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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126 |
I found myself in the market for a lightweight, general purpose hunting rifle. After some positive experiences with Winchester M70 Featherweights, I decided to build one into such a rifle. The donor action is a late 90’s Classic Stainless Featherweight chambered in .308 Winchester. I managed to find a used McMillan Edge stock with a blind magazine inlet and sporter barrel channel to house the action. The first step was to cut the stock to my correct LOP, chip out the old bedding (acraglass) and begin bedding the barrel channel and recoil lug. I also chose to fill the checkering on the stock All was well until I went to remove the action from the bedding. I had used some cut off action screws as locating pins to keep the action positioned properly in the stock while the bedding compound cured. While I remembered to wax the locating pins, i neglected to wax the inside of the pillars and didn’t think about the threads on the pins creating a mechanical lock with the inside of the pillar. Doh.
The cute little factory pillar decided to part ways with the lightweight edge filled McMillan. Fortunately, I had a much more skookum Badger Ordnance pillar in the parts bin and set to work “inletting” the stock with the hand held Bridgeport.
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126 |
I mixed up some Marine Tex with a handful of microballoons, installed the pillar and placed the action back in the stock for another attempt. When the time came to pull the action out I was left with... Success! A nicely bedded recoil lug, solid pillar install and the magazine box actually ended up getting bedded in nicely too. A much needed redemption for the previous days negligence. With the stock now back in a functional state, I turned to the cosmetics. I finished up the barrel channel reduction and free floated it to the tiny “shank” of the featherweight barrel. I also finished filling the checkering and the recessed area around the front action screw escutcheon. With the body work complete, I hit the stock with a coat of woodland brown duracoat followed by matte black and snow grey specks. After finishing the stock, I turned to the metalwork. The factory barrel was cut back to 20”, factory aluminum trigger guard sanded flat, NECG action screw heads ground flat, and everything refinished. I blasted the parts with 80 grit garnet, greased heavily with moly grease and buffed them out with 0000 steel wool. The factory trigger guard got the same treatment but I opted to leave the flats polished to a 400 grit finish.
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126 |
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,380 Likes: 13
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,380 Likes: 13 |
That's an awesome build! Congrats on such a handy rifle and work as well.
Semper Fi
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,836
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 6,836 |
Old Corps
Semper Fi
FJB
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126 |
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,380 Likes: 13
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 15,380 Likes: 13 |
Very nice! How's it shoot for you?
Semper Fi
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126 |
Pretty good so far. I’ve only put 15 rounds through it but I’m liking it. I forgot to adjust the trigger so it was a little heavier than I prefer but it was shooting around a minute off of my tripod and pig saddle. Hoping to get it a little tighter with a trigger adjustment, some load development and a little more trigger time on my end.
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,332
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,332 |
Jackalope,
That Rifle really scares me.
If I put one of those together... I think My days of buying and building would be over.
Right Weight, Good Caliber, Beautiful Rifle===> What to do after that?
Thanks for posting the pictures on Your build.
Jerry
Si vis pacem, para bellum
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Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,722
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Great job, however a little scary. I'd add or subtract an ounce to get away from the 6.66 weight number.
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Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 7,263
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 7,263 |
Very nice. Did the bolt pick up some color from the Moly? Only thing I do differently is use steel filings instead of micro balloons for anything around the recoil lug but shouldn't make any difference on the pillar as it shouldn't be a point of recoil contact. Did you use epoxy or Bondo for the checkering?
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,447
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 2,447 |
Well done!
I've got a stable of 6.5s that would just love a little 308 to play with.
Beautiful gun. Thanks for sharing.
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
Campfire Member
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OP
Campfire Member
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126 |
Jackalope,
That Rifle really scares me.
If I put one of those together... I think My days of buying and building would be over.
Right Weight, Good Caliber, Beautiful Rifle===> What to do after that?
Thanks for posting the pictures on Your build.
Jerry It definitely feels right. Not sure I really “need” anything else either! Thanks for the kind words. Great job, however a little scary. I'd add or subtract an ounce to get away from the 6.66 weight number. I’m hoping to appease the spirits by filling some tags with it. Very nice. Did the bolt pick up some color from the Moly? Only thing I do differently is use steel filings instead of micro balloons for anything around the recoil lug but shouldn't make any difference on the pillar as it shouldn't be a point of recoil contact. Did you use epoxy or Bondo for the checkering? It seemed to darken it a little bit. I used epoxy to do the filling. Touched up the small spots with evercoat rage filler.
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 24,679 Likes: 7
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 24,679 Likes: 7 |
Jackalope-
That turned out quite nicely - good work!
WWP53D
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,939 Likes: 3
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 4,939 Likes: 3 |
Nice work. Now you need to go put it on a fencepost and take some pictures of it.
Okie John
If Montana had a standing army, a 270 Win with Federal Blue Box 130's would be the standard issue.
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 15,956 Likes: 2
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 15,956 Likes: 2 |
Great photos and write up on a really nice looking rifle build. Well done and good luck with it.
There are 2 rules to success:
1. Never tell everything that you know.
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 8,793
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 8,793 |
Very nicely done. The attention to detail is excellent. Could you please explain why you removed the checkering - was it purely for aesthetic reasons?
Last edited by High_Noon; 10/20/18.
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right. - Del Gue
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Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 126
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Posts: 126 |
Both aesthetic and tactile. I just prefer a smooth stock altogether.
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 8,793
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 8,793 |
Both aesthetic and tactile. I just prefer a smooth stock altogether. Fair enough. Let us know how it performs.
l told my pap and mam I was going to be a mountain man; acted like they was gut-shot. Make your life go here. Here's where the peoples is. Mother Gue, I says, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world, and by God, I was right. - Del Gue
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 4,858
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2012
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6.66 pounds, i.e., "The Demon"! Nice work!!
"An archer sees how far he can be from a target and still hit it, a bowhunter sees how close he can get before he shoots." It is certainly easy to use that same line of thinking with firearms. -- Unknown
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