So I picked up the rifle today. Here are a couple of pics of the bolt and rifle. Nice little rig. Weighs in at 6 lbs 14 oz without a scope. I like the Oberndorf style trigger guard to go with it.

http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/brodeur272/library/

Pretty interesting gun, I had never heard of such a thing till you posted your original thread. Congrats on a unique firearm.

any idea who made it

any idea who made it

ghost: Yup....that's the one!

According to BobinNH, it was a conversion by Butch Searcy. I have an email into him asking about it and haven't heard back yet. Not usually a fan of the Model 700, but I like this one. It would only be better if it was a short action. But I'm not going to complain. Pretty much stole it from the shop...

ghost I am looking at the barrel contour. It appears not to be factory contour...take a look the barrel and if it is a 4 land barrel, I am pretty darned sure it's a Krieger. That is pretty much all anyone in my group of friends used in those days.

Hope you hear from Butch....been many years since I spoke to him but IIRC the owner of your rifle made a side trip to Farmington to meet Butch while on an elk hunt in NM.

Bob - the tube has six lands but if it's the factory barrel, it was recontoured. There are no holes from the iron sights or leftover stampings if it is an original Remington barrel.

I'm kinda thinkin' that there'd still be a pretty good market for that sort of conversion. Is anyone still doing it?

DD no I don't know of anyone doing it. My friend was the only one I knew who had it done, and there was one other lefty in our group.

Can't quite recall when Winchester began making the Classic M70 left handed but pretty sure those conversions were done before that; once the Classic showed up, there really was no purpose to it.

Bob- Was this conversion actually CRF? Was the plunger ejector removed and replaced with a fixed ejector mounted to the receiver? Bottom lip of the bolt milled away to allow the cartridge rim to ride up under the extractor?

What about gas deflection? There is no baffle on the bolt,and the bolt shroud has no flange, looks like there is nothing to keep the gas from a ruptured case head from coming back in the shooter's face. Just curious. Thanks.

I can't get the photos up but I recall seeing a Brown Precision M700 conversion to claw extractor, CRF, M70 style safety in 416 Hoffman for a couple of years at Collectors Firearms in Houston. It appeared to be well executed piece.

Gadfly: Been probably 25 years since I looked it over closely but as recall, yes the plunger ejector was removed and replaced with a standing ejector.

As I recall the whole thing worked well; a least I can't recall my friend ever having a problem with it.

I can't comment on the wisdom of doing the conversion; only that it was done.

Ed do you think Brown did it?

Looks like something I saw Allen Day posted several years ago by a metalsmith named Pete Grisel( sp?) where he did a ton of metal work to a 700 that was going to Gary Goudy.

Would not doubt it; Grisel was/is a talented metal smith.

Bob- Thanks for the reply. It certainly is an interesting conversion.

Yes. Found it via search. I was looking at it when I lived in Houston in 2004 and later when I lived in Calgary and doing business in Houston. A bit different than I recalled as I thought it had the M70 safety.

http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/r...ffman-caliber-rifle-r12431/#.UuNlQcvXeSM

Pretty cool! Guess Butch was not the only one doing it....or maybe he did it for them!

Who knows?

This one was done around 1985.

talentrec that would be about the right time frame.

Another one in Anchorge at Great Northern guns LH SS Rem 700 375 H&H, 3 position LH Safety, Control feed, Butch Searcy conversion,
Looks like a Brown precision stock, Banded Front sight. $995
Just picked it up and took bad cell pics.

That's a steal!

Action may or may not be SS barrel looked to be. Unsure of stock make but looked like a glass stock from the 80,s. With a little Cerakote & and stock repaint it would look new. 3 position safety position detents, not that positive but works. Nice lively feel to it.

Just saw that one yesterday. Nice rifle and the machine work is excellent. Looks like it must have been a guides gun cause it's been used.

kk: That's interesting!

By coincidence, Saturday night I was at a game dinner with that friend who was the owner of the OP's rifle.

The barrel is a Krieger.

Some years back I seen a Springfield that was both shortened and converted to left hand done by Bob West of Eugene Oregon.

Doc: IIRC old Charlie Askins used to hunt with various rifles that were converted by Bob West.

The Brown conversion M700 was done by Chet Brown the founder of Brown Precision. His were more like the first gen Ruger 77's. They were still push feed but with a long outside extractor and the Remington ejector. He put it on 458 Lotts etc. Back then there were no generally available CRF actions with 3.6" boxes.

The Searcy conversions were to a CRF style with a blade ejector.

Rick I didn't know Brown did them, too.

Not the same version of a " conversion ".