montana rifle co.

D

Doug Casner

New member
Just bought a new rifle in 6.5 cm. from Montana rifle co. Does anybody know anything about them? I got a stainless with wood stock. Got a 24 in. barrel , free floated, action trued, action bedded. Put a leupold 4.5 x14x40 on it. Probably hunt with it a little and play with it a lot. Are they any good? Thanks,Doug
 
I've heard some bad stories but I've used several of their actions and never had any issues with them IME, they are an excellent action to build a hunting rifle on. Quite honestly, I find stories of action faces being out of square by some huge amount as unbelievable. How would you even go about machining an action face .050" out of square, unless it's a bad bandsaw cut!!

They are a basically a pre 64 model 70 clone but I think they are investment castings rather than forgings. Most new factory actions are the same. Remington is the only one I can think of that isn't off the top of my head anyway.

I have a 260 on one in a HS stock with a 8 twist Rem Varmint contour Bartlein on it. I've had it for a while and still haven't shot it other than a few rounds. I haven't done any load work with it yet but I bet it'll shoot very well for its purpose. I had a wild hair about shooting some PRS matches with it a few years back. I don't know what I was thinking! I don't recall the barrel length but I made it so that it would handle reasonably well for it's weight. I'm thinking it's 20-22" range.

They're not as smooth as we're use to but not bad, especially having the claw extractor. I know of a very nice one in .308 that I built several years ago for a guy who I don't think has ever fired it. It was in a AA or AAA walnut stock from Accurate Innovations. All SS with a Bartlein or Kreiger #4 or similar. He wants to sell it as he's selling all of his guns. At one time, he had over $100K in guns. Some nice stuff in his collection. I might have a pic somewhere....Nice rifle. He never shot most of his guns.
 
montana rifle

Thanks Mike, I don't know much about them. I saw a guy on youtube shoot a decent hunting group with one. This has a stock made by an outfit called boyd stocks. I don't know how they claim to true the action with a boltface off .005 that's kinda scary. I bid on a Remington in 6.5 and didn't get it. May wished I would have bid more. Ill see what happens when it gets here. thanks Doug
 
I'm finishing a 300 Win Mag. I bought a new 1999 Montana receiver, chambered it in 300WM. It is in a Winchester, new in the box, Express wood stock. It will get skim bedded and beadblast and blued by Pete Pieper. This one is straight, can't say about any of the others out there.
 
Doug Casner said:
Thanks Mike, I don't know much about them. I saw a guy on youtube shoot a decent hunting group with one. This has a stock made by an outfit called boyd stocks. I don't know how they claim to true the action with a boltface off .005 that's kinda scary. I bid on a Remington in 6.5 and didn't get it. May wished I would have bid more. Ill see what happens when it gets here. thanks Doug
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No Doug...what I read was much worse than that...read what I said again.
"Quite honestly, I find stories of action faces being out of square by some huge amount as unbelievable. How would you even go about machining an action face .050" out of square, unless it's a bad bandsaw cut!!"

edit...IME, they are good actions for a nice hunting rifle build. I've probably used about a dozen of them.
 
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Sorry Mike, I didn't read my zeros right. I read it as thousands when it was hundredths of an in. I thought .005 was bad let alone .05. Im gonna go get it after while. I hope I didn't get one of those screw ups. Got up and mowed my yard early this morning that's why I haven't been on here yet. Thanks for talking to me. Doug
 
Doug Casner said:
Sorry Mike, I didn't read my zeros right. I read it as thousands when it was hundredths of an in. I thought .005 was bad let alone .05. Im gonna go get it after while. I hope I didn't get one of those screw ups. Got up and mowed my yard early this morning that's why I haven't been on here yet. Thanks for talking to me. Doug
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You're just fine. See what I mean though...Just no way that can be true. Makes me wonder about how many false claims you might or might not hear. I can only say that I've been happy with them for a nice hunting build. For grins, after hearing this stuff, I indicated mine in to check it out and it was pretty good. I didn't measure anything...I just did a light cleanup cut on the action face and inner lugs. It barely took anything to clean both up. I stopped with that and built on it as it was for myself and I was satisfied that it was good enough for what I was going to do with it. Hope this helps and yours is as good.
 
montana rifle

mwezell said:
You're just fine. See what I mean though...Just no way that can be true. Makes me wonder about how many false claims you might or might not hear. I can only say that I've been happy with them for a nice hunting build. For grins, after hearing this stuff, I indicated mine in to check it out and it was pretty good. I didn't measure anything...I just did a light cleanup cut on the action face and inner lugs. It barely took anything to clean both up. I stopped with that and built on it as it was for myself and I was satisfied that it was good enough for what I was going to do with it. Hope this helps and yours is as good.
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Got that rifle yesterday. Not to impressed. First patch came out brown with a curly q metal shaving on it. They are supposed to be hand lapped. Dont look good. Tells me that barrel isnt finished. Got the wrong mounts bolt handle is hitting the mount need dual dovetail. Somebodies got it in for Montana rifles to let that get thru inspection. It is a pretty rifle reminds me of a supergrade pre 64 70. Doug
 
Their ASR

rifle is $1440. For another $600 or so you can find a good condition pre 64 Winchester Model 70 or Browning Safari grade that will maintain or increase in value...and come with no chips in the barrel :)
 
montana rifles

I gotta quit posting when Im aggervated. Im still not happy about it but I havent shot it yet. The brown stuff in the barrel must of been cosmoline but the metal shaving has got me wondering. How could they be lapped by hand and have a metal shaving an in. long left in the barrel? Ive got 3 pre 64 model 70s so far your right. I should of bought another one. I ordered the wrong set of mounts the bolt handle is hitting the rear base. Dad said he knew an old boy back when , had a mod. 70 bolt hitting the scope and he just ground some off the bolt off. Maybe I oughta take it to his shop.Doug
 
Well

Doug Casner said:
I gotta quit posting when Im aggervated. Im still not happy about it but I havent shot it yet. The brown stuff in the barrel must of been cosmoline but the metal shaving has got me wondering. How could they be lapped by hand and have a metal shaving an in. long left in the barrel? Ive got 3 pre 64 model 70s so far your right. I should of bought another one. I ordered the wrong set of mounts the bolt handle is hitting the rear base. Dad said he knew an old boy back when , had a mod. 70 bolt hitting the scope and he just ground some off the bolt off. Maybe I oughta take it to his shop.Doug
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taking it to the shop to grind the bolt is the last thing I would do. If you are not happy with the rifle, chances are you never will be as first impressions tend to stick with you. Send it back for a refund or some other agreed to remedial action by the maker. Ya just can't beat a 100% pre 64 Win in great condition or a Browning Safari in the same shape. Two of the very best mass produced rifles ever made imo.
 
grind the bolt

Glp, I was joking about bolt. I put out a little B.S. at times but that was a true story. You could buy a pre 64 for less than a hundred dollars back then. Doug
 
mwezell said:
Yuck! I've never seen one of their barrels but that sounds pretty bad.
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I recall a story from years ago where a guy complained to the head honcho about the quality of wood on a Kimber rifle. The response was that if it came from here it's good enough.
 
montana rifle

The first group I shot after I got done patching the barrel for the first 10 shots went .75 so it shows some potential. The metal shaving must have been off a metal brush. My apology to Montana Rifle Co. for post that wasnt too positive. Hollered before I was hurt. Doug
 
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