Has anybody received a Montana 1999 action lately? I understand from their web site that they were supposed to start delivery in mid June. I haven't heard a thing and their third promise date will be passed this week.

I ordered one in September '05. They told me at that point it would be two to three months.

In May I called and asked and they said by the end of the summer. I cancelled my order.

I sold one made for 30-06 style cartridges a few months back.....it took a lot of cost reducing and I finally sold it NIB for about $10 over wholesale and after shipping I about broke even.

It was my feeling at that time that there wasn't much of a market for them. With M-70 actions non existant they should be selling like hot cakes.... and they're actually pretty good actions.

The more I see of the firearms industry the more I see a very hurt bunch of folks.

It's sad to hear that these guys seem to not be making deliverys......I think I'll just hold on to my VZ-24s.....

The original update I got was a delay at the casting center....Ruger? On the 12th of June the actions were being just ariving at the machine shops. At that point I was told 3 weeks, but they still needed to make my barrel which has a custom profile too.

That's about what I expected. I suppose I will get another eight week delivery delay. I ordered mine the first of January. I wish I didn't already have an Accurate Innovations stock sitting in my gun safe. I have several of their barrels on other actions and have been very impressed with their service and quality, but they have dropped the ball on this barreled action.

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The original update I got was a delay at the casting center.

It is extremely unlikely that these delays are the result of the suppliers such as well extablished casting vendors.

Further the guy from MRC that posts here from time to time hasn't been making any posts for a long time.....

There's trouble in River City folks...........

Vapodog--Who is 'River City?'

Specific to my request, this is what the guys at MRC had to tell me today.

quote:

The machine shop is starting the stainless steel long actions this week. They should be done next week. Hopefully I'll have them at the end of next week which would mean that we would have them ready to go the following week. The chrome moly actions will be next so once they are done with the stainless they will go directly into the chrome moly and should be able to finish them in a week. Everything should be done and in house before the 3rd week of July.

They gave me the same information when I called today. Seems they had been having some problems with their casting facility and now they are having problems with their outsourced machine shop. I'm looking for a stainless long action and barrel and was quoted 4 to 5 weeks delivery. I'll just have to wait and see. The guy I talked with did say that they have had a number of canceled orders due to the delay. Thanks for the responses and information.

333, I like my MRC action, I've visited their operation and they are very pleasant folks. But, their timeline estimation skills are severely lacking. I hope they get things together. It appears they are heavily dependant on several outsourced operations and it's starting to take a toll.

I got an e-mail from Dan Wayne that my barreled action is ready. Payment is in the mail. iwill post pictures when it arrives.

Good news indeed! The options for low cost, CRF actions were getting a bit scarce of late. Let's hope MRC will be capable of filling some of the demand in the future.
- mike

I hope that they can fill some of the demand right now. I'm glad that 333_OKH is getting the one that he has ordered and am looking forward to getting a similar e-mail. It would not have been so bad if they had said that it would take nine or ten months to complete the order to begin with, but the fourth promise date was passed last week without a word. I always thought that keeping customers was cheaper than finding new ones and good communications is key to that.

I talked to them today, and it appears that my barreled action will be i nthe mail by the end of the week. I was also told they has an enormous amount of orders to fill including shipping this last batch.

Have any of you got your orders in?

Might want to read my comments under the Big Bore forum.

I have built about 48 rifles on MRC actions, and have about 20 actions currently in stock. The list of things that I have had to corrected on them as they come out of the box is long. I have had left hand actions with right hand followers, safetys that were not fitted corectly, firing pins that were set too short, long ejectors in mag actions. I work them over as if they were an old Mauser. They need the face trued, bolt face squared, inner ring trued, lugs lapped, extractors set, feed ramp polished. Ect ect ect.....

All of that said they are a good platform to work with they just need gunsmithing. The sale force at MRC are, (is), a good person and has been beaten up by everybody. I feel that the company took on more than it should have and attempted to bring too many items to market at one time, long, short, mini, pro-hunter left and right, bolt faces, SS and Moly. The company has everything done out of house and the inside "assembly workers / bench boys" putting them together are not gunsmiths. I have a lot of spare parts and just knock the actions down and blue print them on the way back together. Yes they do sell barreled actions and I have seen, corrected, some of their work, A good machinest can hang a barrel but it takes a gunsmith to make it work right. They have been behind in filling orders since they started, and it seems have shipped actions out the door to get the cash flow to get the next batch of parts in. I like the platform and hope that they are able to keep the wolf away from the door.

