Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats m40 clone build questions

What barrel contour would you guys use? Also, what length? 22"? This will be a 308, of course.

How clonish do you want it to be? For general shootability a Rem. varmint contour would be great, but that's a good notch lighter than an M40.

Clarification: When people say/write M40 they often mean/assume M40A1, which is what I did above. Is this your meaning as well?

Weren't the M40's 40x's in wood stocks.

That's been said, but the info I read from the NRA museum says they were 700's.

Wood stocked, though.


http://www.nramuseum.org/media/940334/m40%20article.pdf

Yes. And the barrel contour was pretty much the Remington varmint, not a heavy bull, from pictures I've seen.

An M40A1 clone should have a heavy pipe.

Looks like it measures .925 at the muzzle. 24" tube.

http://www.gaprecision.net/mil-spec-rifles/m40a1.html


Travis

Wasn't the A1 a Schneider #7. Can't look at the link I provided, it's the week prior to St. Paddy's day and the wife is Irish.

I am no expert on M40's but I believe they used a few different makers. One of which was Schneider.

I would guess that if you called McMillan somebody could/would spec one out for a person. As long as you were buying a HTG in the process... grin.



Travis

M40 had a 24" barrel & measured .830" at the muzzle. M40 & M40A1 were slightly different.

Interesting article.

hillbillybear, That article was very interesting. Since in 1979 I was issued a m40 & not an m40a1. LOL But that seemed to be the Corps MO..When I cross trained to 1142 in 1981 we were trained on the "NEW" generator I never saw one again in 4 more years of service. I did however did hear of the m40a1 after I got out.

They still had some wood stocked ones around in 1979?

Absolutely! Mine was an ugly beat up POS, but it shot exceptional well. Fact, I never saw a m40a1, as mentioned earlier. The scope on my rifle was also the Redfield. We were instructed to set the power ring on 8, and not to move it...ever!

Found an old USMC document: FMFM 1-3B dated 28 January 1981 that superseeds 7 April 1976. In the 1976 USMC Manual it describes the M40 use. 28 January 1981 manual describes the M40A1.

I've read in the past the M40 used a 24" 1 in 10" barrel that was the same contour as the Remington varmint contour.

I've got one in the safe collecting dust that I did several years ago. It's a loose copy.

There is a huge m40 build thread on the Snipers Hide...tons of information.

M40, or M40A1?

Here is a link to the Hide threads:


M40


M40A1

And if interested in comparison/contrast:

Army M24

Thanks guys. Lots of good info. I'm going to start getting the parts gathered up.

Which version is your goal?