What caliber is yours?
Does anybody still think the 40x is special?
- Thread starter Dusty Stevens
- Start date
Are they special? That’s in each individuals eyes. They are special to me. Just built an f class rifle from one. I have quite a collection of them and scoop up every one I can find and afford. But again I know people who collects all sorts of stuff. To each his own. Some people thinks they’re nothing more than a 700, and they might not be. But… they make me happy.
10XSHOOTER
Gold $$ Contributor
7.62 Nato/.308 Win
10XSHOOTER
Gold $$ Contributor
Kittitas George
Gold $$ Contributor
I've had two 40Xs, the current rifle is a 222Rem. barreled by Blagg Rifles in Pendleton, Ore. The other was special not because it was a 40X but because it was built by the best, Richard Franklin. It was a 6mm AI, and stocked by Mr. Franklin. I could shoot groups of 0.156 all day. I bought the gun to shoot long range prairie dogs, I had a spot in Montana theshooting started at over 300 yds. But, I lost my shooting partner and spotter, and my physical abilities went away. To nice a rifle to waste shooting paper, so I sold it. I had hoped to try prairie dogs at 1000 yds, but it never happened. Articles about and by Richard Franklin are on this web site. His rifles, as the articles say are very accurate and SPECIAL.
Infrequent Shooter
Gold $$ Contributor
Yeah, I think they are pretty special. I have a few. I never pulled the trigger on buying a 222Rem Mag to my regret. I like steel and wood.
butchlambert
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I guess, I have 2. One is a tincan shooter and the other I haven't fired.
jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
I have three of the RF 40-x's...2 B models and an earlier one with the "standard" barrel. Love the B models, haven't shot the older one yet,
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The original 40-X’s, as I understand it years before centerfires were begun and before the 700 was introduced.
The Winchester 52 was entrenched at the time. The 52 was said to cost more to produce than it sold for, a company halo product. I do not doubt it. Just ask Vudoo how enthralling rimfire fame can become.
They more than count, they are unmistakably no other product Remington made. The most expensive 40-X on guns international this week is a $10,000 rimfire sporter. In fact the next five most valuable are also rimfires.
Certain 40-X Rimfires are not only the most valuable 40-X’s but the most valuable rimfires, at least that I know of. The most valuable ammo by weight is Lapua X-Act rimfire, - if ever offered 100 free pounds of any factory ammo, pick it, then shoot it through a 40-X.
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Bob Smith 208
Silver $$ Contributor
So who would you gentlemen suggest to true up and maybe blueprint a rimfire 40X? I have a couple of actions and would like to make a 22 benchrest rifle out of one of them. Thanks,
Bob
Bob
I will admit though I wanted one as a kid. I believed the hype combined with the high price and diffaculty getting them. I also wanted a blue printed 700 as a kid.
Being the poor son of an Enlisted Man in 1970's-1990's I had to make due with a Blue-Printed Mauser with a Douglas chromoly barrel until I had my own money and could purchase what I wanted with my money.
Funny thing I won a lot with my old cheap Mauser that had been blue printed and rebarreled and restocked. I shot next to a lot of Winchesters and Springfields all tricked out as well! More than anything though I wanted a custom build on a Winchester Model 70 or Springfield action. I did own some WInchesters but never a custom build and I have never owned a Springfield!
Sadly by the time you know enough to truly make an informed decision your older than you needed to be.
Things are getting better all the time but when I tell people that a custom hunting rifle built on a blue printed Howa is much better than most other options it falls on deaf ears.
I tried to tell people that the Remington 700 was a pig in lipstick and not worth the money unless your soul intention was to purchase one and get it blue-printed and sleeved and pimp it out with aftermarket goodies since the early 1990's. Keeping in mind I had nothing against the Remington 700 other than even as a young teenager I could see that it was not much different than the Savage 110 in terms of it being a design that was compromised in almost every way to be cheaper to make than the Winchester M70 or Mauser 98 designs. The only real difference is that the Savage 110 Engineer managed to take even more money out of their design with out the general public noticing or caring!
Being the poor son of an Enlisted Man in 1970's-1990's I had to make due with a Blue-Printed Mauser with a Douglas chromoly barrel until I had my own money and could purchase what I wanted with my money.
Funny thing I won a lot with my old cheap Mauser that had been blue printed and rebarreled and restocked. I shot next to a lot of Winchesters and Springfields all tricked out as well! More than anything though I wanted a custom build on a Winchester Model 70 or Springfield action. I did own some WInchesters but never a custom build and I have never owned a Springfield!
Sadly by the time you know enough to truly make an informed decision your older than you needed to be.
Things are getting better all the time but when I tell people that a custom hunting rifle built on a blue printed Howa is much better than most other options it falls on deaf ears.
