It's fun to follow your project, thanks! So do you put more finish over the checkering? That seems like it would be tricky because you don't want to fill in the cuts, but you also want to seal it some, right?

I do... I put on a very light coat of finish in the checkering pattern and, then, go over the pattern with a soft, clean toothbrush. The finish goes into the wood but there's no build-up at all. I wipe any finish off the surrounding areas. It's usually fine with two or three coats.

Bump...

I shot this pic just before I packed everything up securely and sent it to Colorado. UPS charged me $150.00 for second day air and $3000.00 insurance... a tad dear I thought.

Charlie called... he has the gun and will proceed directly. He says he can correct any errors I made easily and will do so.

This was supposed to be in the last post.

Mr. Wright PM sent.

Beautiful Dick

This was supposed to be in the last post.[/QUOTE]

Outstanding.

While I await the return of the rifle I am preparing brass and moly-coating bullets so I can shoot as soon as it arrives. This board of brass is neck-turned just enough to eliminate any run-out in neck well thickness.

This loading bench is in my office and just a few feet from my range and shooting bench which are right outside the door.

While I'm waiting for the return of the rifle I am getting everything ready to shoot when it does come back. Right now I'm moly coating bullets. This is a box that Jimmy Carpenter made and sent me to try.

I have quite a few of the old Remington Match bullets that were made back in the Mike Walker era. They are next for moly. I also have a brand new, unopened box of Bart's 52 gr. that will be coated and, which, I will probably end up using, based on past experience.

Charlie Grace is starting to checker the stocks. He sent this picture yesterday. Note how close the pattern is to the sketch I sent him.

Coming closer...

Simply beautiful

Ed Lundberg took a picture of Charlie checkering the rifle.

I just recieved this from Charlie Grace. He's better and proceeding with the checkering. This pattern is exactly what I asked for.

The other side of the checkering.

That is a beautiful thing! My favorite varmint and target round.

Chuck Grace sent me this photo taken when he was laying out the fore end pattern. I told him I did not want wrap around checkering on the fore end. This is going to be shot in matches and a smooth bottom works much better in the rests.

Getting closer... I have a match to shoot it in in a couple of weeks.

http://i1382.photobucket.com/a...%201_zps3fiicka1.jpg

The fore end checkering nearly done.

It appears that Photobucket is kinda nutz today... it won't let me post a real picture, just a link. ????????

Not the most fetching image, but Chuck Grace sent me this with a note that the gun would be assembled and sent out Monday the 5th.

Gonna be a beautiful rifle!

This will look better... Chuck Grace put it together today and sent me this pic. He will ship it tomorrow via UPS Second Day Air. I should have it Wedensday.

I have a match Saturday... a ton of stuff to do once I get my hands on it. Will probably end up fire forming brass at the match.

That is a beautiful little rifle, Dick! More pics, please, when you have that little jewel in hand.

Fantastic project and final product! a true work of art and commitment. Congratulations!

Chuck Grace shipped it Monday as promised. I've been tracking it on UPS and it should be on the truck now for delivery. UPS said between 10 and 2 o'clock today. We paid for second day air which means it should have been here yesterday. Alas...

That will give me a day and a half to get it ready for the match Saturday.

I should have a lot of pics soon.

Congrats Dick, hope it shoots as well as it looks.

Maybe something that shows the fiddleback better. Love quatersawn with fiddleback.

The rifle, now complete, back in the rests that will be it's home.

Best pic so far. The flash washed out the color a tad here. It's actually more like the pic immediately above.

It's a beauty, as expected. Good luck at the match! You'll probably have the prettiest rifle there....

Taken at the match yesterday. I just got the gun so I was fire forming brass. It needs to be fired three times before it's perfectly straight. We have another match in two weeks and I should be able to complete fire forming and do load work-up by then.

It's been a while since I could shoot... I was just delighted to be there.

Note the old Porsche in the background with the handicapped plates. There's room in back for all my shooting stuff.

