My new USMC M40A1 knock-off rifle

[Dave King]

Picked up a new rifle and I thought I'd share some photos.

Special thanks to Doc Ed for building this for me.

Thanks to BJ and Lerch for this particular scope.

Thanks to Oldbear for an correct era Redfield scope also.

Thanks to IanM for the bases and rings.

Thanks to George Gardner for some fo the spec info.

Thanks for Federal Cartridge for making the ammo I'm gonna shoot through this rifle.



I'm after the look of a USMC M40A1 late 1970's era, after the McMillan stock came into use but before the Unertl 10X scope. The scope (M40 variant) as I understand would have been a Redfield Accu-Range with either the old style Redfield Jr base and 4 screw rings or the newer single underscrew rings during the transition years.

[James Jones]

Very cool , I've been wanting to build one of the prerem sniper rifles like the Winchester than Hathcock used.

What bottom metal did you use on that ?

[Buffalobob]

Glad you found all of the parts.
I guess if you are going to have a jarhead rifle you should have it built by one. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Let me know if you are going to bring it to Quantico to test it at long range. I would be interested is seeing it.

[Dave King]

That's a genuine USMC turn-in M40A1 stock with matching bottom metal. The bottom metal is Winchester Model 70 steel with the magazine cover milled shorter and notched to fit. Reportedly the Marines opted for this Win steel floorplate design due to some problems with the factory Remington floor plates on the original M40 as built by Remington. The bottom metal system on these rifles use three screws, as designed the middle screw was mated to a stud glassed into the stock, it did not screw into the receiver of the rifle.

There are quite a few pictures of the Winchester model 70 sniper rifles used in the early 60's. I'm a Remington fan and have no desire for another Winchester but it would be neat to have a series of these old(er) examples of USMC sniper rifles.

[ceylonc]

That is one nice build! Do you mind sharing some specifics of her, such as barrel, trigger, etc. I assume you bedded her also.

Let us know how she shoots.

[Dave King]

BB

I just took it out to get a "zero" on it. It shoots great (of course). It's a little odd with the 3x9 Redfield and no parallax adjustment but I managed a .807 for 4 shots out of the rifle and the after adjusting to set zero it did a .510 using Federal Gold Medal Match (Fed GMM) 168's. I was shooting prone using my pack for a front rest and resting the buttstock in the web of my index finger and thumb of my left hand while hanging onto a wad of my shirt on my right shoulder. My knees and elbows got a little dirty and grass stained so I imagine I'll get a good talking to by the laundry lady but it'll be worth the trouble --- more groundhog shooting cloths and less go to work cloths is always a good thing in my book.

Maybe some day I'll try it off a bench and a proper rest but that's just not my style of shooting normally. There's no method to mount a bipod on the stock with the Wichita sling swivels so it's a pack rest or sling type rifle.

These rifles and scope combinations were "hold over/under" models, as I understand the snipers would zero at one distance, range via the stadia bars and power ring then hold for a hit. The standard of adjusting the scope elevation didn't begin until the Unertl arrived in the early 80s. It might be difficult to use it at 800 to 1000 yards but I'll give it a try one day.

[Dave King]

ceylonc

It's built to closely resemble the Marine Corps M40A1 of the 1977-1981 era.

The stock is a McMillan HTG (an original USMC turn-in).

Wichita sling swivels.

The barrel is a USMC contour Schnieder 5P 11 twist cut to be ~.920 at the muzzle with a length of 24" from the front of the recoil lug to the muzzle.

The action is Remington 700 short action 6 digit serial number (19x,xxx).

The trigger is Remington with the "paddle" or "flipper" style safety and two piece sear (standard on the early remington triggers). It's been lightened nicely and is great. The Remington trigger assembly was cut to fit in the stock with the Winchester bottom metal, a standard trigger "un-modified" trigger won't fit as it'll bottom-out against the trigger guard. The bolt release lever must also be modified to fit the bottom metal.

The base in a Redfield JR (the sort version that uses the front two screws and the front of the two rear action screws).

The rings are medium height Redfield 4 screw.

The scope is a round Redfield 3x-9x Accu-Range marked '1" Tube' The scope is Accu-Range only, there is no Accu-Track option on this scope.

The bottom metal is Winchester model 70 cut to fit the Remington short action.

It's in 308 Win.