stainless or blued action for custom rifle

[depopulator]

I'm new to this forum, but am a long time 6mm remington and .243 winchester fan. Fantastic website and forum. So you guys got me thinking about a new project.

I have a model 700 .243 BDL deluxe in blued steel. I am thinking of using this action as the basis for a .243 AI project, to include a stainless fluted med/heavy contour barrel and some kind of,unsure as of yet) varmint/tactical/benchrest stock.

Or do I invest in a new stainless rifle,maybe Rem SPS SS or Howa) to get a hold of a stainless action and have it built into a .243 AI custom ?

I also have a mauser 98,parker Hale) in 6 mm Remington, any thoughts on this action as the basis for a custom job,either 6mm Rem of 6mm AI) ?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[tightneck]

Blued or stainless doesn't matter except for the asthetics. Neither one will be true enough for your project, so the action will need a truing job before it is rebarreled. I personally like the look of a blue reciever and a stainless barrel. If you do the reciever work, then all you will have invested is time. If not you will have the cost of the rifle plus about $150-$200 in truing fees. The other option especially if you don't plan to use the current stock is to sell the rifle, and buy a Stiller Predator action,$695) or a Lawton,about the same) or a Borden Alpine,$850) and start out with a custom action that doesn't need to be trued at all. All three of these actions are designed to drop into a rem 700 inletted stock.