Hey all,

I have suddenly found myself owning a couple Mark X's. I have a "Whitworth" .375, a Mark X "Alaskan" (I think) in .375, and a Mark X in .300 win mag. I am wondering what to do to make these a bit more "polished" as reliable big game rifles. I want a good quality hunting rifle. I have a relatively small budget, but can do work on a longer term basis if needed. I know some people have done this. All have the adjustable trigger and side safety that locks the bolt down.

What to do first?? I have shot the Alaskan and the .300 win. Both fed and extracted fine. Shot reasonably well too. They are a smidge rough as far as the machine work goes.

Any suggestions welcomed..




SC

From the looks of the Pic they appear in good shape. I think what you have done (shooting them) is your first step. You mentioned no feeding issues, and they shhot reasonably well, so Iwould go with the if it aint broke dont fix it game plan. Use your limited budget for either ammo or a good reloading set up and shoot them a bunch.

if they are feeding your handloads, spend your money on hunting... if you "fix" the machine work, you'll at least be reblue, and the "dressing up" a zavasta action becomes a money pit.

i like them just the way they are, and with a 3position safety, even better
jeffe

My brother has a couple of them that he has been using for many years. They are better now than when he purchased them. Using them smoothes them out it seems. His work like greased lightning now and surprisingly they still shoot quite well.

I agree with Jeffe, I would eventually change the safeties to 3 position but I would be happy with that trio of Mark Xs just the way they were, although that one on the bottom seems to have some pretty plain wood on it, and I like the classic style stocks better than the monte carlo style stocks that you have on the bottom two rifles.

If I had to carry them a long way I might think about lightweight plastic stocks on them.

Here is a similar thread that may give you some ideas.

For me, the main thing would be making sure they are properly bedded as in the larger bores you can get cracking between the trigger and floorplate. I like the classic style stocks better too, but the monte carlo seem to fit well. The classic ones come up for sale here from time to time but with real nice wood might be expensive.

Working the actions many times can help smooth them out. Just be sure you have some lubricant on them while doing this. I think my two have been worked a couple of thousand times each.

I had my safeties changed out but if yours function properly that may be more of a preference than anything else.

Enjoy them.

I would eliminate the side safeties and restock the Mark X's. Since you're not complaining of functional problems, anything else is purely cosmetic.

Mark Xs are pretty nice as they are. Except for substitution of a M70 safety or polishing the trigger and insides of the action, there isn't much else to do mechanically. There's alot you can do cosmetically. On one I have, I improved the appearance of the stock by glass bedding, added an Old English pad, steel grip cap, ebony forend tip, reshaped the forend and grip, recheckered:

I have been thinking I would replace the mounts and rings first. I am not a fan of the turn in - windage adjustable- type on the two Mark X's. I also will probably replace the old tasco on the .300 win. Then I think stocks of a more classic nature and maybe 3 position safeties. The whitworth will probably not get changed a bit for awhile. It has the barrel lug and both it and the recoil lug are bedded. It is cross bolted too so I hope I don't need to worry about cracking the stock.

SC

on a limited budget? we might have different definitions of limited....

anyway, best of luck, and you'll find takers for selling the stocks are QUICK to come by
jeffe

I recently acquired a couple of Whitworth 458's; One came with a 3 pos safety, and all Ive done to that is clean really well, change recoil pad (hard rubber whitworth is no good), and check bedding (both are fine, no stress points. One I rechambered to the Lott.
IMO, these Whitworths are ready to go hunting right from the box, except for the recoil pad. Unlike the CZ's, I may add.
I have installed Warne bases and QD rings on both; these work really really well, I now have Warne Qd's on half a dozen rifles, I can switch scopes at will!