Marlin MR-7 25-06 project, Accurizing/customizing?

[RangerBrad]

Hey fellas,
Let me begin by saying I know practicaly nothing about gunsmithing, so I would appreciate all your advice.
I have a Marlin MR-7 in 25-06 that I am considering having accurized and possibly customized. It has been my main hunting rifle for many years and I would like to take it to the next level.
I love almost everything about the design of this rifle. It is a realitivly good shooter by out of the box standards but, I thought it may benifit from accurizing by a gunsmith who deals with long range hunting weapons and knows how to achieve the mechanical accuracy required for long range hunting.
I am also considering having it restocked from it's walnut to composite. Also if possible having the metal changed from blued to a creakote type finish.
Have any of yal ever worked with the MR-7? Are these ideas even doable?
Is what I'm thinking about even making sense or would it be better and cheaper to just purchase a new long range rifle?
Finally in round figures how much may work like this cost and would any of you be interested in this type of project? Thank's in advance for your response. Brad

 

[Aldon]

I have a 30-06 MR-7. I have had a couple of them.

It was very accurate and is even more accurate now that I am hand loading.

So that would be my first question, have you maximized the potential with hand loads? Seating depth etc....

As to customizing, there is a recent thread where the subject was whether or not there is value in blue printing.

A couple of the gunsmiths on the site discuss the return on investment to do Remington 700.

I would assume that the costs you will encounter will be a bit higher as there are likely to be slower tooling set ups etc....

Search for that thread.

I believe there are smiths that could do what you ask, but I went through the mental exercise and decided to keep the MR-7 as is and went with a Remington to tweak and play around with.

At some point in the next year I will likely settle on a caliber that I really like and pull the proverbial trigger on a complete custom rifle. At this point I am leaning towards a Borden action, Bartlein Barrel in 6.5, 7 or 308.....

 

[RangerBrad]

Aldon,
Thank's for your reply. No I have not played with hand loads as I have neither the time or inclination to hand load my bullets though I do try to use only premium grade and though they all shoot fairly well I have found the .117 .gr hornady to shoot a pretty consistent .75 to 1". I also do not want a complete coustom gun as I know little about the types and quality of diffrent parts and am pretty much wanting a well built rugged hunting rifle with exceptional accuracy. I have allways been a trapper then a predator hunter and now would like to extend into hunting larger game at extended ranges. I am not a bench rest shooter or hand loader just a pretty hard hunter and trapper and have learned that using great equipment increases my odds of success 100 fold. Thank's, Brad

 

[Aldon]

The most accurate store bought ammo I have used in my 30-06 is the cheap Federal (Blue Box) 150 gr soft point.

I initially bought 5 or 6 high end boxes from a couple different lines and was pleasantly surprised at the moa i would get with the most reasonably priced. Accuracy was about an inch on average at 100 yards.

That was back before I started rolling my own. I was able to improve on that a bit with handloads but not enough to justify the costs to get into reloading.

Now that I have many calibers, the reloading equipment is easier to justify.

 

[diriel]

Not to push reloading, but Lee makes a Hand loading kit that is VERY affordable. It is also very portable, I keep my whole entire kit ready to load more ammo in a plastic tool box. This of course is my "Field Kit". It has the advantage of being very able to reload ammo in the field. You can make some truly awesome ammo, for honestly cheap. Research, or just ask about 25-06 loads and you are good to go.

The 117gr Hornady you mentioned are usually real good with H1000 powder, use Win brass, Wolf LR primers (or winchester LR). Powder Charge of right around 58gr usually does real good. Real forgiving load. 1lb of powder will reload about 118 rounds = $25, 1 box of 100 117gr Hornady bullets = $25, 1 box of 100 primers= $3 or less. That lee kit

The reason I mention this loading specifically is because it is almost "bomb proof" as the saying goes. You can not get enough powder in the case to hurt anything, yet a max charge that "crunches" the powder puts you right up near SAMMI max pressure, and is thus safe.

You buy some bullets, powder, and primers, then get that Lee starter Hand kit and you are in business. Assuming you kept some of your spent casings, you just sort them by brand, or hopefully just grab a box of empties that are all the same. If not, then buy winchester brass. No need to buy a lot of it. One loading, no muss, no fuss, no bs to keep track of. When you need to load more, you just knock them out and its done.

A lot to be said for One Rifle, One Load! That way a fellah can get out and HUNT with minimum bs to keep track of.

Lee Breechlock Hand Press Kit = $42
Lee Delux 3 Die set 25-06 rem.= $31
Lee Improved Powder Measure Kit = $10
All 1 time expenses that may or may not pay themselves out over time. How much do you hunt? If you use less that 1 box of 20 ammo per year, then pay out would take quite a while. If you shoot say 40-60 rounds per year, then I would certainly think about simple field kit reloading.

Some folks here may rake me over the coals for my advice on reloading for your situation. But reloading does not HAVE to be a pain in the butt!! It CAN be simple, Fast, and Easy! You just have to be **** careful to pick out Just The Right Setup! The 25-06 load I advised for you is one that just about anybody here on the board will agree is one to check out for sure. It is just one of those "Dang Good Recipes", a time proven classic, that needs no fancy apologies.

I hope I have not offended you buy putting Reloading up in your face after you said you did not want to mess with it. But one common misconception is that reloading is Hard and Dangerous, and just not for the average person. Well, Okay, that can easily be true. Then again if you boil it down to the bare essentials, like I just did, it becomes easy, fast, and very safe. You just have to KNOW the ins and outs, and know what works very well indeed, and utterly safe.

Have a good one,
Gary

 

[RangerBrad]

Gary,
Thank's for your reply. My father in law has reloading equip except for the 25-06 dye. I may ask him to reload a few rounds for me at your recipe. I've been told that a diffrent powder or type of bullet or a grain in powder weight here and there can make all the diffrence in the world. Sounds like you nearly have to be an alchymist to figure it all out and money down the drain in purchased powder and bullets you find don't work well in your rifle.Just the idea of having to spend hours at the range trying to figure out which loads work best in my rifle does not appeal to me. The price certainly appeals to me and it may be diffrent if I was loading for several diffrent types of weapons. Brad

 

[Trickymissfit]

Gary,
Thank's for your reply. My father in law has reloading equip except for the 25-06 dye. I may ask him to reload a few rounds for me at your recipe. I've been told that a diffrent powder or type of bullet or a grain in powder weight here and there can make all the diffrence in the world. Sounds like you nearly have to be an alchymist to figure it all out and money down the drain in purchased powder and bullets you find don't work well in your rifle.Just the idea of having to spend hours at the range trying to figure out which loads work best in my rifle does not appeal to me. The price certainly appeals to me and it may be diffrent if I was loading for several diffrent types of weapons. Brad

just go over on Ebay and pick up a set of Forster dies, and get with it.

By the way has anybody see a source for extra magazines to go with the MR-7? I'd sure like to pick up two or three. I bought mine when they first hit the market (it was supposed to have been one of the first five or six shipped), and the plan was to rebarrel it to .338-06. Gun shot too good to touch it!
gary

 

[Aldon]

The last I saw one was on Gunbroker about a year or a little more ago.

I set up auto notification of MR-7 stuff and do not get many hits these days.

 

[RangerBrad]

Numerich has almost every thing for the MR-7 including the stock, except the magazine as they are sold out. Brad