Which rifles are on your wish list?

[elkhunternm]

I am still almost there to buy another Model 70 ...... with high grade wood.
Really nice to show up with something unique at hunting camp!View attachment 1

The chambering wouldn't even matter. Lovely rifle.

BUT--if it was a 300 H & H, all the better.

nice, Earle, but unfortunately you guys never take those good looking rifles hunting, you guys always hunt with rifles with those cheap ugly looking stocks )-:

Took my Winchester M 70 Featherweight Custom High Grade .270 Win deer hunting about 2 weeks ago.
First pics of the rifle.

Now the rifle with it's quarry.

My daughter and I with the mule deer I killed.

Not all of us hunt with "cheap ugly looking stocks" firearms. :grin:

 

[35 Whelen]

Lol, thanks to all and yes I doubt there will be many at " deer camp" the wood on these appears identical in style overall To the Jack O' Conner Tribute guns they built back in 2011/12 ish. The Checkering pattern is from Jacks
Custom gun stocked by Al Biesen. However the engraving is a bit more extensive and deeper style with more gold embleshments to include the band at end of the barrel.
I will likely recut an original style " Mullered Border that was usually present on most high grade wood from the turn of the century....... I will also turn a couple of new floorplate screws and cut in .028 wide slots in the
Heads, with the same exact dome as a first year model 70 and ditch those hex head screws.......
I will take a guess and estimate if you had one of these built from scratch, with this grade of wood, it would cost 3/4 times what the factory came up with on these! Cool bit of history went into these Anniversary Models.
Ps: Ken, I love that look of the old "Silvers" pad on your Supergrade, I had one of those in .338 and it looked like yours twin brother!
Pss: For those that may not be firmilar with the signature "Mullered style border" around a Checkering pattern? Here is what they look like.
The border can only be done by hand hence its absence in today's world , here it is on a rifle
Stock. It is basically the checker showing off his hand
Work by gouging out a concave trough between a twin border, it has to be kept exactly the same distance from each parallel line on each side of it, so will set off the factory pattern tastefully.

 

[Guy Miner]

Very nice! I still favor wood stocked rifles, though most of mine have rather ordinary walnut. My two 700 CDL's are good rifles, with very plain wood in their stocks. Love carrying them afield though!

Same with the Number One - decent walnut - straight grain. Still an attractive rifle.

Only one I have with truly nice wood is the 375 H&H Model 70, and I've never hunted with it!

Guy

 

[Bruce Mc]

Those anniversary model 70s sure have some nice engraving and fancy wood. Beautiful rifle, it should surely turn heads in camp. My JOC Tribute goes to the field frequently. I am a bit more careful with it than a plastic stock rifle.

 

[ethmoid1999]

Model 71 Winchester
A real good Model 30 Remington
A good Savage 99 303
A 725 Remington
A Featherweight pre-65 Model 70 in 270
A good 1917 Enfield
A good 03A3

 

[35 Whelen]

Bruce Mc,
I ordered one of those JOC guns back when they came out and was VERY disappointed in the wood in it......
All the pics looked fantastic but the one I received was lame for a Tribute model, I do know some had very nice
Wood so I guess I was just unlucky....... so I never accepted it , friend I got it thru made a quick phone call and sold it instantly to customer of his! Lol
Can you post pics of your buttstock???

 

[IdahoCTD]

Well I still can't bring myself to hunt with a wood stock here but I did order a edge fill McMillan A3 with a hydro dipped wood grain finish. It will be a .30 Nosler with a Proof carbon fiber barrel on a Gunwerks GRB action and I'll Cerakote the whole thing matte black. I'm thinking it should look pretty cool when it's done.

I went on a carbon fiber wrapped barrel buying spree this year. I have 3 Proof carbon wrapped barrels ( for a 300wsm, 30 Nosler, and 300 RUM), 2 Christensen CF barrels (for a 300wm and a 6.5x68 Imp) , and a Hells Canyon Armory carbon wrapped barrel ( for a 28 Nosler) to build with right now and I might pick up another Proof (because I can get it 28") for a 30-338 Lapua Imp.

