Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Custom Pre-64 Thoughts

So a while back I picked up a pre-64 in 30-06. The previous owner cut the barrel down to 20" and parkerized the barrel, receiver, and bottom metal. Bolt was not parkerized.

So I have had this thing sitting around with a somewhat long term goal of using it for some sort of custom one day. I figured I would throw the thoughts I have been having on here and see what the fire can come up with.

My goal for the rifle is to have a light, handy for general knock around use. Would be mainly using it here in East Texas on the family ranch. Our ranch tends to be heavily wooded with a lot of hardwood creek bottoms just to give you an idea of terrain it would be on. I love to take a rifle and just go walking, shooting pigs along the way. Would also use it out of a truck while out and about.

Now for my thoughts so far on what to do with it. While 30-06 is completely and totally adequate for this, probably even optimal, I have had a strong interest in a 338-06 as it seems like it would be a fun one on pigs. So I have thought maybe have the rifle bored out to a 338-06 by JES. From there I was thinking of dropping it in some sort of lightweight synthetic stock. No idea what the right choice for that is. Would also like to add a barrel band sling swivel. I like being able to sling rifles low for going into brush.

I would also like to do a more weather, sweat, and knock about resistant finish for it. Was googling cerakoting earlier today and ran into a thread where someone suggested hard chrome. That really intrigued me, but certainly open to suggestions.

Leave it alone and buy a Model 70 Extreme Weather.

Thinking 338-06?.....buy it in 325 WSM....:-)

Maybe an Echols Legend stock and get a barrel from Bartlein or Kreiger and have it chambered in your choice of cartridges!

We see it's already finished!

Use it just the way it is. It already has an original Winchester barrel and the front sight is back on it!

It's already chambered for the most famous rifle cartridge of all time!

It's chambered for the 30-06 Springfield.

That's the cartridge that has won ALL of the world wars!

While the Legend is a great stock - not sure it would be great with your 20" barrel (not that 458Win and others have not done it).

Stay local in TX, get a Bridges pattern McM edge from Hill Country Rifles (if is the fastest handling stock I've had on a 70) have JES do the rebore to 338 and rock on!

Cerakote is great, but being in TX, I'd just keep it oiled/CLP'd well and rock on.

The Echols looks like a good option for a stock. Just buying a new barrel has went through my mind, but I think boring this one out to .338 should make it feel about right. The combination of boring out the barrel and a lighter stock just seems like it would give it a nice weight. It is a bit of a pig right now.

This.

The Legend is a great stock for Magnums, but the Bridges is my choice (I've owned around 10) for the M70

I am with TDN here almost to a T. There are a bunch of great stocks for the P64. CeraKote or whatever is a personal choice, but it is a nice finish. Good luck, that looks like a cool rifle and would be pretty slick as a 338-06..

Pre-64, I was 5. And, that sweet little girl in Kindergarten with the curly hair sure made me my heart flutter.

I have never heard of the Bridges Mcmillan stock before. That seems like an interesting choice. This rifle won't be used or fired from a stand often. It doesn't make it into the carry rotation often right now in large part to it's weight and it falls into a strange place for given it's current finish.

I have probably only killed about 10-15 hogs with it and a few doe on cull hunts in about three years of owning it, so it hasn't gotten out much. All of those have been taken from a standing or field position, none from a stand or rest beyond maybe a tree or fence post.

So stock recommendations, please keep that in mind. On the finish, what I mean by it fits in a strange place is that it isn't blued and pretty. I have lots of rifles that are more aesthetically pleasing finishes I like to use when the weather is perfect and I won't be working the rifle hard. But, I don't think of parkerizing as being a really superior finish for weather and wear resistance either. The bolt is still the original bluing, and a fair bit of it is worn off.

So when I think about refinishing it, my thought process is that it isn't optimized for look or function. So in my mind, being that is already refinished to a degree as to remove collector value, it is a perfect pre-64 candidate for doing something a little bit radical with a classic action.

Changing the caliber to 338-06 is just something I thought would be cool to play with. 30-06 is certainly enough for my uses, but I like to play with different stuff just because. Also, some of the pigs I run into down here I don't mind punching a little bigger hole in.

Before reboring you might try loading a few boxes of Nosler 200 grain partitions and shoot them for a season.

More than 25 yrs. ago I had a pre'64 rebored to .35 Whelen, it has been my go to deer rifle ever since. I like the Whelen for the wide selection of bullets, jacketed, cast and pistol bullets all have their place with the Whelen. For off-season practice I shoot mostly cast bullets with Unique, easy on the rifle, the shoulder and your wallet.

Yes, I agree. 35 Whelan would be my 2 cents. Maybe load up some cool 357 pistol bullets as a plinker-pest rig the Whelan for pigs and deer. I now nothing of a good aftermarket wood stock. I need to learn wood for when I do my 7x57 Mauser walkabout rifle project.

I have a Whelen listed for sale on here I would talk with you about trading if you are interested. PM me if you are.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11957720/Re:__35_Whelen#Post11957720

Can't tell for sure from the pictures, but could that be an original carbine length barrel ??

I've got quite a few pre-64 "shooters". I have always wanted to re-barrel one to 7X57 with a 26" barrel. Part of the fun of having these shooters is making them into what you want.

There's a lot of wisdom in this post^^^^^^^^^

Oh I know the 30-06 works great. I killed a 150 pound sow with that rifle about five minutes after I took that picture the other evening. (I took the picture in the evening, went hunting, then posted this thread when I got home). So hunting isn't something I do every fall. I am killing stuff all year long. I don't go a week without dropping a couple of pigs.

A sub magnum 338 has intrigued me since I first saw the 338 federal. The 338-06 has just been even more interesting to me. I am thinking about doing one because I have gotten comfortable enough with my reloading that having a cartridge I pretty much have to reload for doesn't worry me anymore. I reload nearly all my hunting ammo these days. The primary advantage to me on the 338-06 isn't that I think it will necessarily kill significantly better. It is more the increased bore size lightening the barrel and getting a little better theoretical performance in a shorter barrel due to the increased bore size allowing for more complete powder burn.

I am glad you have chimed in here though bsa, it was a thread of yours that kind of sent me down this road. You had a thread a while back I think where you did something somewhat similar. I believe it was that thread that I actually saw the comment about doing a hard chrome finish.

A pre 64 hunter with a 26" barrel in only a 7-57 is a heavy rifle. I have pre 64's with 26" barrels in 220 Swift, 264 Win
300 H&H and a long heavy 25" on a 375 H&H African. Unless a long heavy barrel is really necessary then its just a long heavy barrel.

I like your enthusiasm you have for wanting to go with a different cartridge. Many of us have been there and tried that, now it seems it's your turn. It's fun as hell, messing with different cartridges and platforms (rifles, stocks, scopes, cartridges, bullets). That's what makes us "rifle loonies". If you are bound and determined to go with 338-06, then it's going to happen. It will kill hogs, bear, deer and elk with the best of them. Just as the 35 Whelen, 9.3x62mm, 8x57 and all the rest out there. My favorite cartridge is the 338WM and the 30-06, they are just the 2 I always come back to. I'd say build the 338-06, but don't be surprised when you come back full circle to the old 06. It happens to the best of us.... Post pics of the rifle, the animals and targets you shoot with it and good luck with your build. Should be a damn fine rifle, whatever road you take... By the way, your rifle looks cool with the short carbine length barrel. Should make for a damn handy tool out in the woods...