http://www.gunrunners.com/ViewItem.aspx?ID=1410&table=inventory

White line spacer, cheekrest, and a beavertail forend. Great.

Dude,
you really woke up more grumpy than me...

a recoil pad is $100, in and out, installed... so offer 17,400

the cheekpiece and forearm are from the maker, impossible to "butcher" that way...

in fact, this rifle is a case of "saved from rubbish" as was sent back to woodward to be sleeved/fixed.

so, from where I sit, it's $100 from being an AS BUILT classic.

jeffesso, can you tell me how you know that it came from the factory that way? It definitely looks restocked to me, the wood is much newer than the gun. The wood to metal fit is well done and it may have been restocked by the maker but it wasn't made that way around 1900.

I too think it has been re-stocked, but maybe only the foreend, for someone who liked a Beavertail forestock. I think the butt stock is origenal, but if not, all was well done.

However, I have to agree with Jeffe, in that the resteration was well done, and saved the rifle from being just another beater! Since the rifle was sent back to the maker for the job is a plus! The foreend can be re-worked quite easily, and the whiteline can be illeminated as well. I think it is a nice rifle, but I would not pay $17,500 for it. For that money you can do better, with a chambering that is more "WORLD WIDE" so to speak! The cartridge that it was sleeved for was introduced in 1899, so the rifle was most likely made before then, if the new cartridge was an UP GRADE! Still, a very nice rifle!

I suppose it is possible that such a horrible stock came from a fine English gunmaker, but not likely.

I know that shop and drove by it today. It's a tiny hole in the wall place with some iron inside.
Amazing that they have such a large stock on the website.

Lovely rifle, despite the stock and the price.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Brooks:

Amazing that they have such a large stock on the website.

Probably don't have a lot of customers walking around the store bothering them.

what a great caliber ..... something proprietary designed for shooting charging chipmunks.

does anyone have documentation that woodward did the work on this ? i doubt it.

well, there is no accounting for taste, but like a lot of guys here at a sane price for an out of proof , unknown caliber ,rebarreled rifle we could find a place for it.

just think of it as an option (viability is your decision)to a 9,3x74R group buy Chapuis, AND a PH 470 or 500 NE 3" from Searcy. Perhaps that puts it in context.

Rich

it is nice looking, ya gotta say that.

Yeah, it's a whack job. This is a Woodward "Automatic", from the serial number built about 1890, so probably originally built as a BPE, unless it was a .303. The chance of Woodward having had anything to do with the sleeving is about nil. As for the stock, Woodward wouldn't have let anything out of the shop that looked like that. A best Woodward deserved better treatment than this piece got.

It's been sleeved to .375 2 1/2" Nitro Express, and yes, that's essentially a .405 Win necked to .375. The suggestion that this caliber is "unknown" is simply ignorant. It was a very popular caliber for a long time. One of Elmer Keith's favorite rifles was a Lancaster oval bore double in .375 2 1/2" NE. He made cases from .405 brass and was lavish in his praise for both rifle and cartridge.
------------------------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, everything else just burns gunpowder."

The underlever Woodward sidelock action is one of the alltime greats.