Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Montana Rifle Company 1999 action

The offer is out there. Get your rifle fixed, or shut the F up!

Not wanting to do that? Be a man of your word (something you like so much to accuse MRC of not being), and dump the project. Donate to somebody on an open forum. Cut your losses and move on.

But, no, that wouldn't work. Then you wouldn't have anything to B!TCH about, would you??

30 posts, and 26 of them are to bash MRC.

No, no agenda here....

Mliang,

"I would like to know if you have done anything particular to increase quality control? Who does the polishing and has it gotten any better, or do you leave it up to the owner's gunsmith? Do you still have the same gunsmith as you did a few years ago?"

Yes, we have have basically a few different procedures for QC, the Head Gunsmith now checks every action as it comes through and then they are checked again upon shipping. Do things get missed, sure it happens, but we have tried to do our absolute best. One thing we have done is that on just actiosn we try to do as much polishing and lapping as we can, square the bolt face lap the lugs and raceways, etc., but not the compelte finish work, that is left up to the gunsmith. On barreled actions we do a lot more of the finish work but still the final finish needs to be by the gunsmith who puts the rifle together. For our compelte rifles, we will do all the final finsh work and make sure it is up the the customers standards and we shoot them to certify accuracy. We do all of the paolish work in house. No, we do not have the same gunsmiths. We have two new gunsmiths who are both incredible and hard working.

"Edited because I started to go into details of my ordeal with MRC but I don't want to go there. Let's just say if 7remmag ordeal was even partial of what I went through I understand why he chose to put it out here.

To some of us a custom rifle is more than a rifle. It is almost a holy grail because a lot of us can't afford to constantly build a rilfe every year. It's hard to forgive someone when a dream is shattered. Personally, I still haven't filled that rifle void and constantly wish I just purchased a Sako instead."

I truly understand, really I do. The thing is, when we sell an action or even a barreled action it is not a finished product. When we sell a complete rifle it is. Like a lot of people have said if you buy and action or a barreled action and slap it in a stock, you have not done the finish work that a good gunsmtih will do to a custom rifle to make it perfect. There are many Incredible gunsmiths out there that do the finish work, and get paid for it, and the rifle turns out as a piece of art. There are also gunsmiths who just slap it together and the customer is never happy. But what can I do about that?

I guess what I should do is compile a list on our website of gunsmtihs who we feel are good guys to go thru to do the final build and leave that up to the customer? Then if you go thru your own, it's your own deal? I mean I can vouch for the ones I know do a good job, but if I don't know them or their work it's hard for me to say they will make you happy? What do you guys think?

Again, if you have had a problem in the past, and care to give us another shot, give me a call explain the situation and I will be more than happy to work something out with you. I am not saying we will make everyone happy, it's obvious we won't but I will try.

GOD Bless.
Jeff

Jeff-

I think that's a great idea.

Some 'smiths are better or more comfortable or just more "experienced" with differet actions (my favorite guy LOVES pre-64 M70s, but always teases me that my actions somehow got an extra 0 scratched on the side with the model number . While he works on them, and does a great job, he much prefers working on an old M70. It's just his "thing").

If you could come up with a list of guys with a proven track record working with your actions, it would be a win-win-win situation (win for you at MRC, win for the gunsmith getting the work, win for the buyer getting a better product).

There are probably plenty of 'smiths who would love to be on your referral list.

Catching the tail end of this rant, but just wanted to give my experience with MRC. After talking with JJHack about his MRC actions, I ordered a barrelled action from MRC.

I had a couple email interactions with Jeff at MRC and found the customer service to be excellent.

Before the actions was shipped, I got a phone call telling me about having to do some extra work to help with the reliability of cycling the action and extraction and said that the work was done and it worked flawlessly but apologized for the delay (about 1 week IIRC).

