At $1750 it's not a bad price. I'd want to be certain that it had a .423 diameter bore however.

A nice candidate for the .423 Van Horn.
2,684 fps. with a 400

I think thats a nice .404 !!

looks yummy just needs better wood

That is a nice rifle, but it's a bit too-Teutonic for my tastes.

I'd have to replace that butterknife with a ball and restock. And that would not make sense.

Now that's a nice rifle.
With that and a 30-06 one could go antwhere in the world and shoot anything which presented itself.
It's times like this I wished I lived in the US of A. I'd buy it!

KurtC, is that Chamois engraved on the trigger guard? A 7lb 9oz "Mountain Safari" rifle... you are going to need much thicker recoil pad for that one!!!

It supposedly has been shot by the Cabela's folks using .423 bullets (and I guess didn't blow up.) I'd think the weight wouldn't be too light with ammo loaded to 2150 fps. I wish someone had not drilled and tapped it, though. I guess that will filler screws it won't look so bad.

I also wonder about the magazine capacity. I certainly would want at least four rounds ready to go as soon as I shucked the Land Rover and started out after a buffalo. I had a .404 once that would hold 3 down, but wouldn't jump the rim of the round in the chamber if you tried to get one up the spout and three down. A bummer. A three shot bolt rifle ain't my cup of tea. Fixed it with a drop box, though!

Any comments, Kurt... and btw, I'm still enjoying the 9.3x62 Ernst Kerner you sold me!

Gentlemen,
Its all a moot question now, the gun sold already....

Guess who jumped on it like a duck on a Junebug?

Peterlongo rifles are usually very well made..now for that recoil pad and my #53 wood rasp to make that a egg cheek piece, hell its been drilled and tapped, may as well make it right and go shoot some buffalo...

3 down and one up the tube Ern is plenty for me, but I shoot so much better than you, you have to take that into consideration...granted you shoot a lot of worn out guns and that may be the reason I am such a better shot!! but hey what the heck, brother!

I like the Bavarian style stock and the butterknife handle. It would be nice if the barrel is stamped for 10.75x73, to match the Germanic flavor of the rifle.

However, I am a firm believer in Mauser's concept that magnum-length cartriges belong in magnum-length Mauser actions. Even though plenty of standard 98's have been chambered for the .375 and .404, it just doesn't seem fair to Peter & Paul to abuse their designs as such.

I've owned one .404, on a Magnum lenth 98. The cartridge really does deserve the extra room to breath.


This rifle is no longer in my collection, it belongs to another member of this forum.

It was a steal at that price.
They tell me it is sold already.

Rip- I think your Uncle Ray bought it.

Ernest,

Yes, the price would easily be 2 or 3x the price if it was on magnum action. But as I see it, "that is the way of things."

I wouldn't want double rifles to be any lesser made, just so that I could afford them.

quote:

Originally posted by B Stephenson:


Rip- I think your Uncle Ray bought it.

B,
I figured Ray got it, but Da Judge was confusing the picture with his comment.
He who hesitates is lost.

Yes I bought it...

Since the 404 is shorter than the 375 H&H and 416 Rem, I really never wanted a .404 on a magnum aciton, thats a waste of a great action and just makes the .404 and 375 bulky and heavy IMO....I love the big actions, but only in 505 Gibbs and such persuation...

Paul Zorn, a good friend and PH in Zimbabwe has a Holland and Holland on a std. action in .416 Rigby and after handling and shooting his rifle, I have come to the conclusion that those guys could teach a lot of us some tricks about gunsmithing, that M-98 functions 100%, shoots an inch, has killed a gob or elephant and buffalo and is as good today as it was the day it left Hollands...and no money cannot buy it or it would be mine not his, he turned me down on some very high dollar offers, without even a second thought!!!

Once, in conversation with the proprietor of Westley Richards, I passed comment on standard length 98 actions being used for the 375 H&H. He looked at me as though I were an idiot and said it had been their practice to build 375s on standard 98 for some years.
I did feel like a book worm fool who had been put in his place by a man who knows his business.
Westley Richards and Holland and Holland do know what they are doing. Has any one ever heard even a whisper that W R of H & H magazine rifles are unsafe? I have not!
Cousin Ray,
If I can make a request.
Please remember that you are only looking after that 404 for a while and leave the Bavarian cheek piece as is.
I feel sure if you had been lucky enough to date say; Sophia Loren (I can't, off the top of my head, think of any Austrian beauty) you would not have insited that she made herself up to look like, Oh any Amercian beauty you can think of, or would you?

Oldun,
Inasmuch as this gun was originally a 10.75x68 and was rechambered and it has been drilled and tapped for a scope, a little judicious work on the stock will make little difference....

Cabellas had this gun tested for function and accuracy with a number of different brands of ammo by a well known gunsmith, who gave it a perfect bill of health for feed and function, and that suited me fine...Its not original anymore so a nice egg cheek piece with a shadow line shouldn't be too disasterous, but we will see, heck I might get used to it.

Ray,
Sorry, but I had no idea that it had allready been "customised".
Pity had not been left in x68

Ray,
Have you shot the 404 yet?
Is so, what's the recoil like and how well does it group?
Here's hoping its a goodun.
Oldun.

It shot well, an inch at 50 yds. and I only shot it 3 times.. and it fed slicker n snot, the sides of the mag box had been properly releived, good workmanship on the conversion..

It was a nice enough gun, but I sent it back, and cabellas was a gem to do business with...they paid shipping both ways and I couldn't ask for better customer relation..Deal with Phil...

The gun had some baggage with it...the stock was split inside, the tang wood had been shattered and cross word puzzled back together, It was glassed improperly and they had filed off the barrel swivel/recoil lug with a file and the gun set upsy daisy in the glass..It has been reblued, a non original barrel swivel was replaced with what may have been a proper swivel but poorly done....The beatifully engraved floor plate had a chamois on it so it probably was a parts gun and on consignment...It was stamped 10.75x6873....

I value the gun at a grand tops...but if restocked it would be a super nice gun, but still a 3 shot rifle, and I would have been making a silk purse from a sows ear so I sent her back before I got in over my head with a $3000 gun worth $2500.....I still have mixed emotions on it, but choose the easy way out..

Ray,
Sorry to hear that the 404 was not a good one. On the other hand it's good to hear that Cabellas took the rifle back.

quote:

I would have been making a silk purse from a sows ear...

I have not heard that expression in a coon's age!

Oldun,
It was a good gun, function was flawless and it was done right by a master gunsmith that understood Mausers..It main problem was the stock was a mess, it could have been reglassed, cross-bolted and refinished again, but IMO would require a new stock, refinished metal, then it would be a $2500 to $3000. rifle..I just didn't want to take it on as another project...It could be a beatiful rifle with a lot of work, if someone were going to keep it, then it would work for them..

Thanks for checking out the too-good-to-be-true deal.