Gone and done it again!

[SJB358]

Wow! God Bless you for going thru the due diligence ET. That’s pile of stuff.

We as Americans and Canadians need to stay vigilant as I’m sure the hippies that eat leaves would love to restrict us in a similar manner. With all of that paperwork it must be a terrible bother for the thugs to get guns :mrgreen:

 

[ElmerThud]

We live in a Nanny state here, with tree huggers and polical correctness gone mad.
It’s nuts!
When an application goes in, if each constabularies ‘rules’ (and they each have variable rules) are not met, they either reject, or sit on your application until you do comply.

After the Dunblane school shooting here in 1996 all centrefire hand guns were prohibited from private ownership.
So they’re now gone! But, you can buy a long barrelled handgun.
This is a handgun that has an extra long barrel and an extra piece (butt stock) welded to the grip base to make the firearm a minimum of 22” long.
And we are allowed black powder revolvers.
Antique black powder firearms of any type may be bought and held without a licence, but a modern replica must be licenced.

We still occasionally have firearm crime though, but we all know mostly violent crime is with a different weapon, but just rarely a legally held weapon may be used by someone who goes nuts, then we face politicians, media and police raising the riot act and wishing more restrictions on us.

Now in the UK even land owners insist on hunters having proper certification for hunting deer, so we do courses specially designed for one to be certified for safety and best practice in deer carcass handling for venison to enter the food chain.
Hey ho, we must comply yet again, or no hunting!

I did all my certifications (DSC1 & DSC2) back in 2000.
My personal firearm certificate is open and about as unrestricted as it gets for the UK and has been for many years, but I still really miss my handguns.

 

[sask boy]

ET, thank you for that information. I am always whining on our gun laws here in Canada :twisted: I guess ours is quite simple compared to what you have to go through just own a rifle .
Thank you for the post.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[ElmerThud]

You guys are very kind.
Yes, it is difficult to obtain authorisation for a firearm certificate (FAC) here in UK, but much of an application depends on understanding and interpreting the questions on the application form, engaging your brain and writing what the police want to see. Getting your own hunting land is extremely hard, so for many, acceptance into an existing syndicate, or buying time on commercial shoots may be the only way & depending on the size of land a syndicate has, and how a commercial estate operates, it’s always going to be pricey. Especially in Scotland! One of the last great wilderness areas for deer in Europe and particularly in the UK.

You lads over there in the US & Canada have a fantastic range of quarry to hunt and so very much more land area to go at than we in UK/Europe.

I just had a very encouraging phone call from the police dealing with my variation to possess this stutzen I just bought. They tell me I should get my certificate back in just a few days.
Wow!
That really is fast if it happens.

 

[ElmerThud]

Well here it is, Steyr Mannlicher Classic 6.5x55 SE, although it’s now scoped.
I put the Zeiss 8x56 (1” tube) from my K95 onto this Stutzen.

The Blaser K95 now has a Schmidt & Bender 8x56 (30mm tube) on it.

 

[DrMike]

Such a fine looking piece of art. Beautiful.

 

[SJB358]

WOW! That is a stunner of a rifle ET! Very danged nice! I can't imagine you are not going to love that one!

 

[ElmerThud]

On Saturday it’s getting a airing at the range to zero it. First with some 120gn Nosler BT bullets, then when done, some testing with 140gn SST’s & IMR4350.

I’m kinda hoping it performs well. I’ll stick another pic on with it scoped & ready for action on 1st April for bucks in Scotland

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I like the looks of that Rifle and should serve you well. If I was mine I would put my 1.75-5 power scope on it and have a fast handling gun. I would look no further than Nosler's 120gr BT for Deer in your Sweed.
Enjoy that nice Rifle.

 

[Polaris]

That's almost too pretty to hunt with :wink: . Fortunately I believe all rifles are built to be loved! If price were no option, I would absolutely hunt with it...hard!

