I’m just in the process of prepping my old 7MM Mashburn for a send off to get a fresh barrel. To do that, off come the scope and mounts. With mounts off you can see what I had requested from the gunsmith when this rifle was originally built. The rifle originally started as a new LH Model 70 chambered in 7MM RM. These came from the factory with the same loading port dimensions as the 30-06, 270 etc. I wanted it longer.
I asked the gunsmith to install a custom magazine box that was wider and 375 H&H length. To accommodate that I asked him to mill the rear bridge rearward. This makes the bridge and port the same as the Winchester magnum receivers. But what this does is it removes the front rear mount hole and requires an additional hole be added. This is why the magnum Model 70’s have a short rear hole spacing.
I don’t like that arrangement as it limits mounting options. It throws some mounts over the loading port which I dislike. To fix this I asked the smith to add two holes instead of one to accommodate the standard mounting space again. Which works perfectly for my favourite scope mounts.
Anyway, this is just one way a rifle is made custom along the way.
Custom Touches
Linear Mode
