Nice rifle,Judge.

OMG! You'll have to take some Buffalo as well. That beauty should be slaying as much as possible!

Very very nice.

Lovely rifle and great scope BUT does the scope have S&B's "Magnum Eye relief"?
With that drop in the stock it my tend to recoil up and back more so than a straighter style stock. Anyway that's what I have found.

Judge G
that is one of the best pieces of Circassian?
I have seen in a long time!
As Ozhunter noticed however it seems that it has an almost extreme amount of drop at heel??
Care to elaborate?
APB

Here's a picture (I stole from Champlin's) of a period .404 Jeffery. I think the drop is exactly the same. I've held the rifle in the subject picture and I absolutely fell in love with its "pointability". Mine newer Jeffery/Bijou (with all due respect to the gunmakers of yore) is just as good. If the drop looks more on my rifle, it is just the angles/photos.

It is all about iron sights being the primary choice on the rifle (for elephants or for follow up of DG). You might want to read "An Unintended Buffalo" to get an idea why I like to have a light rifle I'll always have on my hands when hunting and equipted with fast iron sights.

I grew up with guns/stocks designed for use without scopes. We old folks, of course, often added glass to our rifles, but learned to shoot with a face up style, looking at the target and raising the gun to just touch the cheek and having the irons "automatically" aligned.

The scope is actually secondary, but will come in handy for buffalo hunting to help my old eyes find a shoulder in the shadows of the jesse.

Someone asked about recoil and muzzle rise. I didn't really notice any (or much) at all. To me, a .404 with a 400 grain bullet at 2300 f.p.s. is just not a "kicker" and this particular rifle certainly is a pussy cat in that regard.

Judge,

some of the camera angles indeed create a funky look to the stock lines. can you photograph it with the barrel parallel to the floor so we can see the stock drop. I assume this is a Pre 64 type pattern and looks to be from somewhere around 1949 or so.

Thanks.

Jeff

Mike and Judge,

Awesome looking rifle. Job well done.

Look forword to the HR at end of July!!

Judge:

Just saw the pics of your rifle and it has one major flaw.

It's way too pretty. Seriously, it's gorgeous.

Everyone is built different, but this one would have way too much drop for me with iron sights even. Beautiful rifle and a great chunk of wood.

That rifle won't look right until ........................................................................ it's leaning against a dead buffalo.

Beautiful rifle!

Mike and JudgeG,

Sigh ...

DAMN!

Sigh ...

Lovely concept ... beautifully executed. Glad some of you guys with genuinely good taste have the funding to make it real!!! Congratulations, indeed!!!

Drop at heel is 2.1". My Ernst Kerner 9.3x62 has a bit more. My Merkel double has exactly the same. My old Mannlicher 9.5x56 had more.

If you click on this Review of "new" Model 70 from 1936 American Rifleman you'll see that my rifle has a pretty mild as to "drop" compared to what was considered proper pre-WWII and the ubiquious scoped rifle.

Hey, find an excuse to some to the Georgia coast and we'll shoot it some. You may just be a convert!

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:
Everyone is built different, but this one would have way too much drop for me with iron sights even. Beautiful rifle and a great chunk of wood.

Mike- Wonderful work!

JudgeG- Enjoy your new prize! It is a treasure.

Dang JudgeG what a beauty.

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:
Here's a picture (I stole from Champlin's) of a period .404 Jeffery. I think the drop is exactly the same. I've held the rifle in the subject picture and I absolutely fell in love with its "pointability". Mine newer Jeffery/Bijou (with all due respect to the gunmakers of yore) is just as good. If the drop looks more on my rifle, it is just the angles/photos.

Nah, it's better! After all, you used the Rifleman's Rifle...doesn't get any better than that....fantastic rifle.

I like your super low scope ring setup.
How is the front scope ring base attached?
I hope that stock drop is correct for you. ,personally I prefer them straighter.

Of course not nearly as cool or high speed as Judge's rifle..

I have a Dakota M-76 African in .404 Jeff. I am quite fond of it but don't have any decent pictures at the moment.

Another example of Mikes fine work. I am lucky enough to own 4 of Mikes rifles and they are all great shooters. Very nice looking rifle.

Judge: That really is a lovely rifle. I am amazed you find the recoil so tolerable given the weight and the drop at heel, but I have never handled a rifle quite like yours, so I'm guessing there is something about the fit and swing that makes the package work so well.
Congratulations!

First of all, I'll carry this rifle much more than I'll shoot it... and having had a to shoot a buffalo that came from nowhere last year and tried to kill me (as referenced above), I want to always have my rifle in my hand, so, light is better than heavy... particularly in my dotage.

Secondly, a 400 grain bullet at 2300 fps (the Hornady loads) just isn't a big "kicker", IMHO. If you look at recoil calculators, even at the weight of my rifle, it just ain't up there in the retina detachment class. In fact, a .458 Lott, weighing a pound more, has 50% more recoil as I figure it.

Just 70 more days and I'll be trying to kill something worthy of it at Matetsi.

Thats a very nice rifle, and something you dont see much anymore... jeweled bolt and extractor.


Enjoy!!!