I sent a client's pre-64 M70 .264 barrel and my personal sheep rifle based around a Rem 700 Ti action to Mac's Shootin' Irons for his coatings with Tuff-gun and Tuff-stock.

The M70 action is rust blued and the barrel has the matte black coating as offered by Mac. Unfortuantely, the lighting angle and the way the camera picked it up really accentuates the difference in the metal colors. In direct light or less-harsh angled light, the barrel and action look much closer to being the same color. And the matte black barrel really looks good next to the oil finished wood stock. At any rate, I think the barrel compliments the rust blued CM parts quite nicely.

The 700 had OD green on the metal, and matte black on the stock.

For those of you looking for a way to color stainless barrels and action, I can heartliy reccomend Mac. His turn around time is fast, communications are excellent, and his prices are great. I am going to put my .270 through the ringer, and if the finish holds up as well as I think it will, then I am going to start coating clients guns with Mac (on the rare tiems when I do a SS job).

I was worried about putting the barrel in my vise to reinstall it on the action. Not a mark on it! Actually, the coating was so slick that I had to put rosin on the barrel blocks to get a good bite. And my sheep rifle had always felt "grabby" and wanted to gall with the stainless bolt riding in the titanium reciever. After coating, it is VERY slick and does not have a drop of oil or grease on it!

Marc, did you coat the inside of the action? If so, does the coating go into the lug recesses etc, and how thick is it?

there is coating inside the action, but I can't see the lug seats. The barrel was not taken off by them, so I don't think it would have coating on the seats.

Don't know how thick the coating is-sorry! You can tell the internal parts are thicker, but not by much.

Marc,

I think I might be interested in this for a stainless M70 that i have.

It seems he has a website:

http://www.shootiniron.com/index.html

It sounds like he completely disassembles the action. Did he coat the bolt, trigger, sear, bolt stop, etc or just the receiver and barrel? Is it thick enough to change the sear engagement?

Andy

Well, I had both guns completely torn down and just sent him what I wanted coated, so I am not 100% sure what he would do with a complete gun sent to his shop. But Mac is an excellent communicator and anwers emails daily and in great depth. I would just shoot him an email and ask him, or if you send a gun tell him parts you don't want coated.

I did send in the cocking piece on the M700 and I stoned off the finish on the bearing surface before I put the rifle back together.

ANd yes, that is his web site. I was going to post a link in the original post but forgot to do it.

Marc-
Two quick questions. What is a client's cost for a complete rifle and just a barrel?

Can you quickly tell me about your sheep rifle? Looks like you took most of the weight that is possible off it. Is that a Lone Wolf srock? Whose barrel? Caliber? Other hidden modifications?

Thanks!

Snowcat-

snowcat-

not sure what you mean about the cost. Do you mean from Mac's? He has a price list on his site. As for what I was doing, it was a complete refinish of a rifle in VERY bad condition, so I took care of everything but the SS barrel-which I sent to Mac.

My sheep rifle started as a 700 Ti. I have turned it down, milled off, and drilled holes in just about every place I dared. THere are still a few things I can do to it and may in the future. It has a Lone Wolf carbon fiber stock, Shilen #2 SS barrel (fluted heavily by Mark Basner), Shilen trigger, Swarovski 3-10x42 scope, Gentry safety, rings, and bases.

Right now it has a serious weight problem. I rebedded it before shipping if off to get the new finish. I put a lot of bedding compound in the fore arm-mainly for asthetics. Well, I almost got a hernia when I weighed it a couple of nights ago. It is now 5# 9oz. It was 5# 6oz before rebedding and coating. I am going to work on the forearm underneath the barrel and see how much I can get out. The Lone Wolf CF stocks are a dream to carry, but they are hard to shoot off a bench. It can be done, but technique is critical, as you can really move the fore arm around. I was hoping to stiffen up up a little in the process of making it look pretty, but it is not worth 3 oz.


I built a 5# 2oz short action 700 for an Alaskan sheep guide. He shot a 40" Dall with it last year, and has it out on the hill with him this week for his anual family hunt. I shot a 39 1/4" Dall with my .270.

I want to get the long action rifles down to 5#-5#2oz. All Weights I gave are scoped and ready to go. There are some other things I can do, but just did not get around to it on my personal rifle-too busy working on paying jobs to fool around with my stuff that costs me money. I will build another long action in the future and see just how light I can get it.

