What would you change?

[Mike Matteson]

That would be the norm for most of us. Mil Spec triggers are very heavy compared to what most of us like and that is to prevent ND's but we still manage to shoot very accurately with military rifles in spite of it. It just takes more work and practice with a heavier trigger.

Shot expert in the Army with an M-14 out to 400 meters. No scope either. I was shooting a Ruger Mark 11 in a 338 WM for a friend for groups, and it had somewhere around 8lbs trigger. They don't have much of a but pad either. I could get 5 rounds under 1/2' @ 100yds and out of the box. We end up using 200gr Nosler BT. @ 3230fps with on load. I had to work at it to get the rifle to go off and not pull the shot. I finely took his rifle in in had a trigger up into it. Much better, still kicked, but accurate. A couple of years later, he sold the rifle to me. I had a muzzle brake put on it, and that tamed the rifle down. Use in Africa, 4 one shot kills. I am having HOWA being built but in a 26" barrel. I want to see if I can get the velocity up some more.

 

[WildRose]

For me , the one thing I would change is my rifle , from a stock 1940s model 70 pre 64 , 300 weatherby mag , to a custom 300 weatherby mag,made by Randy Selby in Wyoming.
Comes with nice trigger,nice scope, nice stock ,nicely bedded,
Nice muzzle break ,nice barrel ,nice custom load / and data and nicely sighted in.

You can always have the best of both worlds by having him do you a custom on the pre-war action. Almost 70 years later it's still among the most desirable actions ever produced.

 

[cornshank]

You can always have the best of both worlds by having him do you a custom on the pre-war action. Almost 70 years later it's still among the most desirable actions ever produced.

I would have changed had I just started out hunting, but I have two old model 70 's ,both in the 50,000 serial number range one 30-06 for deer and one 300 weatherby mag I use for elk ,truth be told , I couldn't walk out of camp without one or the other in my hand.
As you know the popularity of custom rifles now verses when we started is a little different. I have never seen so many different gun builders, don't get me wrong , it's a good thing ,for the sport and gun ownership overall.

 

[WildRose]

I would have changed had I just started out hunting, but I have two old model 70 's ,both in the 50,000 serial number range one 30-06 for deer and one 300 weatherby mag I use for elk ,truth be told , I couldn't walk out of camp without one or the other in my hand.
As you know the popularity of custom rifles now verses when we started is a little different. I have never seen so many different gun builders, don't get me wrong , it's a good thing ,for the sport and gun ownership overall.

No doubt. I've seen some incredible customs built though on those pre war actions. Unfortunately steel was not what it is today in that era which is why the .264 quickly got the "barrel burner" reputation and others followed.

You can work miracles with a shot out pre war M70 just by having a quality smith replace the barrel.

I have one custom .375 Ruger built on a pre war action and they even kept with the original taper and sight ring. Even with the heavy recoil it's probably my favorite rifle to hunt with out to 400yds.