 

[longrangehunter]

This my sound weird, but I've been thinking back to when I was a kid, and got my Marksman, and Pro-Marks with a CZ 452 Lux Military Trainer. I wouldn't mind having the newer version CZ 455 Lux in 22 WMR! Have you seen their CZ 452 Grand Finale? It's a thing of beauty!

 

[Bruce Mc]

I'd be pleased to post a picture of my butt.............stock.

 

[35 Whelen]

Thanks Bruce!
Now thats nice, lots of contrast and tons of fiddleback!
Bet your real happy with that one! Are you one of Jacks
Disciple's??? He certainly is the legend and the true father
Of promoting the .270 Winchester...................
As a lad here in Maine growing up around our lodge my
Grandad built out of hand hewn White Spruce, I listened to
Hundreds of arguements about various calibers, the 270 was hardly ever mentioned here in Northern Maine, the general gab was about if a 35 Rem hits harder than a 300 Sav or 30/30 better than a 32 Special ? Or even the merits
Of a 44/40 over a 38/40......
But I had a subscription to Outdoor Life and by my junior year in HS , I had made up my own mind JOC knew much
More about ballistics than anyone, I had ever listened to!
Mainers in the late 1960s believed a 270 would deflect n
Blow up on a blade of grass. However I had read Larry Kollers great book "Shots at Whitetails" and in it he devoted a chapter on testing a bunch of calibers through
Thick brush into targets placed behind it. His testing leaves the reader realizing most of what he has ever been
Told about heavy "brush busting" bullets is all ballony......
And quite contrary to Larrys testing.
I bought a 270 and found out immediately JOC knew his
Stuff, Clear cutting was in its early days in Maine , and I wasnt long picking up the nickname "Clearcut" after making some longish shots(250/300 yds) with the 270 infront of friends that at that time thought 150yds was
Almost a too much of a streach for most guns??? Lol.
One fella went so far as to start a rumor after he witnessed me shoot a big Black Bear in the back of a field
That is soposed to be "60 Rods" back to the woods.
He couldnt believe I hit it and started saying " if that kid can see it; he can hit it!!! Lol
Well of course it was all BS as years later when I got out west, it was common to see guys head shooting gophers
At 200/250 yards!!!!
Because of Jacks preaching about having your Zero at 200 yards, I knew early on to NEVER hold over anything,
So if it looked in the 300 yd ish distance, I would just hold
High but always under tbe back bone. What a caliber it turned out to be!!!!

 

[Bruce Mc]

Yes I am a disciple of O'Connor. I think a lot of people agree with his opinions though they sometimes don't attribute them to Jack. Jack never said a bad word about the '06 and wrote several articles about the 35 Whelen, but the .270 was better suited to the hunting he really loved to write about which was sheep hunting in the high places.

 

[longrangehunter]

Wow Bruce....... Now that's a beautiful hunting rifle!

 

[35 Whelen]

Bruce,
I read a story where Jack was at a party just before he passed away, and was talking about all the insults, Elmer Keith had poked at him ,over the years.
He said, the two that stood out the most over the years was when Elmer wrote in one of his story's
That "another gun writer"( obviously Jack) that constantly pushed the merits of the 270W, "makes me sick To my stomach" and that, "a 270 Winchester was practically useless; on big game, :shock: But would probably make, an ok "eagle rifle"..... :lol:
But Jacks favorite was when they were both at a banquet and Elmer got a little 'Winey,' and told some folks He was leaving; (apparently Jack was getting tooo much attention) Anyway as he was leaving he was quoted as saying " I am sick and tired of suckin hind tit" :lol:
Apparently Jack was quite amused when he caught wind of it!! :mrgreen:
For the record; He liked feathercrotch Walnut as well !

