What manufacturers sell there actions only so that someone can make custom rifles. Is there a source for buying actions only and if so whats the price range? My favorites are the Winchester M-70 pre 64, Remington 700, and the old style Sako prior to the current M-75. Thanks for the help.

Chester's in New York, a big distributor, will sell you a Rem 700 action with a pirce anywhere from $325 on up depending on the length, ADL or BDL, and magnum or not. However, if you want a Rem 700 you are probably better off going to WalMart and buying the rifle and selling the barrel and stock.

The major rifle manufacturers won't sell actions by themselves. They figure that if they did they'd lose business because many people would just buy the action and have the rifles put together by someone who knows what they're doing instead of buying their shoddily put together products. They figure that if a guy is willing to shell out for top quality work he's not adverse to buying a rifle just to get the action and junking the barrel and stock. Some outfits will sell actions or barreled actions from the major makers like winchester, ruger, or remington, but they're from parted out rifles and they're more expensive than buying the rifle itself in most cases. Sako used to sell actions alone until they were taken over by beretta.

There are a few makers who sell actions or barreled actions but they're lesser known, which doesn't mean they're not as good or better than a remington or winchester, just not as big. Legacy sports international http://www.legacysports.com/ sells a Mauser 98 action with a winchester style safety that would make a really nice custom rifle, they're running a special on them now for $275 to dealers. Legacy sports also sells Howa barreled actions, which are somewhat similar to the remington M700. KBI imports a mauser 98 action under the charles daly name: www.kbi-inc.com , they're supposed to go for around $200 dealer pricing. The Mauser 98 is the grandaddy of all bolt actions and is very similar to the winchester M70 pre-64 action. The winchester action was copied from the mauser. The montana rifleman www.montanarifleman is making their 1999 montana action which looks to be very, very similar to the current winchester M70 classic action, just changed enough to avoid getting sued by winchester. Their website lists the retail prices but I'm sure a dealer could get them cheaper.

These are the main ones I know of, I'm sure many here will know of others. When dealing with actions you can get into some pretty crazy prices if you're looking for something like a double square bridge magnum mauser or the like. Looking at their websites, I'd think that either the legacy sports, charles daly, or montana rifleman actions would make a great basis for a custom rifle.

[This message has been edited by boltman (edited 03-03-2002).]

As boltman says, it's pretty hard to get a popular action without buying the whole rifle. It also matters what you are looking for, if you are looking for a large caliber rifle for hunting a mauser action can be found quite easy. On the other hand if you are looking for a a target rifle action your choices are limited to a trued Model 70 Win or a trued Remington 700, and then of course up from their for the custom benchrest or tactical actions.
The 700 action can be found on many of the supply sites on http:/www.benchrest.com but are only slightly cheaper than buyingthe whole rifle.
I personally believe you should buy a Mauser action for a hunting rifle, and after comparing the prices for a trued target action might as well go for the custom action.