My second bolt rifle in 450 Bushmaster is operational. The little Springfield is no longer lonely in the safe.
This one was assembled on a Post-64 Winchester Model 70 action dating from about 1972. This is one of the push-feed actions, which some match shooters preferred to the pre-64 models. The original chambering was probably 270 or 30-06. The action was rusty and pitted when my gunsmith acquired it about 30 years ago. We didn't clean it up more than removing the rust and replacing some rusted springs.
The stock is a take-off from a Remington Model 40-X match rifle. I bought it about 17 years ago when there was a glut of these on the market from the military. This one has a Freeland adjustable match buttplate. The forened still has a hole it its underside from the mount for the hand stop. My gunsmith milled out the stock to fit the Winchester action without too much difficulty. He did such nice job that we decided not to use glass bedding.
For a barrel I ordeered a McGowen .451 pistol barrel in medium varmint contour to finish at a 26" length. My smith has played with barrels from several top manufacturers, and is greatly impressed with this barrel, his first McGowen. The exterior was highly polished, and we left it that way.
I picked up the rifle on Tuesday, 10 May, and mounted an older Leupold fixed 12X scope.
The principal motive for assembling this one was to get away from the problem of the iron sights when testing various reloads. It weighs about 4 pounds more than the Springfield, which will make shooting a little less bruising.
My two boxes of Remington ammo arrived today, so I started things off with a couple of sighting shots and then a 3-shot group at 100 yards, which measured 7/8". That's a long way from some of the better efforts with an AR that have been shown on these pages, but I should be able to shrink this somewhat with any luck.
I know, the thread needs photos. Maybe tomorrow.
--Bob
edited for spelling