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I picked up a 1953 Model 70 in .308 the other day, and I need help deciding what to do with it.
The rifle is in fair shape, not a lot of bluing left, and very minimal surface rust (most is on the follower). Wood is worn, but no cracks or chunks taken out. It came with a old, made in the USA Burris 3-9x scope, and is said to shoot sub MOA with certain hand loads.
Here is where my decisions come in.
I don't need a 308, and I'm not really a fan of the round.
Option 1 -
I'm thinking about having it rebarreled into a 7mm-08, and making sorta a light weight hunting rifle out of it. I'm a fan of wood/blued guns, so I'd have it reblued and clean the stock up. Collector value doesn't matter to me. I would then put a Leupold VX2 or VX3 4.5-14 or so. Figure rebarreled and blued I'll have about $1000 into the work, then $500 into a scope, and I'll have an awesome, packable, hunting rifle.
Option 2 -
I'm a really big fan of scout rifles. Another thought was to leave it a 308, have a gunsmith machine a rail to go forward of the receiver, come up with a rear aperture sight and a taller front sight to work with it. Reblue and clean up the wood. I'd put a Leupold VX2 EIR scout scope or an M8 on it and probably spend close to the same amount of money.
Option 3 -
Keep it as is, maybe hunt with it when I don't want to use my 7mm Mag.
What do I do, and why?!
The rifle is in fair shape, not a lot of bluing left, and very minimal surface rust (most is on the follower). Wood is worn, but no cracks or chunks taken out. It came with a old, made in the USA Burris 3-9x scope, and is said to shoot sub MOA with certain hand loads.
Here is where my decisions come in.
I don't need a 308, and I'm not really a fan of the round.
Option 1 -
I'm thinking about having it rebarreled into a 7mm-08, and making sorta a light weight hunting rifle out of it. I'm a fan of wood/blued guns, so I'd have it reblued and clean the stock up. Collector value doesn't matter to me. I would then put a Leupold VX2 or VX3 4.5-14 or so. Figure rebarreled and blued I'll have about $1000 into the work, then $500 into a scope, and I'll have an awesome, packable, hunting rifle.
Option 2 -
I'm a really big fan of scout rifles. Another thought was to leave it a 308, have a gunsmith machine a rail to go forward of the receiver, come up with a rear aperture sight and a taller front sight to work with it. Reblue and clean up the wood. I'd put a Leupold VX2 EIR scout scope or an M8 on it and probably spend close to the same amount of money.
Option 3 -
Keep it as is, maybe hunt with it when I don't want to use my 7mm Mag.
What do I do, and why?!