The Gun Counter

So there's a guy at work pitching me a M70 Super Express (early 90's production with CRF)...

Lost in a storage locker for some years, bluing gone but not pitted enough to preclude a re-blue, stock needs tossed. Priced low enough to be an ideal build project. Full monty reblue and custom stock or cerakote and laminate/molded stock for an all weather gun for those with Kodiak Island dreams.

Why not? As long as it's CRF you should be golden.

I'd go with cerakote and laminate stock.

But a Turnbull-class reblue, and a bit of nice walnut would be gorgeous!

That's a nice action for the build, and as long as it's long enough for the 375, I don't see a problem.

I have a buddy who built a .416 Rigby on a Savage 110 action. Plenty of length in that action for the build.

It is a .375 already so no rebarrel needed. I'd personally have no use for it so it'd be a for the fun of it/fiinancial/flip proposition. However, if anyone here has a hankering for a 375 and a project I'll gladly step aside and let 'im have a crack at it.

How much?

He would have taken $350 today but i walked away -- might be able get it for $300-325 now. He's not a gun guy and I think when I deferred to think it over he's going to soften up.

If I went the all-weather route, this would probably be the stock I'd go with (in the rosewood laminate). That with a full length bedding, a Decelerator pad, and a dark grey cerakote would git er done.

.375 H&H is one of my favorite calibers. It's not much worse than a 300WM for recoil, but hits with authority. Once you shoot it, you'll want to keep it.

On the other hand, if the stock is so bad from storage that it needs to be tossed, I'd worry about how much metal needs to be fixed - like inside of the barrel and inside of the bolt. Parts on the M70 bolt are not drop-in.

One of the reasons I stick with pre-64 M70s is I had a safety break on one of my 1990s CRF M70s - MIM parts, not milled like on pre-64s (lower cost). That was over $100 to fix.

If it's really bad shape, see if he'll take $200 for it. You can budget $200 to fix the metal (as long as the barrel isn't pitted), $200 for a stock, and $50 for refinish, then you'll be into the rifle for less than $700 plus your time. You could find one in good original condition at an ELGS for not much more than $700, so not really worth paying any more for a fixer-upper.

PM me if you decide not to get it.

The stock isn't water damaged. It's just an abortion. He fitted a used left handed stock to this right hand action. So it has a notch cut on both sides.
I don't know what happened to the original stock.