Should be a sweet little rifle. Think you're on easy street with IMR 4350. It may not maximize velocity compared to some of the new super powders, but it wins matches for me in the 6.5 Swede with 140 grain bullets. It likes when I step on them as much as I dare in my M96 actions, so running to full 6,5SE loads should be beneficial. Psst, try Vn140 or IMR 4064 with the 120s.

 

[SJB358]

I think you'll be in great shape with those SST's and 4350.. Pretty classic combo for the old boy.

I bet it will make an excellent stag rifle ET.. I am excited to hear about your hunting with it, just to see if you notice much difference from your 25-06/110 combo. That's a big gun compared to the 25-06/243...

 

[ElmerThud]

I think you'll be in great shape with those SST's and 4350.. Pretty classic combo for the old boy.

I bet it will make an excellent stag rifle ET.. I am excited to hear about your hunting with it, just to see if you notice much difference from your 25-06/110 combo. That's a big gun compared to the 25-06/243...

Ha .. we’ll see later this year, but I’m hoping so Scotty.
I hope I’ll be able to take a roebuck in Scotland before then though, but stags are something else again and I relish the forthcoming season, especially the rut.
I’d love to take another big boy with it!

Thanks to all you guys for your thoughts.
Cheers, ET

 

[ElmerThud]

OK, so this is it scoped up, fully sorted, Zeiss 8x56 off my K95 and just requires zeroing tomorrow morning .. then, ready to go.

& just for fun, a couple of pics of my K95 now glassed up with the S&B 8x56

 

[35 Whelen]

You will enjoy the Swede on Red Stag , I used one in NZ for years and took some good ones out to 300 meters
And found it to work very nicely. Even though the data favored my .270 on paper, it just wasn't the case in the field, the 6.5x55 cleanly kills better than the loading data would suggest. Of course now with modern powders
The figures tell a different story, but I still believe that long thin profile of the .264 certainly gives great penatration! My Tikka will shoot with 143 ELD-X bullets into a 6" group, at 600yds? So you may want to pick up a box of them, if you need to go long?? My dad shot some moose with his Swede and never had any problems and always claimed It worked equally to a 270. No doubt this is a very underrated cartridge. However comparing anything to the great 25/06, inside 400 meters, is going to be tough! I am predicting you will love the gun, And it's performance! Good Luck in April
E

 

[ElmerThud]

Definitely looking forward to using it E ..
friends are using them on the reds now for the last two seasons & I'm just catching up.
Two have Sako Finnlite's and one has a Lakelander.

Another has 6.5x68 vom hoffe and another has 6.5x47Lapua. They certainly are dropping the stags cleanly.

Not to say my .25-06 has been left behind, but now I have the option of the Swede too.

 

[DrMike]

A couple of classy looking rifles, ET. The Stutzen is an excellent acquisition. to be sure.

 

[SJB358]

Very beautiful rifles ET. If you can get RL26 out there, grab it. I don’t remember if you said you could get Alliant in The UK but it is an amazing powder in the 6.5 Swede.

 

[ElmerThud]

Thanks Mike & Scotty.
Currently some IMR & Alliant powders are still available and I think R26 is EU compatible.
Not sure about this though.
I’ll check it out as many USA manufactured propellants are no longer being shipped to Europe.
All due to some heath & safety issue dreamed up by the EU political knob heads v :roll: in Brussels.

 

[SJB358]

I think 26 is made in your neck of the woods like RL17 so you might be in luck.

 

[ElmerThud]

I think 26 is made in your neck of the woods like RL17 so you might be in luck.

Checking at the range yesterday, R17 is, but not R26.
Anyway, the stutzen shows good promise.
Shoots well with Norma 120gn Nosler factory & not so bad with my 140gn SST reloads.
Not great, but not bad. All would easily take a red stag.

But, there is a ‘set trigger’ issue I need to sort out.
Dry fires every time, but light strikes once or twice with a round in the chamber, but then sends it at 2nd/3rd time.
Odd, but I’ll strip the rifle, bolt & trigger assembly today.
Maybe I’ll find something obvious, but a strip & clean won’t hurt.