You know the weather's gonna be lousy. In fact, that might be a polite term. Rain isn't the forecast...it's already here. And it's cold. It's miserable. The sky has that blackened slate-grayness to it and a biting wind that says "really, you aren't 20 anymore..."

What rifle do you grab? You know the one...it's killed more deer than anything else in the safe. It looks like hell because it's been through hell. There's only one load for the rifle because it works and you just can't be bothered to figure anything else out. It'll kill deer, Elk, Blackies - doesn't matter. It's a crap day out anyway and you just know the big critters are smart enough to stay bedded down.

Cinch the coat up tighter...walk out the door while your dog stares at you without lifting it's head.

Yeah, you're on your own, Bud.

What rifle do you grab? Let's see some glorious BEATERS and hear their Tales of Woe!



(PS: I Don't officially have one...yet. But I suspect my .257 Bob may well be headed that way!

PPS: Posted in Medium Bores because it's the most popular, but not limited to medium calibers therein.

PPPS: Extra Credit for posting Pix of the best Beater of them all!)

My brother has mine, a sportered 6.5 X 55 Carl Gustav Model 96.

You just described my Remington 7600 synthetic carbine in .30-06. Ugly as hell, utterly reliable and the most valuable rifle in my safe.

The weather is almost always something to contend with in SE Alaska. It's very unfriendly to blued steel and walnut.


This rifle makes it a non-issue as far as worrying about the rifle. I also have a 375 H&H on a Winchester SS action, similar to the one pictured.

This is a 30-06 FN Mauser, SS Lilja barrel, McMillan stock, Black T, Leupold 2x7. Yes, I think it meets the terms stated for a beater. I busted a scope once, when I fell and caught the rifle between me and a slick moss covered rock. The rifle sufferd no damage. This was my first "custom" rifle, and it has never dissappointed.





And a recent addition of the thumper kind:

Ruger SS action, PacNor SS barrel, Teflon coated metal, NECG sights, Hogue stock. 458WM. Intended for use in adverse or all weather conditions.



Beaters don't have to be some old bubba rifle, butchered in some home shop. Chambered for a military cartridge is OK.

Because I am a cheap, broke, barely competant home gunsmithing hobbyist, I'm rich in beaters. No matter what the goal, they all look like beaters, anyway.

This one turned out exactly like I planned, and I love it.
Its a Savage 110 with a Shaw stainless, 20" in 458 Win Mag. Scope is now a 2-7x shotgun scope. Factory stock plus Limbsaver pad. It shoots 400 grain Barnes Originals or 405 Remingtons well enough.

If the weather is rainy, the big holes leave a big blood trail. Surprisingly, 3 of 4 deer I shot with it needed to be tracked.

Marlin stainless in 45-70

I bought a rifle recently specifically to use as a beater. It's a Marlin XS7 in 308. I sprayed it with Duracoat and topped with a Weaver 2-7. It actually is a decent rifle but at $300, I don't have to worry about it.

I was glad to se the comment that the "beater" need not look beat up. I was trying to pick out a beat up rifle in my vault, and realized that none of the beat up ones ever go to the field to hunt.

My " beater" that I don't worry about and which goes hunting a lot, is an FN Mauser in .280 Remington, with a Hart barrel, Timney triger, and custom laminated stock (well checkered too) with an Armaloy finish, 3-position Model 70 style safety, and a leupold 2x7 scope.

I bought the rifle for $200 at our club's trade-fest because the owner thought it was shot out. I was going to rebarrel it, but before I yanked the barrel off, I decided to see how fouled it might be, just in case THAT might be causing it's recent accuracy problems for the old owner.

Well, guess what? After about 10 days of cleaning that barrel time and time again with Wipe Out, it will now shoot more groups of 1/2" than of anything over 3/4"!!

It was originally custom-built for a pitcher with the Houston Astros, so the money was spent to have it done right the first time, and now it is shooting right again.

But it is still my "beater" which gets chucked in the back of the rig when I'm in a hurry and want something I can depend on. What the heck....to me, it IS just a $200 rifle.

Beater? Nawh! Mine are "practical builds."

Usually a Mauser action (VZ, Parker-Hale, Mark X, or Higgins FN) with custom scope mounts, a Douglas barrel, Timney or Bold trigger, 22" bbl, finished with Gun-Kote, set into a Fajen's synthetic or Hogue stock. Usually mount a Zeiss Conquest scope.

Hope to be changing to rust blue in the future.

Have them in .264 Win Mag, .270 Win, .338-06, 9,3x62, .376 Steyr, .376/.416 Steyr Improved, and .458 AccRel.

Don't get me wrong ... I do love pretty blue and wood. Just can't bear to beat them up.

I do have some nicer rifles. ;-) But the "practical build" rifles shoot pretty well.

