Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,746
- 5,824
You may remember that my son took possession of my grandfather's old Mauser/Weatherby early this summer. The more we worked with the old rifle, sporterized and turned into a .257 Wby shortly after WWII, the more we realized that it needed some work. The safety barely worked, the trigger needed help, there were minor spots of rust here and there, the stock had dulled to the point where it had no sheen and the grain didn't stand out. The inletting for the action was crude, and the barrel needed a serious scrubbing.
We also had ammo problems. Grandpa's old dies were built to use .300 H&H brass, as no .257 Wby brass existed when they were built. As a result, when used with modern .257 Wby brass, the dies wouldn't size the neck to provide sufficient neck tension. After seating a bullet, I could pop it right back out of the case with my fingers alone.
So... We started the update, and it's still ongoing! One thing I learned was that I could have just bought a new rifle for less money, and no work, but then it wouldn't have been Grandpa's rifle. Keep in mind that my 19 year old son owns this rifle, and he's making many of the decisions. He wanted to keep it a classic blued steel rifle, in the old walnut stock originally set up by his great-grandfather in the 1940's. He also wanted to keep it a .257 Weatherby, both because it was Grandpa's cartridge, and because he thinks it's a cool beast.
Because of all the problems/work, the rifle didn't get used this hunting season, but we hope to have it in action for 2011!
As this goes along, we'll both be monitoring and adding to this post, and we'll be happy to entertain recommendations from the members here!
Photos to follow!
Guy
We also had ammo problems. Grandpa's old dies were built to use .300 H&H brass, as no .257 Wby brass existed when they were built. As a result, when used with modern .257 Wby brass, the dies wouldn't size the neck to provide sufficient neck tension. After seating a bullet, I could pop it right back out of the case with my fingers alone.
So... We started the update, and it's still ongoing! One thing I learned was that I could have just bought a new rifle for less money, and no work, but then it wouldn't have been Grandpa's rifle. Keep in mind that my 19 year old son owns this rifle, and he's making many of the decisions. He wanted to keep it a classic blued steel rifle, in the old walnut stock originally set up by his great-grandfather in the 1940's. He also wanted to keep it a .257 Weatherby, both because it was Grandpa's cartridge, and because he thinks it's a cool beast.
Because of all the problems/work, the rifle didn't get used this hunting season, but we hope to have it in action for 2011!
As this goes along, we'll both be monitoring and adding to this post, and we'll be happy to entertain recommendations from the members here!
Photos to follow!
Guy