I never got to meet Jack sadly, And though he never practiced taking pokes back at Elmer he did write once; "Just because you wear a big hat doesn't mean you know what you're talking about." :wink:
But I did get to meet Elmer in his later years,
When he was promoting his book " Hell I was There" at The old "NorthWest Outfitters" (Chris Golls)
Store in Anchorage, back in the 80s. He was a character for sure. And even though Jack didn't talk a lot about it , much to Elmers dismay, He used his M70 in .416 Rigby on lots of larger body game!
E

 

[35 Whelen]

I am still almost there to buy the 150th Anniversary Model 70; I have been drooling over them since they came out...... found one with marbled high grade wood.
Really nice to show up with something unique at hunting camp!View attachment 3View attachment 2
UPDATE:
I decided Santa might be toooo busy this year, so went ahead and bought it!!!
Will post some pics soon and review it and give a accuracy report as soon as I get
It scoped up, Have some Engraved low rings for it. Should be a head turner
for sure!
And April I promise to hunt with it! Though I won't be dragging it around on the snowmobile
or leaving it on the wing strut of the airplane... :wink:
Trying to organize an Elk hunt in SE Colorado (Cabot Ranch) right now, so will be taking both the M 70 and the Tikka T3 out with me !
And I'll be shooting strictly" 150gr ABLRs" from both rifles, where 300 yd plus shots; are common, according to the boys that were just there few weeks ago. Here it is compared to the standard 140gr AccuBond.View attachment 1

 

[Europe]

SWEET!!! You will not bear disappointed in obtaining this rifle---or--hunting with it .

Earle, ---Cheyenne takes her 348 in canoe's, airplanes, dog sleds, horseback and it is still working, dont be such a worry wart--take it!---LOL

of course her rifle probably looks like death warmed over lol

 

[35 Whelen]

Lol,
I know she does April, and I would have no problem taking this one in the canoe, however
I would rather NOT use it for the paddle! :lol:
I still have my old faithful, Model 70 Stainless (pre 64 action, 30 Govt) I bought new in 1990 that has been with me all
over North America and never let me down from Alaska to Labrador, California to Maine, from 150gr/ thru 220grs; from gophers to grizzly it has performed flawlessly at -35 below thru 90 degrees. It's hit everything but the daily double, and though I have never considered it an over 300 yd rifle , I am
going to load up some of the new AccuBond LR 190 gr bullets and that could change!

 

[AFG270]

Beautiful rifle, Bruce.

Interesting story about Jack and Elmer, thanks for posting.

For those who never read about him read this. http://jack-oconnor.org/biography.html

 

[hseII]

Lol,
I know she does April, and I would have no problem taking this one in the canoe, however
I would rather NOT use it for the paddle! :lol:
I still have my old faithful, Model 70 Stainless (pre 64 action, 30 Govt) I bought new in 1990 that has been with me all
over North America and never let me down from Alaska to Labrador, California to Maine, from 150gr/ thru 220grs; from gophers to grizzly it has performed flawlessly at -35 below thru 90 degrees. It's hit everything but the daily double, and though I have never considered it an over 300 yd rifle , I am
going to load up some of the new AccuBond LR 190 gr bullets and that could change!

Too bad the LH M70s are so scarce: I’d probably not be so keen on a M700 if they weren’t.

 

[hseII]

Beautiful rifle, Bruce.

Interesting story about Jack and Elmer, thanks for posting.

For those who never read about him read this. http://jack-oconnor.org/biography.html

Thank You.

I came from a Generation impacted by JOC, Craig Boddington & Grits Gresham being a prime examples.

I still plan to have a Plain Vanilla in the rack, right beside the other, more modern Irons.

 

[Blkram]

Well, here I go again!

Sold a few firearms this spring/summer, but have managed to pick up a few as well!

Getto finally scratch another off the wishlist; the Marlin 336ER in 356 Win!

And got the Winchester Low Wall for rechambering to 225 Win!

And have finally got another Browning Model 71. This Grade 1 Rifle was ordered from the factory by the original owner with checkered High Grade wood.

Also picked up a Winchester '94 Big Bore in 375 Win, an older Marlin 30-30 with nice wood and an older Marlin in 35 Rem. Am having a Winchester 88 rebarrelled to 7mm-08; plan to get a full length walnut stock for it later (as inspired by those John Wooters had made years ago).

By the time these allmake it home, my little lever action collection will have grown to a dozen rifles!

And there is a Marlin in 218 Bee with nice wood calling to me....