It was my good fortune to spot a rifle on gunbroker over Thanksgiving week that was being mis-marketed--the seller (a gunshop in Florida) was selling a gun on consignment and really did not know what they had.

The rifle was made by Lenard Brownell,on a LH Remington 700 action in .270 Win. Lenard was one of the influential rifle smiths in the 1960-70s; he died in 1982 from cancer in his late 50's. He spent much of his life in Wyoming, in and around Sheridan. He was employed by Bill Ruger for a time and was a designer of the M77 and Number 1. It was his experience with investment casting at Ruger that became the basis for Brownell's own line of rifle parts (grip caps, scope rings, etc.) Kimber of Oregon also used Lenard as a designer. The Talley vertically split rings began as a Brownell product.



The Brownell serial number of 80 dates it to 1975, and Remington had only released the left handed 700 about 1974. I would not be surprised if this was the first lefty 700 Lenard made. And given that his serial number sequence stopped at 127, I doubt there are more than about a half dozen left handed Brownell rifles.

So the stock is made of Tessier French walnut. It is not hugely figured, but has a touch of fiddleback and is quite small grained. Most likely cut by hand from a blank; the chisel marks are still evident in action inletting. The checkering is extremely well executed. All of the fleurs look exactly alike.







There is nothing radical about the stock in terms of length of pull, cast, or toe out.

To be continued...

In terms of metal work, there are probably two things of interest. First, the action tang was extended and a tang safety installed. The original Remington trigger was retained, and a mechanical linkage runs from the safety tab to the side safety on the trigger. The tang extension also allows the pitch of the tang to be flatter and makes for a more open grip shape. The grip is also noticeably narrower than a Remington factory stock, by the way.





A second thing is that it uses Blackburn bottom metal, which I understand to be an extremely rare item because most of Ted's bottom metal was for Mausers or Winchesters.



There are also small touches as well. The bolt handle was reshaped/thinned and the embossed "checkering" on the knob was recut. (OEM on the left and Lenard's on the right.



The gun has some handling marks so it will not bother me to hunt it. It does seem a bit odd to me that the scope mounts were merely Weaver tip offs. The scope is a Leupold 4x with a dot reticle.

I am sure I will notice more things about it as time goes forward.

Love the tang and checkering work.
SENT you a PM.
CB

That's a pretty dang nice looking rifle, I sure do like that stock. The checkering appears to have been done by someone that knew a thing or 2 about checkering

Very cool find! Thanks for sharing

I figured out how to optimize the settings on my camera to match the file limitation requirements on the site, so here are some better pics.


I guess it was more common in that era to retain the factory barrel than we tend to see today.

Boy that is special. Very nice find for you.

A very nicely detailed rifle all the way around, the extended tang and tang safety are especially nice custom touches as are the slimming of the bolt handle and chasing the checkering. Lenard was a very talented craftsman who set the standard for other custom 'smiths of that era.

I saw that rifle also and had a really hard time not bidding on it.

Utah78, that is a very nice rifle! It is the small things that really make it special.

I am glad you chose not to bid--that would have cost me some money because I was pretty much committed to coming away with it. I had never had a chance to get a lefty from one of that era's big name gunsmiths (Fisher, Kennedy, Milliron, etc.) because I don't think they made all that many.

There was another lefty Brownell in 6mm Rem that the same shop sold about a week later. It had a nicer piece of wood, but the action was an unidentified custom action. Given that I had just bought this one, and had not yet had a chance to look it over, I did not get involved in the bidding. It went for about $300 more than this one--still probably a real bargain.

Beautiful rifle.

I don’t even WANT to know what you paid for that beautiful piece...

The only way I could afford it is that I really think the seller substantially "undermarketed" it. It was consigned to a dealer/gun store that had no idea who Lenard Brownell was or why that should affect the value of the gun.

I had the gun shipped through D'Arcy Echols' shop. I always just use a pawn shop here in town as my FFL transfer agent, but I just did not trust them with this one. I also suspected D'Arcy might like to see it so in fact had only told him it was a Remington 700 in .270--nothing special. When I arrived at his shop-- about 2 hours after it arrived--he actually had it taken apart. The bolt release was hanging up and not engaging correctly. Just one tap with a punch got a pin back in place and the release moving correctly. D'Arcy said he opened the case,took one look at the fleurs, and said "holy [bleep], its a Brownell." He had actually stopped by and met Lenard back in the 1970's and told me a couple of stories. D'Arcy did ask me what I paid for it, and when told, responded "Power buy!" so I don't think I got gouged.