I tried to tell people that the Remington 700 was a pig in lipstick and not worth the money unless your soul intention was to purchase one and get it blue-printed and sleeved and pimp it out with aftermarket goodies since the early 1990's. Keeping in mind I had nothing against the Remington 700 other than even as a young teenager I could see that it was not much different than the Savage 110 in terms of it being a design that was compromised in almost every way to be cheaper to make than the Winchester M70 or Mauser 98 designs. The only real difference is that the Savage 110 Engineer managed to take even more money out of their design with out the general public noticing or caring!
During the day of if one had a rifle from factory that would shoot 2" groups from 100 yards....that was good enough....especially for the general public that still doesn't know what accuracy is or should be!! I purchased a new M70 Winchester years back because it was in left hand action and I had always wanted one. Very disappointing in the fact that with known good hand loads...that SOB couldn't hit due east! After I worked it over...it shot excellently! The factory folks just didn't give a hoot whether they shot or not! Kinda like building autos back then; build as cheap as possible and get it into the hands of the user and let them worry with it!!
The 40-X overlapped the Colt Python and the pre 1964 Winchester. Are we actually sure that production guns are better now?
When we talk about older rifles shooting larger groups, how much of that is a function of bullets and optics? I believe that scopes have leapt past their predecessors in power, clarity, reliability (and cost.)
Bullets and the ability to measure bullets have improved. A heavy barrel from the 1970’s may have been comparable though, but how would we ever know that it was not, since they were all used up shooting ammo of the period?
And steel on the other hand, would be trending downward to the extent that reclaimed trash metals find their way in, and the fact that generally the best mineral sources were found long ago.
No one would disagree that the old growth timber was denser and finer than the output of recent pine farms planted for maximum yield, or that old stationary paper from the era of handwriting as an art form was superior to modern recycled pulp.
Steel quality is, now and onward, an uphill legal battle because recycling is promoted, in the same way that corn has never been a positive for gasoline production, lead in gasoline was good for engines, turbocharger bodies made of plastic won’t last, and the Sig bought by the Army is an insult to the values of the 1911.
Further, the trend is to stop wearing out expensive machines and cutting tools, but machineability helps one or the other, not both of us.
We are all cognizant of lug galling, jacket brittleness and barrels that are not always accepted by customers, not for irregular dimensions or surfacing, but a metallurgical defect. We have even seen the worst type of defect occur on the line. Affordable metals may have already peaked.
Lastly, and you read it here first, the wind is dying, globally, and this has been ongoing for quite some time now, look it up. Record groups as indicators of better guns and shooters also do need to account for a longterm trend in weather cooperation that has been good for group size shooting.
When we talk about older rifles shooting larger groups, how much of that is a function of bullets and optics? I believe that scopes have leapt past their predecessors in power, clarity, reliability (and cost.)
Bullets and the ability to measure bullets have improved. A heavy barrel from the 1970’s may have been comparable though, but how would we ever know that it was not, since they were all used up shooting ammo of the period?
And steel on the other hand, would be trending downward to the extent that reclaimed trash metals find their way in, and the fact that generally the best mineral sources were found long ago.
No one would disagree that the old growth timber was denser and finer than the output of recent pine farms planted for maximum yield, or that old stationary paper from the era of handwriting as an art form was superior to modern recycled pulp.
Steel quality is, now and onward, an uphill legal battle because recycling is promoted, in the same way that corn has never been a positive for gasoline production, lead in gasoline was good for engines, turbocharger bodies made of plastic won’t last, and the Sig bought by the Army is an insult to the values of the 1911.
Further, the trend is to stop wearing out expensive machines and cutting tools, but machineability helps one or the other, not both of us.
We are all cognizant of lug galling, jacket brittleness and barrels that are not always accepted by customers, not for irregular dimensions or surfacing, but a metallurgical defect. We have even seen the worst type of defect occur on the line. Affordable metals may have already peaked.
Lastly, and you read it here first, the wind is dying, globally, and this has been ongoing for quite some time now, look it up. Record groups as indicators of better guns and shooters also do need to account for a longterm trend in weather cooperation that has been good for group size shooting.
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bradb
Silver $$ Contributor
The 40x will always hold a huge spot to me. I no longer have one but. It was the first accurate rifle I got, 22br. Had only had factory hunting rifles, I am all self taught. Got it, already had necked down 6br cases, of course they won't chamber, no internet, no cell, takes me a week to get a hold of custom shop, the give me a dimension for neck, excited to see what is up get home to realize they have me 6br. More calls to try to get them. Search magazines for gun writers and something that tells the town there from so I can call information in hopes of getting there numbers. Get a couple they help, also tell me to call Sinclairs, and get precision shooting magazine. Both a big help. Learn what neck turning is and read lots of other books. Finally got it working and it shoot really good. It made me learn quick and was very educational........... and cost me lots more money in my live of accuracy
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jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
You had EXACTLY the same situation I had with mine. (22BR Rem).
Mines a single shot, and I'll bet ours are similar age. jd
jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
I just read the sniper book about Chuck Mawhiney, and it indicated that the M40? was the new sniper rifle for the Viet Nam era. And those may have been the first 40X's -- I dunno. jd
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