I've been teased for so long I feel like a regular at a stripper bar! I have a single digit serial numbered, LH, SS, standard bolt face action on order and when my dealer gets it, I'll believe that it's here.

First of all, Fjold nice picture.

Here is a post I made in here not long ago, it is also in our What's New page in our website:

I just now spoke to Brian (2/20/04 9:58a.m. MST), the owner of the Montana Rifle Company and he has given me a new update as to where we are.

LEFT HAND LONG ACTIONS: Currently there are 40 Left Hand Long actions in the machine shop. They started machining them on Wednesday. He stated that they should be done machining them today or Monday. Once they are done being machined they go to the machine shops QA department for measuring etc. Then they go to the shipping department where they are serialized. He stated that this usually takes a couple of days. The reason that it is such a small batch is that they are for "proving up" the molds to ensure that they are producing accurate parts. He said that once the serialization is done they are then shipped to S & W for heat treating (only about 50 miles away). This usually takes approximately 1 to 2 days. Then they are sent to the polishing house in Minnesota. Considering shipping times, this will usually add about 3 days. The polishing doesn't usually take too long, and I anticipate that they would be done in approximately 3 business days. After talking to Brian he stated that he expects to see the Left Hand Longs in about 2 weeks.

UPDATE 2/28/04 on the LEFT HAND LONGS: Seems the machine shop had some trouble with the Left Hand Long actions getting the bolts and receivers to fit together properly. Because of this they stopped working on the Left Hand Long actions. They sent one of the bolts and receivers to us so that we could figure out where they were having problems. It turned out that it wasn't a problem at all. Basically they did not have the leading edge angle on the lugs correct. A simple machining brought them together perfectly. The unfortunate part of this is that because they had this problem, they pushed all the Left hand Long Actions back and started the machining on the Left Hand Short Actions. This is unfortunate for those with Long actions on order, but good news for the Short action order holders. We expect that they will finish the machining on the Shorts in about 2 weeks and go right back into the Long actions.

LEFT HAND SHORT ACTIONS: Talking to Brian he said that they should start machining the left hand shorts on Monday or Tuesday. He was not 100% sure of the configuration (i.e. Stainless or Chrome Moly, standard or magnum) that they would be doing first. He stated that they will begin machining the same material that they last finished on. So if they were doing stainless then the stainless will be first. If they were doing Chrome Moly then that is what they will begin with. He stated that they had to do it this way due to the fact that machining each material is different as far as the feeds and speeds of the machine. He said that right now he expects to see the first left hand shorts about the second week of March. We expected them sooner but unfortunately our hands are tied to what the machine shop gets done.

Here's even a picture of one of the short action prototypes we brought to the Shot Show. Sorry for the quality.



Don't hesitate to drop me a line or give us a call at any time. We are really pushing hard on these right now and expect (fingers crossed here) to see them before the end of March.

Dan

No problem Dan. I've been visiting your new website every few days checking on them. The new site is great, much better graphics and easier to navigate through, I even emailed Scot with a suggestion for it.

Fjold,
Thank you for the compliments on our new website. I'm looking for upgrades all the time to put in it. Keep watching as I'll be adding more information as time goes on. Any suggestions are always, and I do mean always, appreciated.

Dan

Dan, the new site is very nice. For the obsesive/compulsive amoung us it would be nice to see a count-down feature(a la PH numbers)for new actions awaiting production? If it gets stuck 1 action less than the minimum I might be persuaded....

tiggertate,
I will try to add a new section in our "Whats New" and the Pro Hunter page of our website (http://www.montanarifleman.com/prohunter.htm) every week by Friday with the updated numbers of actions sold to date. Thank you for the suggestion.

Dan

Dan-

I was wondering; your slideshow on the Montana Rifleman website does not work for me; Is that still in process.

Fjold-

Where did you get that wonderful avatar. I have seen those pictures before but, alas, I cannot find them anywhere.

Right click on it and then click "Properties" it should have an address there.

Mark,

You are right on the slideshow. I've been working to try to get it to work and can't understand why it isn't. It will show one picture and no others yet when I go to the FTP site all the files are there. My next step is to rename all the pictures to see if that works. Hopefully I'll have it up and working this week. There are some great shots of the shop and actions.



Dan

I ponied up my $350 last April. I'm waiting-- and patiently, too. I want the product to be the best they can deliver; this takes time. Like Paul Masson (almost) said: "We will sell no action before its time."