A quest to upgrade; the culmination of 8 months of selling, buying, and swapping firearms

Back last Christmas I had a sudden change in taste and wanted to go from several decent affordable stainless/grey laminate rifles to fewer, higher quality blued/walnut pieces. I started by selling my entire collection of Browning, Ruger, and Marlin firearms. Being left handed I knew this was going to be a bit of a task but ended up coming across a few basic Win model 70’s. Intending to keep these, I started looking to upgrade them and things started to get out of hand- in the best possible way! Several unexpected trade deals came together and I ended up landing some much nicer pieces than I had thought would be possible. Below are the results of many months of effort, shipping hassles and damages, digging for specific items, etc. From left to right;
LH Win model 70 CFR semi custom 35 Whelen. Action has been blueprinted and trued, Douglas air gage barrel installed with NECG irons and barrel band, stock stripped, lightly reshaped, ebony tip added, red oil base to bring out the natural color and grain with a hand rubbed oil finish. Topped with a Zeiss Diavari 2.5-10x40 mounted in Warne Q/D rings.
LH Win model 70 CRF full custom .416 B&M. Built by SSK industries featuring an Accuracy International Bastogne walnut stock. Topped with a Zeiss Diavari 3-9x36 mounted in Warne Q/D rings.
Chapuis Super Orion Express O/U double rifle in .30R Blaser. RMR type reflex sight utilizing the Skinner Sights adaptor and mounting plate.

Very nice!

The stock is probably an Accurate Innovations https://www.aigunstocks.com/
Accuracy International makes sniper rifles/chassis in England.

Thank you for catching that! Somehow autocorrect really screwed me on that one, lol! I thought I had typed Accurate Innovations- must have fat fingered a few keys and it got changed to that.

Imagine how silly the makers will feel when they realise they put the bolt on the wrong side of the gun!

Beautiful pieces mate.

Albert GRANT said:

Back last Christmas I had a sudden change in taste and wanted to go from several decent affordable stainless/grey laminate rifles to fewer, higher quality blued/walnut pieces. I started by selling my entire collection of Browning, Ruger, and Marlin firearms. Being left handed I knew this was going to be a bit of a task but ended up coming across a few basic Win model 70’s. Intending to keep these, I started looking to upgrade them and things started to get out of hand- in the best possible way! Several unexpected trade deals came together and I ended up landing some much nicer pieces than I had thought would be possible. Below are the results of many months of effort, shipping hassles and damages, digging for specific items, etc. From left to right;
LH Win model 70 CFR semi custom 35 Whelen. Action has been blueprinted and trued, Douglas air gage barrel installed with NECG irons and barrel band, stock stripped, lightly reshaped, ebony tip added, red oil base to bring out the natural color and grain with a hand rubbed oil finish. Topped with a Zeiss Diavari 2.5-10x40 mounted in Warne Q/D rings.
LH Win model 70 CRF full custom .416 B&M. Built by SSK industries featuring an Accuracy International Bastogne walnut stock. Topped with a Zeiss Diavari 3-9x36 mounted in Warne Q/D rings.
Chapuis Super Orion Express O/U double rifle in .30R Blaser. RMR type reflex sight utilizing the Skinner Sights adaptor and mounting plate.
View attachment 796963View attachment 796964View attachment 796965

Click to expand...

Very nicely done!!!

Slow market for LHs these days.

Great rifles. Well done. I guess the one I picked up from ya helped you out!

Albert GRANT said:

I started by selling my entire collection of Browning, Ruger, and Marlin firearms. Being left handed I knew this was going to be a bit of a task...

Click to expand...

You are a stronger man than I am. Consolidating some of my left-handed rifles into a smaller group of nicer rifles would be a smart thing for me to do. But every time I start trying to figure out which ones I should part with, I wind up falling in love with each one of them again for the exact reasons I bought them in the first place. The last time I seriously considered doing this, I ended up buying another rifle to add to the collection instead. It's a problem (but as the OP said, in the best possible way)!

Love the 35 Whelen! No company ever made a factory left-handed model in that caliber so I think I've only seen one other at an auction before. It was a rebarreled LH Weatherby but the OP's is way nicer.

I know you worked hard for these upgrades. Great looking bunch of rifles. Congrats

Well done, beautiful pieces! I also love the Whelen, as I’m fond of 35’s.

