@deltawiskey what was the lead time on your Hart barrel? I have a similar collection of parts but really need to order the barrel and was leaning towards a Hart for an early build.
Last edited:
Hart makes some of the Best Rifle Barrels ive ever used!
Couple nice M40A1 pictures I found tonight:
Sergeant Derek Lovell, US Marine, 2D Reconnaissance Battalion, using an M40A1 sniper rifle fires upon human-sized targets with color-coded circles on a firing range during a weapons training element on Range 1-Alpha at the Empire Range Complex, Camp Hayes, Panama Canal
Sergeant Jason Bombachi, US Marine, 2D Reconnaissance Battalion, fires an M40A1 sniper rifle at human-sized targets with color-coded circles on a firing range during a weapons training element on Range 1-Alpha at the Empire Range Complex, Camp Hayes, Panama Canal
Sergeant Derek Lovell, US Marine, 2D Reconnaissance Battalion, using an M40A1 sniper rifle fires upon human-sized targets with color-coded circles on a firing range during a weapons training element on Range 1-Alpha at the Empire Range Complex, Camp Hayes, Panama Canal
Sergeant Jason Bombachi, US Marine, 2D Reconnaissance Battalion, fires an M40A1 sniper rifle at human-sized targets with color-coded circles on a firing range during a weapons training element on Range 1-Alpha at the Empire Range Complex, Camp Hayes, Panama Canal
The guy in the second picture (they spelled his name wrong) was a good friend of mine back in the day, haven’t heard from him in years though. Last time I hung out with him, 2001 Ft Lauderdale Air and Sea Show with me on the USS Battan and “Bam-Bam” as a civvie, it was a long drunken night full of beer and whiskey, followed by getting back to the boat five minutes late that got my pecker slapped and not allowed to go back out the next night. Our XO was such a fag.
Good times…
Question on the bottom metal. Will the PTG Rem 700 m40a1 bdl bottom metal work as a replacement to the model 70 bottom metal. The description says its a replica of the m40a1 model 70 bdl bottom metal.
Can anyone provide any assistance ID’ing or any knowledge about any M40ish rifles Remington’s Custom Shop built? I say this very loosely for this reason: A nice but older gentleman at a local gun show has this rifle he stated he got from the wife of his friend that passed away. He also stated that the fella that passed away waited 6+ months to order the rifle directly from Remington.
It’s an E series prefix (so definitely older), inscribed Remington 700, possibly a PTG or Badger bottom metal, smooth faced trigger, not clip slotted, fluted barrel, and a recognizable muzzle brake/suppresser host that I can’t recall. He’s calling it a M40a1, but apart from the smear stock I can’t see anything that shows it to be anything other than a custom built 700. It has badger rings and a mark 4 10x fixed scope. Condition is 10/10, fella said he didn’t think his friend fired it. Obviously there is no paperwork, just word of mouth. Any help or leads as to just what this is?!
It’s an E series prefix (so definitely older), inscribed Remington 700, possibly a PTG or Badger bottom metal, smooth faced trigger, not clip slotted, fluted barrel, and a recognizable muzzle brake/suppresser host that I can’t recall. He’s calling it a M40a1, but apart from the smear stock I can’t see anything that shows it to be anything other than a custom built 700. It has badger rings and a mark 4 10x fixed scope. Condition is 10/10, fella said he didn’t think his friend fired it. Obviously there is no paperwork, just word of mouth. Any help or leads as to just what this is?!
Attachments
Last edited:
There ain't nothing M40 about that thing.
Unfortunately, thats nothing like an M40A1. Its a nice custom 700. And may have been inspired by the A1 and thr best the person could do.
I don’t think M40A1s were ever made by Remington or their custom shop. I think the A1 was a marine grunts and craft special. @USMCSGT0331 and @Redmanss and others can tell you more. Im just a cloning nerd.
I appreciate all the info! More so wondering if it’s possibly a custom shop gun. Trying to figure out that muzzle brake too. It has two indentations at 3 and 9 for a suppressor but I can’t place it. I knew it actually wasn’t an a1 or any iteration of a m40, however that’s what it was represented as by someone who obviously meant well but isn’t knowledgeable. There are no makers marks that would be typical of a custom rifle either on the action or barrel.
