Classic Beauty

[Mustangs Rule]

My first non-farmwork job out of high school was at a hinge manufactoring plant. I worked maintanence. A lot of poorly paid people watched a machine make hinges. Those people have been replaced by commputers.

The key person in the operation was the "set up "man, who got the machine tuned to produce a high quality product. He had to really know his trade.

You, I recall have a very well made Springfield. My rifle of highest regard is my model 54 Winchester. Both pretty much the same vintage. All parts are forged steel, and hand honed. Todays CRF rifles have that legendary mauser extractor claw made out of cheaper cast metal.

Today, nobody, no computer, could make a rifle like either of ours again. The final hand fitting and honing being the key operations lacking. The steel i am sure is better. Some aspects of coumpterized machining exceed human skills for sure. Synthetic stocks require no milling, as do wooden ones, but do these new rifles please people like ourselves who saw the golden age of firearms manufactoring?

 

[OntarioHunter]

My first non-farmwork job out of high school was at a hinge manufactoring plant. I worked maintanence. A lot of poorly paid people watched a machine make hinges. Those people have been replaced by commputers.

The key person in the operation was the "set up "man, who got the machine tuned to produce a high quality product. He had to really know his trade.

You, I recall have a very well made Springfield. My rifle of highest regard is my model 54 Winchester. Both pretty much the same vintage. All parts are forged steel, and hand honed. Todays CRF rifles have that legendary mauser extractor claw made out of cheaper cast metal.

Today, nobody, no computer, could make a rifle like either of ours again. The final hand fitting and honing being the key operations lacking. The steel i am sure is better. Some aspects of coumpterized machining exceed human skills for sure. Synthetic stocks require no milling, as do wooden ones, but do these new rifles please people like ourselves who saw the golden age of firearms manufactoring?

Mauser claw of cast metal? And it doesn't break? Hmm. Maybe that's the objective.

You're singing to the choir. Guns made today by computers MAY have the POTENTIAL to be more precise and even shoot more accurately, but few feel and look like something someone cared about when made. I am probably one of two people in my city of 110K who can completely disassemble a Browning A5. Every time I take that gun apart I am amazed at the human craftsmanship that was required to put it together at the factory in 1961. It replaced my 1968 Magnum Wingmaster that I had to retire after retina surgeries. A blind idiot can disassemble that gun! And a blind machine probably made most of it. Yeah, it works. But it's just a stamped metal tool. The old A5 is a tool AND a marvel of human craftsmanship. I feel a sense of accomplishment every time I take it apart ... and a sense of kinship with the craftsmen who made it.

 

[Don Fischer]

It could be a brother(or sister) to mine ,if it's an ADL. Got mine in 1983?, used. It had a Monte Carlo stock tho.
Mine was well used,got a few years on it now and still is my "hunting" rifle.
All I did when I got it was rub out the flawed shiney finish to dull with 0000,wax and glass bed it and set the trigger @ 2.5lb. It was a tack driver.
I did have problems later with the stock from wear and a crack from a bad fall and it developed wandering shot syndrome.... I gave it a make over to a field hunting gun.

Removerd the iron sights. Never had a problem with the trigger,but replaced it with a Timney. Replaced the stock with(oh God,blasphemy) a Hogue full float stock, the Leupold base & scope changed to Talley & Zeiss.
Tack driver. Tacky compared to the new born. Just pulled it out for next weeks cow hunt.

I still go to the local gun shop & drool over a 64' in maple, alas it is a lefty...lol.

I re-did a 700 BDL I inherited. Had a terrible time getting that finish off, couldn't find a stripper that would do it. Finally found one and finally got it all off. Sanded to smooth it up and whiskered it several times using 0000 steel wool to pull the whiskers. Re-finished with Tru Oil rubbed on with 400 grit wet and dry paper drying after each coat. Came out pretty nice. Seem's most people don't like the trigger and I have always thought it was from setting it wrong at home. As low as I have ever been able to get one is 3#. Have three 700's, all with Walker triggers and have never had a problem with any of them. Have tried to get below 3# but was never able to and still have the trigger work properly. What I found at 3# is that most people that shoot one of them claim they didn't touch the trigger and it went off! I checked several times and each time they break at 3#. have re-finished one of my ADL's, the 25-06, and finish came off fairly easy compared to the BDL; maybe a different finish?

Lot of guy's claim all the rifles have gone down hill since the early 60's. I don't agree with that. Not so much hand work anymore as the old master's did in large part retire but they have been replaced with machines that do great work. Back in the early 60's and before how many minute of angle rifles actually came out of the factory's? They seem pretty common today! As for going to cut checkering over pressed, I don't care for pressed checkering and have cut a few rifles I had with it with a checkering tool. But just how much better could that hand cut checkering have really been? I think checkering is either good or bad, not much middle of the road. Learned to tell hand cut from machine years ago. Hold it up to your eye and look down it. Machine cut will be perfectly straight and hand cut won't. I don't see where machine cut make a rifle less desireable unless you just want to tell people it's hand cut. Wonder how much the cost of a factory rifle cost would go up today just by hand cutting it. Hand cut will not turn a2" rifle into a 1" rifle! I'm pretty sure pressed came about as a means to reduce the cost of the rifle!

