MILD? I have been shooting a 35 Rem. in Marlin 336 for about 10 years now, THAT is mild. In comparison my 270 in the Remington 760 is very close to the Whelen so I guess its all what your used to. I took an old WWII Mauser and did the conversion (completely) myself. With the help of Ebay for a forged bolt, InterArms adjustable trigger w/slide safety and the technical wisdom of a smithy Davis May (Thanks again my man) it all went together. I obtained a A&B barrel in the white, a Core-Lite Camo stock, a Simmons 2.8-10 X44 Aetec scope (all but the barrel was also from ebay) and Burris bases and rings. Various smith tools were purchased from Midway (vice jaws, action wrench, go-no-go guages) and once complete were promptly sold back on ebay. In all I guess the entire projec ended up running me about $200, not bad considering the outcome. I elected to try the Birchwood Casey cold blue system to see how it would come out. I first took all the metal parts to a friends and put them through a bead blaster to clean the up real good. Machined areas were well protected. Once that was completed I followed the B&C directions to the letter and applied 6 coats of the bluing, came out better than I had imagined, we will see about durability. I have attached a few pics below (hope I can do more than 1 ata time here) If not I will follow up w additional pics for ya.