BTW-they shoot too. First 3 shot group at 100 with the .270 was .620. It consistenetly averages 1.6" for 3 shot groups-at 200 yards! I have not wrung out the .243 to see how it would do, but I had it back in the shop to change some things for the guy a couple of weeks ago and shot it one day when at the range. With the first box of factory ammo I picked up, it shot under .7" for 3 shots at 100. I figured that was good enough and put it back in the gun case. But if you play around with one of these stocks, you will see how you can mess up or improve groups by your tecnhique of holding it on the bags.

I thought I recognized the stock--I didn't realize that they were that flimsy in the forearm, however. Do you know if the Bansner or Brown kevlar (16 oz.) stocks are any stiffer? Can you explain, if you have a minute, how you turned the action and to what specs? I see you skeletonized the bolt handle like Mark does, where else did you take metal? Would you have saved much weight by going with an alloy shroud rather than the Gentry? Are the bases and rings steel? I know, lots of questions, but I just worked through getting an FN 300 mag to 7# 4 oz. scoped and slung, and am thinking of doing an extremely light 375 Ruger when reamers become available. Thank you.

Snowcat-
Any stock this light is going to move and be very sensitive to bench technique. One ahs to decide if they want ultiamte accuracy or ultimate portability-can't have both at the same time. THe Lone Wolf is more than stable enough to do the job. Any field rifle that shoots under an inch is more accurate than need be.

The Gentry rings and bases are steel and weigh the same as aluminum and hold better. I have drilled and filed on them and they are actually lighter than Al now, and still hold better.

I made a amndrel for the action and use it to true up the reciever and then to turn down the outside behind the front ring. Used the same mandrel to hold the action in a fixture on the mill and started hogging off any titanium I thought I could get away with. No idea what the dimensions of the reciever are now, plus I milled a lot off the rear bridge in funny shapes, so I would not be able to measure it anyway. I was going to attack the exposed surface with a ball end mill and take off another ounce, but never did do it. Drilled a million holes in the bolt, but left the part you can see in the loading port in an attempt to keep dirt and water out of the bolt (did not want water to freez in there).

Barrel is a #2 Shilen .270 SS. I turned down the breah part as much as I dared and then sent it to Banser for as heavy a flute job as he dared. Lilja is one of the 2 barrel mokers I like the best (Kreiger is the other) and they npw make a #0 contour that is very light. I put one on a .243 and it was great. This may very well be lighter than my current barrel. I think I have the weights written down somewhere, but it would take too much digging to find it.

I went with this safety because I like 3 position safeties, especially with a blind magazine. Gentry is the only one who makes a 3 position safety for a M700 that is totally stainless. ANyway, I hav emilled a lot of metal off of it andit is lighter than any aluminum shroud anyway. Even before I started whitteling it down, I believe it was the exact same weight as the Al. models. Again, would take some digging to find my measurements.

Appreciate the info, nice looking rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by snowcat:
Do you know if the Bansner or Brown kevlar (16 oz.) stocks are any stiffer

In my experience the Brown Kevlar Pounder is a very stiff stock with a solid feeling forend that exhibits no flex, some consider the stock too stiff for big calibers due to it's stiffness and it's ability to transfer recoil. The Brown's are a great feeling stock with their open grips and slender proportions, I love them but I don't like the amount of work I have to do to finish them. I recently installed a McMillan Edge on a M70 270wsm and have to say that for the money it is a better stock, the machine inletting is sharp and precise and a far cry above the other cast in inletted stocks, weight is very similar and so is rigidity.
bigbull

Thanks bull-
I have heard that about the Browns and generally like what they produce as a company--the only gripe I have with the McMillan is that its another half pound heavier and apparently several hundred bucks more expensive (if I read their site correctly). I already have a "pretty light" rifle, I'd need to be trying for a "ridiculously light" rifle to rationalize the project to myself. I'm not above that....

I'd love to find a used Pound'r and start from there though I'm not holding my breath.

Ever tried an MPI Kevlar?

Bigbull-

both of the stocks you mention are CONDSIDERABLY heavier than the Lone WOlf. As I posted before, when going to extremes you can have relative light weight or you can have relative rigidity, but not both at the same time. I am sure the Brown and Edge are good stocks, but they also weight the rifle down. ANd this is a rifle that is already producing greater accuracy than can be seen in the field. I am sure both stocks you mention will make great handles for mid-weight rifles, but if you add them to the rifle in question, what can you remove from the metal to just break even with the original weight again? They will always be heavier and more rigid as well. But on my rifle I was after "ultimate light weight."