Dick, I have been following the progress of your project faithfully, and enjoyed every picture. The result is absolutely Great!
I'm sure you will do it justice on the bench.
Regards,
Eddie

quote:

Originally posted by SingleShotGuy:
Dick, I have been following the progress of your project faithfully, and enjoyed every picture. The result is absolutely Great!
I'm sure you will do it justice on the bench.
Regards,
Eddie

Eddie,

Thanks. I've been working hard and am completely fire formed (the first time.) and ready to do load work-up. The gun just keeps getting better.

All our other shooters have modern rifles, some factory guns and some all out competition rifles. If I can make my "50's" set-up a little competitive I will be one happy camper.

I did the second fire forming of the brass today and worked on loads. So far the old Remington benchrest bullets and IMR 4895 seem to be working the best.

This bench has been outside my office door for over twenty years now.

So absolutely beautiful Dick. Thank you so much for sharing this entire string from beginning to end.

After shooting for a couple of days I cleaned the gun and hand rubbed a coat of final finish on the stock. Here it is drying for a day or two in the vise.

Comments on my messy workbench are not solocited.

My first target shot in the gun's first official match. The range was 100 yds. It was shot 10 June, a day and I half after I recieved the gun. FWIW I was fireforming brass.

I first fired two shots on the sighter bull, lower right. You can shoot any number of shots on the sighter but they don't count toward your score. Too bad in this case. I, then, shot targets in this order... 5-4-1-2-3. I had a fairly fat head till I jerked the trigger on bull one. The Kepplinger is a good trigger but it ain't no Jewell. Practice will help that.

Excluding bull one this would make for a good group.

So far, the best load is the old Remington benchrest bullets and a caseful of IMR 4895.

My best pic of the completed rifle. Image by Imgur since Photobucket is giving me a hard time.

quote:

since Photobucket is giving me a hard time.

actually not. What they are doing is finally charging for a service that they have been providing for free for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by lindy2:

quote:

since Photobucket is giving me a hard time.

actually not. What they are doing is finally charging for a service that they have been providing for free for a long time.

I understand that. We have been getting things free on the web forever. Now they want four hundred dollars. I do this for fun and don't get paid. If I was still writing for Precision Shooting, it would be different. Imgur works fine once you get used to their site.

Since this was intended to be a match rifle from the first, I have been shooting it in a few local benchrest matches.

The last match was a disaster... I shot a terrible score. On the advice of friends I touched up a couple of small burrs on the scope bases and made sure that it was firmly and properly mounted. I found that I had done it all wrong.

I also started to "jump" the bullet .020" rather than jamming it into the lands as has been my practice for years. I immediately started to get the best groups I have ever shot with this rifle, better than No. 1's are supposed to shoot.

I'm going to do a little more experimentation by changing powder charges a tad and, also, mess around a bit more with the seating depth just to see if I can get it even better.

I'm finally 98% satisfied with this project. It is shooting the way I have hoped it would. There are a couple of appearance details to be worked out but they will wait till next winter. I have two matches in the next month and any time spent on the gun will be totally devoted to match preparation.

Update... Since that last post I have shot the gun enough to learn several things... First, it shoots much better with the 2015 which was made in Isreal in 1990 and 1991 only. This is especially good news since I have a good supply of the 2015 and am nearly out of the IMR 4895.

I should probably get my chronograph out and check it but I think I'm getting more velocity with the 2015. Right now my load is hot enough to give me a fairly flat primer and the primers are just starting to crater around the firing pin indent. Since additional velocity gives you more wind resistance, I'm going to (very carefully) try a tad more powder just to see what happens. Years ago, when I was a lot younger and could shoot better my BR cartrdige was a .22 PPC Short which gave me 3500 fps. There's no way to do this with a duece but I have been told by experts that you can get 3300 out of a .222 with 2015... we'll see.

Secondly, it is much more reliable POI-wise with the bullet jumping .020" than it was when I jammed it tightly into the lands.

I think I am getting into territory, accuracy-wise where a Ruger No. 1 is not supposed to be able to go. The Kepplinger trigger is great. No way could I shoot this well with the original trigger.