Home Forums Hunting & Shooting The Lefty Forum Montana Rifles still open?

I have not bought a new gun in awhile. Was poking around and was checking out the Montana rifle company website. Are they still in business? Someone said Remington bought them out and shut them down or makes them only make barrels for them? Was eying a lefty 35 Whelen. I probably shouldn't even think of asking about their soon to be released double square bridge lefty magnums(according to their website.) South paws rule!!

They are very much in business and making left hand rifles. Not everybody carries their rifles but you can find them on the net or Whittaker Guns has some in stock and can order others.

https://shop.whittakerguns.com/

Thanks Jim. Now I gotta scrape up $1200 or so. Can they do semi custom? As in 6.5x55 Swede and such?

Was in Whittakers ~early January. Memory is a little fuzzy, however, I "thought" I handled a LH MRC rifle, wood blue, .35 Whelan at that time. Reason for thinking that it was a .35 Whelan was that the MRC AVR rifles use a heavier (#5 ?) barrel contour. Might be worth a call...

6.5x55 is a standard chambering for an MRC 1999, I have one - it's the one marked "Sold out" on the Whittaker's list. As to custom chamberings or custom builds I do not think MRC does that and you might find it difficult even if they did. To be candid, they make a good production rifle and as long as they make what you want you're good to go, but with one or two exceptions dealing with the people at MRC is a less than satisfactory experience.

Two years ago when SAS was doing the MRC 260 Rem group buy, the 6.5x55 was not yet a standard chambering for MRC. I ended up custom ordering a LH MRC chambered 6.5x55 from Whittaker's with all the same specs as the 260 group buy (Stainless, #2 barrel, fluted, 1:8" twist, green stock). Each change required $$$'s, but MRC did it.

Fast forward to late 2016 when MRC released their ALR rifles. I worked with Eric at Whittaker's to custom order a LH ALR. I requested several changes, the most important of which was a FWT barrel contour to reduce weight. MRC originally told Eric at Whittaker's that they would do it, and then backed off and declined. I am guessing that MRC may be something like Savage, if they can build what you want out of existing parts, they will do it. However, also supposing that all of their LH ALR stocks were inlet for a single standard barrel contour, and they did not want to put the cost and effort into doing a one-off LH FWT stock inlet...

If there is a specific MRC combination that you are interested in, I would recommend contacting Eric at Whittaker's to see what he can order from MRC. SAS and Eric are both good folks to work with.

Orion2000,

That could be, I ordered a LH 25-06 SS Fluted 26" mag contour 25-06 as an alternative to their standard X2. They did it no problem. But I guess going up in barrel contour it is a lot easier to modify an existing stock, or use one from the pile of LH LA/MAG pile. Took forever but it showed up.

Thanks, that's good info to know. Seems like going through a stocking dealer might be a better way to get good answers, much less a finished product.

i did some research and it appears Remington did indeed buy MRC:( Chitt Sandwich anyone? Anyone?

It appears you didn't do particularly thorough "research."

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/7574565/JeffMRC#Post7574565

While on the subject, I sure like the looks of the X2 but haven't been able to see one in person.

Reviews from owners?

Thanks.

Summary would be that they are a good, well made rifle but they are heavy.

The barreled actions are high quality with a good design, and their barrels are pretty good since most of them are very accurate. Not Tikka accurate, but they can hold their own with most factory rifles. They are glass bedded and free floated from the factory and they do a good, quality job of it.

The X2 stock also seems pretty high quality, the pistol grip is fairly slender while the middle of the stock is kind of thick. The ASR stock is a Boyd's Prairie Hunter and I was less than impressed with the wood on mine but the design is very ergonomic and feels good in the hand. As far as I can tell it is the exact same stock you can get from Boyd's for $129, except that while Boyd's supplies this stock to MRC they don't offer any MRC inlets to the public.

The main drawback is that they are heavy. My .243 X2 weighs 8 lbs 2 oz and my 6.5x55 ASR is 8 lbs 11 oz, each with a Leupold 3-9 scope in talley lightweight mounts. Part of that is the action and part of that is the #3 contour of the barrel. IIRC MRC calls it a #2 but it's closer to most folks' #3. Of course that stiffer barrel could be part of the reason for their accuracy as well.

From a post I made a while back:


Pros:
- Nice ergonomics to the stock. It's a bit thick in the middle with a smaller pistol grip, but I suspect they did that so one stock can be used for light kicking rifles up through the boomers. The pg is nicely shaped, semi-open but positions the hand well to the trigger.
- Well finished. Inletting and glass bedding are well done.
- Great hunting trigger. I turned a couple of the lock nuts out to lighten the pull and it is now a consistent 2 3/4 lb pull but will not let off even from bouncing the butt on the floor fairly hard.
- Nicely accurate, definitely sub-MOA with several loads.

Cons:
- Heavy. Mine is a .243 and weighs 8 lbs 2 oz with a Leupold VX-II 3-9x40 in talley lighweight mounts.

Remington bought the barrel making facility next door (Montana Rifleman) which used to be owned by the current owners of MRC. REM made barrels there in MT for a while but have long since moved the equipment and some personnel out of state.

MRC bought some used barrel making equipment from Ruger and continues to make their own barrels in house.

Jim_In_Idaho pretty well summed it up. Good ergos. Well made. Accurate. Just not light weights. I have two LH MRC X2 rifles and no current plans to part with them...

I bought a X2 in .300 RUM last year during Cabela's Black Friday sale...since it was $400 off list.

Heck of a rifle, very accurate and seems well put together. The extra weight doesn't bother me on a big .30.

Thanks Jim and Orion and Tex.

It appears you are correct kind sir

I've got the lefty 260 Rem, very happy with it..still working loads up.

I have a 375 H&H V2. I had MRC put Chrome Moly matte on it and make the synthetic stock OD. The folks at MRC were very helpful and I am very happy with their product. I feel for the money I go a great deal on exactly what I wanted. I also built a 350 Rem Mag on one of their actions and it's a killer. Very happy with their product. As far as weight, I don't mind. Soaks up a little recoil.

Saw a LH Montana Rifle ASR in .308 for sale in a local gun shop a few years ago. It was priced far below what they seem to go for now days ... less than $600. It might have been used, but looked new to me as I handled it off the rack. I agree with Jim in Idaho, it felt a little on the heavy side although that weight is mostly in the action so balances OK. I didn't quite care for the fluted fore stock but I was a little tempted at that price.