I am thinking of purchasing a 6.5x55 in a Montana Rifle, action and barrel.
� I am wondering what people�s opinions are of Montana Rifles are?
� Do they make a good rifle?
� How far do you have to turn the bolt to open it?
� Is there another gun maker that does a better job at similar prices?

I am looking to get a nice wood stock without paying a fortune. I would appreciate advice on this.

Thanks,
Adams

adams,

Take a look at the Kimber 84M's. They are chambered in 260 Rem. which is similar to the 6.5-55. The Kimber is available in both a wood stock and a composite.

I had a Montana M1999 for a few months and shot it a little. About the time I got involved with the Montana early buy program for a discount I occured to me that I wanted lighter rifles. So the M1999 is gone and there are four new Kimbers here now. I don't regret it at all.

It was mentioned that the Montana "short" action has a longer than normal magazine box that would suit the 55mm cartridge. That's true and the longest round that a Kimber 84M will stack is 2.82" but the Kimber weighs a lot less and shoots quite well.

The Winchester M70 used to be a good rifle and they chambered some for the 6.5-55. You may want to see what they are like.

I would look at the Montana products for left hand needs or all out customs. Mine needed a lot of $$$ to slick it.

Savag99:

Have you actually weighed a M8400 WSM on a good scale? I was wondering what they really weigh with sling and scope installed. Just curious. THanks

I have a 6.5x55 Swede based on a Montana 1999 short action with a #3 contour MRC barrel. It sits in an Accurate Innovations stock which costs 350.00. The first three shots fired from this rifle with no break-in went into 1/2" with 140g Hornadys. The next three shots with 120g ballistic tips went .320. Am I happy?

Thanks for your replies. You answered my questions on MRC actions and barrels. I hunt in cold weather and sit all day so I wear heavy gloves. 90-degree bolts don�t work well with heavy gloves as they get stuck between the bolt and the scope. So I don�t own 90-degree bolts. I usually take my glove off when shooting but it doesn�t always work out that way.

I want to shoot the .264 Hornady or Sierra 160 grain bullets at 2300-2500 ft per sec. I have been told that .260 Remington won�t achieve these speeds with these bullets, as you have to give up to much case space because of the shorter throat of the .260.

So I am looking for someone who manufactures a 6.5x55 with a 60-degree bolt with about a 22� barrel. I also need the long action due to C.O.L. Sako actually makes the gun I�m looking for in the Finnlight. Not only the all the steel parts but also the stock fits me very well. However, with all the hoopla going on with the Finnlights right now I�m not sure I want to buy one. This is why I started looking for custom gun makers.

I had MRC do a barreled action for me in a left hand chrome moly chambered in 358win. I had them polish the inside of the action , lap the lugs and raceways and the barrel. They squared it and put a #4 barrel on it with a recessed crown . They set the trigger weight at 3.5#
Before it was matte blued they sent it over to Serengeti so they could glass bed the action without worrying about scratching the blue job, after it was bedded they sent it back to MCR for bluing.
I bought the action when they first offered it at $350 and have about $850 in the whole package.
The stock was more expensive than the rifle. It was a AA Claro blank, ebony forarm, metal gripcap, checkered, recoil pad, oil finish, cross bolt, glass bedded and sling studs.
It shoots MOA right from the factory with my handloads. I could not be happier with the rifle.
I have another left handed stainless MCR action waiting to be made into a 300WSM but this one may go into a McMillan stock.
I'm sure you would be happy with a MCR but if you can find a donner Rem. 700 for your project for the same $$$'s and don't care about the controled feed action go for it.
I didn't have that option wanting a left handed short action.

re5513,
I always appreciate good feed back from customers as well as good criticism. But I think there may be some confusion as to our "Official Position". That is that we make the actions as a starting point for a custom rifle (I know I am repeating myself - my salesman tell me I sound like a stuck record or Charlie Brown's teacher). But really that is what we have tried to accomplish. We built the action and continue to build the action for the custom gun builder to "finish" it to the customers personal touches. If a customer wants to do that on his own, it's their choice. But that's how the customer can save money in doing so. Let's be honest, there are not alot of places to get a custom built rifle for under $2000. We have tried to accomodate all of our customers but like in any business, that will never happen. Oh and the "barrel supplier" question/comment, we make all of our own barrels from start to finish. We start with barrel quality stock and do the rest from there........I'd tell you how we do the rest but I don't have Double Top Secret Security Clearance to give that info out. As far as how many barrels do we do with one specific button, there is never a specific way to determine, we check each barrel when finished and as soon as we feel it does not meet our standards (.0003) it is changed out. And sometimes they break, and then we change them out. Hope that helps.
Adams, I truly hope your project goes well no matter what you choose, there is no better feeling than to have a finished rifle that you are confident in. Oh, and mho was right Serengeti is making a really nice inexpensive wood stock, so is Accurate Innovations and Boyds. Hope that helps too. Good Luck!
Jeff Sipe, Sales Manager
Montana Rifle Company < !--color--> < !--color--> < !--color--> < !--color-->

I HAVE TWO COMPLETE RIFLE ACTIONS AND ONE BARREL JOB THEY DID ON A BROWNING...NOW I HAVE THREE EXCELLENT RIFLES.ALL THREE WILL SHOOT 1/2 @200YDS IF I AM GOOD ENOUGH THAT DAY

KEEP ON SHOOTIN' AMIGOES

Adams, Buy the Finnlite. I have two of them and they both shoot pretty well.

Here is my 300WSM shooting 180gr Failsafes at 200yds.....



Here is my 270 Winchester at 300yds.......



Both of these groups are using super-premium Hunting bullets and not match bullets at 200 and 300yds not 100. If you really like the short bolt lift the Sako 75 is the way to go. Yes they did have a problem with a few and you want to call and have your serial number checked. Because of the problem now is probably the time you'll be able to get the best deal on a Finnlite. I own several other Sako's and find them all to be extremely accurate excellent hunting rifles. I'm not knocking Montana's but they don't fit what you say you want......DJ

I would like to thank all of you for your replies. I would also like to thank MontanaJeff for his non-bias comments and for giving us good information on what their company does. I appreciate the non-bias, and am more likely to business with a company like this.

I would also like to comment that when I called the Montana Rifle Company to ask questions, they gave great service. The phone rang twice, a human being picked up and this person answered all my questions. Wow!

I�m not sure what to about Sako. I have no idea if they are handling the blow-ups properly or not. I am not going to judge them at this point. However, it will be some time before I would look at a Sako. If they are handling the situation properly and we here from the people with problems, I may buy one some day. If not, I won�t do business with a company who does not treat the public as they should. I�m not sure how long before we all know the answer to this question.

Nice groups djpainles.

I have placed an order with the folks at Montana Rifle for two of the PH actions. The folks I use to make custom guns for me have only seen random examples of the action and do not know how much work it will take to make the action a finished product. How much do you suppose it will cost on average, to finish out a PH action in preparation of a custom rifle???

I think in all honesty you would have define "finished" to get an answer for that one. The actions are functional when delivered from the plant but I could spend countless hours tweaking each little nuance if I wanted. Most of that would be cosmetic except for one big thing; I have a phobia for cast claw extractors even though none of MRC's have failed that I know of. I hope Matt Williams will make one that fits the PH.

FWIW, I ordered mine unpolished so that they could go straight into a surface grinding jig at their max dimensions. Now all I need is jig....

You might want to talk to Dennis Olson about work on Montana actions I think he has a bit of experience with these. He could probably give you an idea of what work needs to be done and how much. Allen His ph# is 406-826-3790