Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Pre-64 perfection

Well maybe not, but I'm hoping this pair will get it done for quite a while...

I had Mark Penrod put together a full tilt custom 7MM Rem Mag from a very mistreated 300 H&H action that I had for quite a while. I asked him to do everything functionally to make it perfect as if it were his own rifle. Trued the action from end to end, trigger work, bolt work, safety work etc. stainless Mike Rock barrel that Mark made nice and smooth. Legend carbon stock was all fitted and bedded and then then sent back to McMillan for paint. All the metal is cerakoted. Rig was custom throated long for 180gr bullets and Mark cut me a custom seating die to match the chamber. That's the brown stocked rifle in the picture.

Second one will probably look familiar as I recently picked it up from another member here. Just about exactly what I would have built if I were putting one together from scratch, so couldn't pass up the opportunity when it became available. It's a 338 Alaskan stocked by Gene Simillion in another legend. Gene also developed a load for it and it is a nice 3/4" load running 225 TSX's.

Kinda suspect these will do just about everything I will need to do for the foreseeable future...

Very nice, those two will insure you're busy keeping that skinning blade sharp too.

I'm glad I'm the first one to respond to your thread. I love your rifles! Well, gunner got me by 6 seconds. I used to own the 338WM and can attest that it is a damn fine rifle. EricM had Mr. Simillion put it into the legend stock, but it was already a shooter. Not really a lot of fine tuning needs to be done to a pre 64 to make them perfect anyway. Gunner bought a 375H&H from me that is the same way. You are going to really like both of those rifles. They are a damn fine pair to be admired and used. Good luck with your hunting, you will never need to worry about those rifles ever failing you... Two thumbs way up for your perfect pair. Damn, now I'm sounding like a 270 shooter...

Very Nice!!

Getting the correct front sight installed then clover leafing three 300 grain BBW #13 solids for a 50 yard zero at 2700 fps with the barrel sights on your old 375 H&H confirms what you say, have NEVER had ANY pre-64 M-70 give me any chit on accurate load development.

I agree Gunner. There's something vaguely familiar about the OP's 7mm rem mag too, just can't put my finger on it....

, I bet you can!

Very nice indeed.

A wonderful pair for sure, enjoy!

Yep, you nailed it.

BSA,

Eric, showed me several of your targets and loads, so I've got plenty of options if I ever need alternatives to the tsx loads.

I have more than a few other options In the safe but I can't imagine they will be seeing much use with these two now in the front of the safe.

That's cool buddy. I just wished I would have tried some partitions in it. It wasn't finicky at all, with the bullets I did try though. You got a good one there. Your 7mm rem mag is awesome too. I really like building on the H&H receiver. I don't know if you know this, but your 7mm rem mag will probably hold 4 in the mag box (if done right). You've definitely got a perfect pair right there. I know a few of us have what we consider the "perfect pair" as well. When you find that, it's like pure rifle nirvana. It takes some guys a looooooooooong time to find that, or to even know what that means. Looks like you've got a pretty good handle on things...

Lotta mojo in the Alaskan from what I could tell, before I acquired it. and yessir, 4 in the belly with ease and because it was built on the H&H Mark had me seat out a round to his spec based on the bullets i wanted to run and then send it to him to cut the optimal chamber for the 7 mag. Mark was really great to work with.

Wow, that is a nice set of rifles!

For me personally the 7mag would be perfect for my hunts (no 338 required here), and I really appreciate the story behind it... it's giving me new (and probably expensive) ideas about a modified / mistreated pre-war resurrection project.

Nice pair there.

Nice. There isn't much you could not do with those two.

donsm70

Nice pair

What's the 7mm weigh?

I'm surprised bobin hasn't responded to this thread. He must be ice fishing or something...

Awesome man!! There have been more than a few threads on that 338, come to think of it. It's a great rifle. If I didn't have my "perfect pair", I'd be a little envious of yours... Actually ,that would be a good thread title. Probably already been used a few times. I know bobin, handwerk, battue, keystoneben (even though they are both 30-06 ..) utah708, GSSP, raybass, Donsm70, gunner and many more have what they consider their perfect pair. I'd love to see everyone's perfect pair and I'm not even a 270 shooter/lover... NOTE: I didn't mention winpoor because he has too damn many and far too indecisive, same goes for whitebird. Sorry Cliff ...

