Who did you have finish, bed, and paint the stock? They only come unfinished, and D'Arcy referred me to a guy who wanted $2,700! They don't have bolt notches cut either.

I do them myself.

But a good bedding job is probably $150, putting on the pad is about $60, installing sling swivel studs is $50, paint is about $150. I don't know what someone would charge to cut the ejection port and bolt notch.

You might call McMillan, and see what they charge.

It's all pretty easy except for cutting the bolt notch. I'll tell you this though...it ain't a $2,700 job on any planet.

$2700 sounds like a great deal..

+1

The bolt notch is no trick. Inletting black, a dremel, and patience.

I did mine my self.
Bedded Brownells Steel Bed
Installed Recoil pad & sling swivels
cut loading port & bolt and notch.
Sent stock to McMillan to be painted

McMillan will finish it for not a lot of money, as I recall about $100.

Yeppers. Throw in the cost of the stock and you are only at 21% of the price of a Legend.

I also did it myself. If you're half way handy it's not too bad, just takes some time. The bolt notch wasn't that hard, the pillars took a bit of time, but it's all well worth it...it's a great stock.

Oh, and mcm will paint it for a little under $100. Thats where mine is after taking a beating the last 4 years.

Who was the guy that quoted you $2700??

I will do it for an even $2k.

I am doing one right now mostly on my own but sending to McMillan for the swivel studs (not something I want to mess up on the EDGE fill) and out to the smith for pillars.

But, I am feeling optimistic about my paint and port cutting quality, so...

I'll bid your job for a cool $1,500

I can certainly do the bedding, but I'm not willing to tackle LOP or the bolt notch on an expensive stock like that. I'll see if McMillan will do it; D'Arcy said that they don't offer that service anymore.

He referred me to Mark Penrod and Gene Simillion...that's when I knew I was in trouble. Simillion wanted $2,750 to finish the stock, and that's AFTER you're in $480 for the stock itself. I'll settle for a plain McMillan long before I pay anywhere close to that.

That Legend stock does feel nice though...

To me they are like any glass stock; they're a handle. Nonetheless, if someone sees fitting and finishing one as being woth 2700 dollars, that's what it's worth; to them. GD

Chris,

Some other places you might check are Chad Dixon at Long Rifles Inc and Alex Sitman at Master Class.

You could mail that to Holland & Holland in London for less than $2750.

Alex at Master Class would be my first call.

Sounds to me Simillion is a little full of himself!!

$2750 - F that!!

I'd check with Chad Dixon.

That just means simillion doesn't want the work.

From what I saw at the SCI show, I'm not surprised. I came away realizing that there are a lot more gunsmiths cranking out $15-20,000 rifles than I thought. Some beautiful stuff, but you're paying a LOT for aesthetics and gorgeous wood. Only D'Arcy appears to have figured out how to charge $15k for a synthetic stocked rifle.

Never underestimate hunters with deep pockets. It is alot cheaper than collecting cars though.

another plug for Alex Sitman masterclassstocks.com

Ben at Score High in ABQ will be doing mine.

Gene Simillion is a great guy. My son and I have visited with him at the last two SCI shows and, even though we were not buyers for his rifles, he was generous with his time and could not have been nicer to my son.

Way outside the price range of most folks, but I think people are entitled to whatever premium the market will pay based on the quality of their work and the reputation they have built.

He is indeed....and a very skilled custom smith as well.

IME you can simply turn something over to him and not worry.It will be as good as it gets.

Gene also "shoots" his work before it leaves the shop,to be certain it works to his standards, which are pretty high.

Yes, I would just force my body to get familiar with the feel of a supergrade stock before I could part with that much cash.

I don't doubt that Gene is a great guy, great gunsmith, great cook and maybe even the worlds best Dad. Yes, he is entirely within his rights to charge whatever he wants. When you see a price of $2700+ dollars to paint, pillar bed and some relatively minor fitting, that is clearly a " get lost " price, but if you're silly enough to pay that, go ahead and sent it to me .

Here's the finished Echols stock and rifle. I wound up using Alex Sitman at Master Class Stocks. To review, the rifle is a M70 Stainless Classic in .375 H&H. Barrel shortened to 20" with factory sights, Talley rings, and a VX3 1.75-6x32 scope. I could not be happier with Alex Sitman's work. He's a true pro, and the fit and finish is exactly what I was seeking. McMillan did the painting after Alex was done. The next post will include photos of the bedding and inletting work.







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You can see the care that Alex took to finish the Echols Legend. The barrel channel and receiver inletting were epoxied over with Devcon for weatherproofing and for rigidity prior to painting by McMillan. The receiver inletting is bedded full length. The pillars were expertly done on top and bottom. He installed the Pachmayr Decelerator pad and studs, taking care to anchor the studs into machined aluminum blocks fore and aft. All in all, a very professional job in a bombproof setup--exactly what I asked for. I'll use him again.







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tag for 2015 when I'll need this info

That's a beautiful 375. I have a 35 Newton on a M70 Classic that I believe a Legend would work very nicely on. Great looking rifle.

Thanks...I'm very happy with it. Hopefully it'll make a trip to Kodiak within the next few years.

Its always fun to see a guy who is happy after his custom rifle building experience.

Did you have any of the Legend type metalwork done to the rifle, like repining the trigger, and redoing the safety. I see that you chose to keep the original bottom metal.

Nevertheless, Congratulations on a very nice custom rifle.

Chris,
That's a fantastic rifle. Congrats.

No, sorry if I was unclear...it's factory aside from the shortened barrel and Legend stock.

I took delivery of the new Shrike stock for assessment. I told him I despised cheek welds. He said he'd bet me a "big roll of dimes" I'd like it once held. I gave it an overall assessment & still didn't like it. He gave me the same $2700 prospect. I sent the stock back.

I don't understand, my shooting depends on proper cheek weld (stock weld). Do you not use optics? Maybe I'm missing something?

Some people prefer cheek pieces. I don't. I rarely have my cheek hard down on the stock when I shoot.

I use Swarovski Optiks on all my hunting rifles.

Richard99,

Take 5 minutes, and a 4' piece of freezer paper,

and make that popular template showing the dimensions and ergos of that legend stock.

Please?

Ok, happy to. But I'm traveling, so it'll be two weeks before I can get back to it. Check back.

The Legend template can be seen here.

2700 for a bolt notch
I'm not charging near enough..

The bolt notch is free,,,,,

the paint is 2700.

I would think that Redneck, who works on a lot of Model 70s, would also be a guy who installed Legend Stocks.