1999? Hard to get, huh? What ever happened to the Williams action?

Seems to me that one of our famous gunmakers
turned photographer took quite a bit of heat for
suggesting that "talk is cheap"!

Kinda looks like he hit the nail right square on the head!

The last promise date I received from their sales person was the first of August. I noticed from their web site that the actions won't be available until the last of September now. Do you guys, that have dealt with these people, think that I need to start looking for a buyer for the Accurate Arms stock I bought, or do you think that Montana will eventually deliver on the barreled action?

They have a long history of missing due dates but so far they have eventually delivered.

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Originally posted by vapodog:
There's trouble in River City folks...........

This is a line from "The Music Man" meaning that what's happening is deeper than what it seems, and River City (I believe Iowa) was where the play was done.

My 1999 action is a very fine action but I've been reading the kind of posts lately that hurt companys. I wish this wasn't happening as I'd like another one but have lost confidence in both delivery and quality.

I don't know the inside story but my experience with MRC has been good and bad. They did a rebarrel for me in three weeks total and both barrels are very accurate and hardly foul. After dealing with a late production Winchester barrel that jacket fouls like leading, those MRC barrels are a treat.

The features offered with the 1999 are splendid, they just aren't that refined and seem to commonly require tweeking. That said, the one I have is damn accurate. I'd placed an order for a PH action about two years ago but after getting "aggressively approached" by more than one sow with cubs, swapped my order over to a standard long action and recieved it within a year. But that was before the recent delays.

I wish MRC well in their endeavors but you know what is said about wishing in one hand and #*$$ing in the other...

I too, have had great luck with the barrels from MRC. I had them make a 24" sporter weight barrel for my Ruger 10/22 that is nothing short of awesome. Service and delivery were better than with any other company I have used. That one and a 416 Taylor that shoots like a dream is why I still want to hang in there with them. If this rifle shoots anything like the rest of the barrels I have gotten from them, it will be worth the wait. If they had just said “give it a year†from the start, I would have had no problem with the wait. As it is, I didn’t order an action that had not yet been in production, so I didn’t for see the problems with delivery. A little unsolicited correspondence from them to their customers with orders, would go a long way to ease some concerns and maintain the type of customer relationship that they are going to need. I have always believed that, for the most part, it is cheeper to keep a customer than it is to find a replacement for one you lost. I guess I’ll just have to give it some more time, and hope that they get their problems worked out.

quote:

The last promise date I received from their sales person was the first of August. I noticed from their web site that the actions won't be available until the last of September now. Do you guys, that have dealt with these people, think that I need to start looking for a buyer for the Accurate Arms stock I bought, or do you think that Montana will eventually deliver on the barreled action?

I just checked the FedEx web site and my rifle will be here tomorrow. I will let you know what I think on quality then, but they have been shipping the last batch for a week or so now.

Last week I received 10 actions, RH / Short / 08 bolt face. These were a special order, (moly action with all other parts stainless steel). The quality was better, but they all need the normal gunsmithing. I will be setting them up to blueprint this week and will know more as I begin to work on them. I still have 20 long on back order, and have been told that the next “batch†of long actions will be shipped soon.

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There's trouble in River City folks...........

Vapo,
You sure you didn't mean "No Name City".

Roger QSL

Took delivery today of a nice chrome moly M1999. The gun is not as rough as I expected from reading all of the pages on the rifle. In october it will be off to Jim at Delta for sights, bases, and parts etc.

Short Action

Right Handed

25 inch Custom Barrel Profile

6.5X55 SE

1:7.5 inch Twist

Its a beauty 333. I thought you would be happy with it. I have three and they are very accurate.Good deal for the money.
Enjoy
Danny

I ordered, through my gunsmith, a short action with an octogon barrel about 3 weeks ago, they told me today they had already cut the barrel and timed it to the action, should have it in hand in a week or so...

I like their product, they seem awfully busy

Busy isnt the word for it!

When I get the NECG sights and custom mounts done for the rifle I will post more iin the different stages.

Glad to see that you got your barreled action. It looks great to me. I'm waiting on a stainless long action with a 30/06 barrel. After calling them the other day, I got a message that their best guess was that my barreled action was about three weeks out. I hope that they are right this time. I think that, from what I've seen of their work, the wait will be worth it. The only problem that I anticipate will be trying to convince my wife that this is the rifle she gave me for Christmas last year, and not one I just went out and bought.

I just got done cycling a few rounds past the bolt in the new action. Seems to work just fine with the 140 grain Winchester stuff.