With all of the discussion on the MRC actions on this forum I wanted to post my opinions on the Chrome Moly SA I received just over two months ago. I'm going to rate several aspects of the action as "I see them". I'm a 50 year Montana native and have finished several dozen rifles. I'm hoping for the best from MRC, and feel a non-biased opinion is in order...so here goes:

A. Metal Finishing and Fit. (C-) As received I stoned the receiver with a new, dead flat stone. The screw holes were dished a bit, but the big problem was on the left side of the receiver. In order to remove the dished out and hollowed areas I had to totally remove the S/N and the MRC logo. The area around the bolt release was polished such that it did not blend into remainder of the metal, but a moderate amount of stoning took care of this area. There was a big dished out area on the rear tang that took forever to remove. The feed ramp was well polished. Lapping the lugs to 90% contact was easy...just a few dozen spring loaded cycles were required. The trigger, safety system, and fit-up are something else. As received the safety did not cam the firng mechanism back off the sear..so if you set the safety and pulled the trigger, then released the safety the firing pin would fall. This is NOT GOOD and totally unaccepable......MRC please take the Dremel tool away from whomever fits these up..PLEASE. I fixed it,but it should have not been shipped this way. The camming area of the bolt was miserable. The sear engagment notch was way too deep and made the bolt uplift very difficult (it was left as cast).The floor plate was finished OK, some small dished out areas that were easily removed. The polishing around the bolt handle was poor, but at least they did not over do it..easy to final polish. Once the areas around the root of the handle were stoned and polished they look nice. I like the bolt handle. I soft stoned the interior rails and although they still "look cast" they are smooth and the action is smooth.......but not up to my Mauser standards.

B. Guard Screws.(F) These things do not even come close to fitting the metal. I called MRC and they are shipping some new ones (other problems reported). I also ordered some from M-70 screws from Brownells just in case. How they could ship a semi-custom action with these POShits is beyond me. I want to meet the gunsmith that could make these work. By the way the same jobber had to make the floor plate release plunger..another poor job

C. TriggerGuard area (B-). Not too bad until you look at the trigger bow. All I can say is they left enough metal to properly contour it. It is nice after smoothing and thinning the bow. I DO NOT like the idea of using roll pins to hinge the floor plate...very sloppy fit and it wobbles quite a bit.

D. Springs (C-) The firing firing pin spring drags big time on the firing pin. When removed it's east to see why, it's just a piss poor execution of a simple compression spring. Ordered a new one from Brownells. I like the design of the spring loaded ejector. It works great. If the extactor can be considered a spring it looks fine, but was not well finished.

E. Trigger (C) For some reason I can't adjust it as well as a M-70. It's OK for weight, but a lot of creep. It feels like the engagement surfaces are a little soft (even after lapping the surfaces).

I'm not sure if my experience is the exception or the rule but would like to encourage all to please pass on an honest assesment to MRC so they may improve. I should add once all of these issues were resolved it is a very nice action to build on. Be prepared to spend 40-50 hours fitting and finishing the action. The biggest disappointment is .. a surplus VZ-24 requires a bitless work and money to acheive the same results....let alone wait time.

MRC really needs to evaulate the shop and individuals who are doing the polishing of their actions..are these folks experienced in polishing firearms or were they the lowest bidding bubba with a buffer. Also the quality of the springs and screws is poor..please re-evaluate these suppliers. Please regard this as constructive critisim.

Well, lets hope that the left hand long actions benefit from the lessons learned on the first actions to be shipped. I fully expect to do alot of finish work on mine, but If I have trouble getting it up to M70 specs, I'm going to be very upset. Atleast screws and triggers are out there for replacment of the factory stuff.

Joe

When the SS SA Mag MRC 1999 came it had so many errors that I sent it back. The replacement was much better but still very rough as to bolt camming. Many surfaces are rough beyond my patience. I had said that I was going to slick it but it would take my late dad to do this work. Like said above I also estimated 50 hours of work.



I was on edge to cancel or not. It just seemed a little more interesting to go ahead. I gave the action to a smith to put on a take off barrel and leave it as is finish wise. The blasted SS finish hides a lot unlike the blued guns so I have that going for me.



I am from a city in CT where much very high quality machine work has been done for over a century. Right now Galzan's CT Shotguns or whatever he calls it is there. Colt's is just up the road. This action was not made there.



The raw material is there however. For some serious bucks one could get a very fine gun out of the design.

10at6,
I believe your action was an exception and not the rule. I always appreciate feedback from customers. I'm am not really sure who you are and I don't know whether we have spoken about these problems that you have pointed out or not. I would really like for you to email me and let me know who you are so that I have something to match up with the comments so that I can forward all of the information to the owner as well as the shop personnel.
As I have stated many times before, I want to hear everything as it can only make us better. My personal email address is: mtrifle@montanarifleman.com

Dan

Here is a link to a similar evaluation done by Bill Leeper. It was done well and thought it might be of interest to those reading this thread. here

Chuck

I received two Chrome moly, mag face short actions. The first one (also the higher SN) was unfinished and and not polished at all. The second (and curiously lowered numbered) was finished and fairly well polished. I asked MRC about this and received no reply.

Dan,
Hopefully you've had that talk with your polisher before you send him the action I just sent back to be polished.

I'll be shooting my SS short action today for the first time. My rifle builder was totally impressed with everything as am I. Neither of us did much stoning but it still needs some. I absolutely have not complaints.

Dan, my gunsmith has left calls for you folks that have not been returned. He's in need of a left had SS short action. He's plenty impressed with what he's seen of my action. He's Nimrod Custom Rifles.

Just curious - I'm not familiar with MRC actions. I understand they are cast by Ruger? If so, what is the difference between an MRC action and a Ruger action with something like a Timney trigger put in it? Is the MRC a clone of the Ruger action.

No offense intended to MRC at all - I'm just curious, since I don't know anything about them.

Thanks,
Dave

Well, they are cast by Ruger, but that is the only thing they have in common. Do a search or check out their website.

Overall, I am okay with mine, but I was surprised by how rough the bolt raceways are. The exterior finsh on my SS action is fine, as I wanted that matte look. The raceways, though, are rougher than the outside surfaces. For the $700 - 800 I have in the barreled action, I could have bought a much better finished product from Brownell's or for much less, a used rifle to fix up.

Just to let everyone know we had the polishing house's owner come by our shop on Friday and we spent many many hours discussing the polishing problems that we have seen in the action including the "dishing" out of the receiver tops and scope base mounting holes. He felt that much of this was caused by one employee not using the proper wheel behind the polishing belt. He guaranteed us that he would correct this problem immediately.

Dan

Dan,
You mean it uses two screws, not three?

Dan ,What's going on with the left hand short actions? Are any being shipped yet? Dave