Get a high dollar rifle today and most the cost is the result of hand work. Are the rifles any better, I wouldn't know, can't afford one! Look at a high dollar English SxS or any high dollar SxS and I can only believe the cost is so high because of hand finishing. I have three AyA's and two CZ SxS and the quality of workman ship is pretty much equal. The AyA's done with hand finishing and the CZ's done with machines.

The good old days are gone but I think the quality in rifles these days match's the older hand quality very well, probably a lot easier repeatable results too.

Got a bit off track, sorry. I do really love my old 700's. Thing I found with them is they are easier to re-bed with the round action. haven't had one problem with the Walker trigger either. Just might be able to make most any trigger mess up if the wrong guy fools with it! And, being a gun it's easy to lay the fault on the maker rather than the guy that fooled with a trigger not knowing what he was doing!

 

[hank4elk]

I re-did a 700 BDL I inherited. Had a terrible time getting that finish off, couldn't find a stripper that would do it. Finally found one and finally got it all off. Sanded to smooth it up and whiskered it several times using 0000 steel wool to pull the whiskers. Re-finished with Tru Oil rubbed on with 400 grit wet and dry paper drying after each coat. Came out pretty nice. Seem's most people don't like the trigger and I have always thought it was from setting it wrong at home. As low as I have ever been able to get one is 3#. Have three 700's, all with Walker triggers and have never had a problem with any of them. Have tried to get below 3# but was never able to and still have the trigger work properly. What I found at 3# is that most people that shoot one of them claim they didn't touch the trigger and it went off! I checked several times and each time they break at 3#. have re-finished one of my ADL's, the 25-06, and finish came off fairly easy compared to the BDL; maybe a different finish?

Lot of guy's claim all the rifles have gone down hill since the early 60's. I don't agree with that. Not so much hand work anymore as the old master's did in large part retire but they have been replaced with machines that do great work. Back in the early 60's and before how many minute of angle rifles actually came out of the factory's? They seem pretty common today! As for going to cut checkering over pressed, I don't care for pressed checkering and have cut a few rifles I had with it with a checkering tool. But just how much better could that hand cut checkering have really been? I think checkering is either good or bad, not much middle of the road. Learned to tell hand cut from machine years ago. Hold it up to your eye and look down it. Machine cut will be perfectly straight and hand cut won't. I don't see where machine cut make a rifle less desireable unless you just want to tell people it's hand cut. Wonder how much the cost of a factory rifle cost would go up today just by hand cutting it. Hand cut will not turn a2" rifle into a 1" rifle! I'm pretty sure pressed came about as a means to reduce the cost of the rifle!

Get a high dollar rifle today and most the cost is the result of hand work. Are the rifles any better, I wouldn't know, can't afford one! Look at a high dollar English SxS or any high dollar SxS and I can only believe the cost is so high because of hand finishing. I have three AyA's and two CZ SxS and the quality of workman ship is pretty much equal. The AyA's done with hand finishing and the CZ's done with machines.

The good old days are gone but I think the quality in rifles these days match's the older hand quality very well, probably a lot easier repeatable results too.

Got a bit off track, sorry. I do really love my old 700's. Thing I found with them is they are easier to re-bed with the round action. haven't had one problem with the Walker trigger either. Just might be able to make most any trigger mess up if the wrong guy fools with it! And, being a gun it's easy to lay the fault on the maker rather than the guy that fooled with a trigger not knowing what he was doing!

I was given a beautifully grained 700 BDL stock by a friend who did what I did and replace with a weather tolerant model. Took me forever to get that old finish off too. Done a lot of furniture finish work and that finish is very different than any I have found except some 40's poly's for boats.
Anyway it came out great and I gave it to another buddy restoring his grandpa's 700. It sits in his gun case.

I think my old trigger was sticky or it was in my head. The dropping the pound setting I felt minor change. Like it took forever to creep to fire.
And as I was getting the stock all hell broke out again of 700's firing themselves and such....lol.
My bud had just done his and it felt nice and crisp.
I also had to convert mine to BDL for the Hogue. So why not. It remains the factory set 3# and feels lighter & crisper for sure now than the old one.

I have looked at many rifles since 1978 and never felt a need to change caliber or model. Desire,maybe. Covet for sure. But need? Never.

 

[BucksnDucks]

I have the exact same rifle which was my go-to for my first fifteen, maybe twenty years of hunting. I brought it out of retirement in 2016 for a CA Roosevelt Bull.

 

[JEL]

I have the same gun in a .270 and ADL in 30-06. They are my favorites. Shoot factory loads very well and they are the two guns I have the most confidence in.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

Mauser claw of cast metal? And it doesn't break? Hmm. Maybe that's the objective.

You're singing to the choir. Guns made today by computers MAY have the POTENTIAL to be more precise and even shoot more accurately, but few feel and look like something someone cared about when made. I am probably one of two people in my city of 110K who can completely disassemble a Browning A5. Every time I take that gun apart I am amazed at the human craftsmanship that was required to put it together at the factory in 1961. It replaced my 1968 Magnum Wingmaster that I had to retire after retina surgeries. A blind idiot can disassemble that gun! And a blind machine probably made most of it. Yeah, it works. But it's just a stamped metal tool. The old A5 is a tool AND a marvel of human craftsmanship. I feel a sense of accomplishment every time I take it apart ... and a sense of kinship with the craftsmen who made it.

I have heard the model 70 mauser claw is now investment cast. Bill Ruger pioneered the process. It is as good as casting can be but still it is not forged steel.