I am having a rifle made. I found a stock at a retired gunsmith who is selling off this stock. He claimed it was Carlos's and was wondering if I should refinish or keep original. I don't doubt the validity of the smith.. local pastor..photos of the two of them... eastern North Carolina..ect. Just want to do right by him..
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White feather stock
- Thread starter Wirenut26
- Start date
I would keep it original, and get a copy of the picture. Re-finishing the stock removes the story, and it's a good story. I've seen much weaker provenance. It's an old stock for an old gun, why make it look new. It could look a lot worse. Back in the day, it was all the rage to butcher up your target stock.
Butchered Hammeli Free Rifle
Butchered Hammeli Free Rifle
Hard to tell from the pic but is it pillar bedded? Looks like shiny spots in the action screw holes almost like aluminum pillars in there... If so I'd put her together and shoot her as is to see how it does. I agree with @buffalowinter on the story part and getting the picture to go along with it if possible!
Pillars are installed. Going to get the new action a new glass bed. The whole nine yards.. that's the beauty of having a gunsmith wife
My bad.
I thought you had a picture of Carlos with the stock.
Reading comprehension on my part sucks.
Without provenance it is a nice item but one of thousands. I wouldn’t even tell the story because you become “that guy”, the guy that thinks his clone was a legit M40A1 that he bought off a dude that took it home from Vietnam in a MacMillan stock with a pencil barrel and a Winchester Model 70 style action.
According to Major Jim Land, Hathcock's issued M70 rifle used a *sporter* style stock (enlarged in the barrel channel) and a medium-heavy barrel. The lower rifle in this pic is reportedly what Hathcock carried. He apparently preferred the lighter weight of the Sporter stock vs the heavier Target stock, at least that is my understanding. The USMC had both styles, as noted in Senich's books/pics. Major Land was Carlos Hathcocks commanding officer during his first tour in Vietnam, and he’s still around, but haven’t seen him at a Quantico vintage rifle match since 2018, but his son still attends.
Pre 64 Winchester Model 70 Receivers for sale
Pre 64 Winchester Model 70 receivers, ejectors and bolt stops.
pre64win.com
Sounds to me like the perfect candidate for a "tribute build" of the .300 Win Mag that Gunny Hathcock won the Wimbledon Cup with in 1965 
Sounds to me like the perfect candidate for a "tribute build" of the .300 Win Mag that Gunny Hathcock won the Wimbledon Cup with in 1965
i can't find he ever used the win mag. H&H maybe but everything ive seen says 30-06
I don't have my old copy of Marine Sniper handy but I seem to remember his rifle being a M70 in .300WM in the chapter on his '65 Wimbledon Cup championship win. I'll have to double check that when I'm back home. I did find this on a search...
"Below is an excerpt from the book ‘Marine Sniper’ written by Charles Henderson. This gives a description of legendary sniper Carlos Hathcock’s preparation during his victorious 1965 Wimbledon cup match. Hathcock was using a .300 Winchester Magnum…
He laid his rifle on its side and began counting clicks as he turned the windage knob on the
side of his rifle’s telescopic sight. After noting the change in his data book, he checked his leather sling, making sure that it was adjusted to the proper length and wrapped around his upper arm at the exact spot where he had looped it each time he fired. With the sling making a half twist around his forearm, he slid his left hand, shielded by a thick leather shooting glove, up the hand guard of his rifle’s stock and jammed it tightly against the D-ring and swivel that held the sling to the rifle.
Slowly, Hathcock leaned his weight on his left elbow and began working the rifle’s butt tightly into his right shoulder. “Got to be tight. No room for it to slip, not here.” As the sling tightened and stretched to accommodate the tight fit of the rifle into his shoulder, he felt the strap bite painfully into his upper arm and trap the blood in his left hand and fingers. He looked at their tips protruding from the shooting glove and watched them turn red and deepen to purple."