Wanted to share it here because I knew there were a ton of folks with a lot more experience and knowledge than I possess. Thanks for the info!
Didn’t think so, but wanted to leave it to the professionals to verify!
As you and others have identified already, it’s not anything M40A1 - well, unless you count Tom Berenger’s “M40A1” in the 1993 movie Sniper.
But here’s my observations:
- It has a McMillan HTG stock in molded-in woodland camo (not smear or even USMC forest camo) with textured grip and fore end, sling studs instead of Witchita sling swivels, and what looks like a black 1” decelerator pad.
- it has what looks like a Leupold Mk4 10X M3 or M3A scope on it with Ultra or early style Mk4 rings. If the scope has a mil-dot reticle in it, it would be worth more than a “regular” Mk4 10X with current production rings, as it would fit well on an earlier M24 build.
- The bottom metal looks like a regular BDL floorplate (which Badger never made, to my knowledge). It does have a flat, smooth finish to it though (unlike the gloss finish of the older factory floorpkates, or the crinkled finish of the newer factory floorplates). So this could imply an aftermarket floorplate like PTG, or one that has been custom refinished?
Any custom markings on the barrel?
Nice older build overall though.
Some folks just love to “strap hang” on the M40A1 designation to try to boost their cred, because they don’t feel their shit has it to start.
That rifle is as much an M40A1 as a Kia is a Mercedes. They’re both rifles, the similarities end there.
Give a hard pass on that one, simply because they’re full of shit and who knows what else is wrong with it.
That rifle is as much an M40A1 as a Kia is a Mercedes. They’re both rifles, the similarities end there.
Give a hard pass on that one, simply because they’re full of shit and who knows what else is wrong with it.
If it was actually made by the Remington Custom Shop, it would more than likely have something like "Remington Custom Shop" engraved on the top of the barrel. This was extremely common for them to do, I have both rifles and bolt action pistols in my collection with this marking on the tops of the barrel. For rifles with a carbon fiber barrel, they marked it "Remington Custom Shop) elsewhere (I'd have to check mine). Unless the rifle is actually marked this way and/or has documentation proving it's provenance, I'd say that this rifle is just a generic rifle build, and not something that was made by the Remington Custom Shop.
You're completely correct, and unfortunately every rifle with a McMillan HTG stock is always an "M40A1," no matter how incredibly wrong it actually is. Same thing with all rifles that are built on a McMillan A4 stock, those are suddenly M40A3's or M40A5's. I can't tell you guys how many "XM's" I've seen over the years, just because the rifles have a McMillan A1-3 stock and a shorter barrel. Just because 1 part of the rifle is sort of correct (even though it's the wrong color and has other issues), idiots immediately call it an M40xx or whatever other military rifle it might look similar to. It's disgusting, and I see it on the forums all the time too.
This happens with all sorts of other rifles. Over on ar15.com it's a major problem with people posting some garbage AR15 build that has a Daniel Defense handguard in the Mk18 and M4A1 Block II clone threads. Literally everything about the AR15 will be completely wrong, but since it has DD FDE handguard, the owner think that it's a Block II clone. They clog up really helpful clone threads with trash, and then get absolutely butt hurt when people call out their trash.
Some of these guys are completely clueless, others are trolling, and the worst are the people who are complete assholes who fake everything and purposefully lie to customers. For example, take a look at the trash that Rocke Guns has listed for sale on Gunbroker. That asshole just makes whatever he feels like making, engraves completely fake markings, and them tries to pass the guns off as super rare contract overruns or whatever. How GB still allows him to sell stuff on their auction site is beyond ridiculous. He lies about everything, and the buyer thinks they bought a real military/police/whatever firearm. The buyer will tell all of their friends that he just got a genuine item, and just can't internally process the fact that they bought a fake gun.
