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Hi all, It has been some time (years?) since my last contribution to the forums. A college degree, a new job, and a dozen different living situations tend to put one's hobbys on the back burner. That being said, I would like to give some background and receive some insight into a newly acquired 45-70 Siamese Mauser project. I have received this rifle as a half-completed sporter. It has already had the following work done: 1. A new Apex barrel installed in what looks like a #3 or 4 contour. 2. Bolt handle cut and replaced by a competent welder. 3. Drilled and tapped for a 1-pc Redfield mount (charger hump is intact). 4. Dust cover rails removed. 5. An aftermarket trigger installed. The metal is still in the white, with some widespread oxidation on the exterior. It looks to have been stoned/polished rather diligently with corners left square and not rounded off by some Bubba with a 5hp polisher. My plans are as follows: 1. Give the metal a good going-over with some emery and then bead blasting to a nice matte finish. 2. Replacing the hacked up military stock with a grey laminate from Richards Microfit (Looking at the Cascade Classic pattern). 3. Glassbedding the action and floating the barrel. 4. General detail work (trigger job, ironing out any feeding problems, possible re-crowning, mounting a scope). I would like to know if anyone has any experience with laminate stocks from Richards Microfit. It seems they have about a thousand different flavors and for a potential pig/brush gun, I think a laminate would make a good choice and the grey will look nice as well. Also if anyone can chime in on the quality of Apex barrels. The company has gone by the wayside but back in the 60s and 70s was fairly popular at least with the wildcat crowd. It is somewhat of a moot point since the barrel won't be replaced, rather I am curious what to expect once I get out and shoot it. It is one of those things where somebody put quite a bit of time and money into this rifle and never got around to completing the damn thing. In today's money I would have to assume that it has at least $500 worth of parts and labor into it, most likely more. Thanks for the help! Oh BTW: did I mention I only paid $75 for it? | ||
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Should be fun to finsh well make a great pig gun. For 75 dollars just the type of thing I like to find and play with. A nice buy. | |||
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I haven't built a gun in a couple of years, but I had better luck with "Show Me" gunstocks than with "Richards". I ordered a laminate from Richards and it took 13 weeks to get it. A friend ordered a classic Mauser stock from Richards and it broke because of the poor grain. He had one heck of a time when he tried to deal with them over it. Boyds has been OK the few times I dealt with them. The only time I bought from "Great American" I bought three stocks at one time, when I got them I figured I paid 3x what they were worth. Good luck on your Siamese project, I believe you'll like it in 45-70. I've killed a pile of elk with one. | |||
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Other than waiting 12 weeks for them to send me my Ruger laminate which instead they decied to send me a stock inletted for a Weatherby, they were great. Upon informing their mistake, they said it would be another 12 weeks for a Ruger, I decide to go in a different direction. Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue. What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Shopcart, Did you get that over at the Phoenix Club ? . . | |||
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Here's a couple of pics of mine. Still have a few things to do. Stock came from GAG. | |||
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I ordered a P-14 stock from Richards Microfit, included detailed instructions on leaving extra wood where the safety cutout usually is (mine has 3 position bolt safety) and paid the extra $15 they asked for the extra wood modification. Waited over 6 months, they shipped the stock in a standard inlet, with the inletting for the safety. Totally useless to me. Plus, it had a limb cast defect almost through the wrist. Called them, they said they would take care of it, and the limb cast was the result of ordering semi fancy grade wood, that was the grain character of that grade. Sent it back with the original instructions, plus a picture of what the wood should look like. Waited another 3 months, one day a check appeared in the mail refunding instead of a stock. I don't think I could be easily persuaded to order from them again. Just decided to carve a stock out myself, I'd have been 8 months ahead if I'd done that in the first place. dave | |||
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About your barrel. Check the twist it is most likely a .458 Win mag twist at 1 in 14". The 45-70 was much slower. Your accuracy is likely to be very good with heavy jacketed bullets. Light bullet may be good also but you will need to test. Light lead bullets may not shoot too well. | |||
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Pics, please, as you progress- I have a particular fondness for the Siamese when sporterized. | |||
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I sure did! Put my bidding card up and it was sold to me before I had time to glance around the room. Score. I can take delivery as early as tomorrow but I may not have time to pick it up until later in the week. I will try and post some pics as soon as I can, but its going to take awhile to get things moving. I plan on taking a trip up to RMF before ordering anything so I can get some idea of how their stocks feel. Plus, I still need to get bluing tanks set up and various other stuff together. | |||
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