Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Brute Force and Ugliness: For The Up Close and Personal Stuff

This one is for a Southern California Hog Hunter.(Man they must have big hogs in California!!!!)



M70, 458 Win Mag, Williams bottom metal, reinforced fiber glass stock, 21 inch barrel, NECG Masterpiece front ramp & hood, red fiber optic front bead, one piece non adjustable rear peep with 1/8" aperture. Weighs 8-1/2 pounds, Points and shoots real nice. It is now somewhere in the Rockies after Elk in the dark timber. That stock finish just disappears in the brush.

Mr Ricks
Good looking piece. In a functional kind of way. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I have a Interarms MKX in a 338 I got on a horse trading deal a few weeks back , thinking about the same thing that you have here. I am going to be a backup on a buff hunt in a few months, thinking 458 with a 500 grain A-Frame. Should be about as much fun as a man wants standing up . <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Charlie

Yea, it ain't purty, but it sure is functional.

Suprisingly, recoil is not all that bad, I guess the fiberglass stock flexes a bit and the Decelerator helps. I have been bitten harder by light 338 Win Mags.

The gun packs nice also, just the thing for wandering around in thick brush.

This is not a McMillan stock. McMillan stocks are stifer and you get more felt recoil.

I am working on another, a Mark 10 action, 20 inch barrel.

Front sight shown below. Real easy to see if one is on hands & knees peering thorugh brush in a deep dark hole and all you see is a black nose 20 yards away.

John,
I been following the work that have shared on this and the accurate sight for the past couple years. Another fine example.
Thanks for showing your work.

GB

Mr. Ricks, nice work! Maybe I didn't read carefully enough but I didn't see who made the stock. Please share who made it and who did the camo finish. Thanks, Ward

i think it is real purty. something like that in 308 or 358 (SA) or 8x57 or 6.5x55 or 7x57 or 270 (LA) would be mighty nice for poking around for mr. whitetail. make up the same thing in a lever or single shot. easy in the hands and quick to the eye for soft-footed sneak hunters. i like it - a bunch.

Little gun Dept: When I was a kid (most say I still need to grow up) I ran the swamps in coastal Georgia with a M336 Marlin "Marader" in 35 Rem and 16-1/4" barrel. I could just about stick the little gun in my pants leg. Had a strap on it so I could use both hands to clear brush when clamering through the swamps chasing hogs and Whitetail. A fun gun, extremely handy, and at the ranges I usually shot at you needed nothing more. I even shot a big 'ol black boar while holding the rifle pistol style in one hand as I was pulling the dogs off, just poked the muzzle in his ear and pulled the trigger. Still got the tusks on the work bench. Course back then I was more than a little crazy and was not afraid of any beast.

Very Nice John!!

Did you chrono any loads with it?

Mike

So John, if the peep is fixed and it doesn't shoot where it is supposed to for a given load, what do you do? I am a bit lost on the "fixed sight" idea. Perhaps I missed something, which isn't unusual <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Flinch

Its called "Sight Regulation". Things are sorted out at the range prior to completion of the rifle (bluing, etc). Usually takes a trip to the range with several rear sights (I have a box full) and a box of front insert sight blades of different heights. The insert front blades for the NECG ramp are very east to change in the field, they are held in place with a spring loaded plunger. So, by firing the determined load and seeing where the impact point on the target is in reference to the aiming point, changes of either the rear sight, the front blade, or both, will bring things together. Sometimes I have to record the required changes and head back to the shop to machine a new rear sight with a different peep hole center distance.



Remember, this style of rifle is a definite purpose gun generally shooting one load. However, say for a 458 Win or a 458 Lott, it is possible to have the solids and the softs shoot fairly close.



After the sights are sorted out, then the final finishing and bluing is accomplished.



So, what is the reason for a non adjustable rear peep? Think bullet proof. Nothing to break, no adjustment knobs for someone to turn, and if the rifle is dropped upside down on the rocks and the rear sight impacts first, just pick the gun up and go shooting. Try this with a conventional rear peep.





I generally sight them in for 50 yards, this puts you within 2 inches or so at 100, sometimes closer depending on the trajectory. So, if 'ol mbogo is 100 to 150 yards out, just hold on the shoulder and shoot. If he is running in your direction, just stick the bead on the nose when he is 50 yards or less and pull the trigger.



After you have shot a big bore with a rear peep, you will not want to use a barrel mounted rear sight again.



We ain't making 300 yard shots on plains game with a rifle of this type, it is mainly for use as a "Stopper" or a backup gun.



We go through a similar process with a conventional island rear sight, the non adjustable type with one rigid blade and several folding blades. Gotta file in the sights at the range, again, this is accomplished prior to bluing.



Needless to say, I get to do a lot of big bore shooting. Helps to build up a recoil tolerance.

how 'bout a close-up of that rear sight, too? i've no need for heavy weaponry like that .458, but a set of those foul-proof sights would be dandy on a lever or single shot or slim-around-the-middle compact bolt gun. it looks leaner and meaner than the ashley, williams WGRS and wildwest set-ups.

Look in the Africa forum, at the post "M70 458 Lott" and you will see photos of a 458 Lott I built for JJHack, it has the same rear sight, and a close up of the action shows the sight.

PS, read all of Jim's comments in the several posts!

thanks, jr. beautiful work. you be way right about stock design. the old military stocks show a good deal of pitch and drop. much-lightened mosin-nagant m-44 carbines with full-house loads are not a bother for me because of the drop and pitch in those boat paddle stocks. same for much-slimmed military mausers with full-house 8x57 loads.
again, lovely design and execution.

Mr Ricks,

Can you share with us the manufacturer of the stock and the Artisan responsible for the paint scheme?

Thanks!!

Bob