Upon arrival of the barelled action (late spring this year), I found the workmanship to be top rate. I placed the action in a stock, added my bases and placed a scope. During load workup, with 140g VLD (6.5x284), my third weight charge with H4831SC I got a nice 1/4 MOA cluster at 200 yards. I found cleaning of the barrel to be easy (not rough) and load development almost too easy(rifle looney).

Since that original development, I have worked up a load with 160g Woodleighs which I recently found my load with Magnum that shot 1/2 MOA at 300 yards.

Needless to say, I have found this barelled action and customer service through Jeff Sipe to be first rate. I personally would not hesitate to buy from MRC again.

My experiences only.

This is my last post on this topic. This was my story and obviously many others. You also heard Jeffs story. You can come to any conclusion you like.
If you decide to go with MRC I hope you have a better experience than I had.

some day I plan to use a MRC barreled action. I know many who have them and are very pleased with what they got.

They are favored by many smiths. Some absolutely hate rem 700 actions, but many like them. Same as MRC, win 70, sako, whitworth, or whatever action/manufacturer.

Wish everyohe well.

I have 2 1999's. One is a 25-284 that I bought as a barreled action during the initial offering. Feed, function and accuracy are very good. The second is a .350 Rem. Mag. with a Douglas barrel and Accurate Innovations stock. Again, no problems.

I hope that the folks who have had problems get them handled and report back the final outcomes.

There was at least one other thread where there were a lot of complaints about MRC. IIRC, Jeff got on that one and declared that they were going to fix their problems, much like in this thread. It appears that since then, there has been a repetition of the problems, just like there has been a repetition of the promises by Jeff that the problems had been fixed.

Potential MRC buyers need to really BEWARE.

Steve

NOPE ... all I really need to do is get some more MOOLA so I can order another

George, I agree completely.

I would love to have another one- just have to get the MOOLA(sorry to steal your word) and figure out which caliber.

7x57Steve,
Maybe MRC just has something against people from Maryland? To me it seems MRC are very hit or miss. This reminds me a lot of Kimber threads. Some people get great results and can't believe it when others don't.

Jeff,
Along with a list of gunsmith I think pictures of the action to show what kind of finish you put on the rifle. That way people will know what to expect and can decide for themselves if they want to go farther. It would also give a standard level to compare to.

The two actions I had were finished to different levels. The first one was pretty good except all the rounds would pop out when cycled. The second one was a mess in just about every way.

mliang,

Agree with you on the "hit or miss". I just would not take the chance on another miss. Especially after we keep hearing from MRC that they have, or will, fix their problems.

Not sure about the Maryland connection. It would probably appeal to conspiracy theorists though. (grins)

Steve

The smoke has cleared and the dust has settled. A few days after my last post I contacted Jeff at MRC and had a lengthy conversation about my experience. Jeff did apologize. I had given him some suggestions that I think he took into consideration. After about 45 minutes on the phone both of us, like men, came to an agreement and my refund was processed the following day.

Maybe Jeff can turn that place around.

I have one of the CZ-3`s that MRC supplied the barreled actions for.It is a 300 WSM and shoots 1/2" groups at 100 yds.I can not find a flaw anywhere.I`m just sayin!!!! Huntz

I have no dog in the fight here, but I do have a flawless example of their barrled action in 30/06. Enlarged one hole groups, flawless feed and extraction.

I would buy this again in heartbeat. In my line of work I see a lot of rifles, few would be the equal to this, and none for the price.

Question-- aren;t the MRC actions cast by Ruger?
Seems that I read that in a magazine --
Not that is has anything whatsoever to do with this post, just curious.

Yes they are cast by Ruger not that that is bad at all. Ruger has a superb reputation for metalurgy.

I had one of the very first introductory offered actions. They were just about 'as cast' with just the spruze cut off. I sold it at a loss.

Any other updates about their late quality on barreled actions.???....looks like i just have to wait and hope that my 375 hh steel work that i'm gonna match with accurate innovations stock it's going to be a hit...
I just find this topic a month later after placing the order and pay for them to start.