As for the above rifle that's in question, it sounds like the guy selling it knows what he's doing, and it's wrong. He obviously put an M40A1 manual with the rifle, and even of the Remington Custom Shop had built the gun, they wouldn't be supplying M40A1 manuals. He put "M40A1" on the price tag that's attached to the rifle, and he's been calling the gun an "M40A1." He's calling it a Remington Custom Shop build even though the rifle isn't marked and there's no proof of it being built there. The guy sounds like a typical scammer. I wouldn't doubt it if he's been told by multiple people that this isn't even close to being qn M40A1 sniper rifle, and he just stubbornly claims something stupid like "how do you know it's not an M40A1, have you seen all of them that were made?" Also, that's not a smear stock on that rifle, it's just a regular HTG stock with the wrong camo pattern and incorrect grip/forend molded-in texture. There's literally nothing correct about that rifle in regards to it being an A1 clone, and it probably wasn't built by the Remington Custom Shop. The entire rifle is one big lie, and the seller should be ashamed of himself. And if the seller were an honest man, 5 seconds after a Google search he would know that this isn't any type of M40xx clone build. He either knows the truth and wants to lie to customers, or he's willfully ignorant.
@ChiefSillyHorse, sorry about the negativity, none of this is directed at you, this falls squarely onto the shoulders of the seller. I just can't stand shit like this, and sellers like this need to be called out on this nonsense.
No offense taken at all… I figured as much of an answer was coming, but wanted to verify with those that know a lot more than I do about these things. As per my original post, I had serious doubts about the rifle, and I think there’s no doubt the gun is just some custom build that’s been passed off as something way cooler (intentionally or not).
The best part about this post is that I learned more about M40’s than I previously knew. I’ve used the resources of the Hide for many years and it never fails me!
Thanks for all of the info gents!
is there a thread with pictures of the return stocks? Might be fun to capture the variation across them in a single space. Either way, obligatory pictures. I don’t know if the paint job was added afterwards, but looking at wear on it I suspect it’s the original paint as turned in.
I am also curious about this - I've just started the search for the Winchester bottom metal and the PTG looks like a great option.
Made it out to the range today and brought mine for a test run. Today the weather was nice, a quartering breeze that swung left to right and in the 60's. Shot these three groups with Remington Premiere 168 SMK top, M118 LR 175 gr SMK middle and Fed Gold Medal Match 168 gr bottom. The flyer with 118LR in not surprising, if I had taken the time to sort the ammo I might have weeded it out, but a single flyer in five seems normal for that lot.
I did the break-in when I sighted the scope about a month ago. Cold bore first shot was in the inner 3/4th inch ring of the paster. I'm looking forward to taking it out to my private 1/2 mile in a few weeks. Between relatives passing away, selling a house, moving a house load of furniture, tax season and assorted projects my time is limited these days. Today was a nice day at the range and the results were very nice.
Looks a lot like the old Robar SR90
I put an order in for the PTG M40A1 repro bottom metal a few days. For $200 it includes the complete guard and floorplate, guard screw, and action bolts. We will see.
It will be going in a new McMillan usmc spec stock inletted for the M70 bottom metal. Hoping for a reasonably good fit but I'll get out the dremel if need be.
It will be going in a new McMillan usmc spec stock inletted for the M70 bottom metal. Hoping for a reasonably good fit but I'll get out the dremel if need be.
Last edited:
I saw them last night, let me know your thoughts once you receive it.
I'm looking forward to your review!
DW
Looks like the front screw could use some material coming off the stock to lower it down. I know mine is a different brand but here is how mine fits after being sent to Raven Rifles when he bedded it
Last edited:
Yes thats whats going to have too happen!
Put the stock in the mill to fit this bottom metal better.
Trigger guard does not sit deep enough either
Dang, that's a bummer. I expect mine will fit the same. No order updates as of yet.
