where it was supposed to, and that rifle remained as perfectly sighted-in as when I began my hunting season with it in dry New Mexico. A pillar-bedded McMillan stock is just about impossible to beat from any angle.....

Great job Mark! If you work on some loads, you'll cut those already good groups in half, I'm sure.

AD

New toy, eh? Nifty!

When did you buy the action?? Just recently??
- mike

quote:

The only thing I'd do differently is go with lower scope rings. If you do, I believe you'll find your partnership with that stock will be greatly enhanced.

Allen, I had noticed (until looking at the pic just now)they do look a little high don't they. They are suppose to be "standard" height, but maybe not. I will revisit this issue later as well.
Thanks for the complement by the way, much appreciated!

Well thats enough talk, today is the rifle season opener in VA. So me and Dad are headed out for a afternoon hunt. He turned 70 in August, so this is pretty special for me. Personally I hope he gets one, I'll be happy just being in the woods together. I got a buck on Veterans day with my muzzleloader, so I will be happy to be his guide.

A beautiful rifle. Congrats!

Hi Mark,

That is a rifle to be proud of!

Did you simply have the barreled action stocked? Or did you have any additional gunsmithing done.

What is your impression of the Montana action? Feeding, smoothness of operation, trigger?

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Respectfully,
Harry C.

Great looking rifle!

Nice rifle Mark. What with the options for a left hander you made a good choice.

Mark, great rifle and great concept. You had a great design consultant in Allen Day. There are few people as good as him from a personal standpoint. Super individual. I agree with him though on the scope mounts and that scope should set well in a set of low leupold rings mated to the existing bases. I look forward to field results and success stories.

Chuck

That rifle is just damn nice! You're well appointed for any hunting that comes your way. I wish you well on the rifles initiation.

Exellent tool, looking darn good!

Curious, do you really need that scope to be so high installed? If you require it, fine, but if you don't, lower rings would give more comfort when shooting!

Edit: Oh, sorry, see Allen already made that clear....

Nice rifle! It's simple and utilitarian, just the way I like it. FWIW, the next size shorter rings would be my only change - not a criticism, just personal preference.

Well there seems to be a consensus on the scope rings being to high,(ok I get it) lol

Seriously though, do those look like Standard rings or high rings? (who knows what the smith put on there, they were suppose to be standard) Should I go with the Leupold low profile?? Help me out here...

the rifle looks great. for rings/bases I would suggest Leupold QD rings. Even if you don't have open sights, they give you the option of a spare or alternate scope that is sighted in and ready to go.

With a 40mm scope those appear to me to be high rings, but it is hard to tell. Great rifle and highly functional.

Great price as well.

Nice boring rifle, too bad the bolt is on the wrong side.