Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Opinions of Montana Rifle Company

I'm considering the purchase of a Montana Rifle Co. gun in the ASR configuration. As a left hander, I have limited choices, and MRC offers a .260 that might be a great Pennsylvania deer rifle. Does anyone have experience with these guns? How do they shoot? What can I reasonably expect to spend for this model? Thank you for any assistance.

I'm a lefty too, and some years ago bought an MRC rifle. However, MRC did not keep their word, and when called out on it, got really ugly. Would not do business with them again.

There are also a number of members here at the Fire who had some bad experiences with MRC.

They may chime in here.

You may want to check out the Cooper left hand rifles. I have one and love it, and doing business with them was a pleasure.

Steve

As I understand it they are now making production and delivering pretty nice rifles. Lots of bad stories early on for sure.

I have a .257 Roberts built on an MRC action (Lilja barrel). It's a chrome action and stainless bolt as they promised delivery in 4 months and 8 months later I finally said send me that. The product is fine (excellent trigger out of the box) but the business practices are substandard.

That's been three years ago for a time reference.

+1. If you don't have good customer service then you don't get the positive comments. This is just part of a good business model. They don't understand this. Their customer service was horrible when I delt with them several years ago. They may be better now.

All GOOD experiences with Montana Rifles. I bought one in the original charter offering, built a 338 WSM on it and shot out a barrel. Rebarreled to 325 WSM and it's still going with never a problem.

I bought another of the original charter actions, earlier number than the first, and the guy from whom I bought it had fouled up something, forget what it was, maybe the safety. Contacted them, they asked for the bolt, sent it and got it repaired free with fast turnaround. The problem was not theirs.

Can't say anything but good things about them. Love the actions!

This is my MRC .338 RUM

This is the group it shot with 90 grains of RL-25, Fed-215 Mag primer,250 NP.

I don't use this load because it's average was 2850 fps,now I use H-1000,Fed-215,and 210 NP at 3170 fps.

The accuracy is a little larger,but,that's ok with me.

I also purchased a charter issue LH short action CM in 03. I had them barrel it also, in a 358. They talked me into a much heavier barrel than was needed though. It shot very good groups with my handloads. I could not be any happier with them and their rifle. I just had it rebarreled to a 308, much happier with the weight.
I had very good luck with them, some others didn't. Two sides to every experience.

I recently bought and sold one of the AWR SS rifles in 7-08. The rifle was extremely nice and well finished. The barrel was the smoothest of any production rifle I've ever owned, including Cooper. I didn't shoot the rifle much, but it shot really well with loads I'd worked up for another 7-08. It had a 24" barrel and was a little heavier than I liked. Instead of spending money to trim it down, I tripped it. I'll order the next exactly to my liking.

I think the company has taken a new direction. In my experience, customer service is great. Emails were returned immediately and phone calls were to a real person. I didn't have any problems -- just questions before I bought the rifle.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another and will in the near future.

I am glad others have had good experiences with this company. I love the rifle I have once the problems were ironed out. May have been start up problems, mine is an early one too.

I bought two barreled actions from them and they shoot great with no problems.

I bought one of the left handed actions on their original charter offer. I had them barrel it to 375 H&H. I've no complaints other than I let them talk me into a fairly heavy barrel. Not necessarily a bad thing with a 375. I've gotten to where I don't mind the weight. I don't back pack with the rifle so it has not been a big issue. It makes for a very comfortable shooting 375 at 9.5 pounds. I reworked a model 70 take off stock to fit and had the metal ceracoated and have been well pleased with the way it turned out. This is the only picture I have currently.

I bought two barrel actions, one in 04 and one in 08. Both shoot great, no issues at all. The one in 08 was a couple months late on its delivery, but they let me know ahead of time and it shipped when they finally told me it would.

