204 AR
Well-known member
Last week my old hunting partner and friend called me and asked if I had time on the weekend to meet up, he said he had something he wanted to give me. I had an idea what it was, but didn't think it was appropriate to ask before he was ready to tell. You see, his sight is getting progressively worse, to the point that coyote hunting is, well, almost pointless except for the time spent afield. His overall health is becoming a bit frail as well. It's been a fun 10 years or so hunting with him and I learned alot about hunting and life from his decades of experience. I'm starting to get a little longer in the tooth as well so some of the more important things in life are not lost on me either.
So we visited for quite a while looking over decades of hunting photos and telling stories. Then he pulled out an old rifle he had had built about 20 years ago.
You see, he lived in my hometown, but moved there several years after I moved on and I never knew him then. And this rifle was built by a part time, self taught gunsmith whom I had spent a lot of time with in my teens. He sporterized untold numbers of military rifles and sold them at bargain prices. His work was good, but not world class by any means. He just liked doing it, and got a lot of local people into good shooting rifles for a good price, and often worked up a good load for it to boot. This old boy just passed away a couple years back, well into his 90's, after a life that included flying fighters in ww2, and climbing power poles for over 40 years. I regretted not buying, and keeping, a rifle he had built, just because.
So back to the rifle. 98 Mauser, 27" Shilen stainless tube chambered in 22-6mm, and a worked over military stock that he turned into a straight grip stock and checkered. In his earlier work he used a lot of Fajen stocks, but later felt they got too expensive. Aftermarket trigger that feels very good. 1 piece redfield scope mount. And military safety, so basically no safety with a scope on it. The action is polished nicely and browned as opposed to blued. I got it home and scoped the bore. Didn't look too bad, he didn't shoot it a whole lot because he couldn't get it to shoot to his expectations, and he gave me the targets to show what he had done. Some were pretty good, some not so good. I felt it should shoot better than that. After a good cleaning, I'm pretty happy with the condition of the bore, and the chamber looks really good.
I pulled it apart to find the barrel was bedded in the chamber area, and again at the tip of the forearm. But nothing in the action. So yesterday I bedded the whole action, and today bedded the bottom metal. I was pretty shocked it hadn't been done because I never knew the old gunsmith to not bed an action on a new build. And honestly, the bedding wasn't even close to being good. So I think I figured out why it didn't shoot that great lol. I have high hopes when I get it done it's going to be a tack driver.
Anyway, just wanted to share the neat gesture. I'll get some pics up when I get it all put back together.
So we visited for quite a while looking over decades of hunting photos and telling stories. Then he pulled out an old rifle he had had built about 20 years ago.
You see, he lived in my hometown, but moved there several years after I moved on and I never knew him then. And this rifle was built by a part time, self taught gunsmith whom I had spent a lot of time with in my teens. He sporterized untold numbers of military rifles and sold them at bargain prices. His work was good, but not world class by any means. He just liked doing it, and got a lot of local people into good shooting rifles for a good price, and often worked up a good load for it to boot. This old boy just passed away a couple years back, well into his 90's, after a life that included flying fighters in ww2, and climbing power poles for over 40 years. I regretted not buying, and keeping, a rifle he had built, just because.
So back to the rifle. 98 Mauser, 27" Shilen stainless tube chambered in 22-6mm, and a worked over military stock that he turned into a straight grip stock and checkered. In his earlier work he used a lot of Fajen stocks, but later felt they got too expensive. Aftermarket trigger that feels very good. 1 piece redfield scope mount. And military safety, so basically no safety with a scope on it. The action is polished nicely and browned as opposed to blued. I got it home and scoped the bore. Didn't look too bad, he didn't shoot it a whole lot because he couldn't get it to shoot to his expectations, and he gave me the targets to show what he had done. Some were pretty good, some not so good. I felt it should shoot better than that. After a good cleaning, I'm pretty happy with the condition of the bore, and the chamber looks really good.
I pulled it apart to find the barrel was bedded in the chamber area, and again at the tip of the forearm. But nothing in the action. So yesterday I bedded the whole action, and today bedded the bottom metal. I was pretty shocked it hadn't been done because I never knew the old gunsmith to not bed an action on a new build. And honestly, the bedding wasn't even close to being good. So I think I figured out why it didn't shoot that great lol. I have high hopes when I get it done it's going to be a tack driver.
Anyway, just wanted to share the neat gesture. I'll get some pics up when I get it all put back together.
