Early McMillan Sniper rifle stocks
- Thread starter heh
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I was not aware they made the m40a1's in left hand. I had never seen a return In a lefty. Have some pics of them. Thats cool.
I don't know what a return stock is. I would assume it was a military stock sold back to the public. I believe I purchased my stocks from McMillan between 1978-1982. A gunsmith by the name of Fred Sinclair installed Rem 700 barreled actions in them for me.
Fred Sinclair from Sinclair as in bought by Brownells?
Pretty sure there are McMillan HTG smears that made it out into the civilian world. They were not exclusive to the USMC. Still it seems that there were not many of them.
Pretty sure there are McMillan HTG smears that made it out into the civilian world. They were not exclusive to the USMC. Still it seems that there were not many of them.
I missed a HTG smear on eBay a few years ago that was inlet for a 700 ADL and had a black recoil pad. I think the smear pattern was just they way all their camo patterns looked back then. It wasn't a USMC stock for sure but the appearance of the camo was definitely that old "smear" style.
Back when I got these stocks, a friend of mine was shooting bench rest and he recommended Fred Sinclair to use as my gunsmith. He showed me an article where Fred had built a lot of the top 20 bench guys guns. That's all I know about Fred Sinclair.
Did McNillan make a variant for the M-21 as well? Those might not have been as early as the M-40 stocks though. I do recall seeing pics of camo'd composite stocks on them. IIRC the handguard on the M-21's our guys used was composite, but the stock itself was still walnut.
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Here is a pic of what closely resembles what I saw. This is a composite stock. The one I saw had a little more green in it. Not much in the way of desert pattern camo back then. Woodland was almost exclusively the camo pattern. Desert patterns started coming out in the late '80's? I know I saw them on people pre GW1. But I can't recall seeing them on anybody when I was in. That was up to '85.
A guy's gotta do what a guys's gotta do to get what he needs. So what what if he lifts his pant leg and shows a little calf sometimes right?
Here is two stocks I recently rescued from Europe. They were previously owned by Andrew Evans-Hendrick of riflecraft. He was given several of them from gale mcmillian. Anyways just getting ready to send one off to Buck at CHwps to build one for me. I did acquire a barrel and action built by D.clark.
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There is an early Remington 700 available locally with the McMillan "smear" style stock on it. Reasonably priced but it's in 7mm and long action. As was said before McMillan wasn't making them specifically for the military although there aren't that many out there in civilian hands. I can link the ad on armslist if someone was interested.
You guys are making me feel old. I knew Gale and shot with Fred. Gale built my first new BR rifle. I wish I had kept that rifle. Both pioneers in the world of accuracy. I've been building rifles on the M40/HTG stock for all most 40 years. I still like that pattern. Anyone could and still can order one from McMillan.
Clark isn't with C&H anymore and it sounds like Buck has no idea how to build a rifle.
https://www.m40rifle.com/forum/m40a3/26324-c-h-m40a3-not-happy-whatsupwiththeboom
Send you stuff over to Mark at Raven Rifles, he specializes in the M40 series and will build you an amazing gun!
https://www.facebook.com/Raven-Rifles-398880836809820/
I have a return stock and in my research, I talked to Dick Davis. This is the information he sent me regarding the "Smear" return stocks from the U.S. Marine Corps. I hope this information helps.
From Dick Davis at Mcmillan Rifles:
" The early so called “smear” patterns were made with the old semi-translucent dye based color concentrates and were only produced for about the first two years of production, from about 1974 thru 1976 (about 200 stocks). Then the more opaque milled color concentrates became available in about 1977 and all the subsequent stocks thru the early 1990’s were made with them ( about 800 stocks). The camo pattern is the “Forest Camo” color, not the Woodland camo.
Regards, McMillans
From Dick Davis at Mcmillan Rifles:
" The early so called “smear” patterns were made with the old semi-translucent dye based color concentrates and were only produced for about the first two years of production, from about 1974 thru 1976 (about 200 stocks). Then the more opaque milled color concentrates became available in about 1977 and all the subsequent stocks thru the early 1990’s were made with them ( about 800 stocks). The camo pattern is the “Forest Camo” color, not the Woodland camo.
Regards, McMillans
USMCSGT0331,
Your post brings up an interesting question. About when were the M-16 style and Sako style extractors adopted? Or, even tried out for that case. I understand general opinion is the Sako style was dropped.
I know it's off the topic of the stocks, but since it pertains to the whole rifle I thought it good to ask.
Added: Sorry, I jumped ahead of myself. Tokiwarth's post, you gave the link for on the M40rifle website, describes the m16 extractors
Your post brings up an interesting question. About when were the M-16 style and Sako style extractors adopted? Or, even tried out for that case. I understand general opinion is the Sako style was dropped.
I know it's off the topic of the stocks, but since it pertains to the whole rifle I thought it good to ask.
Added: Sorry, I jumped ahead of myself. Tokiwarth's post, you gave the link for on the M40rifle website, describes the m16 extractors
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There are roughly 4 variations of the camo pattern on M40A1 stocks as delivered to the USMC from 1977 until the 1990s. Attached shows the earliest "smear" on the bottom (mostly green, presumably that is the 1977 period). followed by the more traditional smear in the 2nd from bottom, then 3rd form the bottom is the "semi-smear" pattern which is reportedly more rare than the 'traditional smear' pattern, and the top of the typical Forest camo pattern.
(Note; These are not my rifles, and I've been searching for any of the 3 bottom stock patterns for the past year so I can build an M40A1 replica, but I have not gotten the timing right...so no luck so far.) Anyhow, I hope this is helpful.
(Note; These are not my rifles, and I've been searching for any of the 3 bottom stock patterns for the past year so I can build an M40A1 replica, but I have not gotten the timing right...so no luck so far.) Anyhow, I hope this is helpful.
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Random Guy,
Thanks for that pic. I've seen second from the bottom and the top patterns. I can't recall seeing the bottom "smear" type stock in my travels. Doesn't mean they weren't there, though.
Thanks for that pic. I've seen second from the bottom and the top patterns. I can't recall seeing the bottom "smear" type stock in my travels. Doesn't mean they weren't there, though.
