I know nothing about gunsmithing or custom work.
I prefer the look of a wood and blue M70 (like a Safari Express), but own a Classic Stainless.
What would I need to have done (is it even possbible) and who would be a good choice of a gunsmith to do the following:

1.) Blue, coat, bake (or whatever the process is) the barrel and action.

2.) Re-stock with a similar stock to the Classic Sporter LT I own in -'06.

Is it possible to have a durable, good-looking matte blue finish applied? Haven't kept up with the new custom procedures of late.

Thanks, ScottW

Scott,
There are certainly coatings you can have applied to your barreled-action; Robar, Cerakote, teflon etc.

Have you thought about simply putting your stainless metal work in a wood stock? The look can be quite fetching. Factory take-off stocks can be found on Ebay for not a great deal of money. Anyway, just a thought about a relatively cheap way to approach this.

- stu

Stu: No I hadn't, but that is a good idea. Thanks, ScottW

Scott, you will probably have to look for a Safari Express stock, the barrel on the .375 is heavier than that of the standard mdl70. I didn't care for the look of mine either, but I sent the stock off to Bell and Carlsen and they painted it in a black-gray web finish which made a huge difference, I've gotten a lot of compliments on the look of the rifle. They have quite a few choices on what patterns they can paint. It cost about $60 and they had it back to me in eight days.

I am going through the process of changing my Classic Stainless also.

I have a stock from an older .300 Win Mag that I am using but may look for a newer stock without the raised checkpiece depending on how this one feels when I shoot it. So far I have opened up the barrel channel, glass bedded the action and replaced the factory recoil pad with a Decelerator. I stripped, did some minor reshaping, and started to refinish the stock and am just about done filling the pores. Once the stock finish is done I will redo the checkering. I also added Williams one piece bottom metal.

I glass bedded the plastic factory stock and inlet it for the Williams bottom metal and changed out the factory recoil pad for a Limbsaver. Sometime in the future I will probably go with a McMillan stock.

The factory extractor was replaced by a Williams blued spring steel extractor.

I was planning on having the rifle blued, but the way it looks now is starting to grow on me. I may leave the stainless as is or send it off to be blued later.

Scope is a Leupold Vari X III 1.75x6 with Leupold QRW quick release rings and bases.

My goal is to have a wood stock for hunting in Africa and a synthetic for hunting in Alaska.