The barrel work is by Lothar Walther; Sharon Dressel furnished the superb blank, color enhanced by a little alkenet root.

Starting with a clean 33-40, an added square bridge allows a nice place for the claw mount lock up.

The front sight hood was a bit of pain -- the ramp was too narrow for a traditional hood lock. Settled the issue by a rotating lock... use thumb and forefinger to turn the cylinder 180.

Engraving was done by Roger Kehr. He had the color cased parts done by Turnbulls.

Scope seems a bit large, but the optics of the 1-8 are "magnified air."

I like that idea of not putting the front scope base on the front ring.

Beautiful work as always.

Nicely done again and in my favorite caliber.
Any plans to blue the muzzle face?
Wow. Is that checkering done in 30 LPI?

Super nice job, as expected.
No, he will not blue the muzzle; de rigeuer for any rust blued barrel. You do not blue the muzzles.

Beautiful work Duane! I really like the octagonal barrel and forearm cap treatment and of course, Roger's work looks fantastic as always.

Weight?

That is one beautiful piece of work!

VERY nice all around. I especially like the metalwork. It takes a true talent to work in areas so small.

nice rifle!!!!!!!!!

Stunning! Love the scope mounts

Good work, as usual.

Dave

Checkering is "about" 25 LPI . With scope 8 3/4 without 7 1/2

very nice indeed..I love oct. barrels or half oct/half round, steel butt plates, manlicher stocks, and G33/40s, this one was built for me, surely!!
Ray

A full length stock is hard to pull off. Sometimes they look butt heavy or the forearm looks concave if the barrel is too long.

Duane your rifle looks spot on! I like the barrel length and profile. Looks balanced and handy as hell... The rear square bridge is a really cool feature as well.

Thanks for sharing pictures.

Beautiful rifle. Would look even better with iron sights only or a more compact scope..

Lovely rifle, but those Swarovski scopes have a very bulky eyepiece lense.

I wish the top end scopes would go to back to 1” tubes and small eyepiece lens

Nickel make a few very nice compact scopes - and they only sell direct and are expensive. Their 1.5-6x30 would be perfect for this rifle.

http://www.nickel-ag.com/en/pr...ts/scopes/15630.aspx

Yep, agree with others, this is one neat mannlicher but the front scope mount ruins the lines of the rifle. Other than that, it's pretty much perfection!

quote:

Originally posted by Heym SR20:
Lovely rifle, but those Swarovski scopes have a very bulky eyepiece lense.

I wish the top end scopes would go to back to 1” tubes and small eyepiece lens

Nickel make a few very nice compact scopes - and they only sell direct and are expensive. Their 1.5-6x30 would be perfect for this rifle.

http://www.nickel-ag.com/en/pr...ts/scopes/15630.aspx

There seems to be no end in sight with scope size...Tried to buy a high end 2-7 lately?

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Heym SR20:
Lovely rifle, but those Swarovski scopes have a very bulky eyepiece lense.

I wish the top end scopes would go to back to 1” tubes and small eyepiece lens

Nickel make a few very nice compact scopes - and they only sell direct and are expensive. Their 1.5-6x30 would be perfect for this rifle.

http://www.nickel-ag.com/en/pr...ts/scopes/15630.aspx

There seems to be no end in sight with scope size...Tried to buy a high end 2-7 lately? On the same note, got my new Swarovski catalog where they described "pinnacle of hunting" is long range...With giant scopes to match!

I always thought the pinnacle of hunting was the stalk...What's better than a 100 yard shot? answer: a 99 yard shot .

These scope manufacturers are fixated on sniping,not hunting

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):

These scope manufacturers are fixated on sniping,not hunting

Sadly, that's where the market is. The majority of new shooters are knob turning, paper punchers. The numbers of hunters is decreasing so the scope makers are catering to where the demand is. It's comical that we strive to build a light 7 lb steel and wood rifle and it ends up shod with a 3 lb scope bigger than my spotting scope. The other struggle when trying to scope older rifles is that most scopes have such a short mounting distance on the tube that it is hard to fit them on longer actions without either extended bases or rings, neither of which I care for.

Yep. I wonder how many purchases (guns incl.) are based on bragging rights on FCBK. To each his own I guess.

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):

These scope manufacturers are fixated on sniping,not hunting

Sadly, that's where the market is.

HA! photo reminds me of another blip...Put an animal 6 inches from the camera and put the shooter on the horizon...Whotheykiddin?

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Duane, that technique was perfected by Bob Brister, late shooting editor of Field and Stream. He started out with bass and eventually moved on to big game. Very commonly referred to as a "Brister Photo".

Didn't know that.thanks

Duane that rifle is exquisite! I appreciate your confidence in providing close up HD pics! No hiding behind blurry photos for you. The inletted sling swivel in the forend provides the necessary visual breakup to make the stock look elegant. I've seen stocks with a subtle Schnabel in that zone to achieve the same effect.

The scope however(as high quality as it is) looks like a flying saucer landed on top of the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Gosh there needs to be a blued steel tube modern scope to complement period re-creations as well as original pieces.

"Customer wants a blue suit, you turn on he blue lights"

Another well done rifle. No better styling and execution available...PERIOD!

Nice photography too! Not easy capturing engraving on a finished rifle.

Gorgeous work! Yes, the scope is rather incongruous (but not the exquisite mounts!) The only thing that prevents it being, to quote Duane's own phrase, "a scope wearing a rifle", is the fact that the incredible quality of both the design and execution makes the rifle the focus of your attention, so it's not over-shadowed. The fact that I love a well-proportioned, full-stocked rifle doesn't hurt...

Very nice rifle.

Given our PC culture, I am amazed the markings are intact

I don't routinely remove historical markings..screw the PCers

I am a little curious about the stock. Is that a standard drop in the stock's heel and toe?

"Standard"???? Not sure what that would be.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
"Standard"???? Not sure what that would be.

Take into account who is asking the question.

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
"Standard"???? Not sure what that would be.

Take into account who is asking the question.

Yes Sir!

That's okay. Take into account that I was the one that asked the question and laugh all you want. I misspoke, forgetting that this is a custom rifle fit for a specific person. What I should have asked is what the drop is and then made my own conclusions about it. Hope everyone is doing well.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
I don't routinely remove historical markings..screw the PCers

What is the barrel length on this one?

I can only echo all the other comments by saying what a wonderful looking rifle this is. I wish the owner the best of luck hunting with this beauty.

stu

Well done Duane. How is the barrel bedded?

That's not ugly; except for the scope which, as others have already pointed out, is ugly. I'm working on a full stock 35 Whelen right now. I can only wish it would be that pretty. Regards, Bill.

It's beautiful. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Steve

Nathan: bedded like a normal half stock...from normal fore end tip location, as close to free floating as I can get without gaps

Bill: compromise here (as in all things) this is a 1-8. We wanted to keep as trim as possible and still have a decent exit pupil. A 24 mm objective @ 8X will give 3 mm...adequate...