PTG has been really weird with some of the Remington 700 and 40X receivers. I know a guy who bought a 40X receiver from PTG, and they told him that it was a prototype M40 receiver. I took a look at it and the receiver isn't even from the 1960's! It wasn't a prototype I've heard from another friend that they might actually be the ones marking receivers with the "US" right above the serial number. I can't confirm this, but that's the rumor. The US stamps are far too low to be M40 stamps, they're more reminiscent of the much later M24 "US" stamps. Again, some stuff I can verify with what's going on at PTG, and other things abound I haven't been able to verify. Just know this, if PTG says it's an M40 receiver, there's pretty much a 100% chance that it is NOT an M40 receiver! Don't fall for their bullshit, that company is sketchy as fuck!
Remember, you guys can always shoot me a message on here if you want me to take a look at something, and I'll do my best to help identify or verify any potential M40 parts you've come across. I currently have 17 pages of messages on my account, and I usually have a few people contact me each day (4 different people today). I'm willing to do whatever I can to help the members of this community, so please ask questions before spending a ton of money on something that might just be junk! I spend a few hours every single day talking to people about firearms, and I don't charge anything for my time and work. Not a single penny. So, you literally have nothing to lose by reaching out and asking for help, that's why I'm here! If you guys don't want to talk to me, then there's a lot of other amazing forum members here who would be more than happy to help out as well! Just please try your best to verify the items authenticity before purchasing the parts.
As of right now, I highly recommend that people stay away from anything that PTG is calling an "M40 receiver." It's possible that they could have gotten something weird from Remington, such as 1 or 2 titanium 700SA prototype M40A6 receivers (yes, Remington did build some crazy stuff for the Corps, like a titanium 700 receiver in a black M40A6 chassis, they also built a few long action M40A7 prototypes) of whatever, but the odds of that happening are ridiculously low. If PTG did have anything like these prototype receivers (one in a million chance, literally), they'd be long gone by now! So, I'll say it again - stay away from anything that PTG is calling an "M40 receiver!"
I would love to find another source for a M40A1 bottom metal and not use this PTG reproduction
I dont know where to get one from
I dont know where to get one from
As @pmclaine posted in this thread, get in contact with the guy who runs this website:
https://pre64win.com/collections/bottom-metal
He's also a member of this forum and he's a trusted seller. Call or email him, and ask about purchasing the correct M70 bottom metal and trigger guard that you need.
If that doesn't work, set up saved searches on ebay, those parts usually pop up over there. And lastly, I'm going o discuss these parts with Chad Dixon and see if we might be able to get some reproductions made after we wrap up the Unertl scope mounts. I have a few original USMC used M40A1 M70 bottom metal and trigger guards that I can send out to Chad. He can use those original items to make reproductions. (No, these original USMC parts are not for sale, they go to my original A1 smear stocks, so whoever reads this, please don't contact me asking to buy these parts. This happens pretty much every single time I post about original parts, so I need to start using disclaimers such as this one)
Start by talking to the Pre-64 Winchester website guy, set up the ebay saved searches with proper keywords, and I'll post any updates as soon as I talk to Chad.
I seen the -SUPER GRADE- bottom metal on there. That would be nice to use on a smear.
Mine is from TMA ( The Hogs Den ) he like PTG is sketchy as fuck. It didn’t fit as tight until I sent it to Raven Rifles. When he bedded it he made it fit the way it does. I’ll change my post above to reflect that. I don’t think you will get a perfect fit with anyone’s. There are two many companies for McMillan to be able to nail it perfectly
Mine is from TMA ( The Hogs Den ) he like PTG is sketchy as fuck. It didn’t fit as tight until I sent it to Raven Rifles. When he bedded it he made it fit the way it does. I’ll change my post above to reflect that. I don’t think you will get a perfect fit with anyone’s. There are two many companies for McMillan to be able to nail it perfectly
When they first popped up on PTG I picked up 2 of the XM Darpa receivers and they were both marked 40x. I was told that the XM3's that Remington was producing out of the custom shop were on 40x's and mine were legit. Also picked up a few "M40" actions and "M40" barreled actions. Looks like I might have been hoodwinked. The XM3 that I just put together was on one of the said "real-ish" Darpa receiver. FUCK
Remington custom shop offered xm3's, I know they aren't legit. Hence why I stated it the way I did about the actions I acquired
Attachments
Looks like it likes the gold metal match the best. How far out were you shooting.
Similar threads
