Years ago I bought a 98 built into a sporter in .280 off of Gunbroker. It came in a Fajen synthetic with a military trigger guard, and an A&B barrel all finished in matte Duracoat. One nice feature it had was a Bold trigger (cheap for sure, but still not bad at all). It had the funkiest looking bolt handle you ever saw, but it turned out to be a pretty good shooter. I put a 2-position M70 style safety on it, scoped it, and started using it. At the time I had only disdain for synthetic stocks and shopped around for walnut stocks, but never got around to restocking it.

Some time later I acquired another rifle similar to it in .35 Whelen. It was when I was using this rifle that I realized a synthetic stock could be handy for beating your way through thick brush---something I would have probably not considered with a walnut-stocked rifle. I ended up putting B&C Medalists on quite a few rifles, including the Whelen. The Whelen also received a Timney trigger, commercial trigger guard with hinged floorplate, and a Gentry 3-position safety.

The .280 languished as I had acquired a Model 70 Super Grade in .280 (which also is living in a Medalist while the walnut stock is safely stored away). In the meantime I had fitted an Interarms Mark X bolt to it so I could ditch that hideous bolt that had come with it.

About five months ago I decided to bring the .280 back on line so the Model 70 can live an easy life in the back of the safe for now. For this rifle I acquired and fitted a Dakota 3-position safety and another Medalist stock, and commercial bottom metal with hinged floorplate. Once the safety was fitted, I blasted it and coated it with Moly Resin in flat black and treated the new trigger guard and safety shroud the same way and assembled it. I'm still ironing out some fit issues with the stock and trigger guard, but it's coming along and seems to want to shoot like it had.

It ain't beautiful like most of the other rifles shown in this thread, but it's meant to be a pure working rifle. In that vein it's kinda handsome, I guess. After this photo was shot I blasted the bolt (except for the handle, it's Moly Resined), the cocking piece, and the extractor to a satin finish and coated it well with Hoppe's grease...no signs of corrosion. Yet!



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Don't be the darkness.

America will perish while those who should be standing guard are satisfying their lusts.