Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Difference between Winchester 70 and MRC 1999 inletting

How much difference is there between the inletting for 2004 vintage Model 70 and a recent manufacture Montana Rifle Co. 1999?

In other words, knowing you can take away wood but not add it back except using minor amounts of bedding compound, could a stock for a Model 70 be altered a bit to fit an MRC 1999 without ugly gaps or would the vice versa be better?

I have an MRC short action that, someday, I plan on fitting into a Win M70 Fwt stock. It looks like the front receiver ring is a bit longer, the bolt notch is a hair off and the floorplate has a bit of a gap.

Thanks, that's a great visual reference and just what I was looking for. So what I'm seeing is that a 1999 could be made to work in a Winchester inlet but it wouldn't be the prettiest thing if one is looking for anything more than pure function.

I appreciate your response.

I think it would work fine. The action could be move ahead slightly to better align with the bolt notch and the floorplate gap is small and could be filled easily. IIRC someone on here (KK alaska?) posted a picture awhile ago of an MRC he fitted to an M70 Fwt stock and it looked pretty sweet. I have never decided which caliber to barrel my action (was thinking 6.5 or .350 Rem mag) so haven't proceeded.

It'd be an easier fit in a synthetic stock. Some bondo and paint and you'd be good to go.

I've done it using a high tech. It was a simple swap.

I thought you were going to have Renner see if they can turn that into a Rigby. Change your mind?

Every hour.


Unfortunately the MRC stock won't work. The drop at comb and heel are well suited to reshaping the comb for peep sights but MRC uses a Boyd's Prairie Hunter stock and Boyd's inlets a long, deep trough in the forend of their stocks. The shell of wood that is left does not have enough meat to shorten and thin out before you get into thin air. I called Boyd's to see if I could get one without the forend inletted out but that was an exercise in futility as I posted up in the Hunter's campfire. Stock makers who offer true 100% drop in inlets with mostly shaped exteriors for a reasonable price are few and far between and they get especially scarce when you need something left handed. Boyd's has a few styles that would have been perfect but they just are not a company one can work with for anything but an off the shelf, take it as we make it or leave it model. And even though they make the stocks that MRC uses on their rifles they do not offer that inlet on their stocks for sale to the public - "not enough demand". (And don't ask their "product specialists" if they know the first thing about gunstock nomenclature, but that's another story. )

I did buy a very nice unfinished stock from a campfire member but it is inletted for a Model 70 so I was exploring the possibility of using that for the MRC. While that is possible as seen from the responses here I don't want to have to jury rig anything when there are other choices better suited to this project.

I contacted Boyd's a while back, looking for a laminate that would fit, and like you, I was told that they don't offer anything MRC-related to the public, even though they have the machinery and patterns to do so since, as you said, they're the ones who make the MRC stocks in the first place. I don't get it.

But I am sort of stuck at to what to do with my ASR myself. The contour of the barrel is a bit heavy, and that makes it just a bit too heavy for a 7x57. I've contacted MRC about sending it back to be reworked since, according to Jeff Sipe, they offer a lighter contour barrel, but as soon as he hands the project off to someone else things come to a screeching halt. I expect what I'll eventually do is either have the barrel turned and shortened, or have the action rebarreled in a Featherweight contour, then have someone restock it. But then, what I'll wind up with is another Featherweight, more or less.

I'm curious to hear/see what you finally decide to do.

Is the M70 stock inlet for a one or two piece floorplate? If it's for a two piece there's extra wood around the front hinge plate that could be inleted to be a better fit than the one piece inlet I pictured. IMO the gaps are pretty minor and would blend in with colored bedding.
PM kk alaska for pictures of the one he did, it didn't look jury rigged to me. MRC in a M70 stock

LH SA MRC, LH Win 70 SA stock (WSM) conversion

I have not done a LA MRC, Win 70 stock swap.

Done it a few times, bolt release shelf needs relief, action lug needs opened about 1/8" to rear. Bolt opening needs inlet. The tang is a little different.

To do a perfect job I would ad a contrast wood in bolt cut out and re inlet it so gap looked right.

Pretty easy job, just use lipstick or stock inlet. And set it in a little at a time. The hardest one was a Mcmillion edge, off of a LH Win 70, tang took a lot of work and Mcmillion would not do the work.

Mcmillion Edge Win 70 LH SA inleted for MRC SA

You do really nice work.

This question was asked since I was exploring several possibilities for finding a stock with suitable dimensions to be converted to a copy of a pre-war German sporter. The person who does this advertises the work on Ruger #1’s and 77’s so I ultimately solved this problem by going out and buying a new-to-me Ruger Model 77 with a nice piece of wood on it.

It’s the loony way...

+1

I inletted a LH HS precision model 70 LA stock to fit a LH LA MRC. Ended up taking a lot more time than I initially thought it would. Would not do it again.