Rem 700 BDL varmint .22-250

[Branxhunter]

For quite a few years my go-to fox spotlighting and long range bunny busting rifle has been an old BDL varmint .22-250 I picked up second hand in my LGS. It's the bottom one:



Until recently the only things I had done to it were to mount a Ziess Conquest 6.5-20x50 and fit a Rifle Basix trigger. It consistently shoots 50gn v-maxes into around 0.5" at 100m. I have no idea how many rounds the barrel has seen, and it's not even glass bedded.

I have always wanted to strip off the 'bowling ball' finish and replace the hard plastic butt plate with a thin rubber pad. Finally started on this project in the last few weeks. I had a furniture maker trim the curved butt end to suit the flat Pachmyer 250B pad. The original finish was taken of using 'Polystrippa' and I have been wet sanding the stock using 'Organoil' garden furniture oil. I'm up to 800grit wet and dry paper at the moment.







I'm liking the grain that has surfaced.

Marcus

[Gary in Illinois]

There was some very nice wood hiding under the factory finish. Congratulations!

[M595NUT]

Very well done! Looks fantastic! Good call taking the bowling pin finish off.

[pertnear]

Beautiful wood! Are you going to replace the forend cap & grip cap? I always hated the white line spacers Remington used.

Nice Job!

[260Ackley]

It almost appears to have a cherry red color. Is that just the lighting or an effect of your finish? If so how did you do it? Looks great

[Branxhunter]

Originally Posted by pertnear

Beautiful wood! Are you going to replace the forend cap & grip cap? I always hated the white line spacers Remington used.

Nice Job!

I would like to take them off, but I am not sure how they are attached - I assume glued and the forend tip is probably pinned as well. Maybe next time I decide to freshen it up.

Marcus

[Branxhunter]

Originally Posted by 260Ackley

It almost appears to have a cherry red color. Is that just the lighting or an effect of your finish? If so how did you do it? Looks great

I think the color is partly the late afternoon light, but the stock itself has a bit of color in it too. It's nothing to do with the finish I applied, but can't guarantee that it's not something to do with the factory finish. When I stripped off the factory finish and started lightly sanding the wood the dust was very much a rich red-brown color. I've refinished quite a few stocks and never seen that color before.

Marcus

[bbassi]

Looks really nice. How are you working around the checkering? I have one I'm going to be tackling soon.

[Branxhunter]

Originally Posted by bbassi

Looks really nice. How are you working around the checkering? I have one I'm going to be tackling soon.

Very carefully

Marcus

[Branxhunter]

Another 10 coats have gone on since the last photos - last one was the first rubbed in by hand.










Marcus