I've handled both rifles; flawless work in very utilitarian packages. My vote is for the 7mm as a North American do-all rifle. I regretted handing it back to Dale.
Bob

That's a great idea BSA BUT I need some parameters such as for
North America including Alaska? Africa? Only two? the horror I used 6 just for deer season:)

Ha ha.... I love all of my pre 64's. I'd have a hard time picking which ones for the pair. Although, I did have a perfect trifecta until I sold my 375H&H to Gunner!! I hope he slays some big African animals with that rifle. It would make me proud!! I've been working on fine tuning my collection though. I really do like the idea of having a pair of perfect rifles, and yes it can be done. The OP has shown us a pair that fits that bill quite nicely.. GSPfan, I'm hearing you. I used to like to be able to take out a different rifle every day for my elk hunts. However, my m1917 went with me this year for both deer and elk hunting. That rifle has the most gawdawful mojo on it, so I figured I'd just keep using the dang thing. It fits me like a glove to. Hard to not take it when that happens.

Penrod? Simillion? Not much left to say.....

I just can't use the same rifle every day it's not fair to the rest of them:) I'm going on a 3 day Quail hunt next week with 6 shotguns.

. I love that!! Made me laugh... Good luck on your quail hunt..

Well, it's about damn time.... I don't have any fancy penrods, but the ones I do have would be damn hard to improve on... . That's a beautiful classic Bob..

bsa: Thanks. ..

This one is a pre 64..

Now that's a nice rifle.

That is one of the nicest rifle's I've seen here. I've always liked that one Bob..

GSP/BSA: Thanks. Among my favorites.

Beautifu; walnut Bob, 7Mag or 270?

keystoneben,

Apologies, but I don't have a weight on the 7 mag. I just built it with the ingredients that I thought all seemed right and never have weighed it. Nor do I even have scales to actually weigh it for that matter. It's probably heavier than it should be with the Schmidt, but is certainly handles like a dream. The stock is the kevlar version. The rock barrel is a #4 contour although Mark took the "waves" out of it so it's a hair under. He told me he just couldn't stand putting together a rig with a wavy barrel. gotta love a perfectionist. Its not a featherweight, but is trim and swigs like its on bearings. Also puts 180 bergers into a nice tight group and I'm hoping to work up a load with the new 175 Hornady 175 ELD-X's in the spring. It is just about as close to a do it all rig as I could ask for and along with the Alaskan truly is about the perfect pair for me.

I have one or two others that I can always fall back on as RGK can attest but these two will be seeing the majority of the duties for quite some time to come.

gunner: 7 Rem Mag.

Bob,

That is a beautiful rig and somehow I suspected you were gonna say something 7MM...

mtmn: Thanks. Over the years I found factory 270's easy to assemble,so never built many 270.

Factory 7mm mags always needed fiddling to they saw the bulk of the custom work...

10-4 Buddy, I should have known!

Wow! Beautiful pair of rifles!! I believe you just helped me pick the color for the Legend going on my Alaskan just as soon as I get my hands on one.

I have a P64 338 action, 1B 1-8 Twist Bartlein, Legend (Edge) getting assembled into a 7mm Mashburn Super as I type. Going to have to metal Cerracoated black and the internals Micro Slick'ed. It's a dream gun.

Again, beautiful rifles. Very happy for you! I can't get enough of those P64's.

Thanks and yes, I can imagine the 7 MSS will be one heckofa rig. Sounds like it will be very similar to mine when finished. Mine is cerakoted Midnight blue and I asked to have it done with a sheen to simulate the pre-64 finish from the early actions. It doesn't really match, but comes as close as any cerakote finish I've seen to looking like a satin blue. Will be looking forward to seeing pictures of your Mashburn when it finished.

Thank you, and yes, when I saw your pictures I sorta thought we worked outta the same playlist.

I will ask about the Midnight Blue. That sounds like a good one.. Got me thinking a bit.

So nice to see these rifles together!! What a duo!!! I can't wait to see some hunt reports with the 338, especially!!

Eric

My 338 is cerakoted midnight blue. I love the color.

after reading from several folks about the midnight blue getting close to bluing in color, BSA's pictures sealed the deal for me. I think its about as close a match in cerakote as you could ask for albeit a bit darker than bluing in my case, but definitely a good looking color option.

mtnman1, glad I cold help with the cerakote color. I'm very happy with the color. I didn't want to post a pic of my 338 because it's been posted a bunch already, but this is what I consider my pre 64 perfection. Out on an elk hunt, the way it was intended. Somonene else built it the way they wanted it, I just fine tuned it a bit with all the color and new recoil pad:



(Pictures taken with Garmin Oregon 550 GPS)

This rifle always reminds me of BobinNH. He's talked about him and his buddies building rifles just like this for hunting "out west".