But the purpose of buying it is not to flip it and make a few bucks. All y'all know that I am trying to do some stock whittling, because I really like the classic wooden stocked guns. I make my own stocks because "sweat equity" is the only way a lefty on my income strata is going to get anything out of the ordinary. I grew up reading too much Jack O'Connor, and lusting after his Beisens. My first big game rifle was a Remington 700 in .270 Win that my father purchased for me when I was about 15, so it is nice coming back around full circle. I have McMillan/stainless/turreted scope setups as well, but they don't float my boat the same. I suppose if I threw my rifles in the creek when I was steelhead fishing I might think a little differently about it. I think I know what I will carry the next time I draw an antelope buck tag in Wyoming. Now that seems fitting.

Beautiful rifle.

That ain't nothing but sweet! Great grab for sure.

Sharp eye, and good snag utah!!! Some great stock work, and very, very nice checkering work there. A treasure of a rifle to be the caretaker of.

Jeff

Very nice rifle sir, Most people would have not looked twice at that rifle on the internet, and assumed it was a custom made by an unknown gunsmith.

Good find. I watch GB for left handed guns pretty frequently and missed that one. I would have bid on that one for sure. Congrats.

That really is a very nice rifle. Anyone who has an interest in building rifles could benefit by close examination of Brownell's work. One thing I find, when shaping a bolt handle, it is real easy to make the handle too slim. One ends up with a handle which is sleek and well porportioned when looking at the bolt by itself, a little on the dainty side when the bolt is in the receiver, and positively skinny when viewed with the whole rifle. I say this because I managed to go too far on numerous handles,early on, and have still not made one with which I am totally happy. I think Brownell went just a little far with this one but this is only my opinion.
Of course, today, we no longer worry about aesthetics and simply screw on a great, big, knurled hammerhead for a bolt knob and call it "tactical".
I recall one issue of "Rifle" magazine which featured a Brownell rifle on the cover. The description said some thing along the lines of "It is easier to list the things in this picture which were not made by Leonard Brownell". There was a sculpture which was not done by him while everything else, rifle, mounts, fireplace mantel, wall panelling, was. He was a true craftsman and your rifle is a great example. GD

Great score !
That will be a joy too use in the field.

Elegant and understated a real beauty. I might be tempted to swap the scope mounts for Brownell or Talley's. I would rub it down with Clive Lemon Oil just to nurture it a bit, then start applying for antelope tags. Glad I didn't see this or the 6mm as I would probably be in hock for Christmas and New Years.

Beautiful rifle! Congrats.

That rifle almost makes me wish I was left-handed and liked Remingtons.

Congrats on acquiring it - definitely something special.

drover

I am going to switch the scope mounts out. The Weavers--as practical as they are--are a bit "meh" for a gun such as this. I have my 1974 Shooters Bible out in order to see what is period correct. The options are not as extensive as they are today, but a set of Conetrols would be about right. I might even go with a two piece Leupold dual dovetail, even though I do not believe they were offered at that time--their offerings then were all dovetail front/windage rear.

You know I have a buddy just took some conetrols off a 7mm of one variety or another. I'll ask him what rifle.

Very nice!!!!

Gorgeous rifle..................he was one of the best, IMHO.

Congrats.

MM

+1 that would be enough for me to buy it . Very Nice

If you ever want to sell it, please let me know!

Might I suggest S&K Skulpted Bases and rings...probably not period correct, but will look like they should be.

Thanks for that suggestion--I will look into those.

Utah, Cool snag ! Beautiful rifle with some history to boot. Enjoy !

Outstanding find Utah. I'm super jealous!

Very nice ! The word that comes to mind is “classic” .

I was gonna be a smart-aleck and ask if the 'handle's fallen off yet'.......but I won't..





( just HADDA)..

Don't you think he soldered or welded it back on after contouring?

Conetrols = period correct. S&K though nice and less than fluted Conetrols are a knock off. I am finally getting over my ethical conundrum and using some S&Ks but am still partial to Conetrols since I have used them for years and they are just down the road from me. Some of the rifles that have them on them have only been sighted in once in 20+ years, as long as I don't change loads.

He most likely conotoured it, by hand, on the bolt and didn't concern himself with it much since 700 handles rarely fell off.
Leupold Dual Dovetail mounts are another option for scope mounting although I do really like Conetrols.

Looks a lot like an Al Biesen rifle. Similar style

I was re-reading O'Connor's book on rifles last night. He mentioned Biesen and Brownelll in the same breath in two different passages. I do think there are some differences in the cheekpiece/nose of the comb between a Biesen and this style of Brownell, but they have more similarities than differences. They were more in the classic style than the ornate (some might say garish) California style that was common in that era.

Utah, I have a 1962 243 remington 700 that the bolt handle was factory very similar to yours. My cousin has a similar vintage 7 mag like it also. It is nearly as thin at the knob but not quite as rounded near the bend as you can see in the pics.

I do not recall Jack using a Brownell rifle, but I could be wrong. Eleanor's well travelled/ used 30-06 was a Brownell.

Beautiful rifle. How about a pic of the grip cap please.

I think Bieson and Brownell were in an undeclared competition to do the best Fleur pattern possible. I certainly couldn't decide on a winner between them.