These are my main two pre 64 Win 70 hunters; both have African pedigrees.

The 1955 30-06 Fwt was a well used gun, which had spent a long time riding around in a rifle rack in someone's pickup truck. You be the judge; did I hurt it or enhance it?

Fwt Before

Fwt After







I did very little sanding to the damage areas and none to most of the stock. I used the John Kay Formula Pre 64 Stock Oil and Ahlman's in MN recut the original checkering pattern. The gun is a great hunting rifle and looks original enough for me.

375 donor one

375 Donor Two, 375 Wby Mag





The action is a 1956, my birth year and nicely worn, original finish. The gun had a beautiful later Lyman 48 WJS hunter and a very early Special Lyman 6 for an early 458 African on a 375 base.

Pre 64 Win 70 375 H&H my way







The gun has the best of the two donors. 1953 barrel with integral ramp and pre 1954 lapping, great stock, nice action of my birth year. I have next to nothing in the gun as I sold the leftover gun parted out for good money, i.e. the action went here, the stock there, this sight there, that sight to someone else, and the barrel somewhere else.

It is a good looking rock solid performer. I glas bedded it and Ahlman's in MN installed the dual steel crossbolts and large Pachmayer Decelerator recoil pad.

I would say you have done no harm.

Looking good. You enhanced them, not devalued them. When they are in as rough condition as the fwt stock you posted pics of, you can do no harm to them in re-finishing. Now don't go and change the safety and bolt shroud and trigger like some other azzhat suggested in another thread... On second thought, that rear mount on the 375 doesn't look fitting, but I realize why you did it. Nice Leupold 2.5-8x36. Too bad they didn't make one with a long tube for easier mounting...

That 375 is wearing a Leupold VX3 in 1.75-6X 32mm; the Fwt wears a Leupold VX3 in 2.5-8x 36mm.

For what it is worth, I find it easier to load the 375 with a scope and base installed. There is absolutely no problem with loading or ejection if even a one piece Redfield base is installed.

Not a big deal Mike. Ken here (you probably know him) has a 300 H&H pre 64 model 70 that was built on a std action and he says it works just fine. It's hard to find mounts that don't hang over the ejection port because of the cut-out in the back and small mounting surface. I believe my talley lightweights hang over a bit as well on my 338...




The Leupold PRW's were pretty good on my 375 and were almost flush with the rear of the port:



That cut-out in the rear (and front) of the loading/ejection port helps for both loading and ejecting. However, some say it wasn't really necessary. Even for the long 300H&H and 375H&H magnums... If your rifle works flawlessly, I wouldn't sweat it...

You did well!

donsm70

IMHO, you did that rifle a darn good favor as its current steward.

Think you did the rifle a service. Very nice.