This is the rifle my wife has hunted with for thirty years. I bought the action from Jerry Fisher in the late 70's. It took almost three years for me to get the gun finished. This was a very busy time in my life and I only had weekends to work on the gun. I did get lots of help from some very good makers.

Some nitwit didn't wipe the fingerprints off the gun before this picture was taken.

This has a small ring, full length action. It is chambered for 270-08. Bob Snapp did the 20" barrel to a Model 70 FW contour. The diameter was reduced a tad but the contour is true to the 70 FW.

I did the stock from a fairly plain piece of French walnut. When I finally got it shaped and finished Don Klein checkered it for me, did the metal work and had it blued.

Years later, unhappy with the light color of the wood, I had Jack Haugh re-finish it with alkaner root. This was my first try to make a schnable fore end.

I made this rifle for myself. I wanted a small rifle that handled like a Model 94 Winchester for stalking in the Michigan woods.

When Snapp did the barrel he had a lot of .270 Douglas barrels. I had quite a few good .270 rifles and wanted something different. Bob had several .270-08 reamers and we decided to go that way.

My goal was to have a lightweight carrying rifle to use in the thick woods where we hunt.

When Don Klein did the metal I asked him to make the bolt knob .100" smaller in diameter than was normal. Don had reservations about doing so but did as I asked. When he had it done he called and said he really liked the way it came out.

I really wanted a smallish carrying rifle and the smaller bolt was part of it.

The Canjar trigger has been set at exactly 3 lbs. for years.

This was when Ed Lundberg and I decided to make the front of the cheek piece and the shadow line below same just slightly concave. (Ed and I worked together on most of my projects, although it can truthfully be said the he advised and I worked.) We liked the way it came out and I have been doing that ever since.

The pistol grip cap is ebony. It was the first time I tried doing that and it took me all of two weekends to shape it to my satisfaction.

This was my first try at making a schnable fore end. It's pretty subtle but I liked it. I asked Don to make a front sling keeper and to put it on the barrel.I think his design is absolutely elegant.

I drew a blueprint for the front sight I wanted and asked Don to make it. He did it exactly to my print. I like it.

When it was complete I hunted with this rifle very little. I had a good collection of custom guns and just never got around to using this one.

When Glorya and I started hunting together in 1986 I told her to pick a gun... this one was small and she liked the way it handled. Since then she has pretty much kept our freezer full of venison with this rifle. We lost count of the number of deer she has taken with it years ago.

My wife is a much better than normal shot... she won a lot of benchrest matches when we competed. She was also the club champ for years in both four position indoor rifle and air pistol. (I took a lot of crap from other shooters when we went to matches... they always regarded me as the "Junior varsity" and let me know it.)

I reload for this gun in a non-normal fashion. I use 130 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips and load them down to 2600 fps. This is Michigan with thick woods. We only rarely get shots of 100 yds. or more. The long action lets me seat the bullets hard into the lands... something I picked up in benchrest competition.

I have had bad luck with the Ballistic Tips in both a normal .270 and a 30-06. I have had bullets hit a deer in the shoulder and blow up with very little penetration. Many years ago I shot a buck in the shoulder with the 06... knocked him flat on his arse. Damnphoulle deer got up and ran straight to me and stopped. A neck shot put him down for keeps but that was the end of the Ballistic tips at normal velocities for me.

At 2600 fps they work wonderfully in this gun. They expand perfectly and leave big exit holes. The reduced recoil is a good side benefit. Glorya only weighs 115 lbs. and doesn't need too much recoil.

Nice!!!

Excellent!!!

Another one of your outstanding projects...what a lovely little rifle!

Pretty little rifle.

I see a front sight but I don't see a rear sight, am I just missing it?

Another beautiful rifle, Dick. Maybe you don't own an ugly one?

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Pretty little rifle.

I see a front sight but I don't see a rear sight, am I just missing it?

Honestly, when the stock was shaped I couldn't handle the way it looked with a plain barrel and no sight. With the schnable, something was missing. I had Don put on the front sight and it worked aesthetically.

This doesn't bother me... I see many guns here with quarter ribs with sights, scopes and all sorts of bells and whistles that will never be used. The front sight adds very little weight and, to my eye, the gun looks much better with it.

quote:

Originally posted by mightymouse:
Another beautiful rifle, Dick. Maybe you don't own an ugly one?

No I don't. I, actually, have very few of my rifles left and, those that remain, are the ones I couldn't part with for one reason or another. There was a time when I had a pretty good collection of fine rifles. I've been thinning them out for the last fifteen or twenty years.

I do have an unmodified Rem. Model 7 in .243. I bought it to use as a loaner should some relative show up and want to borrow a gun to hunt with. I've done some tweaking to the Rem. and it shoots its own handloads very well.

The chances of us letting anybody use either this gun or my Jack Haugh Ruger No. 1 are non-existent. Glorya and I have hunted with these guns for years and you can see what kind of shape they are in. They are going to stay that way.

Our grandson, Josh, got his first deer a couple of years ago with the Rem. He was happy and we were proud.

FWIW this is my deer rifle. Jack Haugh did the stock, metal and engraving back in the day. I've spent a lot of time accurizing and working up the perfect handloads for it. The best accuracy aide was the addition of the Kepplinger trigger.

I've hunted with this gun for years now. You can see the shape it's in. This is NOT a loaner.

That Jack Haugh No.1 is another beautiful rifle. I understand not loaning that one out.

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Wright:

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Pretty little rifle.

I see a front sight but I don't see a rear sight, am I just missing it?

Honestly, when the stock was shaped I couldn't handle the way it looked with a plain barrel and no sight. With the schnable, something was missing. I had Don put on the front sight and it worked aesthetically.

This doesn't bother me... I see many guns here with quarter ribs with sights, scopes and all sorts of bells and whistles that will never be used. The front sight adds very little weight and, to my eye, the gun looks much better with it.

No criticism, I was thinking that there might be a pop up aperture sight in the scope base or something.

You can see a little wear on the sharp edges of the barrel and the schnable... mostly from sliding in and out of gun cases. Other than that, it's still in excellent shape.

This gun started out with a 3X Leupold. It just looked so right on the little gun. One day Glorya hunted with me in my deer blind and shot a buck with my custom .358 M-70 FWT. It had a European style 6X Swarovski. Her reaction, "I gotta have me one of these scopes."

At that time I was a Swarovski dealer. I bought her a Kahles 6X just like mine but with an aluminum tube. At dealer cost it was still expensive although nothing like they are today.

I have some time on my hands right now while I wait for the pre-carved wood for the .222 to get back from Charlie Grace. I was going thru my photos ( I have over two thousand in the Mac.) and found this pic...

A close up of my rifle showing the modest amount of engraving that Jack did in better detail. This picture is years old before the gun got the Kepplinger trigger and the 3 X 9 Kahles scope.