Albert GRANT said:

Back last Christmas I had a sudden change in taste and wanted to go from several decent affordable stainless/grey laminate rifles to fewer, higher quality blued/walnut pieces. I started by selling my entire collection of Browning, Ruger, and Marlin firearms. Being left handed I knew this was going to be a bit of a task but ended up coming across a few basic Win model 70’s. Intending to keep these, I started looking to upgrade them and things started to get out of hand- in the best possible way! Several unexpected trade deals came together and I ended up landing some much nicer pieces than I had thought would be possible. Below are the results of many months of effort, shipping hassles and damages, digging for specific items, etc. From left to right;
LH Win model 70 CFR semi custom 35 Whelen. Action has been blueprinted and trued, Douglas air gage barrel installed with NECG irons and barrel band, stock stripped, lightly reshaped, ebony tip added, red oil base to bring out the natural color and grain with a hand rubbed oil finish. Topped with a Zeiss Diavari 2.5-10x40 mounted in Warne Q/D rings.
LH Win model 70 CRF full custom .416 B&M. Built by SSK industries featuring an Accuracy International Bastogne walnut stock. Topped with a Zeiss Diavari 3-9x36 mounted in Warne Q/D rings.
Chapuis Super Orion Express O/U double rifle in .30R Blaser. RMR type reflex sight utilizing the Skinner Sights adaptor and mounting plate.
View attachment 796963View attachment 796964View attachment 796965

Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, how do you like the 30R Blaser?
How does it shoot/recoil?
Do you find it difficult to find ammo or reloading components?
Very nice collection you have.

great selection of rifles following your upgrade process

DmacD said:

Just out of curiosity, how do you like the 30R Blaser?
How does it shoot/recoil?
Do you find it difficult to find ammo or reloading components?
Very nice collection you have.

Click to expand...

So far I like it. I haven't had an opportunity to take an animal with it yet, but it's a great rifle- easy to shoot with a very fast follow up. Recoil in this light, short rifle is lighter than I expected, but the .30R is just slightly hotter than .30-06, so it's not bad anyway. As for the ammo, in the US it is almost impossible to get- for you, being in Canada, it should be easier to come by as I believe RWS is still readily available there. I ended up finding that 9.3x74R can be converted for use in the .30R and am loading my own ammo, which I have no problem with.

odonata said:

You are a stronger man than I am. Consolidating some of my left-handed rifles into a smaller group of nicer rifles would be a smart thing for me to do. But every time I start trying to figure out which ones I should part with, I wind up falling in love with each one of them again for the exact reasons I bought them in the first place. The last time I seriously considered doing this, I ended up buying another rifle to add to the collection instead. It's a problem (but as the OP said, in the best possible way)!

Love the 35 Whelen! No company ever made a factory left-handed model in that caliber so I think I've only seen one other at an auction before. It was a rebarreled LH Weatherby but the OP's is way nicer.

Click to expand...

Boyd Brooks said:

Well done, beautiful pieces! I also love the Whelen, as I’m fond of 35’s.

Click to expand...

It was a hard decision, though for some like the Browning, I knew it was going to be replaced by the model 70- both in 35 Whelen, so that made it easier. I think the Ruger made Marlin 1895 SBL .45-70 was actually the hardest to decide to let go as it was the only lever gun I had and knew I would not be getting another. That was definitely made up for with the acquisition of the Chapuis! The big thing for me is lack of available funds, so going out and just buying another rifle without selling one is not an option. With these, I am likely out of the new rifle game now, unless something special happens- but if these are the last 3 rifles I own, I can happily live with that.
It took a long time for me to give the 35's a try but I quickly found it to be one of my favorites, when I finally did give the Whelen a try. Now I can't imagine being without a .35/9.3 of some sort. This one will be my main workhorse. I've never been a big fan of .30 cal in general, but this combo- .308/.358/.416 should pretty well cover me for anything

I also am a lefty, it is very difficult to find and actually "like" the left hand rifles that are available.

93marlin said:

I also am a lefty, it is very difficult to find and actually "like" the left hand rifles that are available.

Click to expand...

I have learned, the chances of getting the "Perfect" rifle are pretty slim in LH and you need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone to find the unexpected gems. The .416 B&M was that for me. Loved the looks of the rifle but had never heard of the B&M cartridges and have never owned a proprietary cartridge. But I didn't let that hold me back this time and I love it.

Accurate Innovations does great work.

Tanks said:

Accurate Innovations does great work.

View attachment 797150

View attachment 797151

Click to expand...

Is that the .458, Andy? Did they do the whole rifle or just the stock on this one?

Albert GRANT said:

I have learned, the chances of getting the "Perfect" rifle are pretty slim in LH and you need to be willing to step out of your comfort zone to find the unexpected gems. The .416 B&M was that for me. Loved the looks of the rifle but had never heard of the B&M cartridges and have never owned a proprietary cartridge. But I didn't let that hold me back this time and I love it.

Click to expand...

If you want to step up to the big bores I can make you a deal on a .500 MDM. Here is a pic. Then you would have my PG and DG battery from some years back.

Albert GRANT said:

Is that the .458, Andy? Did they do the whole rifle or just the stock on this one?

Click to expand...

Rifle was by SSK, stock was by them. To clarify I provided the action SSK did the barrel and put it together.