With all the Ruger #1 posts going up, I thought I’d join in with my latest report. It’s no secret that I love mountain hunting. I’ve done my best to continue to do so here in Europe and that means hunting gams, aka chamois! Having used a friend’s 25-06 last year on them, I was excited to bring out my .270 Win from CONUS because it seemed like a good fit. You can imagine that I was pretty beat up when the German government would not certify it when it arrived, but every cloud has a silver lining and the wife broke down and allowed me to purchase a rifle here in Germany. The search was on and I learned of a neat cartridge, called the 6.5x68, that is somewhat of a specialty round for mountain hunting here in the Alps. It has a case capacity similar to the 264 Win Mag, another one of my favorites thanks to my stepfather and his p64 Model 70 Westerner. In summary, the inventor was trying to stuff the largest case he could design in the Mauser 98 action that would still function reliably to shoot flat for the ranges encountered in the high country. The one down side to it is that it has a twist rate of 1 in 250mm (about 1:9.8 inches) due to weaker bullets of the day when it was conceived. I was looking for a svelte package in this cartridge when I happened upon a Heym single shot rifle on the internet. It turns out that Heym wanted to compete with some of the other European rifle makers in the single shot category here in Germany and decided to import Ruger #1 actions and then fit their stocks and barrels on them. It’s a light and handy package, despite its 26” barrel, as the No. 1 action trims both weight and length from the rifle. Heym is known for their attention to detail and the fit and finish of the rifle are outstanding, with rich deep bluing, great metal to wood tolerances and a beautiful bore. The rifle came with a fixed 6x Zeiss scope with a number 1 type reticle, which seems to be popular here, in detachable claw mounts. Ammunition for it is ridiculously expensive, but I am attempting to console myself with the excuse that RWS brass is some of the best, and upon returning to CONUS will be good for many loadings.
V/R,
Joe
V/R,
Joe
