Any suggestions on who to do this?

Picked up a ‘69 browning safari (round top sako) 22-250 heavy barrel for prairie dogs, nice shape, high polish. For bases/rings, thought some fixed talleys would look nice, BUT for the squared-up edges and dull black-blue finish. What i’d like is similar to an old kimber m82 whose factory rings look like fixed talleys but are domed or contoured, no thick flat edge to either ring edge. Polish out and blued more/less close to the rifle. Guessing rifle is hot blued.

Realize most smiths could do it as a one-off, basically just a small parts metal repair and refinish, but anyone you’d recommend / does this kind of work?

I seriously doubt you can get a smith to recontour and refinish factory rings for a price you will tolerate. Leupold dual dovetail rings are domed, contoured and available in high gloss blue. I know they are split horizontally instead of vertically, but they can be lapped to fit the scope. Vertical split rings are not really lappable.


RAN

Give Micheal Scherz a shout. He makes really sharp bases for a pretty decent price. I have them on my 416 Rem M70 and on my custom pre-64 358 M70. I sold a set for the FN to Kingston. I am out of town and don’t have access to photos.

Another good looking ring/base setup is S&K which I have on one of my FN’s.

He is retired from the profession.

I agree with RAN. I have a set of Leupold dual dovetail bases on my Ruger 77 round top. Very strong, contoured and stylish. Been on the rifle 40 years without a problem. Might be just what you want.

Sandcritter--

When Kimber of Oregon went out of business, I went to the bankruptcy auction. One of the things I bought was a box of ring parts for the vertically split rings you are looking for. While they are finish machined, they not have the final taper and polish that you are looking for.

I have polished out a bunch over the years and in some cases I have tapered the edges and corners to approximate the OEM rings. It takes a bunch of time, but it is very doable hand work with small files and then various grits of paper. You certainly don't have to get down to 400 grit finish to make the look good after they are blued.

If you think you are up for it, shoot me a note and we'll see if I can set you up. But you need to be looking for the bases as well. They are not the same width as the Talleys.

Not a great picture, but you get the drift.

Thanks for the thoughts, all.

Do realize it could be pricey, hence the solicitation.

Just personal - don’t care for horizontal rings.

Ed, thx. I use s&k’ on small actions as they look nice. Have been thru the conetrol phase, too, and as look at the rifle, all swoopy, polished curves, think that may be best as off the shelf choices go. They make a melted and polished finish i never tried before.

Utah, thanks for the encouragement. Thought about DIY with a set of talleys; would be satisfying to pull off! In the end, am way in the negative column on free time these days, though. Maybe will take an old pair and take a trial go over winter, though loooong list ahead of that job. Those old kimber rings were sweetly done, it’s neat you acquired some of them for projects.

PS what sort of fixture worked best for you to hold and orient the rings for shaping? Am picturing fixing the paired halves to 1” steel bar (lapping bar or similar), placed with edge of rings flush with end of bar. Other end in vice.

Mark Penrod in North Manchester IN does that kind of stuff.

I just took a really old junky scope and cut a bell off and used it just the way you are thinking about using the lapping bar.

The Warne rings are contoured a little more than the Talleys. S&K and Conetrol are nice and the Conetrol are period correct. The Talleys would be a good winters project and not that difficult.