I guess it depends a little on the time of year but these two qualify the most.
One is a Winchester M70 pushfeed .25-06 i won at a dinner topped with a 4.5x14 Luepold. The other is a Rem 600 in .308 with a 2.5x Weaver.

Finally got a chance to get a picture of my beater.





Tang safety Model 77 35 Whelen. Had the 22 inch stove pipe taken off and a 26 inch #3 sporter weight barrel installed back in '95 or '96.

Scope is an old steel tube El Paso K-6 Weaver.

Favorite bullet out of this old boy is a 225 grain Barnes "X" Flat Base.

my go-to pistol...



and rifle




but seriously:
1943 J.P. Sauer Mod 98 Mauser
30/06 Adams Bennett barrel
Bell & Carlson Stock
Redfield 2x7 scope
Hinged Bottom Metal
TImney Trigger

kills deer and elk real good!

742wd

So once you were a Blade Runner.

Oh, if this one could talk!

274wd

You win!

Mine "beater" is my Ruger M77 in 35 Whelen with the paddle stock. One load for everything is the 250 grs Woodleigh RN. Scope is eighter Zeiss Victory 3-12x56 when low light hunting is on, or an old Leupy Vari X III 2,5-8x36

I always seem to grab my Rem 700 30-06 AI. McMillian olive and brown ATG stock. over 1k rounds through it now. Bent trigger guard and flaking off the shitty factory bottom metal. I'll have to post a pic...

I did buy new bottom metal (alum) from Pacific Tool but haven't installed it yet.

Looking to get in the 2012 draw for Mulie in Alberta CA (As an "ALIEN" my hopes arent high -- friend from there says it probably will happen 2nd draw). Already went to developing loads for 165 Accubonds.

Thought of what other rifle I would like to take -- I have a good nimber of em -- but right back to beater!

quote:

The Ancient Art of ... The Beater.

an art perfected by Remington's 788!

I build some high dollar custom rifles..I shoot beaters...My 300 H&H pre 64 mod. 70 has no blue, almost looks like stainless steel, and the old custom stock is now French drift wood,with a 1/8 bead of glass on each side of the barrel, the tang has glass to fix an old split from a horse roll, and a gob of glass in the bolt recess in the stock but it still shoots 1/2 groups all day long..my 404 looks like crap warmed over and my saddle guns are pretty rough..but the best thing about them is every nick and gouge is a story, a memory of hunts past..I wouldn't change a thing on them..and I can lay them down in the dirt or rocks and have no worries about dinging them. And I can't even explain what my 25-35 and 30-30 look like, its shamefull...

quote:

The Beater.

What other kind is there??? roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:

quote:

The Beater.

What other kind is there??? roger

Roger -

Some guys own things that look like rifles but may or may not really be workable, functioning guns...

They are too pretty to take to the woods or sometimes even to the range. Their owners don't experiment a lot with loads, cause they don't want to "wear out" their altar ego rifles. A fair number of the really well-heeled owners don't even know how to reload, let alone do it. One or two boxes of factory ammo will last the operating life of their rifles' shooting careers.

They have a home security monitoring system at $100+ per month because they are scared to leave their baby by itself when they go for groceries (or to the "club").

They almost never even see their own rifles, 'cause they are locked away in the vault all the time (and hence are known as "safe queens").

When their rifles go for a short ride in their truck, they are always in a heavy-duty plastic or aluminum "hard" case. Their rifles have never been in a rifle rack in their vehicle, cause they don't have one (rack). Who, they ask, would put a good rifle in something like that? Might get a mark on the blue which would make it look "used" (heaven forbid!!) ??!!

Some of those guys don't even dare take a vacation because one or all of their many "babies" might be stolen by a burglar while they are gone.

There....you recognize the symptoms, don't you? I'm sure you've met guys and possibly rifles in Cabela's Gun Library who are just like that, No?

Luckily, most of us here at AR are born with an immune system which protects us from that disease....

I think they were asking about our "regular" hard-working faithful assistants, not the "trophy" wives of steel and whatever....

We're singing from the same Hymnal,AC.Only out of reverence would I preclude using a rifle from field or Range. Such a rifle would be Ray Atkinson's grand dads 25-35. One in a bunch and deserving respect for itself and those that squeezed it's trigger. roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:
We're singing from the same Hymnal,AC.Only out of reverence would I preclude using a rifle from field or Range. Such a rifle would be Ray Atkinson's grand dads 25-35. One in a bunch and deserving respect for itself and those that squeezed it's trigger. roger

I guess I should clarify my post a little, Roger. I was making the post in humour! My sense of humour is pretty dry sometimes, so I know it is often hard to tell.

I'm as guilty as anyone of having at least some rifles that don't see the light of day in the woods or fields often enough.

I know yours are pretty much all required to entertain the Laird of the Manor regularly to earn their keep, so there is no way I was being snarky about you or your rifles. Wish I had as much fun with mine these days as you do with yours.....

Best wishes,

AC