I have a custom rifle built on a "short' (actually medium-length) Montana 1999 action. The company that built the rifle (Serengeti, now Kilimanjaro Rifles) did a little work on the action to slick it up. The barrel is a Montana as well, chambered with a custom reamer I borrowed from a fellow rifle loony. The 7x57 has worked fine for several years now and is one of my favorite rifles.

Right now I have one of Montana's semi-production rifles in .270 in for testing. Haven't shot it yet (hope to later this month) but it looks to be really well made and finished.

I have almost the same story here with a LH SS 375 H&H from the charter offer. Ended up with too much barrel contour. I didn't have any major problems, though the action could've used some "slicking up". Overall pretty happy with the gun, though I sold it in a fit of rifle loonacy.

My Dad has a 1 in 9 twist 220 Swift made with a MRC barrel from the big discount sale they had a couple years ago (purchased for something like 75 bucks). It shoots like most Swifts (quite well).

I had a lot of problems with my rifle from them also. They were always nice to talk to but really lacked in follow through. Held onto my rifle for months every year and it still wouldn't shoot right or feed.
They try to tell me they took it out and it shot sub-moa. They obviously didn't because you could not even single feed a round without it binding up. So either they didn't care about binding up and that was acceptable or they never shot it.
If you get one that works, it works great. But for the money, I'd buy a used Kimber that doesn't shoot and screw a new barrel on and be ahead of the game.

I got the one I had several years ago as a barreled action. They must have given me 6 or 7 promise dates and missed them all. When I finnaly got the action is was rough as a cob. You could hear that thing grating as it was closed. I had the action lapped and now it is slick as butter. They sent the bottom metal for a magnum when it was barreled for a 30/06, which explained why it wouldn't feed rounds from the magazine. They replaced it with no problems and I think were a little embarssed about letting it get out and having a gunsmith catch them in a problem.

I have had good luck with Montana Rifleman barrels, but the one on that rifle wouldn't shoot worth a flip. They didn't want to talk about that. It seems the company had split up and even though their desks touched, the action people didn't have anything to do with the barrel people. The guy I sold the rifle to (he was the one working on it so he knew about the problems) replaced the barrel and it shoots bug holes now and is as smooth feeding as a well worn pre 64 Model 70.

To be fair, evidently the actions and barreled actions, they sold early on, were not supposedly sold as finished actions. They were supposed to be gunsmith slicked up and finished. I just never got that message. Minus the bad barrel, and plus a Serengeti stock, it made into a very nice and accurate rifle.

Mart - that's a good looking rifle.

A local shop has a new MRC rifle in .30-06, and though I sure don't need it - it's tempting. Appears to be a very nicely made rifle, though heavier than I like in a general purpose hunting rifle.

Enjoying the responses and learning a bit too.

Guy

Guy,

They are a bit on the heavy side. I think they are a good choice for heavier calibers were a little extra weight is a good thing. I don't think I would try to make an ultralight out of even the short action. Mine had none of the roughness that several have mentioned. I guess I lucked out. Mine has been pretty good from day one. It certainly isn't as smooth as a well worn pre-64 or a pre-war Mauser but as good as most factory rifles.

I've toyed with the idea of reboring my 375 to 458 Win, 450 Ackley, or even 475 OKH as the barrel is large enough to allow any of them, but then it shoots so comfortably as a 375 I almost hate to consider it. The trials of a rifle looney. Will they never end? Hopefully not.

Mart

I have almost an identical rifle to jbmi's, except right-handed and in stainless, also stocked and bedded by Serengeti in the same stock pattern as his. Mine is #67 of the short stainless barreled actions. Like his, MRC would not chamber the barrel in .358 under a certain profile so it is heavier than needed. Mine has shot several one-hole groups, barely larger than bullet diameter. (I got a fast-twist barrel so it would handle heavy bullets and it likes 250's, but 225's shoot very well, too.)

Those initial actiosn were not sold as 100% finished. It took longer to get via the inital offering than promised, but I was ni no hurry. I couldn;t be happier with mine. I also got an Edge stock for it from Rick Bin...