Good to go...

[Char-Gar]

I got my bolt back from The Boltman . T he receiver and wood are inletted for the bolt and everything is ready to take my semi-finished Mauser Sporter to the range.
I need to see how it shoots before I do the final detailing, sanding and finishing.

The project has come along fine. I have styled the stock in classic 40s and 50s manner with Bob Owen being the target style. I used a minty Persian 98/29 barrel action, cut to 24"s. The rifle balances and shoulders like it was a part of me. Much care was taken with the dimensions and fit.

The tweaking load will be the Karabiner bullet sized .325 over 17/2400. If my allergies let up a little I will pull the trigger for the first time on Friday. It is always a thrilling an anxious moment when a rifle, built with your own hand speaks for the first time.

Oh yes.. I am very happy with the work done by The Boltman. Top quality work, good price and delivers on schedule.

[Buckshot]

...............Lets see, was it the 50's or maybe the 60's that was the era of the basketweave checkering, ivory or abalone inlays, white diamonds, full rollover cheekpieces, recurve pistolgrips, 45* back angled forends, etc, and etc :-) Remember those "Winslow" rifles :veryconfu

You WILL be providing photo's, won't you?!

.................Buckshot

[PPpastordon]

Buckshot;
Winslow? Yes.
Weatherby? Yes. And I believe they were a little ahead of the Winslow with such designs. But I am not certain when Weatherby started with them. I believe in the late 50's - but who can remember so long ago?:coffee:

[Char-Gar]

Oh yes, I remember the Winslow, the Weatherby and those wierd Anthony Guymon style stocks...the whole California Rococco style of gunstock. They made me sick back them and still do today. Not none of me boys!!!

I am talking Bob Owen, Leonard Brownell, Al Biesen, Dale Goens, Paul Yaeger, Griffin and Howe and all those boys who knew how to design gun stocks.

I will take my *** digital camera and see if I can get some decent pics.

[BruceB]

Yeah...even as a kid I had better taste than that. Of course, O'Connor and others had already got their grip on me very early on, so it's no surprise.

Ol' Jack once said, either on his own or as a quote from another wise soul, that "All lines in the shape of a rifle stock should be either straight, or segments of a perfect circle." As I've thought about that over a lot of years, it still makes pretty good sense (and very nice stocks!).

I find that many modern "American classic" stocks are just too FAT...too much wood. Ruger 77s, for example, have always had just a faint air of chubbiness to my eye, and I DO like the design. One day, I am gonna slim one of those factory 77 stocks to see what's hiding inside.

Look at the British custom sporters of the early 20th century, or a 1903 Mannlicher-Schoenauer, or the Mauser pre-war Oberndorf Sporters, for examples of SLEEK design and use of material. I know they were configured for iron sights, and getting a high-enough comb for scopes adds wood, but still....

BSA marketed a 6.5-pound .30-06 back in the '50s, and although it wasn't as pretty as some of those mentioned above, it showed what was possible in a 'minimalist' rifle set up for the scope sight. It also had a very effective and LOUD brake, in those days when hearing protection didn't get the attention it does today. WOW!

Chargar, here's another one hoping to see photos of the project. It sounds very nice indeed.

[Char-Gar]

Well I got the ammo loaded today. First 8 X 57s I have ever put together. I had to shove that Karabiner bullet WAY down in the case to chamber the round. I have all of the lube grooves below the neck and the bullet body way down in the boiler room. My barrel is pretty minty and not the least bit worn in the throat. We will see how this works.

I am thinking about ordering out a Lyman 8mm Loverin bullet mold. I think I will need it. But I can always have Buckshot make me a nose size die for the Karabiner.

I am off to the range in the morning. I am also taking along my new Springfield sporter. Today I loaded some linotype 311467s with the top two bands sized to 3015. I am expecting great things.

I have been so busy and felt so bad, I had not been to the range in four months. I have not been watching my diet and didn't realize just what a number that did on me. I have been back on eating right and laying off the whisky for two weeks and 90% of the pain is gone and I feel 20 years younger.. whoopee!!

Bruce... I like those slim Euro rifles as well. however you can go too slim. Those side panels on the Kraut sporters are not for looks. They are there so there is enough wood around the action to keep it from coming apart.

[longhorn]

OK-I'll admit it--I have a bit of a soft spot for those diamond-inlayed, rollover Monte Carlo'ed Weatherbys and Winslows. Lust in my heart, if you will. Now, I hasten to add-I don't own one; I just sort of admire 'em. I looked over a Winslow at a gunshow last month-absolutely impeccable fit and finish. Garish? Probably. I draw the "tasteful" line at stock carving, BTW. To each his own. Someday, though, I'll own a "classic" Weatherby in some big caliber just to judge if Elmer was really right in his love for the forward sloping Monte Carlo, as in felt recoil reduction--my right cheekbone seems to permanently bruised......

[3sixbits]

Longhorn: Man have I got a stock for you! It's a take off from a pre64 I got in a trade. This stock screams California all over it. I would have turned it in to saw dust if it had not had such great wood in it. What gives with folks from Texas and OK, with this style stock?

[Char-Gar]

I never thought of the pre64 Model 70 stock as California in style. It does have a forward sloaping Monte Carlo comb, but that alone doesn't make it California style.

The Monte Carlo comb came into popular usage after WWII to give the cheek a place to rest when using the increasingly popular scope sights. Post WWII classic stockmakers (Biesen, Brownell etc. ) modified their butt stock style for scope by reducing the drop of heel. This straighted out the stock and raised the cheek in the process. It also reduced felt recoil because the stock came straight back in recoil and the cheek was on the stock and not above it when using the scope.

In my mind the California Rococco style of stock has a high Monte Carlo comb with a cheekpiece. Many times this cheepiece rolls over the top of the comb. The foreend is square with the contrasting wood tip cut at an angle. Often this style of stock featured a flaired tear drop contrasting wood grip cap. Wood inlays in the forend and butt were also popular. Recoil pads were manditory and often flared from the wood.

[3sixbits]

Yes people had there Model 70's restocked with the style you describe, why, I guess cause that's what they wanted? I like the stalker patterns from Germany and what we now call the classic style of sporter stock. I got this rifle for the action only. the chamber had been jugged out to .300Wby from .300 H&H. I needed to make another 3sixbits out of this action, so that is what I did. I had a 2X7 Widefield scope(Redfield) that was not hard to sell. I'm sure someone out there will want the barrel (bore is perfect). Now if I can sell off the rest of the things I don't use, then it brings down the cost of my finished rifle.