I posted a while back on a beautiful classic Mauser. Unfortunately, it had hidden problems and ultimately it went back.
I kept my eyes open and eventually found another 7mm. Mauser, this one a fifties- style custom gun on a Czech military action, with a Belgian Fabrique National sporter barrel, for half the already cheap price of the other.
It is of vintage 50's styling-- the Alpha E says I should hard- chrome it and get a sling with a pic of late- period Elvis.(He actually advised me to buy it-- Jonathan is no cheap snob).
But you know what? I shot 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards with it right out of the box, and its worksmanship is impeccable. I'm keeping it.
I could modify it to be more "classic" in style, but Lib reminds me how much it will irritate yuppie gun snobs...
I kept my eyes open and eventually found another 7mm. Mauser, this one a fifties- style custom gun on a Czech military action, with a Belgian Fabrique National sporter barrel, for half the already cheap price of the other.
It is of vintage 50's styling-- the Alpha E says I should hard- chrome it and get a sling with a pic of late- period Elvis.(He actually advised me to buy it-- Jonathan is no cheap snob).
But you know what? I shot 1 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards with it right out of the box, and its worksmanship is impeccable. I'm keeping it.
I could modify it to be more "classic" in style, but Lib reminds me how much it will irritate yuppie gun snobs...
8 comments:
Did you ever get that custom 7mm mentioned in Good Guns Again?
Sigh. Got, got broke, got sold-- story of my life. I doubt I'll afford bespoke guns again.
This one works though. I do love 7 X 57's and 16 bores, and have one of each.
Bummer about that German built Mauser with the cocking piece sight not working out, that was a really neat rifle.
Apart from the huge rollover on the comb, this one looks fine to me. I admit to a certain fondness for the style, no doubt due to the fact that when I was growing up in the 70's most of the older hunters carried something in bolt action, with an exotic wood endcap on the pistol grip and forend, a couple of white line spacers, and a Monte Carlo comb & cheekpiece. One thing about that stock, it is very comfortable and useful for deliberate offhand shooting. You pretty much never saw a classic stock at a metallic silhouette match.
Good hunting with the new rifle.
It was-- but the first stock cracks (repaired) followed by the fact the barrel was bent, followed by more cracks--! Replacing both stock and barrel seemed dumb.
Whereas this one needed only a little aftermarket work (slightly undersize chamber which nevertheles had been in use for years) to shoot more accurately than I can. The cheekpiece actually didn't hurt as you surmise.
I admit a certain fondness for the style-- it is of a period as you say, pre- snobbery so to speak, and nicely done. The checkering is superb, and the price was absurd. I notice that friend John Barsness is leaving the white spacers in his vintage Springfields.
(Mine's butt spacer actually has "lightning" ZIGZAGS! Can you see them?)
A friend wants to get me an old Husqvarna classic featherweight with a fascinating history. Maybe that will become a "mountain rifle" and this, same caliber, for the plains. To be continued?
Deja vu all over again. I would say that I owned that rifle, purchased in about 1976, except that (a) mine was .30-06 and (b) the chrome-and-tailfins stock broke when I accidentally booted it out of a tree stand.
thanks for the flashback
I can't see the lightning zigzags, but the thought makes me laugh. If it were a 7 mm Rem. Magnum or some hot wildcat, lightning zigzags would just be tacky. On a rifle in the venerable and mild 7mm Mauser, they strike me as camp.
I've hardly ever seen a Husqvarna but have read that they are really well made. A nice light mountain rifle sounds like the perfect complement and backup to this one.
Since only accurate rifles are interesting, it looks as though you've really found something. 160's or 175's for elk?
I agree re "Lightning".
For elk, 175. But I have been shooting 140's so far as a "plains" (antelope) load.
Was it a k98 originally?
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