We sure did! Lost count of them, mostly 300,338,270 and 7 rem Mag.

I've always thought this might be one of those. Found it in Idaho...

Bought one a couple of days ago 1936 4 digit serial number, stock cut for a short person, other than that it's about NRA 80% not bad for $300! Oh it's marked 30Govr06 too!

Cool Otis, you scored big time.. You should find an original stock and return that thing back to as close to original as possible, considering it's a first year model 70. Cool find..

I'm looking for one now, in reality my wife bought it while I was on a dump run, she had no idea what it was! He wanted $400, but he took $300! Ha!

Geez, what a good woman you have. Cograts!!!!

BSA, your pics had a lot of influence on my 7 mag as you can probably tell. I hope to be chasing elk and mulies in WY this fall.

Otis, great find by your wife. Congrats.

Thanks mntman

Your 7 mag is a hell of a rifle, as is your 338wm. Please keep us posted with range reports and hunts you take those beauties on. I know EricM is also interested in how the 338 performs for you. I know he really hated to see that one go. Best of luck to you with those rifles my friend..

Good gravy, that midnight blue is beautiful... and haunting. Lol

Yeah, I am calling the builder today and changing it to Midnight Blue! Sold!

laughing, I don't think you will be disappointed. Mine came out very nice.

...all these posts and not a single comment about my knife, how can ya have 2 near perfect pre-64's and not have the tools to work over the results after the shot

I believe someone said something about your beautiful knife on the first page. Maybe handwerk or gunner????

Thanks BSA, completely overlooked that, and more than a big proud of the knife as well as the rifles... Of all the ones I've built I believe that one will be a long time favorite. My wife told me that I wasn't allowed to sell that one as it was the best looking knife I've ever built and her opinion counts for more than most. Even if I don't give her the satisfaction of knowing it...

Ive only ceracoated one pre 64 and Im tickled, I will check with my gunsmith, it was midnight blue or titanium blue.It was a pawn shop rescue/project.
My 'Varminter' in .257 Bob very best WinPoor

Very nice WP. That looks pretty danged good.

On another note, I found an Echols Legend for my 338 so it is headed out to get fitted to my 338.. I'd like to get it back up and running before this fall. I have a slew of 225 BBC's I would like to run into something.

Looks great Winpoor..

My 338 is headed back with the Legend attached. Can't wait to get my hands on that sucker.

Show that sob when you get it... .....and don't just post pics of how well it shoots at the Nosler forum either.. You gots to remember that at least 1 guy here enjoys looking at target pics. I promise I won't get jealous and cry either... It's easy to do (posting pics that is). I'll let puzzies like Scotty the school bus driver steelhead do the crying . Let me show you again how my 338 shoots:



That's the best I can do for "pre 64 perfection"....

Are you as big a black cock cum dump as your wife?

Comments like this are totally uncalled for and have no value.

Agreed. A gentleman never speaks of his woman, or ill of other women. But then again I was raised with Yankee values.

Wow, that got ugly quick! Not sure who crossed a line first, but must be some history there. Let's all take a step back, OK?

nyrifleman, in this case Southern (or at least Texas), values and Yankee values are in agreement.

I believe Mr. Whitebird may have multiple perfect pairs.

Here is my perfect pair.

7mm Mashburn in black and 338 in green...





Sorry for the crappy pictures but they look pretty danged good to me. Both are getting a Dyna Tek Bore Coat and hopefully some range time soon.

Those look awesome. Now you need a brown one... . I already know the 338 is a shooter, but let us know how your range trip goes... Thanks buddy...

Well, I do have the P64 300 Weatherby that probably could use a stock as well. I need to get my butt out to shoot these two a little first. They feel real darned good.

Scrubbing the barrel down to bare steel on the 338 right now. Multiple scrubs with Iosso and soaking with BTE takes a little while. It's been a long time since I've taken the 338 down to steel. Hopefully once the Bore Coat is on there it'll make clean up a touch quicker. That barrel seems to shoot better after 10 rounds or so. We shall see what the Bore Coat does.

What brand stocks beretzs? Those look really nice.

Echols Legends.

Thank you!