Hi.
I am thinking about buying/importing an Empire Rifle. Probably a 375 or 416. Anyone with experience regarding these rifles? Accuracy? Functioning / feeding etc? Total impression and practical experience?

Thanks in advance..

Geogre makes 1 hell of a rifle cant say nothing bad about them at all for what he charges you feel like your ripping him off really quality weapon

thors, do you make rifles for George or just build them for your company?

I've had a few of George's rifles over the years, I think five, never had any issues with his rifles and they've all been very accurate no exceptions. He is using a new action which I have no experience with. If I were going to have him make me another big bore rifle it would be on a GM action. If your going to make a 375 the GM actions are heavy so I'd use his action.

I have never heard of an Empire Rifle.It must be a custom rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
I have never heard of an Empire Rifle.It must be a custom rifle.

www.empirerifles.com
perfected mausers

George is a good guy to talk to, or do business with!

I made a trip to meet George last summer. He operates out of his home in rural New Hampshire. He does not build the rifles. He contracts the actions and stock work. He has an expert gunsmith barrel the actions then ship to a stock man to mate the two. He uses premium materials and experts to do the work.
When completed, he test fires the rifles and ships to the customer.

The quality is excellent and the accuracy is "as advertised".

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
George is a good guy to talk to, or do business with!

+1

So who makes George's actions ?

When I was there, George was using a machine shop in Detroit, I believe. It was not a commercial outfit that would make actions for individuals.

Forrest,
These are custom made, 8620 or SS, in several sizes, and even the bolt is a one piece assembly, machined from a "chunk" ..

I was under the impression that George has his action receivers cast at Pine Tree and then uses after market M-98 bolts and parts. The ones I am familiar with are not true Mausers, as they do not have the Mauser bolt stop and ejector, but they are well done, quite accurate and George is great to deal with.

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
I was under the impression that George has his action receivers cast at Pine Tree and then uses after market M-98 bolts and parts. The ones I am familiar with are not true Mausers, as they do not have the Mauser bolt stop and ejector, but they are well done, quite accurate and George is great to deal with.

This is inaccurate, and never happened with Empire rifles ..

At one point, he was the largest user of the legacy sports commerical 98s. He HAS used GMA actions, at customer request, but until he has started using his fully machined from bar stock true mausers..

First Legacy sports -- and some GMA
last three years, his own custom actions, bolts machiens from single piece, and no scavenging of parts.

Boltstop and ejector? that's a bit nitpicking, with humor... that "contraption" is frequently modified FROM MAUSER, and other commerical actions.

jeffeosso, thanks for clearing things up regarding the current Empire actions. Although my original information did come directly from George himself.

As for the ejector and bolt stop being nitpicking - They are the smallest part- and receive the most abuse - and any failure with them means the rifle is NFG. I don't consider that nitpicking at all.

Phil,

how's the weather up there?
Good season on Bear?


Rich
Buff Killer

All: Glad to see the interest in our rifles, always appreciated. Hope I can shed light through any confusion.

Our earliest rifles (which make up the majority of my personal pieces), we used the Global Trading action, which was made in Italy for Dumoulin-Herstal SA and imported by Legacy Sports. We decided to machine our own Mauser action, which we have been using since 2005. These actions are CNC machined from 8620 (we used to make SS actions, but do not any longer). The ways are EDMed. I consider these actions true Mausers --full length guide rib, undercut bolt head, full length extractor, firing pin with safety lugs, square bridges, split locking lug, etc. We did modify the original Mauser bolt stop-ejector. Our ejector is essentially identical to the original; our bolt stop is retained by a vertical screw as does the original, is actuated like the original, but relies on coil springs as opposed to flat springs. We currently use Gentry shrouds and cherry-picked WWII surplus 98 cocking pieces. We will, on request, fit a surplus Mauser 2 stage trigger to our action, which has the same trigger mounting lug as on the 98K. All and all, damn close: Fred Wells helped us with the design. We have made rifles on GMA and Prechtl actions as well. We have never cast our action or any component thereof. Note we make an action with a 3.6" magazine opening, ideal for the .375 H&H. We chamber for any cartridge, the smallest to date being the 224 TTH and the largest the 505 Empire and 500 Jeffery. We will make a 505 Gibbs, but this requires a GMA.

The rifles are made here in New Hampshire, although walnut stocks are hand made off-site. Our build process is similar to that of several of my friends here and in the UK. We focus on reliability, accuracy, and shootability --balance and ergonomics.

As always, we welcome calls and visits. There is a fair amount of information on our web site, and I can be reached at 603.469.3152. Thanks All, please call anytime.

Phil, would love to catch up about your bear season! Finally saw Johannes' bear, a real toad, nice work.
Dirk: great to talk with you the other day, you should really look over our LH rifles, have a 338 Lapua here I could send out on eval.

Good hunting, --George

George Sandmann, President
Empire Rifles
603.469.3152

George, glad to see you here but sorry if I was the guy that drug you in. I have found that this forum is usually best watched from a safe distance but occasionally you need to join in to keep everyone honest.

Johannes did take a good bear and made a great shot too - thanks to your class in Pauldin and a good rifle.

Excellent rifles and good guys to deal with

i was wondering if on the current EMPIRE actions, is the guide rib an integeral part of the bolt
Daniel

I would love to have a rifle built by Empire.. fantastic looking guns!

I've posted this picture before. George had this rifle in Dallas this year.

quote:

Originally posted by M 98:
i was wondering if on the current EMPIRE actions, is the guide rib an integeral part of the bolt
Daniel

yes

quote:

Originally posted by jeffeosso:
Forrest,
These are custom made, 8620 or SS, in several sizes, and even the bolt is a one piece assembly, machined from a "chunk" ..

quote:

Originally posted by Sandmann:
These actions are CNC machined from 8620 (we used to make SS actions, but do not any longer). The ways are EDMed. I consider these actions true Mausers --full length guide rib, undercut bolt head, full length extractor, firing pin with safety lugs, square bridges, split locking lug, etc.